Vive La France! ...and French cooking tips

I confess I have always been doubtful about slow cookers. I know people swear by them. But I’m a cook who loves to be in the kitchen stirring, tasting, adding this and that.

Certainly my experience of other’s Slow Cooking has been Mac ‘n Cheese, tough Chicken in some sort of Sauce, or beef gone wrong. Some good some bad all less than stellar!

In light of this, when the words ‘slow cooker’ surface, all I can think of is those horrific experiences, shudder and turn back to my trusty pots n’ pans.

But now! There is Slowing Cooking- a la gourmet style. Vive La France! (or in this case the French Cooks!)

My mouth watered as I read through The French Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone and I am almost convinced that this method will be for me. I say almost because I have to purchase the cooker. My slow cooker (that I used once and then it went the way of the Hard Rubbish Collection) had been bought at a garage sale and was nowhere near as swish and user friendly as those to be found in the chapter entitled Choosing a Slow Cooker.

The chapters are well laid out; explanations are great and recipes accessible. The lamb recipes, particularly Lamb Shanks are appealing (I am so…ooo a lamb lover). The other red meat recipes seem excellent also.

Had I had this book ages ago my household would have run differently and the children may have eaten before 8pm.  Now they all eat at 6pm so at least the grandkids aren’t starving or learning to snack or going to bed on full stomachs like they did.

This is a great book for those of us scared stiff by ‘The Slow Cooker’…Slow cooking with verve, panache and style. What more can one ask for.

A Netgallery ARC