slow cooker

[Neil Smith]

35 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

If you are not cruising however it is a fair old chunk of power to cook a meal.

But not as much as your 12a.

Neil

[Naughty Cal]

9 minutes ago, Neil Smith said:

But not as much as your 12a.

Neil

We dont have to have our higher powered one on for as long. So what would take 10 hours in the 12v cooker would only take about 6 in ours. So the power used is pretty much exactly the same.

Even so we don't use ours unless we have a long cruising day planned or we are heading back to the marina so we can plug in.

[Neil Smith]

8 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

We dont have to have our higher powered one on for as long. So what would take 10 hours in the 12v cooker would only take about 6 in ours. So the power used is pretty much exactly the same.

Even so we don't use ours unless we have a long cruising day planned or we are heading back to the marina so we can plug in.

Fair enough, but would be great for a 12/24v only boat.

Neil

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, Mrs Trackman said:

Years ago I saw a 12 volt slow cooker for sale at the shop on Buckby locks.  Seems a better option for most boats if they are still available. Didn't think worth the space for us as in winter the boat man's stove serves the same purpose. 

I don't think I would want to be drawing 7 amps through a fag lighter socket for 8 hours 

[mross]

It depends on whether the OP needs to run an inverter anyway....................

[mross]

On 3/22/2017 at 19:35, mac1 said:

evening all, i'm considering buying one (argos £17), never having used one before. do many of you have one, are they easy to use? thanks mac

Are you in a marina or continuous cruising?  We use a cheap slow cooker - it's great.  Very good for leaving unattended while at work or cruising.  Meal sits there for whenever you are ready to eat.  Great after a long, cold wet day!  You can just throw the raw ingredients in or you can brown meat and then add.  Most meals will probably cook in 6 hours but will be just as good after 12, or even 24 hours.  If you have an inverter for your fridge I would get a normal household one from Argos or Tesco.  If you don't run the inverter then consider a 12V model.

[Naughty Cal]

Or buy a cheap small inverter to run a household one.

They don't need a big inverter. We used to run ours comfortably from a cheap 300w one.

We now have a bigger inverter for running the electric kettle but the old one was more then adequate for the slow cooker.

[Naughty Cal]

This is the slow cooker we use:

https://www.tesco.com/direct/crock-pot-slow-cooker-35l-black/207-1034.prd?skuId=207-1034&pageLevel=sku&sc_cmp=ppc_sh-_-sh-_-tesco-_-207-1034&gclid=CjwKEAjwh9PGBRCfso2n3ODgvUcSJAAhpW5oJG86OJ2yfMinrWNZNVEg5GDAFt1J3p-SxgvA3Q48FBoC4Efw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&source=others

As I said previously it cooks the food far better then the previous Tesco own branded one we used to use. Uses a bit more power but cooks meat better and quicker.

[ditchcrawler]

3 hours ago, Mrs Trackman said:

Years ago I saw a 12 volt slow cooker for sale at the shop on Buckby locks.  Seems a better option for most boats if they are still available. Didn't think worth the space for us as in winter the boat man's stove serves the same purpose. 

I don't think I would want to be drawing 7 amps through a fag lighter socket for 8 hours 

 

I just wish I could find a cool to touch one that was well insulated, I am sure it would run on less than half the power. I am also not sure how the power setting switch works, I do wonder if it just switches in a diode to give half power, not a good thing on an inverter.

[blackrose]

I have a small Argos one that I bought several years ago for £9.95. Great, especially if you're moving the boat all day by yourself. Load it up first thing, run it from the inverter and by the end of the day you moor up and there's a lovely hot meal waiting for you. I also use mine from shore power. I don't usually bother to brown the meat first in a frying pan as instructed. I found it made very little difference to the end product and just meant more washing up.

[mross]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

I don't usually bother to brown the meat first in a frying pan as instructed. I found it made very little difference to the end product and just meant more washing up.

Yes, I've never understood the point of "sealing" meat.  There's no way brownng meat can create a watertight seal to hold in flavour.  

[alan_fincher]

On 22/03/2017 at 22:30, jonathanA said:

They only use something like 60 watts so if your cruising then it's pretty neglible and a slow cooker meal is great after a day of lock wheeling ....

probably not quite so good if running off batteries but even then a 60W one is only going to use about 40AH. 

