Pressure Cooking

It's that time of year - time for hearty bean soups, stews, roasts, and braises.  The problem is, all of these  deeply-satisfying meals require long cooking times.  A slow cooker would work of course, but that requires advance planning, and time in the morning to start the meal, time I rarely have.  A pressure cooker is the perfect solution.  Once the meal is in the pot with lid sealed, we're talking 12-20 minutes on average to completion (more for roasts).  The rule of thumb is that a pressure cooker only requires 25% of the standard recipe's cooking time to get the job done.  Works for me!

"But aren't pressure cookers dangerous?" many of you are wondering, with visions of exploded sauces dripping from the ceiling.  Not anymore.  Today's pressure cookers have pressure release valves to prevent this occurrence.

New on the left sidebar is a list of my favorite pressure cooking cookbooks.  Yes, I really do own six.  It's kind of like when I find a shirt I really like - I buy them in several colors!  Enjoy!