Slow cooker help needed SOON

[Binky Profile]

I am making a coq au vin for dinner tonight..

The problem is the timing and level (low, medium, high) to use.

My Williams -Sonoma says 4-5 hrs on low; Catherine Atkinson says 3-4 hrs on high; Sara Lewis says 8-10 hrs on low. These are all recipes using the same amount of chicken thighs.

The small leaflet the cooker (Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker) doesn't have a recipe for coq au vin, but their chicken and mushroom casserole says 5-7 hrs on medium.

The last thing I want is food poisoning. Can someone help with suggestions for timing and cooking level that they use themselves please?

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I’d go with the manufacturer’s instructions, you can always cut the cooking short if it’s obviously done. Does sound like a lot though

Will the wine be reduced first? That’s the aspect that would worry me, flavour not safety

[Binky Profile]

This slow cooking is new to me. If the coq au vin is anything like the boeuf bourguignonne I made a couple of days ago, no moisture will be lost and the vin will not be reduced.

I will happily pour some of gravy into a jug and mix in some cornflour to thicken it (but is that culinary sacrilege?)

[Pepper Pig Profile]

This slow cooking is new to me. If the coq au vin is anything like the boeuf bourguignonne I made a couple of days ago, no moisture will be lost and the vin will not be reduced.

Got it in a nutshell Binky. The liquid barely evaporates in a slow cooker. Is Patsy from WF on this board? She's the expert.

[DEB Profile]

I would suggest a little of prod and check. If the chicken seems cooked or close to when you put a fork in then turn down to slow or keep warm. I find that as a working mother I find that if I have prepared the dish the night before I can put it in on low as I leave for work and it is done went I get home 10 hour later it is usually falling to bits of the bone.

[Amyw Profile]

I’d go with 3-4 hours on high as it’s chicken . That’s how I do things like chicken curry for . I tend to use the low setting if I’m cooking a lump of meat like brisket, but then I’ll start it in the morning and let it go all day on low

[Joanbunting Profile]

I really can't help Binky as I don't own a slow cooker other than my oven on low. When i make coq au vin I brown everything off first then put into the casserole and cook until .... it is cooked. The excess fat has to be removed by flambeing with bandy and the wine has to be reduced until the sauce is rich and unctuous.

[Binky Profile]

Having started this dish around 11.30 this morning, I felt that I had done hardly anything to produce the fabulous pot of coq au vin that filled our kitchen with a wonderful aroma at 5pm. We ate this with jacket potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli.

In the meantime, I had read the Sunday papers, watched a documentary about Cary Grant and the first Harry Potter film. To enter the kitchen hours later, and serve up this fragrant and tasty meal, was wonderful.

[Joanbunting Profile]

So glad it worked out Binky and, more important you enjoyed it so much.

[Pampy Profile]

I can really relate to your experience of having a lovely meal with apparently little effort, Binky. I often feel like that when I use my slow cooker and also when I've prepared something in the morning that just needs putting in the oven to cook. I did this yesterday - in the morning, I prepared some chicken thighs in a marinade of sumac, garlic, pomegranate molasses and chilli flakes which just needed sprinkling with sesame seeds and a bit of OO before going straight in the oven. I made couscous with coconut flakes, dried cranberries, dried strawberries and dried peach slices, all of which I also got ready in the morning too so it just needed a 5 minute soak. All sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. A very easy evening meal, washed down with a very tasty Chilean merlot.

[Binky Profile]

I have more energy in the mornings, so cooking/prepping then makes more sense to me. I often need a nap in the afternoon, and don't feel like setting-to to make a proper scratch dinner when I wake up around 4pm. OH is a good cook himself, and has stepped up to the plate many nights to make our dinner. He is very busy at the moment supervising our extension, so it is nice for me to be able to serve up something easy and tasty. I am making a slow cooker brinjal curry (aubergines) for dinner tonight. OH came in from the garden and said "That smells fantastic". Praise indeed.

[jeral Profile]

FWIW, I don't have a slow cooker, but if I'm not convinced that a stew-like something hasn't been cooked through to the required "piping hot" germ-killing temp, I scoop each portion into a plastic loose lidded pot in the microwave at full power for 30 -60 secs on the basis that m/w heats from the inside outwards.

It would drive me dotty if something had been cooking for a long allotted time yet still might not be cooked properly as I'd be worrying all day. So maybe making things the day before until you get used to timings for your cooker's power settings might be a plan short term?

I reckon one has to build up their own experience depending on how powerful (wattage) one's slow cooker is relative to its size.

[chihuahua8 Profile]

I just recently bought a slow cooker, used it once and gave it away. My own feeling is do what suits you best, my sister is a great slow cooker fan but they're not for me. I do have a warming drawer as part of my oven and you can use that as a slow cooker and I will try it out sometime.

Re Jeral's comment about the low temperature used - when I started work as a very young lab person, we made up a solution that was used for growing bacteria. As this couldn't be sterilised in the usual manner, we used a process called 'tindalisation'. To do this the solution was heated to a low heat, can't remember what it was, probably about 60c for three days in succession prior to use.

I just thought of those days after reading Jeral's comments.

JeanT

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Generally
Bacteria are happiest between 30 and 42 C, blood (and bath water) temperature

If you raise the temperature to more than 70 C and hold it there for more than 20 minutes, you have pretty much achieved pasteurisation

As far as I know, most slow cookers operate well above 70C

Also worth remembering that the significant bacteria on your chicken pieces are on the surface, an intact piece of meat or poultry should have few if any bacteria inside, and the surface will get hot quite fast, and stay hot

Slow cookers (and Aga slow ovens) have been around for decades without causing any food poisoning epidemics, they are unlikely to start with any of us

Tyndallization rang very faint bells, seems it's essentially pasteurisation repeated to get rid of spore forming organisms
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndallization

[chihuahua8 Profile]

That's it Sue, couldn't remember the exact temperature, but I am talking about 60 years ago!

JeanT

[karadekoolaid Profile]

I can fully understand the benefits of a slow cooker; especially for those who are out at work all day.
I wouldn´t buy one, however, since I rarely eat meat and would rather freeze at the North Pole than cook vegetables for 8 hours or more.

[Binky Profile]

ah, karadekoolaid, you haven't tasted my unctuous aubergine curry. The flavours married together over 4-5 hrs and served up with mango chutney, poppadoms, homemade bhajis and a dollop of sour cream, it was a feast for the senses.

[Lusciouslush Profile]

No help whatsoever re the slow cooker as I've never used one, but apart from a few aubergine recipes, don't use too many of those either - himself doesn't like the texture - your unctuous curry sounds good tho' - care to share...……………..?

[Amyw Profile]

Seconded vote for aubergine curry please

[Binky Profile]

This is the recipe, from 'Classic Casseroles for your Slow Cooker'

I didn't use curry leaves or apricots.