Crock Around the Clock!
Soup season is slipping back into Gwinnett kitchens, bringing beef stew, creamy mushrooms, slow-cooked roasts and the annual reminder that dinner can smell impressive without requiring much supervision.
Build a Better Pot
The slow cooker earns its counter space by making ordinary ingredients considerably more interesting. Beef and vegetable stew, chicken and wild rice soup, white chicken chili and pot roast all benefit from time, while mushroom soup, lentil dishes and chickpea curries offer plenty of room to wander beyond the usual fall rotation.
For that mushroom soup, The Horti-Culture in Snellville grows naturally grown gourmet mushrooms, giving home cooks a local starting point for soups, sauces and slow-simmered dishes where mushrooms deserve more than a supporting role.
In Loganville, Corner’s Edge Butcher Shoppe carries fresh-cut beef, pork and chicken along with venison, bison, seafood, seasonings and sauces. That opens the door to the classics, but also to a stew pot with a little more personality than whatever happened to be on sale at the supermarket.
Tony’s Meat Market in Lilburn adds another option for stocking up, with beef, chicken, pork, fish, lamb, vegetables and its own special seasoning. A roast, some vegetables and a few hours on low is about as close as dinner gets to handling itself.
Take the Slow Cooker Somewhere Else
Gwinnett’s international markets make it easy to push soup season beyond beef broth and potatoes.
European Taste in Sugar Hill carries European groceries, specialty foods and imported goods, which can add new ingredients to stews, braises and cold-weather comfort food.
Meanwhile, Cherians International Fresh Market in Duluth specializes in Indo-Pak groceries and carries fresh fruits and vegetables along with foods from around the world. Lentils, chickpeas, vegetables and warming spices can turn the slow cooker toward curries and other deeply flavored dishes that fit chilly evenings just as well as chili does.
That is the useful thing about soup season in Gwinnett. The basic formula stays simple: something hearty, something fresh, a good broth or sauce and enough seasoning to make the kitchen smell like you have been working much harder than you actually have.
For more places to fill the pantry, refrigerator and slow cooker around Gwinnett, browse the Guide to Gwinnett grocery directory at https://www.guidetogwinnett.com/grocery-stores.
