There seems to be no corner that the world of slow cooking doesn't reach! We already had one Jenna coin the term "crock blocked," and now another, more famous Jenna is praising the wonders of the Crock Pot. According to Ace Showbiz, Jenna Fischer (of The Office and Dewey Cox) told Self magazine:

I prepared everything the night before, threw it in the Crock Pot in the morning, set it on low and came home to dinner. My boyfriend adored it. We had more time to spend together that evening. Since we didn't have to cook, it left time for hanky-panky!

We keep hearing about all the wonders of easy slow cookin', but most don't talk about how much time it frees up for sex. With the rampant popularity of the old-school cooking method, how long do you think it'll be before Fischer is doing sexy commercials for some slow cooker?

When it comes to small kitchen appliances, I am something of a collector. I've got a rice maker, multiple ways to make coffee, toaster oven, toaster, three waffle irons, food processors, mixers and four different slow cookers. Some of the other duplicate appliances I've got are a little ridiculous, I realize this (although I could give you a good justification for the waffle irons if pressed) but I will never stop defending my slow cooker collection.

I have a six-quart, a four-quart, a 2.5-quart and a mini-crock (I'm not sure how big that little guy is, but it's great for small batches of party dip). This because different recipes and dishes require different sized crocks in which to cook. However, I recently discovered a product that is changing the way I think about my collection of slow cookers. It's a cooker that comes with three crocks, in graduated sizes. This means that you can adjust to the demands of your recipe without needing an assortment of cookers. The crocks stack one inside another, for easy storage.

Sounds like my slow cooker collection in need of an upgrade!

I couldn't believe it. I walked into Powell's Books for Cooks here in Portland, Ore. and scanned the "appliances" shelves. Fondue books took up most of the room - there was nothing on Crock Pots! What gives?

I wandered down the aisle in disgust. And then I saw it. The holy grail. Casserole & One-Dish, the label read. And there was shelf, after shelf, after shelf - hundreds of titles, everything from $3 70s paperbacks to glossy hard-backed coffee table-style tomes.

I picked up Family Circle Casserole Cookery and flipped through the pages. I almost bought it, but it was all cans of this and margarine in that... ick. I opened, and discarded, several glossy, formulaic titles with SLOW COOKER in all caps. Two stood out from the crowd: Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook, a huge one with 350 recipes, everything from breakfast to several kinds of pot roast to dessert; and a slimmer option, The Gourmet Slow Cooker.

Even though it was smaller and more expensive, I was immediately charmed by the style and selection of The Gourmet Slow Cooker. Author Lynn Alley started out talking about the Midas Feast, the first known example of a one-pot meal, analyzed from an archaelogical site in Turkey. Her first recipe? An interpretation of Midas' funereal meal. Her focus is on classic meals, from Provencal beef stew to Dublin Coddle to Chicken Mole to yes, Boston Baked Beans.

I'm now cooking my second dish (Neapolitan Lamb Stew), and I love her simplicity, her lovely photography, and her careful selection of good slow cooking staples. I'd suggest either book, though, depending on whether you're looking for a comprehensive slow cooker bible or a more carefully culled book.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]

Don't try this at home, kids.

I set out on a mission: to find a Crock Pot or off-brand slow cooker at a thrift store. I had my mental list of Places Most Likely To Carry Slow Cookers. I had a pocket full of cash (in case the negotiating bug bit me). I live in Portland, Oregon, the city of thrift, for goodness' sake, where it's cool to tell your friends that you got your hip jacket at the Bins (the Goodwill outlet - how's that for thrift?).

I started at the fabulous Lounge Lizard (SE 13th and Hawthorne), which had a display of retro dinnerware that made me drool. No Crock Pots ("no one has Crock Pots! Try the Salvation Army," she told me), but I checked out the variety of kitschy cookware before settling on a pot that the owner said was an ice bucket but I thought might work in the oven for a nice insulated casserole. Cost: a too-expensive $24, but I paid because I felt guilty about all the photos I'd snapped.

