Kitchen Garden Forum

A friend has given me her unused Swan Slow Cooker which has a Slow, High & Auto setting, but unfortunately she's lost the instruction manual. Can anybody tell me where I can find a copy or suggest how long the average caserole will take to cook on the High and Slow settings. Have browsed the internet unsuccessfully. Thanks.

I have a Breville here is a couple of examples
Beef Goulash Low 6-8 hours
High 3-4
Auto 8-9
that is with stewing steak

Chilli made with mince L 6
H 3
A 8

Hope this helps , I tend to use whatever time I have sometimes it is longer and I have has no diasters, Just remember to boil beans before using in slow cooker or use tinned and you will be ok

Thanks Gilly. That's helpful as we had our first rather unsuccessful experiment last night with stewing steak, cooked on Auto, for 8 hours. It was cooked, but very "chewy" and there was far too much liquid. Am I correct in assuming that because there is less evaporation, you should add less liquid to slow cookers? Also, although I sealed the meat first in a frying pan, I didn't soften the sliced onions, putting them in raw and the texture of these was quite crisp, even after 8 hours. My husband thinks this may be because we added some red wine to the liquid, which seemed to have had the effect of "slightly pickling" them. Can anybody throw any light on where I went wrong?

I never brown or pre cook anything, if using meat from the fridge depending on the amount it can take some time to heat up a couple of hours would have made all the difference, I doo pre soak dried mushrooms though,as for the amount of liquid I usually start with a tin of chopped tomatoes than add everything else and just enough liquid to cover unless using lentils pearl barley etc then I might add a bit more later on, if I am around I use high until it starts to simmer and then turn it to low auto seems to take ages to get going ! try rice pudding about 3-4 hours depending on setting L or H

Primrose, someone else has the same problem here The AnswerBank

However from some internet searching I am led to believe that Littlewoods owns the rights to the "Swan" brand and on their website at Littlewoods we find a current model slow cooker with exactly the same control as you describe, see the closeup by clicking the picture only other helpful thing is it does list a Swan helpline number, lastly some sensible advice can be found at Not Easy Being Green

Thanks for your suggestions. Think I'll take myself down to the library and head for the Cookery Book section. Bound to find some simple recipes there.

Hi,

I am considering buying a slow cooker as i work ful time and have a little boy so cooking when i get home is very hard. Would you say it will be worth my while.

Thanks
Janine

Hi Primrose. I typed this information earlier and lost it when my internet went down as I have only just seen this posting. I have had a slow cooker and use it at least two to three times a week.

Mine is a Prima and the recipe timing is as follows.

IF THE RECIPE SAYS TO COOK FOR 30 MINS
Cook on LO for 6-8 hrs
cook on High for 3-4 hrs
Cook on Auto for 5-7 hours

IF THE RECIPE SAYS TO COOK FOR 35-60 MINS
Cook on LO for 8-10 hours
Cook on HIGH for 5-6 hours
Cook on Auto for 6=8 hours

If the recipe says cook for 1-3 hours
Cook on LO for 10-12 hours
Cook on HI for 7-8 hours
Cook on Auto for 8-10 hours

I have a Slow Cooker Recipe Book which is brilliant y Catherine Atkinson

If anyone wants to PM me I will scan any recipe out of the book and send it to you.

They are seriously good. I would not be without mine.