Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Warning!! Yes, this IS a long review, and getting longer all the time with each recipe I try. I apologize for this and am working on being less wordy in future reviews. So What's the "Revolution"? It's supposed to be about debunking several myths about slow cooking, showing us that: 1) Slow-cooking is not about dumping unprepared stuff into a pot nor about the belief that if you just cook something long enough and with enough other stuff, it will always be edible 2) Great results occasionally require more appliances than just your slow cooker 3) Some ingredients can benefit from additional preparation Two Recipes I sampled right away: First sampled recipe: -- Nutella Bread Pudding -- * How could I NOT try a recipe that uses this most divine gift to modern civilization? It's the sort of dessert that has to be preceded by weeks of an ascetic diet, as it boasts whole milk, heavy cream, and 9 egg yolks. But it illustrates the importance of prep work in slow-cooking: the challah bread cubes need to be "baked" in a low temp oven for 40 minutes. Had the untoasted bread simply been placed right from the loaf and into the pot, I think it would end up as a custardy mush. * The result? OmmMmmppfffGaaahh (that's OMG with my mouth full). Crazy good. Not as custardy as I feared with all those 9 egg yolks. Very company-worthy and a bit more sophisticated than your usual Betty Crocker bread pudding, but I suggest you serve it to company the day you make it. After refrigeration, it becomes really dense and much more intense. I followed the recipe EXCEPT for I used ½ tsp salt instead of ¾ tsp. Tip for future success: Challah loaves come in all sizes, so make sure you do your best to get the 14 ounces called for here. Bread puddings vary widely depending on the liquid-to-bread-to-egg ratio. This ratio of 4 cups milk/cream - 14 ounces bread - 9 egg yolks is perfection. Second sampled recipe: -- Macaroni and Cheese -- * I chose this for two reasons: it uses canned soup (one of the few recipes to do so) yet promises not to end up tasting obviously Campbell-ized AND it calls for raw macaroni to be put straight into the pot. (Silly, but I do hate having to boil and drain pasta. BTW, if you want more slow-cooker recipes that use canned soups, check out Semi-Homemade Money-Saving Slow-Cooking: 128 Quick-to-Cook Meals. * The result? Quite good, with a taste much like Stouffer's frozen mac & cheese and a very smooth, rich, and homogeneous sauce. I used the specific brands of macaroni elbows and two cheeses recommended by the authors, but I doubled the cayenne from 1/8 tsp to 1/4 teaspoon. Interestingly, although I used white cheeses, the result is very yellow from the canned cheddar cheese soup. And as the authors promised, there was no canned soup flavor or quality. In the future, I might use just 1 and 1/2 cans of cheddar cheese soup instead of 2; I actually like a bit less homogeneity in my mac & cheese. Running Updates for more recipes as I try them ...) 3) -- BEEF BURGUNDY -- Pricey!!! Excellent flavor, but cubing 5 lbs of beef chuck roast (about $23.00 USD) was an ordeal. Tons of fat. When I was done, I had only 3 lbs of usable meat. Next time I might just go with a leaner, choicer cut of beef. Also, I used Merlot instead of the recommended Pinot Noir because that was all I had on hand. Great recipe, but more expensive and labor intensive than I care for. 4) -- CHICKEN CURRY IN A HURRY -- Um. Hmm. I think what I created today is more of a "Chicken In A Slurry". Very unappetizing appearance - a tad grainy, yucky color, extremely watery. No creaminess. I wish the authors had included the brand of coconut milk they tested with on the same page as this recipe, instead of 25 pages away for a completely different recipe. I just discovered this after it was too late, while trying to research what could have gone wrong. The taste? Oh dear. No depth of flavor, a bit harsh, and the minced jalapenos were still hard after 6 hours on low, floating about and adding a gritty ill greenness to the unpalatable yellow. I love curries; and I'd love to hear from anyone else who has tried this recipe. Looks like it is take-out tonight. Drat. 5) -- WEEKNIGHT BEEF CHILI -- Perfectly balanced in flavor and texture. I used leaner beef (93%) than the recommended 85%. I accidentally used 1 