Help - I am a beginner cook - silverside roast beef

Anagram Glad to hear that you were successful with your first venture with the slow cooker. It's invaluable for tenderising the cheaper cuts of meat (the electricity used is about the same as a light bulb). Not that topside is particularly cheap, but I have never understood why anyone roasts it in the oven – I suppose it's because it's easy to carve. Pot roast, yes, but it's really not a roasting joint and will never be as tender as, say, a rib. Ideal for the slow cooker, though.

Thanks, glass - that's a good idea. OH doesn't like anything too tough (which is how my joints usually come out of the oven!), so the slow cooker is a good alternative.

nag a gammon joint is great in the slow cooker.

I'd just like to report that the topside was a complete success! Thanks to everyone who gave advice - think I'll try a chicken next....

Something I like to remember is that vegetables tke longer than meat, so
I like to get them in before I start to prepare the meat. A small chicken is one of my favourite things to slow-cook, and another is rabbit joints. Curries are good too...

I have books from mands also waitrose , tescos sainsburys Israel, Caribbean Italy India France. My bible is Larousse gastronomique

Sadly, jeni and Elegran I'm no Nigella or Delia – nor a Jamie or a James either. Just a jobbing writer. A fair number of my books in M & S, quite a few in places like Asda too. I think they sell fairly well, but I sell copyright to the publisher outright and am not on a royalty, so I'm not au fait with sales figures.

I'd like to know what name absent writes under too.

It takes great self-control, particularly as it gets near to ready and you can smell it! You can put in dumplings for the last part of the cooking time, if you pop them in on top and close the lid smartly.

Elegran - no, that's the one thing that I have absolutely resisted doing!

Absent what name do you write under. Pm me if you're worried about GNHQ, but I don't think a reply to a question counts as advertising?

Don't keep taking the lid off to see how it is doing - each time it is opened it loses some heat and has to make up for it by cooking longer. When dear son-in-law (keen cook) was here I had to rap his knuckles several times for opening up for a stir and a sniff. Let it be!

She has put you on the right track,you won't be disappointed.

I always start everything off really hot before it goes in my slow cooker, so I'll brown meat, add stock till it's bubbling, do whatever I want to do with veg such as brown onions, then add them all and turn it up high so it gets off to a good start. After that, leave it on low or medium for a few hours and it turns out fine. Mine doesn't have the power to make things bubble unless I give it a flying start.

glamma, I thought I'd start with something simple, so it is a small topside joint, just with onions and stock. I'm going to go away and leave it now, I have complete faith in absent's advice!

Oh, thanks, absent, that's put my mind at rest - I could see us eating at midnight! It is just forming bubbles round the sides now, so at least I know something is happening.
How kind of you to reply so soon

It doesn't really bubble noticeably as a dish in a pan on the hob would. It cooks very gently – below boiling point. Don't worry – just leave it on the specified setting for the specified length of time. Trust me – I have written several books of slow cooker recipes. (My books all had introductions which told you things like this, too.)

anagram what are you cooking sweetie ?

Thanks, absent - but that's the point, it's not bubbling at all
Does it take a couple of hours to start bubbling?
(Yes, it is a new cooker)

Anagram If you're using your slow cooker for the first time, I assume that it is a new one, not one of the older ones that had to be preheated (check the manufacturer's handbook). You time the recipe from when all the ingredients have been put in the cooker, you have put on the lid, then switched the cooker on. The whole point of a slow cooker is that it cooks at a low temperature (but one high enough to kill bacteria). Don't worry about steam – you're unlikely to see it. It condenses on the inside of the cooker lid and then runs back into the cooking pot. That's why slow cooker recipes usually have less liquid than conventionally cooked stews. casseroles, etc. If the pot is hot, then it's working – just leave it to bubble gently for the specified length of time and do not lift the lid. Lifting the lid lowers the temperature and it takes at least 20 minutes for it to return to the required level.

I'm using my slow cooker for the first time today!
What I'd like to ask is how long it usually takes for the heat to build up and steam start forming. I had it on low (because that's what the recipe said) for an hour, but nothing seemed to be happening so I turned it to high. That was ages ago, and still nothing seems to be happening!
The pot is hot, so it is working, but do you time the cooking from the start or from when it starts steaming?
My recipe book doesn't make this clear.
Help!

Thank goodness for that, redblue! I was getting quite concerned! Slow cookers are wonderful inventions, aren't they?

Thanks green and glammanana - on the back of your posts I turned it off at 1pm and turned it back on again on low at about 6pm and we ate at 9pm. I know this is not the way to do it and in the future I will turn it on for a cooking time of about 6 hours not 12! the problem was I had to go out (take my children to nursery, work various chores etc etc) and cannot trust dear husband to turn things on etc!
it was good tho - as there was some sauce/gravy to go over it and it was flaky. without the sauce /gravy it probably would have been dry. i didnt cut it up into cubes i just put it in as a whole roast with the net/string binding it together and took that off when i carved
anyway thanks for your invaluable input

glammanana,-yes, I did think it would be too long to leave it in! I've never cooked on low all day though, so perhaps it would be ok? If I do a brisket joint, I usually only have it in the slow cooker for about 6 hours at the very most, but that's on medium . Well, redblue will be serving it up soon....hope it's ok!

green do you not think that 12hrs is a bit too long a time and that it may go dry ? but on thinking if it is on very low it may be OK.I hope you enjoyredblue i tend to use cheaper cuts of meat in a slow cooker as they always turn out nice and tender,and never mind the strife if my other half ever complained he would be doing his own cooking we have no strife in this house as every thing I do is correct !!!!