We've had a slow cooker in the Crafty Blueberry household for several years and have made good use of it, but it was so big that it had to live in the cellar as it wouldn't fit in the kitchen, and was really too large for making meals for two. A couple of weeks ago we bought this small, basic slow cooker from Wilkinsons for £8 and it's just right for making meals for one or two people. It's also small enough to fit in our tiny kitchen, and because it's out on the worktop all the time we use it more.
The latest slow cooker concoction was pigs cheeks braised in cider, which I made by tweaking this recipe.
It turned out a little too sweet because of the apples and the caramalised onions, s when I make it again I'll use a cooking apple as it will be a bit more tart, and dryer cider. The pig cheeks were AMAZING and so cheap. Rich, full of flavour and incredibly tender. My only concern is that trendy chefs will hijack them ,then the prices will bump up; go try them while they're cheap!
We're going on a self-catering holiday in Wales soon and will actually be bringing our little slow cooker away with us. I don't make a habit of travelling with my household appliances but I reckon it will be lovely to come home after a day out knowing that all we have to do in terms of meal preparation is open a bottle of wine...that's frugal cooking at it's best.
Trendy chefs are a bane aren't they, get in on the act and up goes the price. Lamb neck fillet is a good example of that. We also like pork cheeks
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