Well I haven't gone looking at individual models now, but that surprises me.  Even a very small one we used on the boat, really only large enough for 2 person meals, was rated at (I think ) 120 watts.  The big one occasionally used at home is more again.  I've not seen one rated as low as 60 watts - that just sounds too low to me, but perhaps I'm wrong?

[jonathanA]

You could be right Alan the small one we have in the boat is 60w but is a small one great for two.  Just checked the bigger one we bought from Morridogs (Morrisons ) and was quite surprised to see it was 265 Watts. Which probably explains why it's not such a 'slow' cooker....

so backto the OPs original question - depends one the power consumption of your cooker at the 60-100w end it might be ok at the 200/300w end that's going to use a lot of Amp hours from your batteries if your not cruising.

[WotEver]

2 hours ago, mross said:

Yes, I've never understood the point of "sealing" meat.  There's no way brownng meat can create a watertight seal to hold in flavour.  

'Sealing' is total BS as a description but what it does do is to caramelise the sugars on the outside of the meat (the brown bits) which adds another layer to the flavour and can also add texture. 

[MtB]

On 25/03/2017 at 21:40, WotEver said:

'Sealing' is total BS as a description but what it does do is to caramelise the sugars on the outside of the meat (the brown bits) which adds another layer to the flavour and can also add texture. 

 

I'm not falling for that one.  it's not April 1st quite yet...

[WotEver]

6 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

I'm not falling for that one.  it's not April 1st quite yet...

https://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/meat/INT-what-makes-flavor.html

[FadeToScarlet]

We use a Wonderbag when not cruising.

It's an insulated bag, rather like a large beanbag. Start the cooking process to heat up the pan, and then leave it in the bag to simmer and cook with its own retained heat for however long you wish, up to six hours.

 

No power use whatsoever, but slightly more cooking faff as you have to start the meal on the cooker and then transfer it into the bag once part done to finish off.

[WotEver]

5 hours ago, FadeToScarlet said:

We use a Wonderbag when not cruising.

It's an insulated bag, rather like a large beanbag. Start the cooking process to heat up the pan, and then leave it in the bag to simmer and cook with its own retained heat for however long you wish, up to six hours.

 

No power use whatsoever, but slightly more cooking faff as you have to start the meal on the cooker and then transfer it into the bag once part done to finish off.

That sounds similar to Mr D's Thermal Cooker but a lot more faff:

 

Sadly, it appears to me that it's no longer available. 

[mross]

If you brown meat before casseroling it all the brown dissolves - I suppose it adds a little to the sauce.  As for simmering in the bean bag - it can't, since to 'simmer' it would need to stay at 100 degrees C.

[blackrose]

10 hours ago, WotEver said:

'Sealing' is total BS as a description but what it does do is to caramelise the sugars on the outside of the meat (the brown bits) which adds another layer to the flavour and can also add texture. 

My taste buds must be failing me then as it's never made any discernible difference to the flavour when I've tried it.

[Naughty Cal]

Will be sticking our chicken in pot shortly rubbed with some hot Peri Peri spices. 

[Neil Smith]

And why seal out all the flavours from you herbs and spices that you would infuse into the meat by sealing it first.

Neil

Edited March 26, 2017 by Neil Smith

[tree monkey]

21 minutes ago, Neil Smith said:

And why seal out all the flavours from you herbs and spices that you would infuse into the meat by sealing it first.

Neil

Your not sealing the meat as has been pointed out already the browning creates a caramelised crust which adds exrra flavour to the dish,

Its why you should cook steak at a high temp to create the caramelised crust, hmmmmmm might buy a steak for tea tonight

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

I knew it had a technical name, the Maillard reaction

Edited March 26, 2017 by tree monkey
Added the wiki link

[WotEver]

39 minutes ago, blackrose said:

My taste buds must be failing me then as it's never made any discernible difference to the flavour when I've tried it.

Do you like a steak?

Try cooking one on a really low heat for about 6 or 7 minutes. It will be cooked through and grey. 

Now try cooking one the traditional way on a high heat for about 4 minutes. It will have caramelised bits on the outside. 

See if you can tell the difference.

21 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction

I knew it had a technical name, the Maillard reaction

Yup, as per my post 9 hours previously

 

[WotEver]

37 minutes ago, Neil Smith said:

And why seal out all the flavours from you herbs and spices that you would infuse into the meat by sealing it first.

I refer you to my previous reply...