Slow cooker and beef

[1gear]

Hello
The parents have gone away, well they went away on sunday, and ive got some diced beef that im wanting to put in the slow cooker.
We do have a slow cooker which we got a while back but it got used a few times then my mum got fed up of it so it got put into the cupboard and forgot about.
Its only ever been used for chicken because this is the only meat my mum eats( ) but i want to put this diced beef into it.
So, what i want to know is, how the hell do i do it? Do i brown it first then put it in the slow cooker with something or other(use an oxo cube?) or what.
Help?
What setting do i use aswell? I take it it would be fine while i go to work, i set off at 8 and i get back home again at about 6:30.
So i turn to YACF for knowledge.

Cheers

[Wascally Weasel]

This would be a good slow cooker use of your diced beef if you’re prepared to faff about first thing:

Just Slow Cooking Recipes - Lots of slowcooking recipes for you to browse.

(you can probably simplify this but it does answer your browning question)

I could never do this though as I would be too tempted to get stuck in to the cooking beer, which probably is a bad thing just before going to work.

[Phil]

Chop a couple of onions up and fry them until they're brown (if you can't be arsed, microwave them for three minutes with some oil but they won't taste as nice).  Shove them in the bottom of the slow cooker. 

If you want to add vegetables, chop up whatever you fancy to go with it - carrots and mushrooms go well with beef but pretty much anything will work.  Add these to the slow cooker. 

Add your diced beef.

Add either a can of beer (I favour murphy's irish stout as I'm then not too tempted to drink it a la WW) or some red wine or some stock.  You can just use boiling water but the gravy tends to be rather thin if you do. 

Add a few cloves and a decent bit of pepper but no salt. 

Cook it all day on the low setting. 

[1gear]

Chop a couple of onions up and fry them until they're brown (if you can't be arsed, microwave them for three minutes with some oil but they won't taste as nice).  Shove them in the bottom of the slow cooker. 

If you want to add vegetables, chop up whatever you fancy to go with it - carrots and mushrooms go well with beef but pretty much anything will work.  Add these to the slow cooker. 

Add your diced beef.

Add either a can of beer (I favour murphy's irish stout as I'm then not too tempted to drink it a la WW) or some red wine or some stock.  You can just use boiling water but the gravy tends to be rather thin if you do. 

Add a few cloves and a decent bit of pepper but no salt. 

Cook it all day on the low setting. 

Now that sounds easy Cheers, ill probably give that a go on thursday

[rafletcher]

Alternatively use a casserole and low oven and cook it when you get home - for the next day. And DO brown the meat first please.  I must confess to not being a fan of slow cookers though.