tablespoon of oregano (instead of 1 teaspoon) and I deliberately doubled the amount of minced chipotle chili in adobo sauce. Also, I added a couple of pats of butter in the last 15 minutes to "velvetize" the sauce. The technique has you mash up bread and milk with the beef; I did not mix it in well enough, as there were a few small pieces of bread floating in the final product. This recipe's a winner and a repeater. (Edit 12/25/2012; I have made this recipe at least 4 times since I started this review. Every time the chili turned out great and in one case pleased a crowd of 25 club members. It's great to have recipes you can count on.) 6) -- BIG-BATCH BOLOGNESE SAUCE -- Ok, with a little editing. When I asked my husband what he thought of it, I knew this was not a stellar hit when he responded "What do YOU think of it?" It's a good recipe for really long cooking: 9 to 11 hours on low (5 to 7 on high). And the ground meat does NOT have to be pre-browned. But for 3 pounds of meat and 56 ounces tomatoes, the recipe suggests a mere 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme for herb seasoning. That's ridiculously tiny!! I used 2 teaspoons each of dried thyme and basil, and still the seasoning was not perceptible. My husband said it was more like Sloppy Joe sauce for pasta. Easy, yes, but not as good as the Bolognese I make on the stove-top. 7) -- BAKED ZITI WITH SAUSAGE AND PEPPERS -- Another recipe using raw pasta - yay! But the flavor needs a bit more zippiness; it's rather tomato-y and bland. Plus, I had to shorten the 3 hour (on high) cook time to 1 hour 45 minutes when the ziti started to get mushy. This might be a problem with my cooker, not the recipe. Calls for only 8 ounces of pasta, which I can't find in stores around me and seemed like too small a quantity for all that sauce, so I used about 3/4 of a 16 ounce box. Still, a good recipe to make on a weeknight to serve the next night. (I just put the whole crock in the fridge - who needs to dirty another storage container? Other Recipes That Entice: * Southwestern Breakfast Strata * Pears Poached In White Wine * Bachelor Beef Stew * Tempeh Chili * Spanish Cocktail Meatballs * Lazy Man's Stuffed Cabbage * Mashed Sweet Potatoes With Coconut Milk and Cilantro * Parmesan Risotto * French Toast Casserole * Big-batch Caramelized Onions What I Like About This Book: 1- The recipe variety and unusual combinations - I have at least 15 recipes flagged for "must try this". 2- The results!! So far I am very pleased with my first two samplings. 3- The approach - Every recipe fits on one page and provides just enough extra information and truly helpful tips. 4- Not a lot of canned soup used everywhere Minor Minuses: * Minus 1: VERY few purely vegetarian recipes (I really wish veg dishes would become more mainstream even though I am a meat-eater) * Minus 2: Preparation times are not identified. Since prepping is required for most recipes, I would like to see estimated prep-times listed at the top of each recipe. Usually, it might not matter to some cooks or for certain recipes, but in the case of the bread pudding I made, the bread cubes have to toast for 40 minutes in the oven. I need a reminder of info like this, especially if cooking for company the same day. * Minus 3: The "revolution" might be a bit overstated. In the last year or two, I had already been exposed to these "new" concepts. BTW: The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals from Around the World and The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Volume II, Regional Comfort-Food Classics are both fine examples of the need to prep ingredients properly. And as another reviewer pointed out, even the instructions that come with your slow-cooker are probably already in on this revolution. Bottom Line(s): I received a black and white pre-release copy as part of the Amazon Vine Program for review. This is the second book I received for free that I will buy when it is released so that I can enjoy the full color edition. That should speak volumes about a book that I received for free, yet I am willing to (and going to) pay for. If the terms "crock pot" or "slow cooker" make you think just of pot roast and beef stew, this book will get you interested in your slow cooker again. In my opinion, the real revolution here is in the interesting recipes and their ingredients.