The Chef and the Slow Cooker
Hugh Acheson brings a chef's mind to the slow cooker, with 100 recipes showing you how an appliance generally relegated to convenience cooking can open up many culinary doors.
Hugh celebrates America's old countertop stalwart with fresh, convenient slow cooker recipes with a chef's twist, dishes like brisket with soy, orange, ginger, and star anise, or pork shoulder braised in milk with fennel and raisins. But where it gets really fun is when Hugh shows what a slow cooker can really do, things like poaching and holding eggs at the perfect temperature for your brunch party, or for making easy duck confit, or for the simplest stocks and richest overnight ramen broth. There's even a section of jams, preserves, and desserts, so your slow cooker can be your BFF in the kitchen morning, noon, and night. Hugh Acheson showcases 100 recipes that demonstrate how a slow cooker, often used for convenience cooking, can elevate the culinary experience. He presents fresh and convenient slow cooker recipes with a chef's twist, such as brisket with soy, orange, ginger, and star anise, as well as pork shoulder braised in milk with fennel and raisins. Additionally, Acheson explores the slow cooker's versatility, showcasing how it can be used for tasks like poaching and holding eggs at the perfect temperature for brunch, making easy duck confit, preparing stocks and rich overnight ramen broth. The book even includes a section on. making jams, preserves, and desserts in the slow cooker. With these recipes, the slow cooker canile kitchen companion throughout the day.
About the Author:
Hugh Acheson is the chef/partner of the Georgia restaurants 5 & 10 and The National located in Athens, Empire State South in Atlanta, and The Florence in Savannah. Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada Hugh started cooking at a young age and decided to make it his career after taking a very long time to realize that academics weren't his thing. At age 15, he began working in restaurants after school and learning as much as possible.
Today, Acheson's experience includes working under Chef Rob MacDonald where he learned stylized French cuisine, wine, and etiquette at the renowned Henri Burger restaurant in Ottawa, and in San Francisco as the chef de cuisine with Chef Mike Fennelly at Mecca, and later as opening sous chef with famed Chef Gary Danko at Chef Danko's namesake restaurant, where he found a love of the simple, pure and disciplined, which guided him when opening his own restaurants in the years to follow.
Hugh's cookbook titled A New Turn in the South: Southern Flavors Reinvented for Your Kitchen published by Clarkson Potter, hit the bookshelves on October 18th, 2011 and won the award for Best Cookbook in the field of "American Cooking" by the James Beard Foundation in 2012. With inviting and surprising photography full of Hugh's personality, and pages layered with his own quirky writing and sketches, Hugh invites you into his community and his very creative world of food, and to add new favorites to your repertoire.
His second book, Pick a Pickle: 50 recipes for Pickles, Relishes, and Fermented Snacks, is a pickling swatchbook and handy kitchen reference guide.
Hugh's third book, The Broad Fork: Recipes for the Wide World of Vegetables and Fruits published by Clarkson Potter, is due out in May of 2015. It's a vegetable-centric look at cooking through the seasons.
Acheson's fresh approach to Southern food has earned him a great deal of recognition including Food & Wine's Best New Chef in 2002 and winner for Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation in 2012. In 2010 Hugh competed on Bravo's Top Chef Masters: Season 3. He currently serves as a judge on Top Chef.