2011 The Year of MY Pressure Cooking Cookbook

While this blog has been abandoned for quite some time since I am now blogging at my main website, it feels like time to do a little update here about what I have been up to in the pressure arena.

I have been glued to my chair and chained to my kitchen (all in a good way) as I complete the final journey of writing my pressure cooking cookbook. My title is The New Fast Food (TM): The Veggie Queen Cooks Whole Food Meals Under Pressure (or something like that. The publisher will likely rename the book and that's fine with me.). The book contains more than 100 vegetarian and vegan recipes for the pressure cooker which are suitable for anyone who eats. Before the book comes out in print, I will be releasing an ebook version of it, so keep your eyes and ears open.

What I have learned in the writing of this book that was not evident to me over the past 15 years of teaching thousands of people about pressure cooking, is that the pressure cooking leaders, including my mentor Lorna Sass, Rick Rodgers, Laura of Hip Pressure Cooking and Miss Vickie among others, cannot agree on pressure cooking times. While I find this a bit surprising, I suspect that the reasons that I outline below might make sense of it.

Why the differences in cooking times? Here are my guesses:

1. We like our food cooked to a different consistency. I tend to like my vegetables al dente, on the firm side, while I like my beans and grains cooked thoroughly but not drowning in liquid.
   
2. I prefer to under cook and put my pot back on pressure, if necessary, or cook on the stove top if more time is required. This relates to number 1.
3. We use different sizes of pressure cookers although that shouldn't really make much difference in cooking times since you don't start timing until your pot reaches pressure, and while the size of the cooker will influence how long it takes to reach pressure it doesn't affect the cooking time although it potentially could. There might be less steam circulating well with 1 cup of rice cooked in an 8 quart cooker than there is in a 4 quart cooker. This is just an off-the-top-of-my-head intuitive guess.
4. We use different makes and models of pressure cookers. Although I have found very little difference in cooking times among my cookers, which now include Fagor, B/R/K, Fissler, Magefesa and Kuhn Rikon, some of the pots might have better heat retaining properties which cause faster cooking. This is just a guess.

In my mind, a pressure cooker is a pressure cooker, even the jiggle top models that I won't go near. It does a job. With that said, there are differences in the various brands of cookers, most of which are cosmetic but some effect efficiency and ease of use.

I explain it as the difference between driving a Honda or Toyota or Ford (if you want American) and driving a BMW or Mercedes. They will all get you to your destination.

The weight of the pot is a big issue for me. I prefer a medium weight pressure cooker versus a heavy weight one, yet I stay away from aluminum. With that said, a smaller pot that is heavy works as well for me as a medium weight medium sized pot. Most of you don't likely have that choice which is why you need to choose your first cooker to your liking. Once you are hooked, though, you'll likely find yourself ogling other pressure cookers, just like I have.

I will be telling my pressure cooker love story in my book so stay tuned. I am still in love with pressure cooking and what it can do, more than 15 years after starting the process. I hope that I can inspire you to jump into using the greenest way to cook for your health and that of the planet.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at jill@pressurecookingonline.com.

2010 The Year of the Pressure Cooker Declares Lorna Sass

My friend, colleague and pressure cooking mentor, Lorna Sass, the Queen of pressure cooking, shared the following blog post for me to share with you. I hope that you will agree that the time has come for the pressure cooker to make its comeback. As I told Lorna, sometimes it takes 20 years for something to become an "overnight" success. This year Lorna has a newly revised and updated version of her seminal book, Cooking Under Pressure. Please read on for what Lorna has to say...

For the Chinese, February 14 will begin the Year of the Tiger. For Mac users, it’s the Year of the Snow Leopard. For me, it’s the Year of the Pressure Cooker.

Just when I was about to give up hope that American cooks would ever give up their paranoia about the dangers of pressure cooking, some very good things began to happen.


Carolyn Russock pressure-cooked her way through the 20th anniversary edition of COOKING UNDER PRESSURE and wrote rave reviews of the 30-minute chicken broth and French-style beef stew, the 4-minute risotto, and the ultra-fast baked beans in a 5-day series for the very popular foodie blog, Serious Eats. Dozens of comments document the growing number of the people who are pressure cooking on a daily basis and understand that today’s cookers are 100% safe.

