Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Hmmm... A good book designer is worth his/her weight in gold.  And I
imagine that cookbook layout presents special challenges.  Do they let
the author(s) have any input into the layout at all?

Re lamb: I don't see lamb shanks around all that often either, but leg
of lamb seems to be pretty readily available - they even have it at
Costco.  However I don't have a sense of national availability. 
Anyway, for volume 2 - consider giving us something to do with leg of
lamb!

Was going to make the herbed top round roast today, but didn't get
going in time - it's a 10 hour cooking time!  I'll try it tomorrow.
  

    
> in general it's best to completely read through a
>  recipe before starting it.

Definitely. It's also helpful if you have a general idea of what kinds of
ingredients would come together to make a dish you're trying to produce.

I remember seeing a recipe for lemon meringue pie in my local paper once. 
Somewhere along the line, the sugar had been left out of the list of
ingredients. That fact leapt out at me, but apparently not for everyone.
A fair few people wrote in to complain later that the pie they'd made 
from that recipe was just too dang sour! 

 ****

Speaking of sugar, I'd love to see a slowcooker dessert recipe posted
here, if it's OK to offer something from your cookbook, Kitty and Kim. 
Someone here mentioned your recipe for "cinnamon walnuts" and your
book review at Amazon notes "Peanut Butter Fudge Cake with Peanut Butter 
Drizzle." Any chance of a preview? 
  

    
I'll let Kim select....we have a few good recipes for sweets. The cake
is delish, but I know Kim likes the Berry Sauce, which is good over
low carb ice cream, and is also good with the low-carb yogurt or
cottage cheese in the morning--very versatile! Kim, choose your fave
and post, ok?
  

    
Speaking of recipes...

Tonight was Mom's Classic Roast. Other than us needing to adjust the
cooking time (we let it go for 8, it probably would have been better at
six or seven) it was delish. Seriously. It was one of the best tasting
roasts I've had in a long time.

One change... we don't drink and didn't have ready access to low carb
beer so we exchanged an equal amount of broth.

I assume the beer was strictly a flavoring thing?

I'm also curious to hear from each of you... from the book, do you
have a favorite meal?
  

    
I think the fave in our house so far was the Satay Chicken bites.
I actually cut the chicken into something closer to 'strips' because
I wanted to cook it longer, then I cooked it for 8 hours.  And I
think the peanut butter was closer to 1/2 cup than 2 tbsp.  I love
peanut butter.  But anyway, many folks were here for dinner that
night and they are all asking when chicken satay night comes again,
so I think that qualifies as a major hit :-)
  

    
Glad everyone is enjoying their forays into the book. I think my
favorite recipe in the book is the Pepper and Onion Beef Stew. It's
super easy, and tastes much better to me than traditional beef stew.
i'm also partial to the Greek Chicken and the Rosemary and Garlic
Chicken (chicken thighs are so inexpensive most of the time that I
always have some ready in the freezer for these recipes. The
Mediterranean Hake is a recipe that I often make, but not in the slow
cooker (can use ther types of fish as well). It works just as well in
the slow cooker, for those days when you don't feel like "tending" your
meal. Finally, many of what Kim and I referred to as "Go Withs" when
we were working on the book are delish as well. Check the Side Dishes
chapter for these--quick and easy ways to work in some veggies to go
along with slow cooked food. 
  

    
Axon - I received a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker for Christmas and I love
it.  It works very well with low-carb ice creams which tend to freeze
faster than regular ice creams because of the absence of sugar.
  

    
Regarding cookbook design, every publishing house has its own style. 
Cookbook authors are asked to submit manuscripts following certain
specifications.  Once the publisher receives the finished manuscript
and it is edited.  It is then type set.  The publisher pretty much
dictates how the book will look in the end.

Best wishes with the herbed top roast.  That is a very old school
recipe similar to boiled meat dishes served in Italy.

Feel free to do a leg of lamb in your slow cooker, it should work
great.  Follow a preferred recipe and a little wine 2Tablespoons and
some aromatic vegetables (garlic, carrots, celery, onion) to the base
of the slow cooker, place the lamb on top.  Rub the lamb with oil oil,
salt, pepper and other preferred seasonings (cumin, thyme, oregano). 
Cook on low for 8H - it will be delish.  I would suggest going for
boneless leg of lamb due to space restrictions.
  

