Cookbook review: Take it slow
Today's Sun reviewed three cookbooks promoting slow cooking: Phyllis Pellman Good's Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook, Andrew Schloss' Art of the Slow Cooker and The Best Slow & Easy Recipes by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated. Here's an excerpt from the full review:
If you aren’t using that slow cooker that’s probably sitting in the back of your cupboard, Good has more than 1,000 reasons why you should. Her latest tome for slow cooking, the Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook (Good Books, 2008, $29.95), is a compilation of 1,400 recipes culled from five cookbooks in her popular Fix-It and Forget-It series. ... All of the recipes in the books come from home cooks across the country, so they have been tested in real-life situations. Geared toward novices or those who face feeding the hungry family at 5 o’clock, the recipes are simple and usually require little advance preparation before the ingredients are placed in the pot. The recipes leave little to chance, specifying the size of slow cooker that works best, estimating the time the dish will take and providing clear, step-by-step instructions.
Those looking for more inventive fare, however, may wish to turn to the Art of the Slow Cooker (Chronicle, 2008, $24.95), which features 80 recipes for dishes such as Seafood Caldo With Chorizo and Duck With Red Wine, Wild Mushrooms and Forest Herbs. Unlike Good, who emphasizes how easy slow cooking is, Schloss points out that the method is not effortless. The recipes in his book are divided into "simple everyday" and "spectacular entertaining." The ingredients lists, even for simple fare, can be extensive and the preparation time can be considerable. Typically, the recipes call for precooking — browning meats, marinating, toasting and grinding spices, etc.
The Best Slow & Easy Recipes (America’s Test Kitchen, 2008, $35) takes the middle ground in how much effort to put into slow cooking. This book contains 250 recipes, not only for the slow cooker, for also for roasts, stews, braises and other slow methods. The authors describe the recipes as "uncomplicated cooking that’s worth the wait."
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
