There’s been something of a shift in cooking trends of late. 
Fussy foams and snooty smears are falling out of favour as cookery goes back to basics. Chef of the moment Tom Kerridge champions hearty, locally-sourced British classics that will leave you satisfyingly full rather than disappointingly hungry. The Great British Bake Off has become essential viewing for millions, inspiring a generation to get into the kitchen armed with a wooden spoon, cake tin and a Mary Berry cookbook. And along with this renaissance in old-fashioned kitchen skills has come the resurgence of slow cooking.
Once the height of ‘70s sophistication slow cookers were later banished to the back of cupboards, but with pressure and slow cooking making a comeback now is the time to dust of this once essential piece of kitchen kit.
Where once the slow cooker would be used to produce uninspiring, often beige, variations on the standard casserole, now they’re being used to cook up culinary delights ranging from pulled pork and ribs to chocolate brownies and cheesecake.
The main benefit of a slow cooker is that they can be plugged in and left to cook at low temperatures for many hours; which means you can bung in all your ingredients before you leave for work in the morning, returning home to find a perfectly cooked meal awaiting you. They’re cost effective too – you can buy one for as little as a tenner and they use much less electricity than your conventional oven. BBC Good Food recently reported that sales of slow cookers had soared over the last year as more and more people recognise the benefits of these labour-saving devices.
If you’ve joined the trend and are looking for some slow cooking inspiration there are now a multitude of bloggers and vloggers sharing their recipes online to help you get creative in the kitchen with the minimum of time and effort. What’s not to like?