    
Great news on the Mom's Pot Roast.  As you thought, the beer is simply
used to flavor the roast.  The broth substitution would work fine.

Happy news on the satay bites - cutting them into strips was a great
idea if serving them more for a meal rather than entertaining.  They
are always well received when we serve them at our house too.

My favorite recipes in the book are the butter roasted almonds and the
lemon roasted chicken.  I love to snack on those almonds plus they add
a perfect crunch to salad.  I have always loved lemon roasted chicken
and found preparing it in the slow cooker super easy and delicious.  I
also am a huge fan of the fish recipes, I find them perfect for
entertaining or a weekend dinner.  Plus as Kitty mentioned, check out
the side dishes chapter for easy recipes to accompany your slow cooked
meals.

We'll get a dessert recipe posted soon.
  

    
Well, the herbed pot roast is in the cooker now, and is already
starting to smell good.  I used copious amounts of fresh rosemary since
I happened to have some on hand.  And how fortunate that I happened to
have just exactly two slices of leftover bacon!

Thanks for the ideas on lamb - I'll have to try that next.
  

    

Kim, thanks for the tip on the ice cream freezer.  As it happens, I
*was* conflating your book with another book I received around the same
time, which is a really gorgeous picture book of 500 classic recipes.

Anyway, looking back over your book this morning, I remembered how
impressed my wife is with the dessert recipes (and, of course, we're
looking forward to your next book).  Good desserts could turn my wife
into a lowcarber.  She's already eating my low-carb bagels and low-carb
(Breyers) ice cream, so there's hope.

And she certainly has been appreciating all the crockpotting and
grilling I've been doing.  As you say, meat without a side is pretty
boring, and we've been enjoying a lot of steamed veggies (betraying
recent intimate congress with bacon, say) along with the meats.

I certainly will be trying a lot of the recipes, because although it's
great what a crockpot does to a hunk of pork, even without further
amendment, it does get a bit stale without some color and contrast, and
maybe some sauce.  I look forward to trying the tapioca tip soon.
  

    
OK, I'm really really new to this slow cooker thing, so forgive me if
this is the world's most obvious question, but is it supposed to be
boiling?

The liquid is bubbling fairly rapidly (this is the Herbed Top Round
Roast recipe) and the lid is going 'clank, clank', with some moisture
escaping.  Not a lot, but some.  This is at the 4 hour mark.

It smells INCREDIBLE, by the way.
  

    
Some slow cookers cook at higher temps than others. Mine never
"clanks", nor does any steam escape unless I open the lid to check on
the contents. My guess is that your machine cooks at a higher temp and
faster than most...you may need to decrease the cooking time. Are you
sure it's set on LOW? (Most of our recipes do cook on LOW). If it's
already on low, just keep an eye on it, as it most likely will be done
quicker than you thought--or than the recipe indicates. 

If your machine is older, this may be the cause of your problem. The
newer machines are generally more well-controlled, for lack of a better
word.
  

    
It's a brand new Rival Smart Pot - just bought it a week ago!  

And it's definitely set on 'low" - it basically has four settings: 
High/4 hours, High/6 hours, Low/8 hours, and Low/10 hours.  You toggle
a little light through those four settings until you get the one you
want.   (Obviously it's not a VERY Smart Pot, only a somewhat Smart
Pot.  The really smart ones cost a lot more.)

I'm asking, also, because I was about to throw the box away, but I
don't like to do that until I'm absolutely certain I won't be returning
something.

So how can I tell if it's done early?
  

    
Mine clanks.

The nice thing about a slow cooker is that it's forgiving in terms of
time. So if you mean, is it going to be done before I get home from
work, it's no big deal. If you mean, I'm sitting here and starving to
death and can I *eat* it already...well, give it a poke and see. :-)
  

    
I may have confused you with "boiled meat".  Bollito Misto is an
Italian preparation of beef when a tough cut of meat is cooked with
aromatics at a very low simmer for a long time.  The good news on the
herbed roast is that it is very forgiving, just follow the recipe time.
 It will not be overcooked.  Do follow the last two steps of the
recipe.  When you slice the meat after resting, it will seems dry, but
remember that you will be serving it with the flavorful cooking juices.

