Like many a foodie, Lynn Alley first warmed to the slow cooker out of necessity.
Researching a biography, Alley found herself staying for months in a place with a questionable oven, few kitchen implements and a slow cooker. Putting beans in the cooker in the morning and finishing them with salt and fresh herbs from the garden in the evening became the simplest and best way to eat.
When she returned to her San Diego home, Alley began experimenting with her slow cooker, making more elaborate dishes from countries from Mexico to Greece. She became such a fan of the appliance -- invented three decades ago to help a time-pressed new generation of working women -- that she turned the recipes into The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Simple and Sophisticated Meals From Around the World (Ten Speed Press, 2003, $18.95).
"I think there are so many successful dishes to do," said Alley, who is at work on a second book of slow-cooker recipes. "I don't mind putting in prep time if I can then put [ingredients] in the slow cooker and walk away from them."
After regaining popularity over the past several years, slow cookers are being put to gourmet use, with more complicated recipes.
The first slow cooker was a modest, round model called the Beanery, introduced in 1970. Rival acquired the manufacturer and gave the cooker the trademarked Crock-Pot name. But the craze waned, and the cookers became a garage-sale staple.
Their resurgence is born of an oxymoron -- producing meals that are both quick and healthful sometimes means going slowly. Because slow-cooker dishes can take six to eight hours to make, they can be prepared in the morning and left for high-school students returning from sports practice and, later, harried parents home from a long day at work.
Sales of Rival Crock-Pot slow cookers have grown 30 percent in the past three years, said Mona Dolgov, director of marketing for the brand at the Holmes Group, which manufactures the appliances. The company estimates that 80 percent of Americans own a slow cooker and that 20 percent to 30 percent use it at least once a week.
"What's nice about the slow cooking is you can go easy or you can go complex," Dolgov said.
The appliances are getting bigger - up to 7 quarts - and more fashionable, with sleek white and stainless steel replacing the bright colors and now-kitschy patterns on older models.
