Slow Cooker Roast, a beginners guide

one of the most common winter questions on eb is about cooking a roast in a slow cooker. it's SOOOO easy - and it's actually great for summer too, as the slow cooker puts out less heat into the kitchen than an oven!

anyway, here's a brief guide to doing a roast in your slow cooker:

• in the bottom of your cooker put some quartered potatoes and / or halved onions and / or balls of foil
  
  
• put the meat on top (make sure you remove all wrapping / any chicken guts etc first)
  
  
• cook on whatever temp you need ie: if it'll be cooking all day long put it on low. if you wnat it quicker or it's frozen put it on high all day, or for 3-4 hours then turn down to low. you'll still need to remove the meat shortly before cooking to 'rest' it.
  
  
• use the juices to make gravy (just add a little stock powder and flour and boil to thicken). of course i make my gravy in my thermomix now but i have done it on high in the SC before, or on the stove. if you have time it's preferable to cool the juices and remove as much fat as possible (i rarely get time to do this)
  
  
• i do prefer beef and marinated whole chickens for the SC roast but lamb and pork are fine too, they just don't get that same roasting as you get in the oven ie: dry heat.
  
  
• you can also put other vegies in around the roast - pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots and even your greens such as brussel sprouts etc, but you need to add them later or they will be overcooked.
  
  
• you DON'T need to add water or any other liquid!!!! a splash of red wine is acceptable ;p you can also add any other seasonings you want eg: garlic and rosemary to lamb etc.
  
  
• there is also a highly popular recipe floating around that involves a beef roast, a packet of french onion soup and a can of coke. i've tried it once and it wasn't my style but it is very popular so is probably worth trying!

let me know how you get on with your next slow cooker roast!

PS: this is so easy it's what we had for dinner last night after arriving home from our weekend away at 11am ;)