Art of the Slow Cooker: 80 Exciting New Recipes

I've made five of the recipes so far, and all of them were excellent. The recipes sport unique and creative flavors that make the most of the slow and low cooking techniques. You will need to allow a fair amount more time than the "pre-cook" times specified in the recipes. That said, the extra prep time is well worth the delicious results. It's also important to recognize that the introductory commentary (which I found interesting and useful) about slow cooking provides general guidelines, not hard and fast rules to be taken literally with every recipe. The instructions are easy to follow, and the ingredients are easy to find at your local grocery store. However, I would not recommend this cook book for beginners or for those looking for conventional dump-n-dash crockpot dinners. It certainly delivers in the exquisite taste department. It's a special cookbook for anyone who is serious about their food.

I received this book as a gift and dug out the slow cooker I had not used in years to try out some recipes. Everything I have tried from this book turned out to be delicious and loved by my whole family. My 6- and 9 year old sons especially love the tenderness of the meat in the recipes. It is true that some preparation time is needed, but that does not bother me at all. I look forward to trying some of the dessert recipies next.

I understand that many people love the slow cooker because with 5 minutes of prep they can have a home cooked family dinner. I would love that too but I can't bring myself to put lovely, healthful fresh ingredients in the slow cooker with 2 cans of condensed soup - the ingredients of which read like a chemistry experiment. The recipes in this book suit a slow cooker - root vegetables, cheaper, tougher cuts of meat. Here is an example: Today I made the Tunisian Lamb, it took me about 40 minutes to chop and brown all the meat and vegetables. I wouldn't have thought that a long time to prepare a meal at all if I was then able to sit down and enjoy it but I have to wait 6 to 8 hours. So it would be fair to say that it doesn't take "too" long to prepare, it just seems long because you don't get instant gratification! Also, I could have done it in 15 to 20 minutes if I had peeled and chopped the night before but that would take organizational skills that I don't possess. Anyway, what I get is a hearty, warming, healthy and delicious meal for 6 with only 40 minutes work (thanks to my husband for pointing out that the slow cooker wasn't actually plugged in!) What I don't get is "E" numbers and lots of things ending in "-ate". Who is it for? People who have a few too many spices in their cupboard and live to eat. Who is it not for? People who have absolutely no time and eat to live.

I will absolutely agree that there is a significantly higher level of prep work than I have ever seen when using a slow cooker, but that is exactly the reason why the recipes turn out so well. I love to cook, but quite simply don't always have the time or energy. So if I can spend 15-20 minutes in prep work on a recipe that turns out as beautifully as Tunisian Lamb Tagine or Beef Carbonnade, I am all over it! The Blue Cheese-Walnut Cheescake is a simply amazing appetizer, and I cannot say enough about the wonderfully flavorful Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pudding. If you are looking for your umpteenth cook book with "recipes" calling for throwing some chicken and a couple of cans of condensed mushroom soup into a crock pot, definitely don't buy this book. But if you are looking for a book that will help you to produce gourmet-quality meals using a slow cooker, please do. I have actually adapted many of the recipes to conventional cooking methods as well. I really LOVE this book!

This is a great recipe book for slow cookers. It is not a dump and go recipe collection, there is some prep time, usually between 5 (the shortest amount of time) and 20-30 minutes. About 20 minutes looks to be the norm. But by taking this prep time what comes out of your slow cooker is a great meal. The author states that he only wants to give recipes that would be as good made in a slow cooker as if you had made them in a traditional way. What I have made lives up to this expectation. Also, there are many recipes that I am looking forward to preparing. That is the problem with many slow-cooker books, there just aren't that many recipes that look all that appealing to me - how many different chili recipes do I need? This book has a good selection of recipes that I had not seen before with easy to find ingredients for foods that I think that my family will enjoy. Not that there aren't several company appropriate recipes, because there are, but, there are also great week-night recipes. I didn't intend to buy another slow cooker recipe book, I already owned 3 or 4 in addition to my collection of other cookbooks, but after seeing this one in a book store and looking through it, I had to have it. I've only made a couple of recipes from it, but both have turned out great, and there are many more that I intend to make. Khandi