Your own recipes in the slow cooker
To adapt your regular recipes to the slow cooker, whether it is your osso buco or your grandmother’s stew, here are a few simple rules.
- The recipe must call for simmering or braising with very little liquid.
- You must reduce the amount of liquid called for by about half, since there is very little evaporation from the slow cooker. If you have used too much liquid and your stew looks like a soup, remove the solid pieces and cook the liquid on high. A quicker way is to transfer the broth to a saucepan and cook it down on the stove. Either way, reduce the broth until you get the consistency you want.
- The slow cooker must always be either half full or two-thirds full, no more, no less. If there is more in the container, the appliance will take too long to heat the contents. If, on the other hand, there is too little in the container, you will have to check regularly to ensure the food does not overcook.
- Find a recipe in my book that is similar to yours and use it as a guide for cooking time. Most meat and vegetable recipes need to be cooked on low for 6 to 8 hours.
THANK YOU … THANK YOU … THANK YOU … THANK YOU …
Brigitte always knew there was a need for a book such as this. She knows how hard it is to run around trying to get everything done and have dinner with the family as well. The slow cooker is one way to be able to do just that: eat a homemade meal together. Thank you for all our family dinners.
A cookbook is the product of the efforts of a number of people. I have been working with the same wonderful team for years now. In the kitchen, thank you to Nataly, Étienne, Danielle, and lastly Kareen, who toiled and believed in this project from the very beginning.
The difference between a regular manuscript (written text on sheets of white paper) and a completed book is the work done by the creative team. Thank you to Sonia Bluteau, the team’s intrepid leader. Your idea of hooking a slow cooker onto a maple tree had me in stitches. Your whimsy is always expressed with the best of taste. Thank you to my loyal friend of ten years, Christian Lacroix. Along with Anne and Sylvain, you gave the slow cooker quite a personality from behind your lens. Thank you, Geneviève—the design is a great success because of you. And Rodolphe, kudos for your illustrations. Each and every one of them made me laugh.
Thank you to Caroline Jamet and Martine Pelletier from Les Editions La Presse for your patience and your unwavering confidence.
Thank you to all my tasters, both at home and at work.
And thank you to you, dear readers. I remain grounded because of you, and I always remember that the most important ingredient in any recipe is the people with whom we share it.
