Catwoman Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 OK, there I was, sitting at the computer with 100 bucks in Kohl's cash to spend. The stakes were high and time was short, because I had a 20%-off coupon that was set to expire today and I was too cheap to miss out on using that code. I didn't really need anything, so I started aimlessly browsing through the kitchen stuff, and I saw pressure cookers. I have never had a pressure cooker, but the nice folks at America's Test Kitchen seem to like them, so I bought one. I got the one they recommended, which is the 8 quart Fagor Duo. Does anyone have one, or know if it's any good? Also, can anyone recommend some good pressure cooker recipes, or a decent cookbook? Thanks!!! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawana Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Gosh. I haven't used a pressure cooker in years. Make that decades. My mother used to use one all the time to cook potatoes, vegetables and soup. Hope someone has has some good suggestions for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibiche Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I have a couple Fagor pressure cookers, though not that model (I prefer to avoid things made in China) and I like them a lot. I have read that Fagors use a little more energy to stay at pressure than some of the more expensive brands, but overall I think they are a great thing to have in the kitchen. I use my pressure cooker pretty near daily. They are especially great to have for cooking beans, rice, and soups. Hippressurecooking.com is a good site to check out for recipes and reviews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Alton Brown makes stock in a pressure cooker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acadie Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I love my pressure cooker! And use Lorna Sass' Pressure Perfect all the time. The great thing about it, in addition to some wonderful recipes, is that she has cooking time charts for meat, legumes, grains, veggies, etc, so you can branch off on your own as well. Probably her other cookbooks are good too--just haven't needed any others. Have fun! Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmrich Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 My mom gave me a pressure cooker last night! I made amazing soup tonight using the recipe book that came with it. Love to hear what other people are doing too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmyontheFarm Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 I LOVE my pressure cooker! I've cooked a roast - from frozen Roast Chicken Beef stew Potatoes My kids favorite is Taco cabbage soup it's the only way I get cabbage into them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Another good book that helped me in the beginning is Slow Food Fast. I think you'll be very pleased with your purchase! http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Wardens-Slow-Food-Fast/dp/0984188711/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411337970&sr=8-1&keywords=slow+food+fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xixstar Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Pressure cooker love here too. Was going also suggest Lorna Sass cookbooks. I found that there was a slight learning curve and mostly looked up recipes online similar to what I wa making to get a good grasp on the timing. I love when I can take so etching straight from the freezer and we are at the table in 45-50 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I mostly use mine for beans, but I also use it for beef stew, beef stroganoff, and brown rice. I have two of them. I do use them in a non pressure capacity, too. They came with glass lids. I will see if I can find a link to one of the cookbooks I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 I have a couple Fagor pressure cookers, though not that model (I prefer to avoid things made in China) and I like them a lot. I have read that Fagors use a little more energy to stay at pressure than some of the more expensive brands, but overall I think they are a great thing to have in the kitchen. I use my pressure cooker pretty near daily. They are especially great to have for cooking beans, rice, and soups. Hippressurecooking.com is a good site to check out for recipes and reviews. Thanks! I just bookmarked the site. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 I love my pressure cooker! And use Lorna Sass' Pressure Perfect all the time. The great thing about it, in addition to some wonderful recipes, is that she has cooking time charts for meat, legumes, grains, veggies, etc, so you can branch off on your own as well. Probably her other cookbooks are good too--just haven't needed any others. Have fun! Amy Another good book that helped me in the beginning is Slow Food Fast. I think you'll be very pleased with your purchase! http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Wardens-Slow-Food-Fast/dp/0984188711/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411337970&sr=8-1&keywords=slow+food+fast Pressure cooker love here too. Was going also suggest Lorna Sass cookbooks. I found that there was a slight learning curve and mostly looked up recipes online similar to what I wa making to get a good grasp on the timing. I love when I can take so etching straight from the freezer and we are at the table in 45-50 minutes. Thanks for the book suggestions! I have them in my Amazon cart right now, and will be ordering both of them. :) I was recently at a used