10 slow-cooking recipes for the colder months

This dish presents what may well be the perfect carnivorous Sunday lunch option - a mouth-watering level of unctuousness from eight hours of slow cooking, with a thick balsamic glaze and sweet onions to cut through the richness of the lamb – a dish to savour.

The Chinese probably love pork more than any other nation, and this slow-cooked ham hock recipe is testament to that. It’s incredibly simple to make – sear the ham hock in the yellow bean sauce then top up with chicken stock and allow to gently bubble away until the sticky meat is falling off the bone. The perfect recipe to serve as part of a grand Chinese banquet, it means everyone can get stuck in, pulling off pieces of ham from the bone as they go.

Anna Hansen's dish is a demonstration of how taking your time with meat often produces best results, both in the roasting of the pork belly itself, and in the slow brining carried out beforehand, ensuring moist meat that won't lose all of its juices during roasting. It adds flavour too – seasoning the meat with salt, star anise, fennel seed and paprika.

Lean venison needs to be either cooked very quickly or very slowly. The Galvin brothers opt for the latter cooking method, taking a huge piece of shoulder and gently braising it in a classic French sauce. Accompaniments come in the form of sweet quince, a celeriac purée and roast chestnuts, making this a quintessentially seasonal dish for when it’s cold outside.

If you usually feel a tad queasy when it comes to offal, lamb heart is the perfect introduction – provided it’s cooked properly. It tastes just like lamb but with a slightly stronger flavour, and when slow-cooked it has a wonderfully tender texture that’s just begging for a good sauce. This recipe sees the hearts stuffed with sausage meat, breadcrumbs, herbs and bacon, which adds more familiar flavours to the mix.

Dal makhani is a fantastic winter warmer, gently spiced with kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) and using earthy black lentils to add a beautiful depth and richness. A bowl of this dal is hard to beat to warm the cockles.