The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World [A Cookbook]

Lynn Alley has written the definitive word about food cooked in a slow cooker. I have a new Cuisinart Slow Cooker and could not wait to use these recipes.Lynn tells us she has used a slow cooker for awhile, but after returning from a time away to research a book, she deided to look at foods from around the world that could be done in one dish and preferably a slow cooker. She has provided a story of the first one dish meal called 'The Midas Feat ' , and she has given us a recipe to duplicate. One portion of the book gives us tips on slow cookers, size and shape of the slow cooker,safety, how to arrange food in the cooker, and why. Lots of tips to make your slow cooker cooking much more successful.And, then the recipes from around the world, the United States from baked beans to chocolate chip cookies! Then, Mexico, chicken mole to Spiced Meatballs in Chipolte Sauce. On to Great Britain, corned beef and cabbage to Irish champ. Here comes, France, Beef Burgundy to Split Pea Soup. Italy, polenta to biscotti. Greece, moussaka to walnut cake. India, eggplant curry to stuffed peppers. How to make chicken stock and then on to the Resources she has used. There are 92 pages of recipes. I can't wait to try them all. I have lamb shanks with tomato sauce slow cooking now! As an added attraction, Lynn Alley has also given us her suggestions for wine or beer with each meal.The cookbook is well put together. The glossy pictures superb, they will make your mouthstarts to water for some of the delicious food to come. If you are a slow cook lover and delicious food enthusiast, this cookbook is for you!Highly Recommended. prisrob 09-11-12 Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World 50 Simple Soups for the Slow Cooker

We think of slow cookers as labor saving devices, and they are. However this book focuses on utlilizing the slow cooker as another tool in the kitchen, one that, by its design, results in tender cooked meats. This is not a book for those who want to be able to throw stuff into the cooker and come back 8 hours later. There is a lot of prep work, and, the three recipes I have prepared so far, require sautee skills, blender skills, roaster skills. Excellent, flavorful end results though. I have tried chicken and dumplings, tamale pie, and pork stew with tomatillos. The winner is the pork stew. Honestly I have never tried a recipe that required 3 lbs of tomatillos. But it worked. Also I haven't ever used my broiler before to roast chiles, onions, tomatillos, etc. I always used my comal on top of the stove. But the broiler method worked great.Of the tamale pie and chicken with dumplings recipes, neither the dumplings nor the cornbread were spectacular, but the flavor was very good.For the way I cook, and because I enjoy prep work, I can recommend this book.But be warned.Supplemental: The artichoke risotto was a complete bust. It just didn't work. I don't know what kind of crockpot she was testing this recipe in, but I followed the directions to the letter, and after two hours on high, the risotto was inedible. I moved it over to a rice cooker to finish off. So my rating goes down to 3 stars with this experience.

I do like the recipes in this book but thought there would be more per chapter. Each chapter is a different cuisine type from around the world.

The recipes are good, but I thought it would be everything in the slow cooker without much prep, but it is a lot of prep before anything goes in the slow cooker. If you are looking for a way to same time this is not the cookbook to use.

I have a bookcase full of outstanding cookbooks. This is one of them. My crockpot is pedestrian--when it dies I will replace it with All-Clad--I never thought I would become a slow cooker enthusiast. But this book has changed my perspective. Yes, there is prep work--this is not a mushroom soup/quartered onion/garlic powder/round steak kind of recipe collection--gratefully. It is classy, stylish, even elegant food-- entrees that you would proudly serve to dinner party guests. Some of my favorites: Chicken Tarragon (worth the price of the book), Pork Stew in Tomatillo Sauce (everyone kept "wow-ing"), Apricot Chicken (simply fabulous), Neopolitan Lamb Stew (realllllly delicious), Chicken Cacciatore (often repeated, unbeatable), Doublin Coddle--great winter comfort food), Artichoke Risotto (amazing--who would have thought?), and, beyond my Indian-food loving dreams, Chicken Curry--do grind your own spices--and use a large package of chicken thighs--simply ambrosia. I've never bombed with this book.So, I guess the bottom line here is: if you want a kid-pleasing Hamburger Helper kind of crock, pass it by. But if you are a dedicated cook who wants to create really memorable meals with little hovering over the pot, and don't mind the Iron Chef flurry up front, this is your book. Thank you Lynn Alley. I'm a fan.P.S. I've learned that when time is crunched to start the recipe on "high" for an hour, then turn it down to "low" to finish. I often add a bit less liquid than called for (rarely, though) so I don't end up with a slightly watery finish--guess it depends on the slow cooker. I've learned that leaving the finished dish on "warm" for the last hour doesn't harm anything--in fact, it improves it. Rely on instinct.

I bought two of her slow cooker books because after I tried the first one I had to have the second! I bought these on Amazon years back. Stumbled on these reviews while searching to see if she made a book for pressure cookers ( did not find ) anyway I could not believe some of the bad reviews, so I was compelled to write. I’ve made many of the recipes and over the years there are many that I have made time and again. A half hour of prep work for slow cooker recipes that do not taste like watered down dried out flavorless slow cooker junk, is well worth the time. As for others that did not like what they cooked I can only say they did something wrong or don’t have the sophisticated palette that these recipes require. Sorry. If you like good food, buy this book!

Beautifully illustrated and very easy to follow recipes. Ingredients are those readily stocked in most cook's pantry. I will give this book as a gift many times over I'm sure.

Not that many recipes. But ok.

I love the slow cooker & this gave us some inspired meals, I enjoyed pairing the meals with the recommended beverages.

I have not cooked a lot of recipes out of this book yet, but the ones that I did try turned out very well. This is not your wipe-up-a-meal-with-minimum-effort kind of book. You will need to do some prep before putting the food in the slow booker. But of course, you get better results because of that. :)

Some of her recipes didn't really represent the counties she wrote about and some of her recipes definitively did not represent gourmet cooking.Not a great connoisseur cookbook.Campfirecook.