I'm a firm believer in the beauty of the braise. Not familiar? A braise is any time you first brown your ingredients in hot oil (or, sauté), and then add liquid to finish the cooking. You can finish your braise on the stovetop, in the oven, or in a slow cooker - but most braises are finished in the same place they were started. And braises are often the definition of s.l.o.w. slow.

Many slow cooker recipes call for a good browning of the meats and/or veggies first, but most of them hasten to mention that the browning could be skipped. I think this is close to vital (and Sarah Gim mentions that it does, after all, speed up the cooking process). What's your take: to brown, or not to brown.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]

"I want a crock pot!" says the woman who's checking me out at the thrift store, eagerly. Later, I'm shopping for a slow cooking recipe book and am surprised to see five shelves in Powell's Books for Cooks devoted to the subject. "Do you have a slow cooker?" asks the clerk after I make my selection. I tell her I've just purchased one. "I need one, too!"

Today, it seems, everyone's into slow cooking. I head to my favorite gourmet market and there, next to the fabulously shiny stainless steel cookware and in front of the organic local produce is a sexy All-Clad slow cooker. I try to find a price tag, and when I can't, figure it's a sign from the heavens: stick with your thrift store purchase, sweetie. I have to go to the supermarket for a few things, and there's an end-of-aisle display of much lower-priced slow cookers.

When we set out to do a theme day around slow cooking, few of us even could define it. Now, we're all hooked, as Crock Pots bubble in our kitchens and beans bake for hours and hours at 300 degrees. For the record: slow cooking is any method of cookery that combines low heat and long periods of time, usually without requiring much attention. Often, slow-cooked meals are begun a day or two before they're meant to be eaten.

Why is slow cooking so popular, now, a good thirty-five years since it became vogue with the introduction of the Crock Pot? It's because it brings back the soul to cooking.

Slow cookers are one of the most useful appliances you can have in your kitchen, even more so if you don't enjoy cooking or you have a busy schedule that keeps you running around and not working over the stove. You can toss together a soup or meat dish in the morning in about five minutes and when you return from work in the evening, you'll have a hot, home cooked meal waiting for you. In addition, everything cooks together, which means that you'll only have one pot to clean. Some recipes will call for the meat (or even vegetables) to be browned before adding them in, but this is almost never really necessary.

Slow cookers cook foods for long periods of time at low temperatures. Modern slow cookers often have an automatic shutoff or a super-low "warm" setting that will protect both your food and your home when you are not around to watch, so they are safe to use any time, unlike the stove or the oven. They are ideal for cooking lean or inexpensive pieces of meat because they trap juice and steam as they cook the meat, allowing the meat to become moist and tender, preventing it from shrinking or toughening. The long, slow cooking process also allows flavors to meld and blend, making it an ideal way to cook soups and stews, too.

You leave the house in the dark. You come home in the dark. It's winter, and you yearn for a lovingly-cooked meal. Why not have it ready when you get home? Why not fill your house with the rustic aromas of slow cookery?

But I have a job, or, at least a life, I can hear you murmuring to yourself, shaking your head. I don't have a personal chef. I'll just throw a Lean Cuisine in the oven.

No! Stop! Put away that freezer meal. Freezers are for summer, when you eat ice cream and whir up smoothies with fresh fruit and yogurt. Winter is for slow cookers, for Crock-Pots and baking at low, low heat and, oh, the bountiful braise. Monday, January 23, we'll be celebrating all that is slow - all our recipes will cook at low heats for several hours. Nearly all of them can be mixed early in your day and set cooking, and the flavors will combine throughout the afternoon as the dish gets more, and more, and more tender, until it is meltingly delectable, until it sings on your tongue.

Classic slow-cooked meals were invented long before the Crock-Pot trademark was ever registered. Dishes like cassoulet and baked beans and Beef Bourguignonne hearken from centuries ago. Once, everything was cooked slow. We honor our culinary heritage. We long for food that has nothing "fast" about it.