Made this yesterday and it was lovely. I used some smoked pancetta which gave it an extra dimension. Managed to get hold of the small onions as well from a local grocer. Thanks v much. I’m looking forward to pinching a few more slow cooker recipes!

However this shouldn’t have happened in the first place. So first a couple of questions:

• What type of beef did you use? Different cuts are better in a slow cooker than others. For this recipe I often use Beef shin (or hough as it is called in Scotland) this is very tender, but would be terrible for frying.
• Too much in your slow cooker will slow down the cooking process, as there is more stuff to heat. I would try less vegetables next time.
• You don’t mention how much liquid you put in the slow cooker, while you need less liquid than in other methods of cooking, I usually make sure that at least the meat is completely covered. meat especially can tend to dry out if there isn’t enough liquid. Which could be the reason for the toughness of your meat.

If you don’t think it is any of those problems, I would fall back to the standard issues with slow cooking:

• Did you remove the lid too often? (More than once is usually too often for 6 hours). One of the most important things to know in slow cooking is to not remove the lid. Sure you can maybe do it once half way through to stir, but what you have to remember that every time you remove the lid it will increase your cooking time by 30 minutes. If you absolutely positively have to check it, then make sure to replace the lid as quickly as possible, and I would usually turn the heat back up until you can see the condensation form on the lid once more, before turning it back down to the suggested setting.
• Were all the ingredients hot when you added them to the pan? The meat should be browned, vegetables softened and all liquid boiling before being poured into the slow cooker. What you need to remember is that the slow-cooker doesn’t generate as much as heat as your oven or hob would, the idea is to cook for longer at a lower temperature. However if you added cold ingredients then you will spend at least the first hour of your cooking time (at least) just warming the ingredients up, instead of what should be keeping them at a constant simmer.
• Did you preheat the slow cooker? While a lot of recipes don’t mention pre-heating the slow cooker (and it shouldn’t really be necessary) I always tend to turn mine on high, while I am browning meat etc. Then when all the ingredients are added turn the dial down to the correct setting. I think this can be important, as most slow-cooker recipes tend to suggest adding ingredients one at a time after having them for a brief time in the pan, if you then dump them in a cold slow-cooker they will start to chill back down, during this phase the slow-cooker should always be on and you should keep it covered as much as possible.

Lastly don’t be put off! The first thing I made in the slow cooker the vegetables were still hard, I was more worried about vegetables being over cooked after 6 hours – after that long how could they not be? I think my main problem that time was removing the lid too often. It’s so easy to do, especially when it’s your first recipe.

Hope this helps, and if you have any further questions I would be happy to answer them.

Lauren

While I can’t speak to food-safety issuea, I will tell you that I made a 27hr oxtail in my slow-cooker two weeks ago and I’m still around.

And yes, we just about had it thru straws.