Slow Cooker Ready & Waiting: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves [Paperback]

Rick Rodgers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 1998

Hearty stews. Rib-sticking chilis. Tender pot roasts. The real secret is a long, slow simmer at a constant temperature, and no appliance does this better than the slow cooker. If your old slow cooker recipes disappointed you, throw them away! The Slow Cooker Ready and Waiting Cookbook is for people who love good food!

Rick Rodgers has adapted an eclectic array of American and ethnic dishes for the slow cooker. They're all here: fancy fare (Farmer's Market Lobster and Corn Chowder, Sweet and Sour Brisket, Erna's Sauerbraten), everyday favorites (Ground Beef Chili with Cornmeal Dumplings and Herbed Tomato Sauce with Parmesan Meatballs), side dishes (Potatoes Euphoria, Smothered Green Beans, Sugarbush Beans) -- even desserts (Strawberry-Strawberry Cheesecake, Bourbon Bread Pudding, and Lemon-Raspberry Pudding Cake). Ideal for entertaining, the slow cooker keeps crowd-pleasing dips and holiday punches warm from the beginning of the party to when the last guest leaves.

A special section explains how to choose the right-size slow cooker for your needs, how to adapt a favorite recipe, and what can (and can't) be prepared in a slow cooker.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Of all my cookbooks, it is interesting how Ready and Waiting has divided cooks. I am not a "one-star" kind of guy. A paraphrase of the book's Introduction will give a clear view of what to expect:

"I asked the anti-slow cooker contingent to send me recipes. Here is an example:

Coq au Vin: Slow-Cook 1 chicken, skinned and cut up, with 3 tablespoons oil, 1 chopped onion, 4 cloves garlic, 2 cups semisweet wine, 8 ounces mushrooms, and 3 potatoes. Cook from morning to evening.

What about browning the chicken to add flavor? What about some chicken broth for the sauce? Why isn't the sauce thickened? No wonder the cook considered this recipe a failure!

For my Coq au Vin, I took the same basic list of ingredients BUT I applied the same principles of good cooking that I always use. I browned the chicken (with the skin, but removed it after cooking) in a skillet, cooked the onions and garlic in the same skillet, added herbs, and used dry red wine. After 6 hours, it was was tender but not overdone. I skimmed the cooking liquid and thickened it. The ingredients for both recipes cost the same amount of money, but the few minutes of extra effort improved the dish immeasurably."

Controversial or not, I refuse to pretend that slow-cooked food prepared by the typical "dump in the pot" method is as good as my (admittedly longer) technique. My experience as a professional cook showed that the old method is a sure way to waste groceries and time.

There are many kinds of cooks. If you judge a recipe by how few ingredients it has and how little time it takes to make it, R & W isn't for you. If you are looking for tasty, new (even gourmet) recipes, then check it out. (A title change to "The Slow Cooker Gourmet: Over 150 Recipes for Good Cooks" might be in order.) This book's longevity (over 9 years old) speaks for the amount of people who do like it.

About the Author

Rick Rodgers is the author of more than thirty-five cookbooks, including the bestselling 101 series (Thanksgiving 101, Christmas 101, Barbecues 101) and beloved cookbooks on everything from fondue to slow cookers to comfort food. His recipes have appeared in Cooking Light, Fine Cooking, and Food & Wine and on epicurious.com, and he is a frequent contributor to Bon AppÉtit. He lives in the New York tristate area.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (January 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068815803X
• ISBN-13: 978-0688158033
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #487,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rick Rodgers is one of the most versatile professionals in the food business. Through his work as a cooking teacher, food writer, cookbook author, freelance cookbook editor, and radio and television guest chef, his infectious love of good food reaches countless cooks every day.

Rick has been guest chef on the national television shows Today, CBS Morning Show, Good Morning America, Cooking Live with Sara Moulton, Food Network Challenge, and many others, including media appearances in every major local market.

Rick's combination of down-to-earth humor and solid information brought him the prestigious Bon Appetit Food and Entertaining Award for Outstanding Cooking Teacher. In addition to his publishing work, Rick teaches sold-out cooking classes from coast-to-coast, as well as the occasional international stint (including Korea and France) and he is a speaker at many festivals and seminars.

Rick lives in the New York City area. His website is www.rickrodgers.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

239 of 243 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Labor Intensive? Yes...Flavor Intensive? Definitely!!!, November 12, 2001

By 

Daniel F. Moore (Yarmouth, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Slow Cooker Ready & Waiting: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves (Paperback)

Being a fan of Rick Rodgers (Thanksgiving 101 and Pressure Cooking for Everyone), I nevertheless held out from buying this book because of the polarized reviews. My old slow cooker, one of the nonstick pot sitting on a warming base types, recently died and although I don't do a lot of cooking of this type, I wanted to replace it with an upscale model. I purchased a Rival Smart-Pot that allows you to press the cooking time and temperature and walk away. Sooo...I decided to give this book a try. I find myself agreeing with the 'dump chili' crowd who cite the extensive amount of prep that goes into the recipes and also with the 'kitchen guru' group that praise the book for the results achieved from that much labor. For my first meal, I made the 'Bistro Beef Bourguignon' and I spent the better part of an hour putting the recipe together. Eight hours later, the house filled with the simmering aroma of wine, beef, onions, garlic and spices, I knew without tasting that this was going to be outstanding. This was without a doubt one of the best stews I have ever attempted. Subsequent to the Bourguignon, I have made the Pumpkin Bread and the Hot Fudge Spoonbread. All I can offer to describe them is 'Yum'.
To be honest, I don't see this as a book that I would use during the week. It just takes too much time to build each meal. But I like to cook on weekends so that I can take something other than a cold sandwich to work. Reheating the Beef Bourguignon in a Tupperware container in the microwave almost got me tossed out of the teacher's room at my school. And like most stews, it tasted even better the second day.
I guess my advice would be thus: If you view a slow cooker as a 'toss it in and turn it on' appliance, give this book a pass. But if you don't mind taking some time to achieve a scrumptious result, this book will delight you.

182 of 184 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the perfect slow-cooker companion, December 29, 1999

By 

tired bob (Hanalei, HI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slow Cooker Ready & Waiting: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves (Paperback)

This is a terrific cookbook for all of us who were seriously traumatized by slow-cooked slabs of gray meat in 1972. Unlike other crock pot cookbooks, the emphasis here is on taste first and then convenience. Yes, you'll probably spend a bit more time prepping ingredients (though not more than 30 minutes), but the payoff comes in great tasting meals that don't look as if they came from a penitentiary cafeteria.

131 of 135 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner!, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Slow Cooker Ready & Waiting: 160 Sumptuous Meals That Cook Themselves (Paperback)

Yes, some of the recipes DO take some time, and others take less, but there's plenty of variety here for everyone. Rodgers often recommends taking certain additional preparation steps, and that's what makes his recipes SOOOOOOO much better than some of the awful things that a few of the manufacturers have published. I especially like Hot Fudge Spooncake, and prepare it regularly--it's great to come home to the smell of of freshly baked dessert! For those recipes that require a precise cooking time, I just use a $4 lamp and appliance timer that I picked up at my local hardware store to turn the pot on while I'm at work--problem solved! Now that I have this book, my slow cooker stays on top of the counter and gets a regular work out.