Question for the foodies

[Pondlife]

Since I think my Mumsnet account was errr.. disabled after our holiday, I'm going to ask on here.

The question is Pressure cookers Vs Slow cookers. The aim is to get fall apart, spoon or fork into shreds, type meat dishes. Lamb/Beef curries, Chillis, Ropa vieja etc

What do the panel recommend?

[Alias]

I think both will do it.

Pressure cooker tends to be fast but needs lots of liquid for it to be absorbed sacrificing flavour

Slow cooker is, as the name suggests, a lot slower, doesn't need so much liquid but soaks up the flavour tremendously giving you a great dish

Choice is yours. For curries, I tend to use the slow cooker a lot more. For rice and lentil type dishes, I use the pressure cooker (obviously letting anything rest after cooking to achieve its full flavour potential)

[d000hg]

I like the slow cooker personally, it takes forever but does make the place smell wonderful.

However a big pot in the oven (like for a hot-pot) works great too, you could look into a tagine/tajine as well.

[Lockhouse]

I like the slow cooker personally, it takes forever but does make the place smell wonderful.

However a big pot in the oven (like for a hot-pot) works great too, you could look into a tagine/tajine as well.

WDS. The plus for the slow cooker is that you can sort it before you leave for work and come home to a decent meal without having to lift a finger.

[RasputinDude]

Definitely the slow cooker - if you have the time and foresight to prepare.

[Pondlife]

I like the slow cooker personally, it takes forever but does make the place smell wonderful.

However a big pot in the oven (like for a hot-pot) works great too, you could look into a tagine/tajine as well.

Currently do everything in a big le creuset casserole pot n' lid on the stove but wouldn't leaving the oven on all day cost a small fortune?

[RasputinDude]

It depends on the oven, I guess.

My oven has a timer, so the le creuset goes in cold and the oven turns on at the appointed time.

If you have an arga, it's on all the time anyway, so you may as well make use of the heat.

Once a conventional oven is up to temperature though, does it use much energy keeping it at the right temperature? Can't see it.

[Old Hack]

As d000hg said, Tagines work well, but I have found slow cookers work better with poorer cuts of meat than a pressure cooker does.

I also think the pressure cooker kills the colours in a dish, but that may just be me.

[norrahe]

I'm old school and do the 4 hour simmer in a le creuset myself.

If you really want to go for it try sous vide.

Am looking into getting one of these as I tend to do a lot of slow cooking.

[Old Hack]

I'm old school and do the 4 hour simmer in a le creuset myself.

If you really want to go for it try sous vide.

Am looking into getting one of these as I tend to do a lot of slow cooking.

I too am looking at sous vide, and currently dropping hints all over the house about my brithday coming up...