Swan SF17021RN Retro Slow Cooker with 3 Temperature Settings, Keep Warm Function, 3.5L, 200W, Retro Red

Product Information

You can activate a keep warm setting to keep your food ready for as long as six hours after your cooking mode has finished. The sear mode took only a few minutes to pre-heat and we were able to brown our onions before adding curry ingredients, which delivered a lot of extra flavour.The slow cooker's 'reduce' function was useful for bubbling away excess liquid after slow cooking. Size: With sizes starting at 1-litre through to a whopping 6.5-litres, choosing the right size for you is imperative. The smallest sizes are suitable when cooking for one or two. 3-litres to 4.5-litres (one of the most popular sizes on the market) serve four, and the large 6-6.5-litre models are super for families and batch cooking. It's also worth bearing in mind that the capacity stated on the sales blurb is the size of the bowl, not the working capacity, which can sometimes be half that.

If you receive any damaged items on your delivery, please state the full extent of the damage on the driver’s delivery note when signing for the goods. This function can be found on the majority of slow cookers, helping to retain the temperature of your food without cooking it further – handy when you’re struggling to round up the family!Some things can deter us all from cooking. Having to transfer food from a pan to a pot, cleaning up or that annoying puddle of water you get from putting the lid down on the worktop when it comes to the best slow cookers. If that's you, you need this model, which can act as a cooker and a serving pot that you can plonk down straight on the dining table. Slow cookers range in capacity, from a compact 1.5 litres up to 7 litres. As a general guide, a 1.5 to 2.3-litre capacity is great for two people, a larger 4 to 4.5 litres will feed four, and 5.5 to 7 litres is ideal for four to six people. Anything of a nature that for hygiene or associated health and safety - this includes the Outdoor Spas, Mattresses and Divan Sets I was delighted with the results from the Swan; it produced one of the tastiest meals I've had from a slow cooker, and the moisture levels were just perfect. The meat was also tender without becoming too dry. No. The Lakeland Brushed Chrome Family Slow Cooker offers all the same features for little over half the price. So you’d basically only buy the Swan instead if you desperately want a red slow cooker… In which case, go for the Morphy Richards 3.5L Digital Sear and Stew Slow Cooker in red instead: it’s the same price as the Swan but it brings extra features such as delayed start and a hob-safe pot for searing or sautéing ingredients. At the same price point it’s also well worth considering the versatile Tefal 8 in 1 Multi Cooker. Verdict

The inner pot needs to be at room temperature before you start cooking. If you've kept a slow cooker dish in the fridge, you must wait for it to warm up before turning it on. Functions: additional functions on the slow cooker including browning, reheating, reducing and whether it is hob or oven-safe The sides of the slow cooker did get quite hot, so you do need to keep it out of reach of little ones, but the cool-touch handles are a nice feature and make it easy to manoeuvre. It's also relatively lightweight for moving about the kitchen. They aren’t just for stews and casseroles either. In fact, they're real multi-taskers, even up to the challenge of cooking a whole cut of meat – including sweet and salty coca cola ham or a tender beef joint. Vegetarian family favourites such as macaroni cheese are also a go-to. Take a look at our collection of must-cook slow cooker recipes for more inspiration.Basic slow cookers won’t get hot enough to sauté meat or vegetables, so you’ll need to do this in a pan before transferring the contents to the bowl. However, more expensive models offer a different one-pot solution. This can either be bowls that you use on your hob or in your oven in place of a pan (some will even be induction compatible). They will need to be moved to the slow cooker base. Machines with a sauté function for high-heat browning can simply be switched to slow cooking. When we tested its slow cooking mode we found that it's almost too good at retaining moisture. Recipes that came out more saucy in some slow cookers were a little less rich because it's also designed to be an airtight pressure cooker. That can be remedied though by adding less liquid or taking into account the liquid that will come out of meat and veggies when you add them. Slow cookers with digital controls may also have a delay start, which is ideal if you’re out of the house for more than eight hours. This means you can start cooking at a time to suit you – while it’s hard to overcook recipes with a lot of liquid, this gives more freedom with dishes that could potentially start to dry out. A timer is another handy feature – this will either turn the machine off after cooking or put it into a limited time keep warm mode. The advantage of this is not leaving all that lovely seared flavour behind in a pan, and it reduces washing-up. Finally, look for a slow cooker with a transparent lid, so you can keep an eye on your food’s progress. Lifting the lid of a slow cooker while it’s in use lets out heat and steam, prolonging cooking time. It’s always best to be able to see what’s going on without doing so. Are slow cookers easy to clean?

The Russell Hobbs Good to Go Multicooker is a true multi-tasker. Armed with a variety of capabilities, you can make sure that your meat is cooked just right before you cut it open, or fill up a water bath for succulent sous vide fish or veggies. This digital slow cooker comes with a removable control dial on its front control panel, which has pre-set modes for steaming and stewing as well as high and low manual temperature levels. There is also a keep warm mode. I was pleased to find it wasn't all substance over style, however. During testing, it was easy to use (it just needs plugging in and the dial adjusting to your chosen setting), and the results were delicious – it produced a tasty, creamy curry without any of the wateriness that can sometimes occur with slow cooker dishes. Some slow cookers will automatically shift to this mode after a programme has ended, while others require switching manually. This function starts your cooking off on a high setting before automatically reducing the temperature to the low setting for the remainder of the cooking time. Working days are defined as Monday-Friday 8am-7pm inclusive, excluding Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays. Next Day & Named Day DeliveryDoes your slow cooker have good heat distribution? Some can suffer from hot spots that cause drying out in corners or at the base. Uneven heat is something that’s more likely to occur in larger bowls.

While the stated capacity is 3.5 litres, the working capacity is more like 2.5 litres, to allow room for bubbling and simmering. Swan 3.5 Litre Slow Cooker – What’s it like to use? An avid foodie, she loves nothing more than trying new culinary creations in the kitchen, which often includes testing out and researching the latest time-saving gadgets for Mumsnet, including slow cookers, air fryers and multi-cookers. Make sure all items returned are complete; any incomplete items will not be credited and will be classed as unauthorised. Slow cookers range in size from a compact 1.5 litres to a 6.5-litre bowl, so be sure to choose the right size for the way you intend to cook. As a rough guide, 1.5-3 litres will feed one or two people, 3-5 litres, three or four people and anything over five litres should suit a large family, with six litres or more ideal for batch cooks who like to fill the freezer. Alternatively, a larger cooker is great for those who like to eat what’s leftover for lunch the next day.An increasingly popular way of cooking, sous-vide is a French term that simply means ‘under vacuum’. You place your food inside a sealed pouch and then pop it into a temperature-controlled water bath to cook. If you fail to return the goods, we will collect them, and will charge you the direct cost of collection. If you fail to take reasonable care of the goods before they are returned to us, and this results in damage or deterioration, we will charge you for the reduction in value. You can also select a convenient day to receive your delivery by choosing a named day delivery (delivery on working days only). Most slow cookers will have similar standard controls – high heat for meals cooked in less than a few hours, low heat for all-day cooking. A 'keep warm' mode should hold food at a serveable temperature without actually cooking it. Some cookers will switch to 'keep warm' automatically after an elapsed cooking time, while more basic models need this altered manually.