Secrets of Slow Cooking: Creating Extraordinary Food with your Slow Cooker - Tapa dura

The slow cooker has been a true boon for the busy chef, but until now most slow-cooker recipes have been developed with an eye toward "forgetting" about the cooking rather than creating memorable dishes. That's about to change. With Secrets of Slow Cooking, author Liana Krissoff presents classics, both American and international, as well as new tastes, all featuring the freshest ingredients prepared in a satisfying and, as she puts it, "soulful" manner.Beginning with easy tips for slow-cooker success, Krissoff then offers more than 60 recipes for extraordinary slow-cooked food. From appetizers to vegetables to main dishes to desserts, here are foods that will delight family and friends-Soy-Glazed Beef Short Ribs, Wild Rice with Cherries and Orange, Easiest Corn Chowder, Cassoulet with Homemade Sausage, Apricot and Chocolate Bread Pudding, and Chewy-Fudgy Brownies, to name but a few.Also included are recipes that take full advantage of the slow cooker's capacity for even, low-heat temperature. For example, Tuna Poached in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil showcases an excellent method for cooking firm-fleshed fish, while Sake Punch demonstrates how a slow cooker becomes the perfect punch bowl for serving hot drinks.Secrets of Slow Cooking will take your slow cooker from a convenient appliance to a treasured kitchen necessity.

Liana Krissoff is a freelance cookbook editor and also the author of STC's Hot Drinks for Cold Nights. She worked as a cook at a small restaurant in semi-rural Lovettsville, Virginia, before realizing that she had learned more about food and cooking from her mother (herself a former professional cook who grew up on a nearly self-sufficient farm in western Pennsylvania) than she ever could in a busy, hot, cramped commercial kitchen. She lives and works in Florida. Kirsten Strecker is a still-life and food photographer working in both the United States and her native Australia.