The same week, Paula Crossfield wrote an enthusiastic column for popular online blog, Bitten about how she became a pressure cooker convert. Again lots of enthusiastic cooks wrote in to sing their praises of pressure cooking.

An NPR piece on pressure cooking is soon to hit the national airwaves, and a few other major voices are about to get the word out that pressure cooking is not only safe, but terrific for what I call the four P’s: planet, palate, person, and purse.

Great for the planet because it’s so fuel efficient.

Great for the palate because the pressure-cooker mingles flavors quickly, giving food the soul-satisfying appeal of a long-cooked meal.

Great for the person because even the hurried or impatient cook can prepare healthy food in a flash.

Great for the purse because the pressure cooker is ace at tenderizing tough cuts of meat and cooking whole grains, beans and other inexpensive ingredients in record time.

How does the pressure cooker work its magic? In the vacuum-sealed cooker, water boils at 242 degrees Fahrenheit instead of the standard 212 degrees. At this higher-than-normal boiling point temperature, food cooks in one-third or less the normal time. That’s why many Top Chefs are relying on the pressure cooker to help them win.

I’m no Top Chef in any kind of competition, but last Sunday was so cold out that I was tempted to stay in bed and read. Then hunger struck. I didn’t want to go out and shop, so I decided to devise a hearty pressure-cooked soup from ingredients in my pantry.

In celebration of the Year of the Pressure Cooker, I put on my chef’s jacket and asked The Sweetie to make a video of the process. About 30 minutes later we were eating a mighty fine Curried Split Pea Soup that cost under $8 and made 4 hearty portions.

Take a look at the video and then let me know if you decide to help make 2010 the Year of the Pressure Cooker, all the while eating better, faster, cheaper, and more eco-friendly than you ever have before.

In the first video, I show you how to assemble the ingredients in the pressure cooker and lock on the lid. In the second, I show you how to release the pressure and stir in some last-minute ingredients for a punch for flavor and a fresh finish.

NOTE: Due to my technological inability to put videos on this site, I will refer you to Lorna's original post on her site so that you can see the videos or you can look at the You Tube video directly.

I hope that you'll help convert more people to the joys of pressure cooking. Please leave a comment on this blog if you love pressure cooking and tell me about your favorite dish.

Pressure Cooking Millet Stuffed Artichokes

Susan from Fat Free Vegan just wrote a wonderful post about Millet-Stuffed Artichokes. What Susan didn't say is that you can cook the millet in the pressure cooker in just 5 minutes at pressure. Read about cooking millet here.

Don't underestimate what your pressure cooker can do for you. It's the most amazing piece of cookware that I own, and use it almost daily. In fact, I just came back from visiting my mother and now she has a pressure cooker, thanks to her daughter (that's me). And I got to use hers. What a joy.

My sisters both have, and use, pressure cookers, too. If you want to help the people that you love eat better tasting and, possibly better-for-them, food buy them a pressure cooker and teach them how to use it. You can watch the beginning of my DVD here or watch my You Tube videos at TheVQ. I am also always happy to answer any questions that you have. You can leave comments here or email me at jill@pressurecookingonline.

Here's to a great PC experience -- artichokes and all.

Pressure Cooking Steel Cut Oats

Over at Pinch My Salt people are going ga ga over steel cut oats. And they have to cook them for at least 25 minutes.

I, too, like steel cut oats and in fact Alex of the Facebook group Lorna Sass is my homegirl reviewed my DVD and saw that I have a recipe for a cooked cereal. He asked about cooking steel cut oats. And the recipe for that is the same as any chunky grain cereal.

Take 3 cups of liquid -- I like to use 2 cups water and 1 cup nondairy milk. I add a cinnamon stick or two, the oats or other grain, and a pinch of salt. I lock the lid on my pressure cooker and bring to high pressure over high heat. I set my timer for 3 minutes. When the cooker gets to high heat, turn the heat down and get your timer going.

