The Chef and the Slow Cooker: Book review and a giveaway

I like my slow cooker for the convenience of knowing that dinner can be waiting for us at the end of a busy day. There are things I’ve made in the slow cooker that were good and others that were less so, but I wouldn’t have characterized anything I made in the slow cooker as exciting until I got my newest cookbook, The Chef and the Slow Cooker by Hugh Acheson. This is chef-quality cuisine that just happens to utilize a slow cooker.

So far I’ve made two recipes from this cookbook: Classic Braised Short Ribs and the Beer-Braised Pork Tacos. Both were deliciously crave worthy, and made the house smell phenomenal. I am certain to make both of those again, but I also look forward to trying other recipes from the book. (Kimchi-Braised Chicken is definitely on the short list.) The writing in the cookbook conveys Acheson’s love of food and unfussy style. Drawings and photographs showing how the chef spends his time while the slow cooker does the work add to the charm.

The recipes in this cookbook require more preparation than the usual “just dump everything in and pray” slow cooker recipes, but the steps are not difficult. The combination of slow cooker convenience and sophisticated flavor combinations guarantee that this is a cookbook that will get a lot of use in my house.

[CONTEST HAS ENDED]