I was really excited to receive The Mexican Slow Cooker. I
have a slow cooker (or crockpot) that I use sometimes, but every time I
do I think, "That was so easy and delicious, why don't I use it more
often?!" But then, I put it away and don't use it again for a good
while. My husband and I love Mexican food, so I figured this would be
the perfect way to make food that we enjoy and to utilize my slow cooker
more.
However, when I read through the cookbook, I thought it
was great. The author, Deborah Schneider, takes the time to explain
Mexican cooking terms and ingredients, which is helpful to me. In case
the reader has never used a slow cooker, she explains how to use the
appliance. Deborah includes some very pertinent information, like a
chart showing the different kinds of chiles used in Mexican cooking,
which dishes they are typically used in and how hot they are. There is
also an index in the back of the book of other common Mexican
ingredients.
The Mexican Slow Cooker features recipes
for soups, main dishes, street foods (like tacos and enchildadas), side
dishes, and desserts. Very thorough. However, when I actually began to
read the individual recipes, I was no longer quite so enthused about
the book. Many of the recipes, I dare say most of the ones I was
personally interested in trying, call for first making either chicken or
beef broth (caldo de pollo or caldo de res). That means first using
the slow cooker to cook the meat for the broth for 8 hours, then cooling
it, straining it, and chilling it before you can even begin another
recipe in which you use the slow cooker for another 4-8 hours. Way too
much time and effort! I use my slow cooker for EASY meals.
So, my overall assessment of The Mexican Slow Cooker
is that I probably won't be making very many recipes from it. Not that
they don't sound delicious, but because they are much more complicated that I am looking for. I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.