After 3 minutes, move the pot off the hot burner and let the pressure come down naturally. Open the lid carefully, and add what you like. I like to take out the cinnamon sticks, and add ground flax, raisins, chopped up apple, toasted walnuts or sunflower seeds, and a bit of agave or maple syrup for sweetener. It's a filling meal.

Remember that whole grains (or even steel cut ones) are good for you. If you don't want to make your own and dole it out for daily dishes which is a great idea, you can go to Jamba Juice where they are now selling organic steel cut oats. Unfortunately for me, they cook them in milk but at least they have them. Read more here.

If you like this post you can sign up to get information from me monthly through my newsletter by going to my pressure cooking website.

Veggie Queen Cooks Under Pressure with John Ash

I am rushing off to the farmer's market to buy ingredients so that I can appear on the radio this morning. I will be demonstrating live, how to use a pressure cooker to make 2 of the recipes on my DVD Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes. I will be on KSRO, 1350 am here in Sonoma County, on the Good Food Hour with John Ash and Steve Garner at 11 am PST.

I will be making Shane's Fabulous Lentil Soup and Market Fresh Breakfast Tofu, Potatoes and Vegetables. I have not yet done live radio pressure cooking but I am sure that all will go just fine. It's a beautiful day and we will be out at Bassignani's Nursery in Sebastopol on a live broadcast.

I am really excited to see what gems appear at the market this morning to go into my vegetable dish. That surely will help relieve the pressure.

Pressure Cooker Accident Implicated in Burned 14-year Old in Florida

With so much fear surrounding pressure cookers and pressure cooking, why would I be telling you about something so tragic?

The story that I read in The Miami Herald said that the girl was cooking with an adult when the accident happened. No further details except that the girl was seriously burned about the face, hands and neck. That is just awful.

My best guess is that she and the adult with her were using an old-fashioned pressure cooker. And that the pressure got too high or they weren't patient enough to wait for the pressure to come down before removing the pressure valve -- and BOOM, a horrible explosion of burning hot food spewed from the cooker.

I am no detective (possibly perhaps of the Columbo type) but I am surmising that impatience was the cause of the incident because the girl was obviously close to the cooker to get burned in that manner.

My advice -- unless you feel completely comfortable using an old-fashioned pressure cooker that you have used faithfully for years, ONLY use a modern spring-valve type cooker. I have used them successfully with my students for about 8 years at Santa Rosa Junior College and we have not had one incident of explosions or burns (the latter of which can easily happen with the 250 degree F. steam). It's not due to my luck because I have had other things happen in class which have involved paramedics and nurses, but I won't divulge here.

There are many of us online, and out in the world, who agree that tragedies like this can be prevented. We successfully use our pressure cookers almost daily (I'll speak for myself here.) The modern pressure cooker is built with safety in mind. Once you've achieved pressure you cannot open the pot and this prevents any kind of explosions and accidents. So, do yourself a favor and cook the modern pressure cooking way.

I'd love to hear your comments and questions.

Fagor Duo Pressure Cooker Giveaway and The Veggie Queen Guest Blog Post

The Meal Makeover Moms are now pressure cooker converts. They are giving away a pressure cooker to one of the people who comments on their blog. Read the post by clicking here.

I hope that you win the pressure cooker. If you don't, maybe you aren't aware that I sell pressure cookers on my website, along with my pressure cooking DVD which is what I think helped "The Moms" get over their pressure cooker fear.

Pressure cooking is easy and with a new pressure cooker it's pretty foolproof. Let me know what you think by posting a comment here.

Next month I think that I might be giving away a pressure cooker set. Still thinking about it. Any thoughts? Any questions? Do I hear shrill screams? I hope not. I mean it when I say that pressure cooking can change your life.

I know that investing in a pressure cooker can seem like a big deal. I think that you can save enough to pay for it in just months. Heck, if it saves you from eating out just once a week, it would be even faster. I call it the easiest, fastest and greenest way to make the "new fast food".

Pressure Cooker Brown Rice Recipe

I don't need to write much about a recipe for pressure cooking brown rice because all it takes is rice, water and salt, and the salt is optional. So, I'll tell you a bit about using the modern pressure cooker while I am here.

