Morphy Richards Slow Cooker > Reviews > Slowly does it

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Ideal for cooking stews, casseroles, joints of meat
Disadvantages:	Need to brown things before slow cooking

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Slow cookers are a great way of cooking food if you are going to be away from home for a long period in the day. Even though I work from home I still use ours on at least a weekly basis as I find that the meat when cooked in it is much more tender and tastier.

Although I had used slow cookers in the past, my old model was slowly gathering dust on top of the cupboard, and last Christmas I received a Morphy Richards Slow Cooker as a present from my mother in law, but it retails at £34.95 in Argos and can be purchased online or in the shop.

The slow cooker is very large, with a 6.5 litre capacity and is silver in colour and oval in shape. When I opened the box I thought that the size was a little large for a family of four, and had I purchased one myself I would have probably selected a smaller model. However, on reading the instructions it does state that the cooker has a working capacity of 4.5 litres, so I decided that it was suitable for us after all. If a smaller cooker is more acceptable, Morphy Richards do a 4.5 litre version which can be purchased for between £19 and £25 from various outlets.

There are three settings on the slow cooker: high, medium and low, which can be selected by using the black dial on the front of the appliance which is simply clicked into position. I normally start my meat on the medium setting and turn down to low as the day goes on as I find this gives the most flavoursome meat. The medium setting is the standard setting and gives an average cooking time of 6-8 hours for a joint of meat.

The outside of the cooker is silver, but the crockpot within the slow cooker is black, ceramic and very heavy. This can be removed after use for cleaning and can simply be washed with normal washing detergent.

The lid of the cooker is formed from glass with a black plastic handle, so it is easy to see your food cooking.

The handles of the slow cooker are at each side and are formed of black plastic. These are always cool to the touch even if the appliance has been working all day, but the body of the slow cooker does get very hot during cooking, so care must be taken when using.

The slow cooker is very simple to use and full instructions are provided in the box in the shape of an instruction leaflet. The cooker needs to stand on a flat surface, and the ingredients can then be placed into the crock pot and the lid replaced. Simply select the desired heat setting and turn the appliance on using the dial at the front. There is no need to preheat the crockpot before cooking, a clear indication of how appliances have improved over the years as I always had to preheat my old model before using.

Although raw meat can be placed into the crockpot, I always brown mine first as I cannot bear to see sausages and the like that have no colouring to them and still look pink.

A few rules must be observed before using the slow cooker and these are as follows:

Any root vegetable used in the slow cooker should be cut into small pieces as root vegetables take longer to cook than meat.

Never put frozen food in the slow cooker because this can lead to many forms of food poisoning.

Most foods can be used in the slow cooker apart from sea food, which is another source of food poisoning if cooked in this fashion.

If red beans are to be used in a recipe, this will need to be soaked prior to depositing them into the slow cooker, in order to get rid of any toxins.

I always cut the fat off any meat I am using as none of us like fatty meat and also the fat will not evaporate in a slow cooker as it does in a conventional oven.

Although the slow cooker does contain a recipe booklet, I of course adapt my own recipes to suit. It should be borne in mind that it is not necessary to use as much liquid as in a conventional oven as liquid doe not evaporate during the cooking process.

After use, cleaning is easy. Just wash the crockpot in soapy water but the instructions do advise now to soak the crockpot in water for long periods of time as this can shorten its life span. Simply fill the crockpot with water and leave to soak for a while, then you will find that any excess stains can simply be removed with a dishcloth or sponge.

We have made many dishes in the slow cooker, including joints, stews casseroles and pie fillings. As a basic guideline most meat will cook in 8-10 hours on a low setting, 5-7 hours on medium, and 4-6 hours on high.

The slow cooker has now been used on at least a weekly basis for the past two years and is showing no signs of age or deterioration. I would thoroughly recommend it as it is ideal for cooking stews and casseroles and even joints if you’re going to be out for a long period of time or don’t have time to keep watching meat in a conventional oven.