A monthly series of cookbook reviews on a theme
If you aren't using that slow cooker that's probably sitting in the back of your cupboard, Phyllis Pellman Good has more than 1,000 reasons why you should.
Her latest tome for slow cooking, the Fix-It and Forget-It Big Cookbook (Good Books, 2008, $29.95), is a compilation of 1,400 recipes culled from five cookbooks in her popular Fix-It and Forget-It series. The series has sold nearly 10 million copies since its debut in 2000, and Good says one reason why the books are so popular is that they aren't intended for folks who dabble in cooking as a hobby or a whim.
"The audience I have in mind is those who have to cook every day of the week," says Good, who lives in Lancaster, Pa.
All of the recipes in the books come from home cooks across the country, so they have been tested in real-life situations. Geared toward novices or those who face feeding the hungry family at 5 o'clock, the recipes are simple and usually require little advance preparation before the ingredients are placed in the pot. The recipes leave little to chance, specifying the size of slow cooker that works best, estimating the time the dish will take and providing clear, step-by-step instructions.
Good's previous slow-cooker books were no-frills affairs with simple line drawings and spiral bindings that made them easy to prop open on the kitchen counter. The new book is a bit more upscale, featuring a hard cover and color photography. "We wanted to do something that felt a little more substantial. Perhaps as a gift," Good says.
The book features about half of the recipes that have been published in the Fix-It and Forget-It series. Good says she selected her favorites and those that had received positive reviews over the years.
The recipes range from cheese dips to chocolate cake and are organized into 12 chapters. The index helpfully lists not only the names of the recipes, but also ingredients, so if, for example, you have some dried apricots on hand, you can look in the index and find eight ways to use them.
While Good's slow-cooker books have been immensely popular, she says she came to appreciate the advantages of slow cooking only after she and her staff began planning the first cookbook in the series. Good solicited her contributors for slow-cooker recipes and was amazed when she received 3,000 responses. "It was a total revelation," she said.