1 cup brown rice, 1 1/2 cups water or stock

This kind of pressure cooker doesn't have a jiggler. It has a little button that pops up to let you know that the pot is at pressure. You can watch the button in action by clicking on the video on my website.

In my DVD Pressure Cooking: A Fresh Look, Delicious Dishes in Minutes, I cook red rice with lentils. I use a long grain red rice from Thailand which keeps turning out different with varying amounts of water and rice. So far, 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water, cooked for 9 to 10 minutes with a natural pressure release seems to work fine, most of the time.

Here's the rub with cooking grains -- how they cook depends upon that batch of grains, how old it is, how it's been stored which effects the moisture level, and other intangible factors. So, following the recipe will work most of the time. You need a jumping off point so this might help.

Another tip: when cooking more than 1 cup of rice, reduce the amount of liquid by 1/4 cup for each additional cup of grain. Here's how this translates into cooking: for the 1st cup of brown rice you use 1 1/2 cups water and for the second cup you use 1 1/4 cups water. Two cups of brown rice requires 2 3/4 cups water in the pressure cooker. This works well for stove top cooking, too.

I do this because I do not care for soggy grains. Do you?

Pressure Cooked Hoppin' John to Start the New Year

Take a look at my blog post on my other blog (http://www.theveggiequeen.blogspot.com) for my version of Hoppin' John which I call Jumpin' John because I obviously do a vegan (no ham bone) version. It tastes great.

Happy New year to y'all.

Pressure Cooking DVD Gets Two Good Reviews

It brings me great joy to get people actually using their pressure cookers. It's a tool that can change your cooking life and lead you easily to healthier and more delicious eating, all while saving time and energy. It's green, lean and delicious -- a truly unbeatable combo.

Read what others have to say about my DVD. At GoDairyFree.Org Sarena made the black beans and loved them and the fact that they took about 10 minutes to cook, from start to finish (after presoaking). On Lisa Reviews you'll need to scroll down the page to see that Lisa realized I was telling the truth when I said, "If you can boil water, you can pressure cook."

If you've been afraid of the pressure cooker, I want to encourage to take the next step. Buy one and try it. It's one of the best holiday and New Year's gifts that you can give yourself.

But if you want to wait, Valentine's Day is a good time, too.

I am always happy to answer pressure cooking questions at jill@pressurecookingonline.com. My DVD is available on my website at http://www.pressurecookingonline.com/.

The Veggie Queen's Black Lentil, Winter Vegetable and Wild Rice Soup

For many people, including me, yesterday was a cold day. I am not complaining but 40 degrees F. for us Northern California weather weenies is cold. But it's perfect soup weather. And if you've read any of my blog posts, you know that it's likely that I will pull out my pressure cooker and get to work making a fast soup.

I actually spent a bit more time (maybe 2 more minutes) thinking about this soup because I would have preferred barley but my husband doesn't really like it, or at least he doesn't think that he does. He actually prefers white rice but I'm not using that so...

Wild rice seemed like a happy compromise. I also wanted to use lentils and the black ones called to me. They are called Beluga black lentils because they look like caviar. I realized that my soup was going to be awfully dark, so I also added carrot, parsnip, celery and celery root, along with purple potatoes. After the initiail cooking, a peeled and ready to use kabocha squash showed up on my doorstep (you ought to see what shows up here -- usually edible, delicious and free) and that also got added.

Here is my best stab at the recipe. It's a highly adaptable soup so take what you like and leave the rest.

Takes 20 minutes at high pressure with a natural pressure release.

Black Lentil, Winter Vegetable and Wild Rice Soup

Makes about 2 quarts

1 tablespoon oil (optional)

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 bay leaf

2 medium purple potatoes, diced

1 small parsnip, diced

1/2 cup diced celery root (also called celeriac)

1 medium carrot, diced

1/3 cup black beluga, or other, lentils

2/3 cup wild rice

6 cups homemade vegetable stock

1 1/2 cups diced squash

Salt, pepper and herbs to taste

Add the oil to the cooker over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for a minute or 2. Add the garlic and celery and saute another minute. Add the remaining ingredients except squash,salt, pepper and herbs and lock on the pressure cooker lid. Bring to high pressure, then lower the heat to maintain high pressure. Cook for 20 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally.

