Lakeland 12921, Instruction Booklet

8

A GUIDE TO INGREDIENTS

• 

 To ensure uniform cooking, prepare meat and vegetables so they are in similar sized pieces 
and will cook evenly. Root vegetables often take longer to cook than meat, so they should be 
more finely diced or chopped.

• 

 You may need to reduce liquids in recipes to around half, because the slow cooker is covered 
by a lid. If you find there is too much liquid at the end of cooking time, you can remove the 
lid and cook on high for about 30 minutes until the liquid reduces.

• 

 The slow cooking method gives great results when cooking cheaper cuts of meat which 
require longer cooking in order to become tender, but often have more flavour.

• 

 Brown the meat before adding it to the slow cooker. This adds flavour to the final dish and 
the meat often looks more attractive. 

• 

 If you wish to use frozen meats, defrost thoroughly before adding to the slow cooker, never 
cook from frozen.

•     If you don’t have time to get your ingredients ready in the morning, they can be prepared 

the night before and stored in the fridge. In the morning, transfer the food to the crock. 
Add enough boiling liquid e.g. stock, to cover the ingredients, before switching on the slow 
cooker.

•    As a general guide, most meat-and-vegetable recipes require 5-7 hours on auto warm, 4-5 

hours on high and 7-9 hours on low.

•     Slow cooking requires very little in the way of stirring, but you may like to give your food an 

occasional stir if cooking on HIGH.

ADAPTING YOUR OWN RECIPES

After you have made some of the recipes supplied you may wish to adapt a few of your own 
recipes.

• 

 Start by selecting one of the recipes in this booklet, which is similar to your own and use this 
as a guide.

• 

 Adapt your recipes by chopping everything in uniform sized pieces so it will all cook evenly 
and be ready at once.

• 

Place items which may need longer to cook near the base of the pan. This means they are 
nearer the heat source and are likely to sit in any liquid which will also help them to cook.

• 

 Fish and seafood tend to dry out quickly so are best added to dishes near the end of cooking 
time. 

• 

 Recipes will require far less liquid than their equivalents cooked on the hob: reduce the liquid 
by half, you can always top up during cooking if it seems too dry.

• 

 Reduce salt in recipes as the long slow cook and reduced liquid means flavours are more 
enhanced and less salt is required.