A slow cooker is a convenient ... you simply enter a cooking time and temperature (low or high), and at the end of the cooking cycle the machine kicks over to the warm setting.

This score reflects the results using the slow cooker's high setting for 5 hours when cooking our beef stew recipe. High scores indicate more tender meat and vegetables at the end of 5 hours.

High scores indicate more tender meat and vegetables at the end of 5 hours. This score reflects the results using the slow cooker's low setting for 8 hours when cooking our beef stew recipe.

This slow cooker recipe cooks best on high for a shorter time but you can ... or two smaller thighs per person. If you end up with an uneven number, don’t worry too much, the chicken is so ...

This is particularly important with veg to avoid mush at the end ... and then adding to a slow cooker. Some, like kidney beans, contain toxins that are only killed at high temperatures.