Open the lid carefully and add the squash, salt, pepper and your favorite herb blend. I used organic vegetable rub but Italian or your favorite seasoning would be good, too. This is a blank canvas, waiting for you to add color.

Lock the lid back on and bring to high pressure for another 3 minutes, or simmer on the stove top until the squash is done. Quick release the pressure. Serve hot. If you have any fresh green herbs such as parsley, cilantro or chives, they would make this soup look and taste even better (than it already is).

Do NOT do what I did, which was stir the soup and then put it back on the heat. The cooked lentils will sink to the bottom and burn.

Add more stock or water, if the soup is too thick. I like mine thick. It's a meal in a bowl. Serve with salad and/or bread.

Enjoy.

Perfect Pressure Cooked Millet for VegNews

This past Tuesday I was the guest chef at VegNews magazine for their special Cafe VegNews lunch. You can read more about it on their website: http://http://cafevegnews.blogspot.com/2008/12/award-winning-african-stew.html

I made my prize-winning recipe for Spicy African Sweet Potato and Ground Nut Stew which wasn't very spicy that day. What goes along with it is millet. And I must admit unabashedly that it was the best millet that I've had in a long time.

Here is how I made it. I'd love to hear how it turns out for you.

Basic Pressure Cooked Millet
Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cups millet
2 1/2 cups water
salt, to taste, add after cooking

I heated the pressure cooker over medium heat and added the millet, stirring it often until it began to pop. When I could smell that it was toasty, I added the water and locked on the pressure cooker lid. I brought it to pressure. Turned down the heat to maintain high pressure and cooked it for 10 minutes. I took it off the heat and let the pressure come down naturally, which took about 5 minutes. When I carefully opened the pot, the millet looked great. But I had to travel at least 20 minutes to get to the VegNews office so I just grabbed the cooker and went.

When I was finally ready to serve, I could tell that I had completely nailed the millet. Wooo hooo!

I've found that the key to cooking great grains is to keep them from stewing in liquid. So I add the suggested amount for the first cup and then decrease the liquid by 1/4 cup for each additional cup of grain. It seems to work just about every time.

If you don't eat millet, give it a try. It's the "bird seed" grain that's popular in Japan, China and Africa. It's gluten-free and non-acidic, which means that it's easy to digest. Not expensive either.

People No Longer Feel Under Pressure with a Pressure Cooker

The past 2 Saturday mornings at the farmer's market have been pure joy for me. Right at the beginning of shopping, I have connected with people regarding pressure cookers. I had not even started shopping last week when K., a student from my class 2 days earlier, saw me. She told me that she'd used her pressure cooker to make soup and it was fabulous.

Just a few minutes later while I was buying Satsuma mandarin tangerines, another woman who I don't know by name but have seen at the market often, told me that she bought a Fagor set on sale at Macy's and just loves it. Wow, and it only gets better.

The same thing pretty much happened today. Now maybe this has something to do with my being on KRCB (public) radio's show Mouthful last Sunday but other people told me that their fear of the pressure cooker has subsided.

K. said that she'd used her cooker quite a number of times since last week, and that she is no longer afraid. Yippeee.

Mari told me that I haven't seen her on Saturday mornings because she's now doing yoga at that time (I guess that she had today off.). She credits the yoga and using her pressure cooker as methods for relieving the stress in her life, and making life bearable. (I hope that it's more than that.) Mari did ask about cooking broccoli and how long it takes. Just a minute with a quick release, I told her.

But Amy, who sent me an email message yesterday, said that her husband loves her 2-minute pressure cooked broccoli and he hadn't been a big broccoli fan. He likes it because it doesn't taste sulfury. Amy told me that she is making lots of other food in her cooker, too. Healthier eating, the quick and easy way, I say, and Amy agrees.

