Slow

“Do we ever get slow rain?” Anthony T. Hincks

To tell the truth I'm not quite sure what the quote at the top of the page means. I suppose the implication is that rain is never slow and rain is good? But you can get slow rain - the sort of rain that is almost not rain - more of a mist kind of thing, or else the very spasmodic rain that consists of just a few drops here and there and now and then. But maybe I have completely missed the meaning - maybe I'm being slow. So slow is not necessarily good, though most of the world would like you to think so.

And it is interesting is it not, that we are being tempted by the food gurus to be fast, fresh and easy, and simultaneously to be slow, comforting and easy. Easy goes with both you will note. And in a way fast does too - because although the cooking may be slow with slow cooking, the preparation is said to be fast - and yes - easy.

But I'm not really heading into philosophical territory about this. I'm more inspired by the latest Coles Magazine that was highly focused on slow food (well it's winter coming up) and more particularly on slow cookers. They had a big section on recipes for slow cookers. Though I have to applaud them in that they gave alternatives if you had no slow cooker - like me.

So I started to think about slow cooking and slow cookers in particular. Now I have never owned one of these, (or a pressure cooker either - now is that the opposite of a slow cooker?), but I have owned a Le Creuset doufeu, and I do have an oven. Indeed I still have one, maybe two Le Creuset doufeus. My favourite though was lent to someone who suddenly found himself with no cooking equipment. My husband lent it to him - he was a work colleague - and I never got it back. I haven't quite forgiven him for that. Sorry David. And they are now ridiculously expensive to buy. But you can use them on an induction cooker.

I mention the Le Creuset because when I was reading about slow cookers I saw that they operate by having a lid that evaporates the steam and directs it back down into the cooking food. Which is basically what the Le Creuset did. The lid had an indentation which you filled with water, so that the steam inside the pot was cooled and turned back into liquid. Mind you, you had to keep refilling the lid with water.

I must say I was a bit surprised to learn that fundamentally the slow cooker worked in the same way. I thought it just cooked the food very, very slowly. Like a very slow oven or, if you live in England and are posh - an Aga.

The few articles I found of people testing them out seemed to confirm my suspicion that they are not really worth having. It seems to me that there are two main drawbacks. One - they are designed for busy people who theoretically just throw some things into it, and turn put them on before they go to work coming back to a delicious cooked meal at the end of the day. Well yes, sure, but you've either got to get up early and do all the preparation - cut up the meat and vegetables, etc. - or do it the night before. I'm willing to be that neither option is attractive to a busy working home cook - or me come to that. Two - it seems that you have to work hard to make the food tasty - the danger is bland apparently. But to be fair it's probably just learning a different way to cook. I think you have to add more flavour and some of it at the end. Which makes Coles 'options' interesting because really their usual option is to cook in a slow oven instead.

However, sales are booming over there in the UK where times are tough, and maybe here too. Maybe some people are digging out their old crockpots from back in the 70s. Why?

"Winter traditionally heralds a rise in slow cooker sales, but it is recession that has pushed sales through the roof." Jamie Merrill - The Independent

Now why would a recession make you go out and buy something extra for your kitchen that is going to be using electricity all day whilst you are out at work? Well they say it's because it's designed for cooking cheap cuts of meat and things like pulses which are also cheap. And they also cut down on the preparation (not true I suspect).

"A slow cooker is the perfect appliance for a recession. They cook the kind of comfort food that offers the culinary equivalent of a haven in a heartless world." Judith Finlayson

Do you really need a gadget though? Surely you can cook something slow and comforting in the oven - though I will admit that this will also use electricity - probably more in fact. Nevertheless some ovens come with a slow food setting. Mine does. And in times gone by this is what people did - they cooked things in those massive wood or gas fired ovens that were the predecessors of the modern Aga. Or they cooked them in a cast iron pot hung over a fire. Or alternatively, today, you can go the fast, fresh and easy route - the stir fry or pasta.

It has to be said though that all those clean food and health food aficionados have taken on board the slow cooker and are putting out recipes for all manner of stuff - including cakes.

I suppose they're a kind of simpler thermomix - haven't got one of them either.

I do like slow food - slow casseroles, slow roasts, slow braises but I much prefer to do them on my cooktop - the induction cooker is really, really good at doing slow - or in the oven. And I suppose winter is the time. There was a recipe for a cassoulet in the Coles Magazine which was tempting. ...

Essentially though, I think the 'slow' food movement is really about fast. The food might take a long time to cook - but it's set and leave kind of cooking. You don't have to constantly stir it like risotto or watch it like steak or sausages - you just leave it do its thing on its own. The tiny bit of preparation actually makes it fast - so it still fits into the fast and easy thing to my mind.