Good Food: Slow cooker favourites

Product Information

With this number one bestselling book, Nathan Anthony has proven that you can eat healthily and still enjoy gorgeous home cooked meals at the end of a busy day. The book came from Nathan’s popular blog, Bored of Lunch and he now has over 1.2m followers, plus a companion book focusing on air fryers. In many ways you might find that your slow cooker gets used rather a lot as you could first set your cooker to make your breakfast and, if there is time, then prepare the evening meal so it can slow cook during the day. Or, if you are super efficient, pre-prepare as much as you can for both dishes the night before and then do the small bits you have to at the last minute. Perfect for busy families, the best slow cooker can provide a tasty home cooked meal with minimal mess and fuss. What’s not to love? While stews and soups are the most common recipes for slow cookers, there’s loads you can do with them – from slow cooked meat and tasty sauces to desserts and even bread. Every book in this series has so far been a little gem and this one is no exception. Now the only problem might be what slow cooker to buy so that one may try out properly what one might have been missing! This slow cooker book has a good variety of main meal dishes and recipe ideas. Covering a range of tastes and cuisines. With a large and clear photo for each slow cooker recipe. Each recipe also includes helpful tips. For example, where recipes can be halved or doubled. And a very useful guide to the nutritional information for each recipe. And compared to the other slow cooker books I’ve used. This has a very good range of fish and seafood slow cooker recipes.

Functions: additional functions on the slow cooker including browning, reheating, reducing and whether it is hob or oven-safe Slow cookers vary considerably, so follow your manufacturer's manual for guidelines on temperatures and cooking times. If you don’t know where to start, there are loads of great slow cooker recipe books around to inspire you in the kitchen. From vegetarian-friendly dishes to tasty curries, there’s a cookbook to cater for every kind of taste.

Why you should trust us

I have the BBC [Good] Food Slow Cooker Recipe Book, which has some nice and simple recipes in it.” (Recommended by Mumsnet user Pilot12) Our verdict I would not normally write a review but think this may help some people to not buy incorrectly as I have. I bought this book for my son and his girlfriend. Heat retention: how the cooker holds heat for safety on the worktop and whether the food catches or burns

I would not normally write a review but think this may help some people to not buy incorrectly as I have. I got this book a while ago and it’s bloody brilliant, have got lots of recipes bookmarked. I bought a second-hand copy which was in good condition.” (Recommended by Mumsnet user Furries) Our verdict Design: Are you looking for a simple, budget-friendly option that just slow-cooks (but does it extremely well) or something more versatile that sous-vides, pressure cooks, bakes and roasts too? Do bear in mind that the more technological the slow cooker, the higher the price. Once you have run through the range of enticing breakfasts, you can look at various meat dishes, seafood, vegetables and vegetarian dishes. Sweets, jams and chutneys can even be prepared in a slow cooker to boot.

Summary

Size: With sizes starting at 1-litre through to a whopping 6.5-litres, choosing the right size for you is imperative. The smallest sizes are suitable when cooking for one or two. 3-litres to 4.5-litres (one of the most popular sizes on the market) serve four, and the large 6-6.5-litre models are super for families and batch cooking. It's also worth bearing in mind that the capacity stated on the sales blurb is the size of the bowl, not the working capacity, which can sometimes be half that. A lot of the recipes involve preparing parts before hand, for example: making mashed potato first to add to the meal and they also involve a lot of ingredients too. Rice and pasta dishes work best cooked on high for the shortest time possible. Always use easy-cook rice, rinsed well first – the more starch you rinse from the rice, the better the finished result.