[noshed]

Well the experiment worked. It was lovely although I had to thicken it a bit, I always put too much water in.
I think this works well with skinned chicken but beef might not be so good. I'll try anyway.

[Poolfield2]

Thanks for letting us know

[noshed]

Liver and bacon.
Liver from the butchers, smoken streaky from the butchers, onions, toms from the plot.
Chop onions and fry with bacon until golden.
Put in slow cooker.
Coat liver slices with seasoned flour and fry for a minute each side. Put in slow cooker.
Skin toms and put in liver/ flour pan. Put a bit more flour in and an oxo cube or similar. Stir until a bit thick.
Cook on low for ages.
Serve with spuds and cabbage.
Absolutely gorgeous and very cheap.

[Poolfield2]

Thanks for posting but hell will freeze over before I can make myself eat liver I might substitute precooked beans

[Janeymiddlewife]

I don't very often pre fry meat now, can't see the point - you're just using more fuel and TIME    .  Even mince - as long as it's all cooked for 6 -8 hours or so I find it's OK. I usually skin the chicken anyway, and the mince is usually bolognaised or has gravy granules added for thickening, so it colours it anyway. I've even cooked a small whole chicken in one and it was fine 

[Val H]

Liver and bacon.
Liver from the butchers, smoken streaky from the butchers, onions, toms from the plot.
Chop onions and fry with bacon until golden.
Put in slow cooker.
Coat liver slices with seasoned flour and fry for a minute each side. Put in slow cooker.
Skin toms and put in liver/ flour pan. Put a bit more flour in and an oxo cube or similar. Stir until a bit thick.
Cook on low for ages.
Serve with spuds and cabbage.
Absolutely gorgeous and very cheap.

Give us some quantities and I'll pinch it for Frugal Recipes!

[HLS]

I've found that if I don't fry onions before they go in the slow cooker the resulting dish just tastes of stewed onions.  Slightly beefy stewed onions, perhaps, or spicy stewed onions - but still overwhelmingly and inescapably mainly stewed onions.  Is it just me (or my onions), or has anyone else found the same? 

I've also been wondering whether putting dried onions in the slow cooker might be a convenient alternative if I haven't got time to be frying vegetables the previous evening (I'm definitely not going to be frying onions at 7:30am in my pyjamas).  Has anyone tried them?

[noshed]

This is a more detailed version of the liver and bacon recipe:

Serves 4
About  6 slices of liver from the butchers (you get nice slices as opposed to the little slivers you get in supermarkets).
4 slices of smoked streaky bacon.
3 or 4 large tomatoes.
2 or 3 medium onions.

Chop onions and fry gently with bacon until golden.
Put in slow cooker.
Coat liver slices with seasoned (white pepper) flour and fry, just for a minute each side. (Any longer risks a leathery result).
Put in slow cooker.
Skin tomatoes by scoring once, putting in a bowl and covering with boiling water for a minute or two. Drain and fill bowl with cold water. The skins will come off in your hands.
Chop tomatoes and add to liver/ flour pan. Put a bit more flour in and an oxo cube or similar. Stir until it thickens a bit.
Add to cooker and stir. (You can add things like a teaspoon of made mustard or some Worcester sauce at this stage, or even a bit or red wine or sherry if you've got any loafing about).
Leave for at least 4 hours on low - suits a day when you're going up the allotment for some digging.
Serve with spuds and cabbage.
Absolutely gorgeous and very cheap.

[Casey76]

My favourite recipe...

500g braising steak
3 medium potatoes
1 small swede (pomegranate sized)
3 medium carrots
2 small leeks
2 medium onions
Handful of small mushrooms
2 beef boullion cubes
Small bottle (250ml) red wine

Cube the beef
Dice veg to about the same size
Put potatoes on the bottom of the slow cooker, then swede and carrots.  Meat next, then leeks and onions.
Make boullion up to 1pint with boiling water and pour over.  Add wine. Put mushrooms on the top

Cook for 8 hours.

Eat from big stone bowls with plenty of crusty bread to sop up juices.

Or...

Substitute beef for lamb (e.g. shoulder).  Switch beef boullion for lamb and add a 2 tsp of mint sauce to the boullion.

[mumofstig]

I did that (without the wine ) today but it was still luverly.
I added a twig of rosemary, thyme and basil tied together for easy removal as well
I ate one part and the rest is boxed up and in the freezer, for days when i can't be bothered

Like the idea of the lamb and mint though

[Casey76]

Funny, but I can't do herbs.  I like spices, but with herbs that's all I end up tasting.

Except mint, I like mint.

[LittleRedHen]

I've never attempted curry other than a heated up jar so these recipes are brilliant.  Will have a go. 

[wighty]

We bought one recently after an earlier thread about them.  Wouldn't be without it now.  Smell of Oxtail in Port wafting through the house at this very moment.  Should be a cheap meal   as the Oxtail was reduced in Morrisons and the port is last Christmas' leftovers.

[chrissie B]

i find with the slow cooker you dont need so much fluid as its all kept in while cooking .love my slowcooker great for steaming the Christmas pud no steam filled kitchens
chrissie b

[Sue33]

I must be doing something wrong, whenever I put mushrooms in the slow cooker they tend to go slimey and makes me heave    do u leave them till the last half hour or so??