And after I left the market today I drove to another store. As I was walking to the entrance, a woman stopped me and said that she'd taken a pressure cooking class with me at Santa Rosa Junior College. I think that was more than 10 years ago, and was a one time class. But she told me that she'd heard me on the radio, and gone out and bought a pressure cooker. She's using it and loving it because it saves her so much time and energy.

And if I can help anyone relieve the pressure in their life and eat healthier, I am just thrilled. Today, I am beaming. I hope that you'll think about using a pressure cooker -- no pressure, no fear.

The Veggie Queen Reviews the Fissler Pressure Cooker

I have been so excited about trying my new Fissler 4 1/2 quart pressure cooker but have not had the time. I have been busy teaching. But I have some time now that I can do it.

I have run a few tests on it but have to compare it to the others that I have. I wouldn't really make it as a scientist as I am a bit more creative than most of them. Instead of starting with the water test, I started by cooking in it.

First, let me say that if heft is a positive criteria, then the Fissler cooker wins in that department. It feels like the heaviest, most durable cooker of any that I own. But for some people, that's not such a great thing. It does get extra points for good looks and design -- very pleasing.

The special waffled interior surface is interesting. It might work very well for searing meat or browning chicken breasts but as a vegetarian or vegan, the dimples don't seem to serve much purpose, at least not to me.

So, I cooked my braised tofu, potato and vegetable dish, same as I always do. And I did have different results. When I opened the pot after 2 minutes of cooking the potatoes and tofu, the tofu looked good. I added the greens and green beans and cooked another minute at pressure. When I opened the pot, the resulting dish was a bit more overcooked than usual, with the potatoes turning mushy, and the green beans just a bit overcooked. I ate the dish anyway.

After cleaning the pot, which was a breeze, I did the water test in it. It took more than 3 minutes to reach pressure which is about 1 minute longer than most of the other cookers. This really is not a big deal. More important is that the pressure release takes a bit longer than with the other cookers. And most important is that after coming to pressure and doing a quick release, 2 of the 8 ounces of water was lost. As I usually use very little liquid in my vegetable recipes, this could be important.

I am going to ponder what else to make in this beautifully designed heavy cooker to see how it performs on a regular basis. Watch for Part 2 of this post.

Transforming Your Recipes for The Pressure Cooker

Transforming your recipes from stove top cooking to pressure cooking is fairly easy. First, your original recipe must have some kind of liquid in it, as that is what will get your cooker to pressure. The pressure cooker is best for soup, stew, chili, braises and mock stir-fries, as well as beans, grains and vegetables. I feel like an expert in the latter since I do this very often with whatever local produce I have available.

Yesterday I cooked colored cauliflower and purple and yellow potatoes with carrots. I used only about 2/3 of a cup of stock (made easily earlier in just 5 minutes at pressure), and there was plenty of liquid to get to pressure plus a bit left over which gets absorbed by the potatoes as the dish sits. I don't like my veggie dishes to be watery but sometimes it happens. If it does, you can remove the vegetables and cook down the remaining liquid.

When reducing the liquid, you use less but how much less truly depends upon what you are cooking. When I cook presoaked beans, I use only 1/2 cup per 1 cup of soaked beans. In my tofu braises, I only use about 1/4 cup of liquid. Obviously for soup, it really doesn't matter much. Just remember that most cookers don't lose a lot of liquid in cooking, and if you are adding vegetables that release water, that will add to the liquid as nothing boils away.

Pressure cooking is a great way to cook. If you have any questions, you can always shoot me an email at jill@pressurecookingonline.com. I'd love to hear from you.

Pressure Cooking to Relieve the Pressure in the Kitchen

It's been a long time since I've posted here. I have been wanting to write about the Fissler pressure cooker but first needed to finish up a bunch of non-pressure cooking projects which only happen in the fall when it's harvest time. You can read http://www.theveggiequeen.blogspot.com to see what else I've been up to -- lots of drying, making, putting away.

So, finally I unpacked the Fissler from the box and I am contemplating what tests I should put it through. I may just do one of my standard recipes to see what happens but first I always start with water. This way I can get a feel for what the cooker can do. Then, I'll get going on food.

