Free Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever by Diane Phillips Page A

powder, Gephardt’s is a good brand, or try mail ordering from Penzey’s Spices (www.penzeys.com).
    more savvy
    Always sauté dried herbs and spices to release their oils, otherwise the finished dish will not have a balanced flavor. This is especially true of chili powders, which need to “bloom” in fat to reduce their harshness.

Back Bay Corn Chowder
    Smoky, creamy, and sweet, this delicious warm-up filled with sweet corn, bacon, and potatoes is terrific to serve in mugs on a cold winter day. Cream and whole milk are my choices for this chowder; add them at the end of the cooking time to prevent separating.
    8 strips bacon, cut into ½-inch dice (see savvy)
    1 cup finely chopped onion
    3 stalks celery, finely chopped
    1½ teaspoons dried thyme leaves
    ½ cup all-purpose flour
    4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
    Tabasco sauce
    4 cups diced red potatoes (see savvy)
    One 16-ounce package frozen petite white corn, defrosted
    1 cup heavy cream
    Salt
    cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Add the onion, celery, and thyme and cook over medium-high heat until the onion begins to soften. Add the flour and cook, stirring, over medium heat for 3 minutes. Gradually add the broth and 8 drops of Tabasco, whisking until smooth, and bring the mixture to a boil.
    transfer the contents of the skillet to the insert of a 5- to 7-quart slow cooker. Add the potatoes and corn. Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 to 7 hours.
    at the end of the cooking time, stir in the cream, cover the slow cooker, and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes. Season with salt and Tabasco.
    serve the chowder hot.
    serves 8
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    bacon sauté savvy
    When sautéing bacon with other ingredients, make sure to render the fat, and cook the bacon until it is just crisp. The addition of vegetables like onions to the sauté will add some water and prevent the bacon from becoming crisp, so make sure it is crisp before adding the vegetables. I usually cook a whole pound of bacon and use the extra for garnish because we all know everything tastes better with bacon!
    potato savvy
    I will leave the skins on potatoes if they are unblemished and don’t have a greenish tinge. If they do look a bit green, it is from exposure to light and the green tinge should be peeled off because it is a toxin and can give you a tummy ache. Choices for potatoes in this soup would be the waxy varieties: red, Yukon gold, fingerling, or white creamers. Baking potatoes aren’t recommended because they have a tendency to fall apart in soup.

New England Fish Chowder
    Filled with potatoes, onion, celery, bacon, and fresh fish, creamy seafood chowders are a staple not only in New England but across America. This fish chowder is a basic slow-cooker recipe for any type of creamy chowder—it’s a matter of substituting more than changing the cooking technique. Fish chowder should be made with a thick-fleshed fish that will not disintegrate in the cooker, such as halibut, sea bass, or cod. Make sure the fish is fresh, not frozen. Frozen fish tends to disintegrate when cooked low and slow. Fish stock can easily be made on your stovetop, but if you don’t have any, a mixture of chicken broth and clam juice also works well. Superior Touch Better Than Bouillon has a clam base as well as a delicious lobster stock that you could certainly use.
    8 strips thick-cut bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
    1 large onion, finely chopped
    4 stalks celery, finely chopped
    1 teaspoon dried thyme
    3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    3 cups chicken broth
    Two 8-ounce bottles clam juice
    5 medium red or Yukon gold potatoes, cut into ½-inch chunks
    1 bay leaf
    1½ pounds thick-fleshed fish, such as sea bass, halibut, haddock, or cod, cut into 2-inch cubes
    1½ cups heavy cream
    ¼ cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley for garnishing
    ¼ cup finely chopped fresh chives for garnishing
    cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp and remove it to