Apart from my mushroom ragu, I would be happy to cook any of the dishes from the class in either a slow cooker or the oven.
Most recipes can make the transition quite successfully, so feel free to experiment with your old favourite or other recipes from the Stonesoup Virtual Cookery School.
Here are a few tips to help you out.
converting ingredients between the slow cooker and the oven
The biggest thing to remember is that the slow cooker holds on to moisture. So to adapt recipes for the slow cooker, use about half the amount of liquid that you’d normally use in the oven.
So if you normally cook a beef stew with 2cups of wine and 2 cups of stock in the oven or on the stove top, reduce this to 1 cup each of wine and stock for the slow cooker.
about slow cooker settings
AUTO – is available on some slow cookers and it starts of for the first few hours on HIGH and then switches over to LOW until you turn it off. This is good to get things cooking a little quicker.
LOW – I haven’t tried this but I suspect it’s impossible to overcook something on the LOW setting. This is the best setting for cooking overnight or if you’re leaving the house all day. Even if you get caught up and leave the dish for and extra few hours, it will still be fine.
HIGH – For times when you want things cooked quicker and can check in and stir occasionally if needed. Generally HIGH will cook a dish in half the time it takes on LOW.
about oven temperatures
below 100C (210F) – most ovens aren’t great at cooking this low.
100C (210F) – roughly the same as cooking in my slow cooker in HIGH.
Of course this will depend on your oven and your slow cooker but it gives you a rough guide.
To really slow cook something in the oven, this is a good temperature.
150C (300F) – much hotter than the slow cooker.
But still good for ‘slow’ cooking in the oven. Will take much less time than the slow cooker. As a rule of thumb expect things to take about 1/4 of the time they would take in the slow cooker on LOW and about 1/2 the time of the slow cooker on HIGH. You’ll need to check in every hour or so and you may need to top up the liquid if drying out too much.
180C (350F) – normal oven cooking temperatures.
Best for roasting or other techniques.
Note: I always use the fan forced (or fan assist) setting on my oven because it helps to even out the temperature in the oven. If your oven doesn’t have a fan, always add an extra 20C (50F) to the temperature stated in the recipe.
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