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The slow cooker was initially praised for doing the seemingly impossible: cook dinner while we were out of the house. Yet despite all of the promise, the convenient, seemingly miraculous small appliance has suffered from a bit of an image problem. A common complaint with the recipes of old is that the final product is akin to bland, brown mush. It’s no wonder many cooks limit their usage to cold-weather months; that is, if they cook in it at all.

A few of the key techniques and recipes from the new book, “Year-Round Slow Cooker; 100 Favorite Recipes for Every Season” (The Taunton Press), by Journal News contributor Dina Cheney, can help our little friend live up to its miraculous potential. Check it out here: (Slow) cooking with the seasons ^[2].

 

Photo by Andrew Hugh Purcell