I see you don't brown the meat before it goes in.Looks really nice.
I sometimes do and other times (the chilli above) I don't. The OH looks at me as if I've just added a pinch of cat poo to the dish when I do data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
LOL, my wife is exactly the same. I can't tell a difference in flavour either way.
I did this recipe in the slow cooker (5 hours on low) .It was so authentic tasting
Beef Stifado
Preparation time: 30 mins / Cooking time: at least 3 hours
Ingredients
The following recipe will feed 6 hungry guests!
1.5 Kgs Stewing or chuck steak
100g plain flour
At least 1/2 bottle of good, rich red wine
2 Tbsp (30ml) red wine vinegar
3 Cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
800g baby onions or shallots
Olive oil for frying
1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
3 Bay leaves
½ tsp ground allspice
2 Tbsp tomato puree
200ml beef stock (made with oxo / stock cube, I prefer knorr)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 160 deg C / Gas mark 3
Cut your beef into large chunks, the bigger the better, but around 2" is about right. Season the flour with plenty of black pepper and a bit of salt, and coat the chunks of beef. In a fairly hot pan, heat the olive oil and when hot, fry your chunks of beef until sealed on all sides and slighty browned. These can be done in batches of a few at a time if required. Put into a large casserole or a pot with a lid when done.
Add some more oil to the pan and fry the onions (chopped in half if they're too big) over a medium heat until they start to brown - about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and fry for a further minute. Put this into the casserole with the beef. Pour the wine into the pan, add the red wine vinegar, cinnamon, ground allspice and heat until it just begins to boil. Add this to the casserole along with the beef stock and the bayleaves. Stir in the tomato puree.
Put the lid onto your brimming casserole and whack it into the oven. Grab yourself the other half bottle of wine and marinate your throat and stomach in it. Occasionally disturb yourself to give the stifado a stir. It will take at least 3 hours to cook, but 4 will be better and 5 won't hurt it! When it's done, the meat should be very tender and the sauce nice and thick.
Did a chicken in the crockpot last night whole sauté function first in chilli tarragon salt pepper, then added garlic ginger and a lemon and the juice and a bit of chicken stock.
45 mins cooked removed chicken back on sauté function added some veg and mini dumplings, beautiful never got so much flavour into a chicken so easily.
Lovely and moist too.
You managed to cook a whole chicken in 45 minutes in a slow cooker? My halogen oven takes longer than that.
Crock pot 8 in one multi function cooker, sauté then pressure huge chicken too just fit in !
How have you been getting on with yours and would you recommend to others?
I've got two in my basket right now and am leaning more towards the Crock Pot with it having a stainless steel insert.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OP26T4K/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XCFS7M6/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza?th=1
Crock pot mate is superb don’t use it masses but more of a winter thing do a lot of whole chickens in it easy fast and no mess highly recommended !
Cheers mate.
It's going straight in my basket data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
We cook a chicken weekly and I'm liking the idea of 35 minutes in the pot rather than the current 1.5 hrs.
I’m sure you will love it mate, I’m currently in Portugal in 26degree sun so not really thinking crockpots data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 lamb kebabs tonight with cold superbock !