Morphy Richards 48720 - Manual (Page 5)

5
Tips for slow
cooking
• The slow cooker must be at least
half full for best results.
• Slow cooking retains moisture. If
you wish to reduce this, remove
the lid after cooking and turn the
control to high (if set to low or
medium) and reduce the
moisture by simmering for 30 to
45 minutes.
• Removing the lid will allow
valuable heat to escape,
reducing the efficiency of your
slow cooker and increasing the
cooking time. If you remove the
lid more than a couple of times
to stir or add ingredients, then
you will need to allow 10-15
minutes extra cooking time each
time you remove the lid.
• If cooking soups, leave 5 cm
space between the top of the
cook pot and the food surface to
allow for simmering.
• Many recipes will take several
hours to cook. If you don’t have
time to prepare food in the
morning, prepare it the night
before, storing the food in a
covered container in the fridge.
Transfer the food to the ceramic
pot and add boiling liquid/stock.
In most of the recipes in this
book, the meat ingredients are
browned first to improve their
appearance and flavour.
• If you are short on preparation
time and would prefer to skip the
browning stage, simply add your
meat and other ingredients into
the slow cooker and cover with
boiling liquid/stock. You will need
to increase the recipe cooking
time as follows: High setting
+1hr, Medium setting +1-2hrs,
Low Setting +2-3hrs.
• Most meat and vegetable recipes
require 8-10 hours on low, 5-7
hours on medium and 4-6 hours
on high.
• Do not use frozen meat or
poultry unless it is thoroughly
thawed out first.
• Some ingredients are not
suitable for slow cooking.
Pasta, seafood, milk, and cream
should be added towards the
end of the cooking time. Many
things can affect how quickly a
recipe will cook, water and fat
content, initial temperature of
the food and the size of the
food.
• Pieces of food cut into small
pieces will cook quicker.
A degree of ‘trial and error’ will
be required to fully optimise the
potential of your slow cooker.
• Vegetables usually take longer
to cook than meat, so try and
arrange vegetables in the lower
half of the pot.
• After food is cooked, switch off
and leave covered with the lid.
There will be enough heat in the
ceramic pot to keep warm for
30 minutes. If you require longer
to keep warm, switch to the low
setting.
• All food should be covered with
a liquid, gravy or sauce. In a
separate pan or jug, prepare
your liquid, gravy or sauce and
completely cover the food in the
ceramic pot.
• Pre-brown meat and onions in a
pan to seal in the juices, this
also reduces the fat content if
separated before adding to the
ceramic pot. This is not
necessary if the time is limited,
but improves the flavour.
• When cooking joints of meat,
ham, poultry etc, the size and
shape of the joint is important.
Try to keep the joint in the lower
2/3 of the pot and fully cover
with water. If necessary, cut into
two pieces. Joint weight should
be kept within the maximum
limit: 1 kg for a medium sized
slow cooker, and 1.5 kg for a
large sized slow cooker.
COOKING GUIDE
The cooking times given in the
following recipes are for the
‘MEDIUM’ setting. Should you
want to increase or reduce the
time, please refer to the
cooking guide A. Please note
that these cooking times are for
guidance only and may vary
depending on food type and
personal tastes. For your
convenience, a conversion table
for weight and volume has been
included on page 19.
Eg. If the recipe says cook for
4-6 hours (MED) and you
require this to be a shorter time,
cook on HIGH, which will
reduce the cooking time to 3-4
hours. Increasing the time,
choose LOW which will give 6-8
hours.
The recipes are based on
MAXIMUM WORKING
VOLUMES which are:
6.5 litres: Working capacity of
4 .5 litres / 8 pts. This allows a
3cm space between the top of
the ceramic pot and the food.
3.5 litres: Working capacity of
2 .5 litres / 4 1/2 pts. This allows a
2cm space between the top of
the ceramic pot and the food.
NOTE: THE CAPACITY CAN BE
FOUND ON THE RATING
PLATE UNDERNEATH THE
PRODUCT.
Equivalent cook times for (LOW) and (HIGH) settings A
Cook on
(MEDIUM)
4 - 6 hours
6 - 8 hours
8 - 10 hours
Cook on
(LOW)
6 - 8 hours
8 - 10 hours
10 - 12 hours
Cook on
(HIGH)
3 - 4 hours
5 - 6 hours
7 - 8 hours
FFoorr ddeettaaiillss ooff ootthheerr M Moorrpphhyy RRiicchhaarrddss pprroodduuccttss,, pplleeaassee sseeee oouurr w weebbssiittee::
48720 Rev2 15/8/08 10:31 Page 5