Slowcooker Revolution: Chinese Chicken and Ramen Soup

A bad iPhone photo of some very delicious soup

At some point during my interstate move last summer, my copy of Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook disappeared. Actually, I think I might have lent it out to a friend and never asked for it back, but who knows. It's a well-written and expansive resource for slow cookery, and I'd made a few delicious meals with it. But when I was reorganizing my cookbook collection after the move, no dice.

I do try to use my slow cooker about once a week, especially during colder weather, so the hunt was on for a replacement book. Have you flipped through any of the best-selling slow-cooking books out there? You'll see very few pictures of finished recipes, and I'm guessing there's a reason for that. Moreover, most lean heavily on processed convenience foods. Now, I'm no stranger to the occasional can of cream of mushroom soup, but it's not something I like to use on a regular basis.

When I saw that America's Test Kitchen (the folks behind Cook's Illustrated) had come out with their own slow cooker companion, Slow Cooker Revolution, I decided it was time to switch things up a bit. Within minutes of getting my hot little hands on the book, I was already swooning over - dare I say it? - gorgeous pictures of food that had come out of a slow cooker. I wanted to make everything. And that's not something I usually say about a cookbook, let alone one devoted to the humble slow cooker. This is not dump-in-the-crock-and-push-a-button cooking, however - most recipes ask you to do a little prep work to improve the flavor of the finished dish (this is America's Test Kitchen, after all). Browning your meat or pre-heating your vegetables (see below) pays off in the end, and it's worth the little bit of extra time.

I had to pick one inaugural recipe, so I chose Chinese Chicken and Ramen Soup. One favorite easy dinner in our house is quick ramen and dumpling soup, an idea I picked up some time ago from Serious Eats. You can really do anything you like with it - add meat, vegetables, or keep it really simple with dumplings and noodles. Yes, those noodles - the ones you might have scarfed down in your college dorm room, sodium be damned. Here's the trick, though - you toss those little seasoning packets and use the ramen only. What I have found lacking in this recipe is real depth of flavor in the broth. How better to get it than to slow cook the broth for a few hours?

Slow Cooker Revolution has you start the soup by microwaving (yes, microwaving) onions, ginger, and garlic to get the aromatics working before adding them to the pot. (Unfortunately, your microwave is going to smell like onions and garlic afterward). Chicken broth, star anise, bay, a pinch of red pepper flakes, chicken thighs...walk away. They'll cook all afternoon. Walk in the door, shred the chicken, throw in some crisp beansprouts and scallions, and let the ramen noodles soften for a few minutes. Perfection. I've made quite a few slow cooker soups before, but this is, so far, the best.

If you're craving ramen soup and want the recipe, you'll have to snag a copy of Slow Cooker Revolution by the editors of America's Test Kitchen. Drag that Crock-Pot out of kitchen purgatory and dust it off - you won't regret it. Or head over to Serious Eats - they've got a great roundup of easy ramen hacks this week (linked from Jaden at Steamy Kitchen).