Most slow cooked dishes will not "boil" unless left on high for
extended amounts of time.  Your slow cooker should not "clank".  I have
a slow cooker that spits and clanks sometimes when moisture gets under
the rim, but I think it is because my house is 100 years old and the
floors are slanted, causing the water to collect under the rim.  I own
the oval smart pot slow cooker by rival and I love it.
  

    
It's not "boiling" with quotes, it's really and truly boiling.  And
clanking.  Damn, I may have to return it to the store after all. 

It's the oval Rival Smart Pot, 5 quarts.
  

    
Well, I think I have to conclude that this crock pot is defective.  I
got home when the crockpot had been going for about 9 hours, not ten as
in the recipe, turned it off at once, followed the 'resting'
instructions and everything...but the meat is practically inedible. 
Very, very dry, even with juices over it (there weer some juices left -
barely enough for two servings of the meat) and with a distinctly
burned-looking exterior, and a somewhat burned taste.

Harrumph.  And I was so looking forward to this - it smelled really
really great for the first couple of hours.
  

    
I know that some of the newer, more "contemporary" slow cookers cook
REALLY hot, as you may have discovered. My brother has one, stainless
steal etc., programmable... he returned it once because it cooked too
hot and then found the same problem with the next one...
  

    
Nitpicker - it must be the slow cooker because that recipe should
deliver a slow cooker full of juice.  Huge Bummer.  Mine is the same
model but I have never had problems with it.  I thought the clanking
might be as a result of the large amount of liquid in the recipe
getting caught under the lid (like mine does).  It sounds like your
smart pot reads low but cooks high.  As I mentioned earlier, the herbed
roast will seem dry when you slice it, but it is perfectly edible,
especially when served with the flavorful juices.

Kitty and I can relate to the disappointment.  There were times this
summer when I had four slow cookers going at a time and when the dishes
didn't turn out after 8+ hours it was disappointing, especially when
it was the 2nd or 3rd attempt on a recipes.  It's times like these when
take out greek salad is a good option.
  

    
Here's a link for the slow cooked berry sauce:

http:/www.wcsh6.com/show_207/article.asp?id=12038 

If for some reason the link doesn't work, simply go to www.wcsh6.com
and click on the 207 icon, our recipes will appear.

Serve it over some low-carb ice cream, with low-carb toast in the
morning or over cottage cheese topped with toasted almonds.

Happy Cooking!
  

    
Sheesh! Seems like there are many a defective slow cooker being sold
out there! My old Rival with the hideous flowers on the outside is
starting to seem really good.....it cooks correctly, despite its
decoration!

What a waste of meat, huh? This is a good reminder to buy meat for
slow cooking on sale. Kim and I are known at our supermarkets for
always showing up on "meat sale day," when they go around and mark down
every cut that's at it's sell-bay date. Then, we just take it home and
use it right way or freeze it. My husband claims to not know what
"fresh" meat is anymore, although in truty it's all perfectly fine for
eating, definitely not spoiled or anything! It helps to have a big
freezer to use...I just checked my freezer down here in my basement
(where my office is, too), and I have chicken thighs, a variety of
steaks (ok, those weren't on sale), roasting chickens, burger and
Italian sausage, all bought marked down....Find out when your store
does it; mine is on Monday, and by Monday night all the marked down
meat is gone. Some stores do it on Sunday...
  

    
Actually I don't know whether to be less bummed or more bummed because
my slow cooker killed a roast that I got a super deal on!  This was
one of the reasons I got a slow cooker in the first place - to save
money on meat and be able to cook those cheaper cuts.
  

    
As I type there is a slowcooker full of the white chili cooking away. 
I am anxious to try it this evening, but it has to be good with the
onions, garlic, cumin and chilies.  Right?  
  

    
Have been snacking on cinnamon pecans (substituted for Walnuts) today.

Very tasty.

I'm curious. The recipe called for 1lb of nuts. Any reason for using
that description opposed to X number of cups?