The Chef and the Slow Cooker: A Cookbook

by Hugh Acheson

Hugh Acheson brings a chef's mind to the slow cooker, with 100 recipes showing readers how an appliance generally relegated to convenience cooking can open up many culinary doors. Hugh celebrates America's old countertop stalwart with fresh, convenient slow cooker recipes with a chef's twist, dishes like brisket with soy, orange, ginger, and star anise, or pork shoulder braised in milk with fennel and raisins. But where it gets really fun is when Hugh shows what a slow cooker can really do, things like poaching and holding eggs at the perfect temperature for your brunch party, or for making easy duck confit, or for the simplest stocks and richest overnight ramen broth. There's even a section of jams, preserves, and desserts, so your slow cooker can be your BFF in the kitchen morning, noon, and night.

Introduction --
Foundations: stocks, broths & a theory on the long cook --
Beans & other band leaders & some session players --
Soups --
Vegetable-focused --
Seafood --
Chicken, duck & other birds... plus eggs --
Here's the beef --
Porcine dreams --
Lamb & goat --
Jams, butters, chutneys & one & a half desserts.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 17, 2017

Reviews

[❄️✨ Kat ✨❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

The recipes in this book were just not my type, but it does give good explanations of how to make brines and broths. Also has some good images.

[Anke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of cook books and this is another good addition to my collection. I'm already looking forward to cooking several of these recipes.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book several months ago, after reading a review and feeling excited about making homemade chicken broth in my slow cooker overnight. The recipes for broths are indeed full of flavor and I woke to the whole house smelling amazing.

I just read the rest of the recipes today. Most of them sound amazing... but it seems like the reason I love my slow cooker- that I can put in the ingredients and then go to my office for 9-10 hours - well, many of these recipes are NOT fix it and forget it. Cook for 3 hours, add a few more ingredients, increase to high, stir in this after 2 more hours..... you get the picture. I would still have to be home to make many of the recipes, on a weekend.

That said: Hugh Acheson has gone way beyond your average Crockpot Cookbook with flavors and textures and ingredients. Which was the point of the book. I hope to make several of the recipes in the near future.

[Raidene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully photographed cookbook with side notes and sketches by the talented and scrumptious(sorry if that offends anyone)James Beard winner and Top Chef contestant and judge Hugh Acheson. This is definitely a meat lover's cookbook(Pot Roast with Charred Onion & Chickpea Salad, Osso Buco with Lavender-Citrus Gremolata) but there are also some intriguing veggie soup(Lentil Soup with Kale & Sour Cream)and side dish(Artichoke & Carrot Barigoule) entries. Acheson elevates the slow cooker many of us have gathering dust in our cupboards and delivers a culinary winner with a more fancy schmancy flair than the old recipes using packaged gravy and canned soup.

[Bn · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I ate meat, this book would probably have 5 stars.

Being a vegetarian, there's not much to get from this book. Even the sections on vegetables that you *think* would be veg-friendly tell people to throw in a hock of ham or whatever.

I was really excited for this book because I wanted some more slow cooker recipes. Unfortunately, unless you're an avid meat eater this book probably isn't for you.

[Clwseattle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Hugh Acheson, but I was wholly unimpressed with The Chef and The Slow Cooker. It is fun to look at with interesting prologues to the recipes and a new way to look at your slow cooker, but there is little I would actually make. Actually, I found TWO. That's it: two recipes. I think Acheson found the not so sweet spot where a serious cook wouldn't use a slow cooker and the home cook wouldn't find a recipe.

3 stars, C-

[S Vanorse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not anything in here that I really say to myself "I have to make that". The food photos were nice, but still if I am using a slow cooker I want to dump it all in and leave, not go through a bunch of steps, before, during and after. Then I could have my picture taken, sitting in a lawn chair reading a cookbook, drink in hand, like Acheson, only I wouldn't have the slow cooker on the lawn with a 100 foot extension cord.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atcheson really takes the slow cooker to new heights here. His instructions are very clear, his prep times accurate and most ingredients easy to get. This is more dinner-party fare than weeknight food, and Atcheson’d southern influence is very apparent here.

The vegetable and stock chapters really stood out for me. If you use your slow cooker a lot, there are some very good ideas here.

[Beka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of times when chefs write for the slow cooker their recipes end up being just as much work as any other recipe, and for me the slow cooker is supposed to be easier. He is still a little too chef-y for me to get many recipes from this, but there are definitely several good ones that don't require too much work or hard-to-find ingredients.

[Dmitry · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was disappointed. on the one hand the concept is terrific - set it and forget it, but either author chose recipes where it just doesn't work! OR I know enough to LOL at his suggestions and make an argument that ~ 1/2 of the recipes would be better served by an oven!
I am sad since the premise was VERY enticing...

[Yvonne O'Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I use my slow cooker more frequently when I’m working in the office and have no time to make a decent meal when I get home, it’s nice to have this kind of book that gives you more options for use of the device and ideas to expand on what other books relegate it to just over-cooked meats or long-soaking legumes or grains in stews/soups.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Hugh Acheson and this book shows his sense of humor. Liked the soups, the beans, and (who knew?) the recipes for peach butter and apple butter made in a crock pot. Will be skipping the goat and the tripe.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the slow cooker and of Hugh Acheson, but these recipes didn't resonate with me so much. I guess I like my slow cooked food simpler and less chef-y. Found his continued use of the word redolent redundant. Loved the illustrations though, which Hugh himself drew.

[Cecilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected more real life recipes

It is a good book, I liked it, I liked how simple they seem, but I expected more recipes using common ingredients like beef, and pork, chicken that are the ones that I use. But it was ok.

[Genevieve Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very unique recipes for the slow cooker! I only bookmarked a few. I found myself often asking, was the slow cooker only included in this recipe so that the recipe could be included in this book? Because many had very short slow cooker times and more stovetop work.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book to give people who think the slow cooker isn't hip. However, for people who already use and love their slow cookers there aren't many ground-breaking recipes.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just the stock session makes this book worthwhile.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting text but not one recipe I wanted to try

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely pictures but I didn't think the recipes were so unique I couldn't find them in other books I have read.

[Christine Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed bad boy chef, Hugh Acheson. This is a nice cookbook but it goes beyond what I am interested in cooking. I did, however, get some good tips while reading this book.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully designed and photographed -- and better to look at than likely to use. As one other reviewer said, it's definitely more dinner party fare than weeknight cooking.

[Candice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw maybe 2 or 3 recipes I would try but nothing more.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great advice, very personal descriptions of the recipes, beautiful photography, I loved this book. Can't wait to make everything in it.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the recipes had foods that I already don't like in them, so I just don't want to invest time and money in a recipe that has a food that I don't like in it.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked the recipes, the photos, and hope to try 2-3 of them, esp. the jams/butters. I really appreciate Chef Hugh's sense of humor.

[Nita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Hugh and his restaurants so was very excited about this cookbook. Already made my own chicken stock! Woot!! And the photography and personalization are worth it!

[Honest Mabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

oh I am in love

I am always looking for ways to take my slow cooker to the next level. I am so pumped. While I don’t know if I can make tongue it did make me think real hard on it