Product Description

The Gourmet Slow Cooker Simple and Sophisticated Meals from around the WorldBy Lynn Alley"Although the slow cooker has experienced a renaissance over the past several years, the discriminating cook is still hard-pressed to find slow cooker recipes worthy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4714 in Books
• Brand: Ten Speed Press
• Published on: 2003-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In this volume, Alley (Lost Arts: A Celebration of Culinary Traditions) provides a montage of surprising and intriguing recipes-everything from White Truffle Risotto to Chocolate Chip Cookies-all of which are made in a slow cooker. Chapters are divided by country, and include France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Mexico and the U.S. According to Alley, signature meals, side dishes and even desserts from each of these countries, such as Chicken Mole from Mexico, Eggplant and Pea Curry from India, Pork with Prunes from France and Anise Biscotti from Italy, can be made simply in one pot. Alley includes drink recommendations with each recipe. These are generally wine pairings (with Provencal Beef Stew, "a Cotes de Provence rose or medium-bodied red table wine would do well") but the author refrains from going over the top to underscore the sophistication angle. For chocolate chip cookies, she writes, "milk is the only proper accompaniment."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
LYNN ALLEY is a freelance food and wine journalist interested in traditional foods and techniques from around the world. She has contributed articles to Fine Cooking, Cook's Illustrated, the San Francisco Chronicle, and Wine Spectator. She resides in San Diego, California.

Customer Reviews

Don't bother
I am not the very best cook in the world however, I do know how to read and follow instructions! Now having said that, I tried 2 very basic recipes from this book and both of them went down the drain literally and that has never happened to me before. One was way, way too hot and the other was much too sweet. I was even thinking of writing to the publisher when Amazon sent this email for the review so save your money and look on the web for recipes!!

Birthday gift
Bought it for a girlfriend of mine for her birthday. She made the a chicken and wine recipe and loved it. Very flavorful!! I will be borrowing it to check it out for myself and maybe get my own copy.

My favorite slow cooker cookbook!
This is my favorite slow cooker cookbook. I just made the Tarragon Chicken last night for the first time and I thought it was wonderful! I've liked every recipe I've tried so far, and they have been very very tasty. My husband particularly likes the Italian Pot Roast. I also feel like they are different then a lot of the other dishes I cook regularly so it really breaks things up. I would feel comfortable serving anything from this cookbook that I've made so far to my mother in law, a rather gourmet cook herself (Who I find a little intimidating on the cooking score... Plus you know in-laws, you want to look like you have your stuff together when they come for dinner!).

I will say that I have been somewhat selective about which recipes I have made. The recipes in the England/Ireland sections don't sound as appealing to me so I haven't tried them. (I just don't think the ingredients sound as good)I'm thinking that if you found the ingredients appealing you would probably like the recipe; they are probably lovely recipes for that type of dish, just not my thing.

My one complaint would be that a lot of the dishes require a little bit of "precooking" (example: simmer the sauce, cook the the veggies, or grill the meat before placing it in the slow cooker; nothing that will take a million years to do, but enough extra that not all the dishes are super quick.) I will say that if you have the time they vastly improve the dishes. If you are in a rush this doesn't work so well... it does add a fair bit of time to the cook time. What I like about the slow cooker is that I can toss a few things in quickly, and everything is done when I get home from work. It acts as my back up when I don't really have time to cook, but need to anyway! The author does say that you can skip this a lot of times if you want to, which is ok, it doesn't ever seem to ruin the dish, but as I mentioned it does vastly improve the dish to follow the "precook" instructions.

Over all I think the recipes are yummy yummy yummy! They are well worth the extra effort when you have the time. Just don't expect this to be your quick, dump a few cans into the crock pot any your done type of cookbook, the recipes do involve a little more effort then that. Nothing hideous but a little more effort, but hey if you can serve it to you mother in law you know its a winner!