This information-packed volume opens with a brief history of this centuries-old technique and a look at the many ways slow cooking and braising transforms the texture of food as well as enhances the natural flavors. Comprehensive descriptions cover the types of slow cooking and explain every stage of the process, from preparing the food in order to achieve the best results to properly testing the food for optimum doneness, providing readers with all the knowledge they need to turn out delicious and memorable meals. Slow cookers, Dutch ovens, roasting pans, and other important equipment are clearly described and pictured. Five chapters filled with more than 130 recipes follow, offering a range of irresistible ideas for preparing and braising fish and shellfish, poultry, meats, and vegetables, both using a traditional stovetop or oven method, as well as a slow cooker. The chapters begin with invaluable advice on buying and preparing fresh foods, and the recipes, each one handsomely photographed, perfectly balance everyday fare, such as braised Brussels sprouts with pancetta, chicken marsala, with special-occasion dishes, including veal stew with asparagus, and Italian braised short ribs. Detailed instructions and step-by-step photographs explain the basic techniques of slow cooking and braising such as browning ingredients, carving large cuts of meat, and preparing delicious side dishes. A glossary of culinary terms and ingredients completes this indispensable volume.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
90 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book!,
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This review is from: Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking: Recipes and Techniques for Delicious Slow-Cooked Meals (Hardcover)
I bought this book after receiving a new slow cooker as a gift - what a fabulous purchase! I am a serious foodie and these recipes are simply mouth-watering. So far, I have made 1) pulled pork, 2) teriyaki chicken thighs, 3) country-style pork ribs, 4) chicken with shallots and balsamic vinegar, 5) maple-braised pork chops, and 6) the texas-style beef chili. Every recipe has been straightforward, easy to follow, and most importantly, delicious! Many of these meals are even better the second day, so make plenty and enjoy the left overs.
Truthfully, if you are looking just to dump all the ingredients in the slow cooker and turn it on...this is not your book. Most of these recipes do involve a couple of steps, such as browning the meat and deglazing the pan. However, these additional steps really do not take that long - so don't be intimidated by them. All in all, I would say the active cooking time for most of the recipes I've tried is around 30 minutes, although some may be more involved. Considering the high quality meals these recipes produce, investing 30 minutes into dinner is easily worth the sacrifice. In response to an earlier post, there are a few typos in the book. While this may reflect on the professionalism of the Williams-Sonoma book editors, it does not tarnish the superb recipes within. Enjoy!
108 of 114 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Underwhelming,
By
This review is from: Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking: Recipes and Techniques for Delicious Slow-Cooked Meals (Hardcover)
I bought this book because I was looking for gourmet-type meals to cook in the slow cooker. I have several other cookbooks that cover all the American Standards involving condensed cream soups, Lipton Soup Mix, and other processed convenience items.
In that respect, this book does have lots of recipes that use fresh ingredients to produce a higher-quality end result than the old-time "gloop with glop sauce" that so often comes out of a slow cooker. There are also gorgeous pictures of every recipe. I love that. Now for the downsides. The editing in this book is terrible. There are tons of typos throughout, and it is also obvious that one of the vegetable recipes was only slightly altered from another similar recipe a few pages before--I could tell because the first recipe was for cabbage, so it said cabbage throughout the recipe. The second was for spinach, and halfway through the recipe, it started talking about cabbage. The two recipes were the same--someone had just done a half-hearted job of changing the word cabbage to spinach. There are lots of other examples of bad editing, but that's my job, so that kind of thing bothers me. The other thing that irritated me is that I wanted a slow cooker cookbook. This is a "SLOW COOKING" cookbook. In other words, while many of these recipes have instructions for slow cooker use, others do not. Some of the recipes are stove top or oven only. I was disappointed by that. Most of us have plenty of recipes that just take a long time, what we want is something we can put in the crock before heading out to work for the day. I feel like the high price of this cookbook is solely because of the pretty pictures and the strength of a few good recipes. They also have the big name behind it, but some of the recipes are just not that good, or they aren't made for slow cookers. Another downside was that there was nothing in here that I found very innovative, but there are a lot of familiar dishes like Osso Bucco, Bolognese Sauce, Beef Stroganoff, American Pot Roast, Chicken Fricassee with Dumplings, and other dishes that have been around for ages and that I already have recipes for.
58 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essentials of Slow Cooking,
This review is from: Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking: Recipes and Techniques for Delicious Slow-Cooked Meals (Hardcover)
I am a full time mom going back to work after nine years. I knew that I was going to have to learn to love my slow cooker if I ever decided to feed my family a home cooked meal again! I have been a fan of Williams Sonoma books for a long time but I wanted to check out all the offerings before I picked out my new slow cooking bible. Having scoured Amazon and local book shops I feel confident saying this book is the most comprehensive with the best sounding recipes. A lot of the slow cooking cook books pander to the "lowest common denominator" cook and the ingredients aren't that healthy. This one has recipes that seem much fresher and better tasting which is a good thing if you plan on using your slow cooker as much as I do! Plus, the photos and layout are gorgeous.
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