Slow Cookers For Dummies [Paperback]

Tom Lacalamita (Author), Glenna Vance (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2000

The secret is out: That slow cooker that's been collecting dust in your kitchen cabinet is a wonderful and easy tool for making delicious entrees at the touch of a button. With new U.S. sales estimated at 6 million a year, more people are finding slow cookers indispensable in getting a home-cooked meal on the table. Besides tasting good, slow cooked meals are convenient and nutritious because you use fresh, wholesome ingredients.

Slow Cookers For Dummies is for working families, couples, single people, students, and anyone who is tired of takeout. Perhaps you love cooking but have little time to do it or want to decrease your reliance on prepared mixes or boxed convenience foods. Slow cooking may be right for you if you want to

• Save money on food and utility bills
• Control your sodium and fat intake
• Free up your oven and cooktop for more holiday cooking
• Take a hot dish to a potluck supper

If you already know how to use a slow cooker, the delicious recipes in this book can help you expand your repertoire beyond soups and stews. If you're thinking of getting a slow cooker, Slow Cookers For Dummies takes you from the basics of how these cookers work to preparing special occasion meals, to troubleshooting slow cooker problems.

Here's a closer look at what Slow Cookers For Dummies includes:

• Guidelines on how to choose the right slow cooker for you
• Techniques to help you slow-cook the right way
• Easy recipes for snacks, beverages, chili, stews, and casseroles
• Scrumptious recipes for roasting beef, pork, lamb, and poultry
• How-to's on cooking and freezing in batches
• Ways to adapt favorite traditionally cooked dishes for the slow cooker

In Slow Cookers for Dummies, food and appliance cooking experts Tom Lacalamita and Glenna Vance show that this classic cooking appliance is really a wonderful tool for making creative, delicious meals. With 75 recipes for making the most out of your slow cooker, you'll never put that slow cooker in your cabinet again.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Includes more than 100 almost-effortless recipes!

Enjoy flavorful home cooking without slaving in the kitchen! Preparing delicious food doesn't have to be labor-intensive; with a slow cooker and this handy guide, it's easy! The book provides no-fuss recipes for everyday and holidays, describes slow-cooker features, and offers safety and troubleshooting tips. Soul-satisfying recipes include Chunky South-of-the-Border Beef Stew, Curried Chicken with Basmati Rice, and Apple Bread Pudding.

Discover how to: Enjoy the latest slow-cooker innovations Adjust cooking time to your schedule Intensify food flavor before slow cooking Adapt your favorite recipes Plan both simple and special meals

The Dummies Way^™ Explanations in plain English "Get in, get out" information Icons and other navigational aids Tear-out cheat sheet Top ten lists A dash of humor and fun

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About the Author

Tom Lacalamita has written five appliance cookbooks and appeared on Good Morning America??, CNBC??, and NPR??. Glenna Vance is a food writer and recipe developer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 264 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; 1 edition (November 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764552406
• ISBN-13: 978-0764552403
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is great for what it is:, October 9, 2003

By 

Tracie "tracieknits" (Saratoga Springs, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Slow Cookers For Dummies (Paperback)

This is not so much a recipe book as a manual that teaches you how best to use a crock pot. It teaches you how to convert your favorite recipes to a slow cooker, which is my favorite part of the book. It gives you some "master" recipes (meat sauce, chicken broth) that you can put in the freezer and use as a base for fast, delicious meals. That part of the book is also brilliant.

There aren't many recipes, but the great thing about the recipes they do have is that they are NOT the "add a can of condensed mushroom soup" variety. There are some hearty chicken and potato recipes that my family just adores - using real food such as herbes de provence and fresh mushrooms. But at the same time, the recipes are not complicated and the ingredients are easy to find in a regular grocery store.

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could Have Been Better, June 4, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Slow Cookers For Dummies (Paperback)

This book could be useful to someone who has never used a slow cooker (Crock Pot or other brand) but for those of us who are looking for a collection of recipies to update our slow cooking repetoire, it is a disappointment.

Although the authors give an excellent tip to brown all meats and some vegetables before placing them in the slow cooker, the majority of the recipies are not FOR the slow cooker, they are for using with components MADE in a slow cooker (stock, sauce, roasts). The section on the history of slow cooking and cookers, the section on food safety and the sections on recipies for meals from slow-cooked-stock or sauce could be replaced with more slow cooker recipies.

61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fast start for slow cooking, February 1, 2001

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slow Cookers For Dummies (Paperback)

If you work all day and are responsible for feeding the trooops at home at the end of the day, you'd certainly be someone who'd get a lot of use from a slow cooker. Maybe you are like me and the one thing you DON'T want to face when you come home from the office is a pile of raw ingredients that somehow has to get converted into an edible state in less than 40 minutes. Not fun. Better to start your dinner in the slow cooker before you go to work and come home to the appetizing aroma of a nicely cooked meal.

Slow cookers aren't expensive(I got mine for less than $10 and they turn up at yard sales.) The electricity consumption is very low, something like a 60 watt light bulb. So what's not to like? Well, slow cooking isn't the same technique as cooking a stew or roast on the stove. If you don't know how to adjust a recipe, you will often get a raw or a watery mess. And you DO need hints on how to use the cooker (such as, don't keep lifting the lid, you'll dissipate the heat and your cooking times will be off.)

This book is full of the important basics of slow cooking you need to know, plus full of recipes. I like it a lot better than Mabel Hoffmann's very widely published book on slow cooking because it has a larger format --I don't like small format paperback cookbooks because they don't stay open on the kitchen counter. This is a great addition to any kitchen library and the recipes are adaptable enough that you can adjust them and create your own.