Since I just cooked a big pot of black beans and another of brown basmati rice in some of my other cookers, I don't need to repeat those dishes. I've baked tofu twice in the past 2 days for 2 different Halloween parties but some braised tofu would be just fine. So, watch for the next post which will be the review.

New Gasket for My Fagor Pressure Cooker

I got a new gasket -- it made my pressure cooker feel like new, almost. I hadn't ever bought a gasket for any of my cookers. But my Fagor 4-quart gets used often so after just 5 or so years of being used many times each week, it just didn't seem to work as expected. It was leaking a bit and I figured that spending $10 for a new gasket was a good investment.

Remember that your cooker is only as good as the seal that it makes which is the process for it getting to pressure. And using my cooker is very important so...

Fine Cooking Reviews Fissler Pressure Cooker

Today at the store the checker asked me if I'd like a copy of Fine Cooking magazine that was going to be discarded. I said, "Sure", figuring that there would be something interesting in it. And there was.

They have a review of the Fissler 4.2 quart 10-inch wide pressure cooker. They loved it. Cost: $265 but it comes with a glass lid and a steamer basket. That's a hefty price tag. For about half that amount you can buy a Fagor Duo Combi http://www.pressurecookingonline.com/dvd/pressure-cookers.html set that has 2 cookers and 1 lid, plus a glass lid and a basket.

I cannot comment on the Fissler cooker but hope to get my hands on one sometime soon. It'll have to be a loaner for me to give it a test drive, as I am not likely to spend that kind of money for a pressure cooker since I have a bunch of them already.

To watch me use the pressure cooker you can go to my website at http://www.pressurecookingonline.com/ or look for me on You Tube.

They are safe and make "the new fast food".

Why I Adore My Pressure Cooker

Just a short time ago I presented an all day workshop at the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program in Napa for the staff to teach them about vegetables, whole grains and tofu.


My pressure cookers, as usual, made me look great. In just a few hours, I made a batch of brown rice and 4 vegetable dishes which would have easily taken twice as long with regular cooking. In that time, I made a Garlicky Eggplant Dish, Squash with African Curry and Tomatoes, Tofu with Ginger and Green Beans, and one other dish. The cooking time included all the prep, as I was doing one of my extra-special show, tell and taste demonstrations which are wildly popular.

With a pressure cooker or two I can whip up quick meals anywhere that I have a burner -- at home is best but I can bring my trusty butane burner or camp stove or induction burner (if there's electricity) and I am set to go.

It would take many minutes for me to wax on about why I adore my pressure cooker but if you've read here at all, you know that I do. On the short list of kitchen equipment that I wouldn't want to live without -- the pressure cooker is right there. That is, if I want cooked food.

Pressure Cooking Fresh As Often as I Can

Last week I was pressure cooking Eggplant in Tomato Sauce which took all of 3 minutes at pressure, and was fresh and delicious.


What I have discovered about my summer pressure cooking is that it is much more free form than in winter. I have an abundance of ingredients to use and I do. In the past few days I have made dishes with Old Mother Stollard beans and separately with Marrow Fat beans, both of which were fresh shelling heirloom beans. They were a bit of work but entirely delicious, especially combined with the other fresh and seasonal vegetables that I have.


This time I year I go gaga over Italian Romano (green) beans and eggplant, and tomatoes. My favorite tomato this year is the Cora del Toro or ox heart. It is like a large roma in a strange shape that is meaty and firm and wonderful, sliced into chunks or made into sauce. Unfortunately, I am not growing them but my farmer friends at Triple T Ranch and Farm are. I see them at least twice a week, in a good week, at the Santa Rosa farmer's market.


Since I do free form cooking, I don't seem to tire of what I make since I season at will and add what sounds good a la minute (right then). I may add new potatoes, of various types, or corn off the cob to my concoction, or some chopped fresh okra, or herbs. These are recipes that don't get written down or analyzed, it seems like too much work.


Yesterday I made 3-minute Szechuan Eggplant that I am going to repeat. My eggplant-hating husband even liked it. I was pretty thrilled to have made it. Likely it will be a staple this year. Now to move on to some other delicious dish with my green beans. (Can you hear me swooning?)