chix rioja question

[ccooney]

I'm making the chicken rioja for dinner tonight, and it says to cook the dish in your slow cooker for one hour on high and 7 hours on low. Does anyone know the reason for this? My slow cooker is one where you can set it on high or low for a given time (i.e. 8 hours on low) and then it switches to "keep warm" when the time is up. Since I have to leave the house at 7:15 and won't be home until 5:30, I need to use this option. Can I just cook the whole thing for 8 hours on low? How will it affect the quality of the dish? Thanks for any help you can offer!

[Jasmine-Rose]

Hi Connie,

The high temp for the first hour is to get the chicken cooking before any bacteria can set in. It doesn't solve your problem, but at least you know why.

- E.

[ccooney]

Thanks, Elaine!
Now that I know why, I think it's a little scary that I have other chicken recipes which don't ask for the 1 hour on high to start with. I just set it for the 8 hours when I left this morning, so I'll have to hope that it will be adequate this time. From now on, I will plan to do the hour on high first.