Customer Reviews

The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Volume II, Regional Comfort-Food Classics

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I like this cookbook better than Alley's first slow cooker book. Because it's regional foods, the recipes are still varied, but the ingredients are a little less exotic. This book contains close to 60 solid recipes with beautiful photography. Best of all, the author admits she tested the resipes on various brands of slow cookers, something that didn't quite happen with the first book.

The intro pages contain useful info. I was pursuaded to whip out a thermometer and test my cooker's low and keep warm settings. I've found that my model runs extremely hot and I'm sending it in for warranty evaluation.

I have this book and the author's other slow-cooker cookbook, and they are wonderful! The recipes are easy to follow, smell incredible while cooking and taste delicious. This is NOT an "open-the-can and dump it in your crock pot" type cookbook. The recipes call for fresh ingredients. Sometimes the author suggests you brown meats before placing them in the cooker, but as she states in her introduction this step is not required. It's a recommendation.

My favorite recipes from this book are the pulled pork and chicken adobo. Many recipes from the book are now a part of my repetoire of regularly cooked meals.

I've learned a lot from this book regarding making "gourmet" slow-cooker meals and am so glad I own this book and the author's other book. Another bonus is it has some excellent pictures throughout.

For the price, you definitely can't go wrong with this book. If you love food that tastes delicious and you own a slow cooker, you will be happy to have this book as a part of your collection of recipes.

Lynn Alley has just released the second of her Gourmet slow cooker volumes, and Volume II is better than Volume I, The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World; it is clear she is gaining more and more experience in using these useful devices to make great comfort food.

A sample recipe is attached as an example of her style. Alley not only provides excellent recipes, she also has some very practical suggestions for using the device in your every day cooking.

One of the problems with slow cookers is that little of the liquids escape from under the glass lids. Alley suggestions include stirring in one or two tablespoons of cornstarch or Gold Medal's Wondra Quick Mixing Flour; Wondra is designed to easily incorporate into liquids without clumping. Both techniques work, as does her suggestion to add rice to anything you plan to purée before serving, but I personally like to reduce the liquids on the stove top, including any food bits, after the meal is cooked in the slow cooker and before serving.

Other general and very useful tips include: never fill the cooker more than two thirds full (half full is better in my experience), cook meats on the low setting which is about 180F -- otherwise it will toughen --, never cook on the warm setting which is about 140F; browning meats [and root vegetables] will add extra dimensions to all dishes; add tender vegetables and herbs during the last half an hour of cooking time; and from time to time lift the lid and smell the food and stir it up -- how could any cook resist? -- although most slow cooker books advise against doing so.

Alley makes an interesting point: a slow cooker uses about as much electricity as a 75 watt light bulb, much less than electric or gas stoves. She also urges you to learn your own slow cooker; advice well taken -- she gives 180F as a typical temperature level on Low -- on my machine Low averages 163F.

Her list of useful equipment is helpful: use a hand held blender within the slow cooker itself being careful not to hit the sides of the insert, silicon spatulas and plastic whisks will avoid scratching the insert, probe thermometers are helpful, especially when you are learning your cooker's temperature ranges; a spoon rest is essential -- remember, it's perfectly ok to open and smell and stir and taste from time to time.

"And, of course, a glass of wine or cold microbrew for the cook while he or she works."

I enjoy sending my reviews to authors and they sometimes reply. Ms Alley wrote that she is working on a third book devoted to vegetables and the slow cooker. It will be interesting to see what techniques she recommends to avoid the boiled taste one sometimes gets from slow cooking vegetables.

Robert C. Ross 2007, 2008

From Lynne Alley's The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Volume II, Regional Comfort-Food Classics:

Old Fashioned Pot Roast

Sensible and practical -- the quintessential qualities of a colonial American dish. Pot roasts hold up extraordinarily well to a long cooking period -- perfect for preparing during long days of hard work.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 2 1/2 to 3 pound piece of beef chuck, trimmed of fat
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 cup beef stock or water
2 TBSP quick mixing flour, such as Wondra
6 red potatoes, unpeeled, halved
6 small carrots
2 yellow onions, quartered
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
Freshly ground pepper

Technique

Combine the all purpose flour and salt in a large resealable plastic bag. Add the meat and shake until evenly coated.

Place a large sauté pan over medium high heat and add the oil. Add the meat and cook, turning, for about 15 minutes, until browned on all sides. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.

In a small bowl, combine the water or stock and quick mixing flour and stir to form a slurry.

