Great slow cooker (Morphy Richards Slow Cooker)

Member Name: rosebud2001

Product:	Morphy Richards Slow Cooker
Date:	19/10/08 (1094 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Saves time, cheap to run

Disadvantages: Could maybe go hotter on "high"

I have recently been trying to make more food from scatch and making a steak pie which ended up having quite tough meat made me realise I needed to invest in a slow cooker.

So off I went to Argos, where I found the Morphy Richards Accents Black slow cooker on offer from its normal price of £29.99 at £19.99 so I happily bought it.

This slow cooker has a capacity of 3.5 litres. This is perfectly adequate for one dish which could easily feed 4-6 people but there are larger slow cookers out there for larger families or for those of you who like to cook in bulk.

My daughter and myself love steak pie and I was determined to make the filling have meat that melted in the mouth so I got to work pretty quickly.

I browned the casserole steak in a pan with chopped onion and a little flour. I then added all of that and some bouillon stock, salt, pepper into my slow cooker along with some mushrooms and sliced carrots.

I then set the cooker to medium and left it for 6 hours to slowly cook.

I have to say the results were delicious - beautifully tender meat and it knocked socks off the steak I had cooked conventionally!

One of the great things about slow cookers is the fact they use far less energy than your conventional cooker, so you are saving money that way. You can also save money because you can use cheaper cuts of meat in your dishes because the slow cooking process makes them far more tender and palatable.

I have also made soup using my slow cooker and I was really impressed with the results and its something I plan on doing more frequently now that the weather is cooling down as winter approaches.

I particularly like how I can do minor food preparation in the morning and then go away and leave the slow cooker to do the work meaning cooking dinner is far less of a chore come evening. If you have a busy schedule this is a fantastic advantage.

The Morphy Richards slow cooker comes with a recipe book to get you started but it is a very simple gadget to use. It has one switch which you turn on by setting to low, medium or high. Most dishes you would leave for several hours to cook are done on medium.

Cleaning it is easy too - you simply remove the ceramic "crock pot" from its metal casing and you can either wash it, and the toughened glass lid, by hand, or put both in the dishwasher.

The slow cooker also has non slip feet, which is a great safety feature although I would always recommend ensuring this is kept well back on your work surfaces.

My only criticism of the slow cooker is the fact that even when I turn it up to high, I cannot get my pie filling sauce to thicken enough when I add cornflour so I always have to transfer it to a pan on the hob to do this. Granted its only a five minute job, but it is a bit of a pain and I do yearn for a high enough heat setting to do it in my slow cooker!

However this is only a minor complaint and overall I would highly recommend this slow cooker.

The slow cooker is still available on Argos but has reverted to the £29.99 pricetag.

www.argos.co.uk

Summary: Excellent Morphy Richards kitchen gadget