book sale and they had three or four different pressure cooker cookbooks, but of course I didn't buy them because I didn't think I would need them. (Also, they were kind of heavy and I was parked far away!) Now that I ordered the pressure cooker, I will never again see another one of those cookbooks at a book sale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Peregrine Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Bummer, it's not available right now. http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Recipes-From-Heart-Home/dp/B0063DRIO4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 I LOVE my pressure cooker! I've cooked a roast - from frozen Roast Chicken Beef stew Potatoes My kids favorite is Taco cabbage soup it's the only way I get cabbage into them! I have never even heard of taco cabbage soup. Clearly, I have a lot to learn! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Another fan of "Pressure Perfect". Also the America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook has recipes that show a traditional way to cook it, a slow cooker way and a pressure cooker way. Not for every recipe, but for some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaillardia Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 I love our pressure cooker and have had it for a very long time. I've used it for cooking grains, legumes, soups, vegetables. I forget the brand...Aeternum I think, and at the time they were making them in one of the Nordic countries, where I guess the company started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 We love love love love love our pressure cooker. We bought it after I had an Indian friend explain how easy it was to do beans in it.1) Read the directions that come with the pressure cooker. Loverboy and I slogged through them as a bedtime story. We were at the point when our children were still young enough that we could read adult stuff aloud to each other. 2) Things we have had good experience with cooking in the pressure cooker: --beans (usually chickpeas for hummus, but all kinds of beans have been cooked) --grains (steel-cut oats that I then freeze in individual servings for "instant oatmeal" in the morning)--squash (it just cooks faster) --pumpkin (every autumn we process 3-6 cooking pumpkins and freeze the pulp for pumpkin recipes) 3) Things we have not had good experience with cooking in the pressure cooker: --meat (the roast tasted washed out).4) Recipes4a) Hummus: (none of this is premeasured) Chickpeas olive oil lemon juicegarlic salt (preferably sea salt)variation: add dry ranch dressing for ranch hummus; watch the salt in this case variation: add curry powder for curry hummusvariation: add onions and extra garlic for garlic/onion hummus4b) Pumpkin muffins2c (or 1 can) of pumpkin 1 yellow cake mix 1c mini chocolate chips Bake in greased mini-muffin pan until done. Probably at ~300dF.4c) Pumpkin dessert recipe like this one.4d) Pumpkin tomato soupI'm too tired to type in the recipe tonight. If anyone wants it, PM me, and I'll type it in another day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckens Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 Do you have a friend in your local area who uses a pressure cooker with which to cook? If you FB, put a question out on FB and see if you can watch him/her cook using the pressure cooker at least once. I've done this for 2-3 friends. Once they see how easy it is, they are much more confident with the pressure cooker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 My wife uses our Pressure Cooker frequently. Ours is a "Universal" (a brand made here in Colombia) and their products are usually top notch. You MUST learn how to use your Pressure Cooker safely, because they can be very dangerous, if not used properly. We have replaced the rubber gasket several times in the past 17 years and possibly the thing on top that rotates, once. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I second the reommendation of Hip Pressure Cooking and wanted to note the author of that site just published a book with the same name. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 Do you have a friend in your local area who uses a pressure cooker with which to cook? If you FB, put a question out on FB and see if you can watch him/her cook using the pressure cooker at least once. I've done this for 2-3 friends. Once they see how easy it is, they are much more confident with the pressure cooker. I don't know if any of my friends use them, but I have been watching some YouTube videos and I'm feeling pretty daring, so I think I'll just take a shot at it. :) Thanks for the recipe ideas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted September 23, 2014 Author Share Posted September 23, 2014 I second the reommendation of Hip Pressure Cooking and wanted to note the author of that site just published a book with the same name. I'm going to order it. I figure that if I order enough books, I'll end up with a bunch of good recipes. Every time I only order one cookbook, it ends up being the one that calls for ingredients only available on the planet Jupiter and there aren't any decent substitutions available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 I get 90% of my cookbooks from the library first. Our library system has most of them and it allows me to see if the recipes fit our family's tastes or not. If a cookbook is one that has a lot of good recipes then I buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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