Arrange the potatoes, carrots and onions on top of the meat and pour in the slurry and the vinegar. Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours, until the meat is very tender.

Evenly divide the meat and vegetables among dinner plates and spoon on the thickened juices. Serve at once.

Suggested Beverage: A good hearty beer, a hard cider form one of New England's microbreweries, or a hearty red wine such as a full bodied Merlot.

Recipe from Lynne Alley's The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Volume II, Regional Comfort-Food Classics.

Those are Alley's wonderful Korean-Style Ribs on the cover. So easy and so good. This week I'm trying her Bratwurst/Red Cabbage/Apples and her Yankee Pot Pie.

Alley's techniques are simple, but for the best flavor, most do require around 30 minutes prep time. Believe me, I've found it worth it.

If I had just one slow cooker book, it would be one of hers.

I purchased this book because I LOVE Alley's first volume of recipes for the slow cooker. I am very happy with this book, however it is really very different than the first (which makes them a great set).

While flavor is certainly not compromised, the foods in this cookbook are more like peasant-food than gourmet dishes. With a hungry husband and 3 growing boys in my house, comfort foods are always well-received here, and I've had no complaints from them!

The ingredients in this volume are easier to manage (no grinding of spices as in the first volume).

My only disappointment with the book is that it seems many of the recipes, while tasty, don't seem to benefit much from the slow-cooking...some of the soups, for example, are just about as easily made on the stovetop.

For my family, the slow cooker has primarily been a great way to prepare flavorful and tender meats, and this cookbook has offered us some new options (Korean style ribs, chicken adobo, italian style pork chops, for example). I have made some of the non-meat recipes (i.e. several soups/chowders), and I find that they are just as easy to make on the stove.

This is my one bit of advice to the new owner of a slow-cooker: Don't try to make it something it isn't...fix recipes which lend themselves well to the type of cooking, and fix your veggies on the stovetop or in the oven.

Using the recipes in this book has inspired me to get back into cooking. We especially love the Posole recipe, which updates a traditional recipe with new touches. The New England Brown Bread recipe is so good that it beats my grandmother's Down East Yankee recipe... and that's saying a lot! My enthusiasm for cooking in general has been invigorated by the creative and fresh approach in the recipes in this book.

If you're looking for recipes where you just dump everything in the slow cooker, this book may not be for you. However, the prep work isn't onerous and the recipes that I've tried have been tasty.

I am very happy with the recipes in this book. Ingredients required are common to most kitchens. Easy to follow instructions.
Quite a bit of prep work I was hoping to just drop in ingredients turn the slow cooker on and go. The prep work is worth it the outcomes are great.

I thought this cookbook was going to be a winner. Upon it's arrival, I quickly scanned the book and found many fabulous looking photos and really promising new ways to use my slow cooker. I chose 3 recipes to start, Santa Fe Sweet Potato Soup; Salmon, Mushroom, Sorrel and Aromatic Rice Bisque; Pork Roast with Apples, Cider and Cream. Only the Sweet Potato Soup is promising with a some tinkering to add flavor. The other two were tasteless.

Not wanting to give up on the great sounding stuff in this book, I gave the Black Bean Chicken Chili and Apricot, Ginger Upside Down Cake. OMG, again, the chili with all the flavorful ingredients was bland. I should have used canned beans and skipped the time in the slow cooker. As for the cake, the recipe says to cook for 2.5 hours on high. Granted my slow cooker might not cook as hot as the recipe tested machine, but 5 hours later, that cake was finally cooked through in the center. The ginger flavor was not to be found.

For all the flavorful ingredients in each recipe I tried, you'd think there would be a lot of layers of flavor going on in the final products. Not so. Everything I've tried was really bland. I'll try a couple more recipes before I completely give up on this book.

I use my slow cooker frequently; it gets me very good food with little effort when I work fairly long hours. I owned Lynn Alley's first book and thought I would like Volume II. So far I've made one recipe, the Adobo Chicken, which met with favor from my husband--distinctive flavors and easy to do; vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, and chicken basically. Oh and of course garlic! I like the other recipes and intend to try them in the near future; particularly a slow-cooked pork roast for barbecued pork sandwiches. And a green chile/hominy posole' style soup. There's even a fruit preserve recipe that sounds interesting. The format of the books is clear, the recipes are easy to follow, the book's design and photographs are attractive, and there's enough variety to keep it interesting. And nary a can of cream of mushroom soup!