The Slow Cooker Cookbook - Gina Steer

...waiting for me to find the time to read the instruction booklet and start working out how it was used.

Eventually I got it out and decided to buy myself a cook book so as to get the best out of my new appliance. I bought the gina Steer one as it had some good reviews and I liked the way the recipes were laid out, they looked very clear and easy to read and the pictures made the food look very tempting!

What is great ...
...all sorts!

The recipes I've used from this have all turned out really well and have been very tasty however, a few of them have tasted rather 'samey' despite the fact the recipes appear so different so this disappointed me.

Also, I found that the recipes were not very 'easy'. They were easy enough to follow but my main reason for buying a slow cooker was to save time/washing up but this book doesn't really fit with that. ... more

I bought myself a slow cooker a few months ago and realised that I had never used it, it just sat in my cupboard waiting for me to find the time to read the instruction booklet and start working out how it was used.

Eventually I got it out and decided to buy myself a cook book so as to get the best out of my new appliance. I bought the gina Steer one as it had some good reviews and I liked the way the recipes were laid out, they looked very clear and easy to read and the pictures made the food look very tempting!

What is great about the book is that there are about 150 recipes so there is great variation from soups, starters, main meals and even desserts. I wasn't aware that you could make desserts in a slow cooker, I thought it was mainly used for casseroles and soups but no! you can make all sorts!

The recipes I've used from this have all turned out really well and have been very tasty however, a few of them have tasted rather 'samey' despite the fact the recipes appear so different so this disappointed me.

Also, I found that the recipes were not very 'easy'. They were easy enough to follow but my main reason for buying a slow cooker was to save time/washing up but this book doesn't really fit with that. There is a lot of preparation needed for the recipes and I found that I still had a few pots to wash up as well as the slow cooker so defeated the object.

A fewof the recipes involve having to alter the temperature setting too so wasn't ideal as I wanted to leave it cooking away slowly whilst I was out but it needed for me to mess aorund with the temperature so it just wasn't ideal.

What I think this book lacks are basic recipes. It's all well and good learning how to make creme brulee but how about basics like stews. I'm a very basic cook and do't know a great deal about food and cooking so it would have been good to have some more basics in the book too.

A lot of the recipes were good and tasted fine, I just was disappointed with it's content. I think it feels a bit dated now, it was published in 2002 and I think that time has moved on qute a bit since then as has the quality of slow cookers so I think it's in need of an edit.

I don't really recommend this book, I found it disappointing. it cost me £15 but it's available on amazon now for £8. My personal opinion is that it's not really worth this much. It's ashame as some of the reviews suggested it was really good and invaluable but it just wasn't for me. 

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