Slow Cooker, Crock-Pot Round-Up

by Kate Heyhoe

All over North America, cooks are dusting off their slow cookers and cozying up to cool weather recipes. So long Señor Barbecue, hello Mr. Crock-pot!

Pot

Slow cookers, also commonly known as crock-pots, are useful all year round, but come fall and winter, they shine. Tender pot roasts, Indian dals, and Chinese ginger-braised chicken become one-pot meals with the addition of a few root vegetables or greens. But if soups, stews, and beans are the full extent of your crock-pot repertoire, listen up: Slow cookers can do everything from caramelizing garlic to baking desserts. They can even infuse olive oils with fresh herbs, like rosemary, for giving as gifts or simply spicing up your own kitchen pantry.

Slow cookers are also the ideal kitchen slave: They work long shifts, often ten or twelve hours at a time, for years on end, tirelessly, and never complain or demand special attention. As a bonus, slow cookers, like other small appliances, use energy far more efficiently than full size ovens or cooktops. A slow cooker running for ten hours burns less than a dime's worth of electricity.

I've rounded up a few slow cooker books and recipes to inspire your farewell to summer and keep the coming months' cooking cozy, interesting, and easy. (My own personal favorite is the slow-cooked pork—just add a few tortillas, some shredded lettuce and dinner is done!)

Slow Cooker Recipes and Tips

Kate's Slow-Simmered Salt and Pepper Pork

Lora Brody's Slow Cooker Cooking

Dulce de Leche

Rosemary-Infused Oil

Pasta with Caramelized Garlic and Fresh Parsley

Caramelized Garlic

Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker

No Hurry Vegetable Curry

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

Spinach Artichoke Dip

Tips and Hints from Lora Brody's Slow Cooker Cooking
Slow Cooker Tips, from Lora Brody Plugged In

Kate's Global Kitchen for October 2004:
10/01/04     99 Bottles of Beer, Hurrah!
10/08/04     Odd and Unusual Cooking Techniques
10/15/04     Slow Cooker, Crock-Pot Round-Up
10/22/04     A Kinder, Gentler Halloween
10/29/04     I Ain't No Vampire ('Cause Garlic Tastes Good to Me)

Current Kate's Global Kitchen
Kate's Global Kitchen Archive

This page created October 2004

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