On Mon, 5 Jun 2000 03:20:28 -0700, you wrote:
>Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 07:48:19 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Laurie McCullough <laurie151@xxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: pressure cookers
>Message-ID: <20000604144819.5227.qmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
>Hi everyone,
>I'm planning to buy a pressure cooker for cooking
>grains and beans,
>but I've never used one before and I'm a bit
>intimidated.
>Can anyone tell me how to use one? Also, do people use
>them
>for making recipes, or mostly for the purposes I have
>in mind?
>Thanks,
Laurie, I have one and I love it. I use it both for
making recipes, and for cooking beans - probably most for
cooking beans.
This is the thing: I recommend most highly that you also
buy Lorna Sass' book entitled "Great Vegetarian Cooking
Under Pressure." It has really good recipes (I've made
quite a few of them), but more important, directions for
using the pressure cooker, and directions for cooking every
bean and grain imaginable. If possible, I'd say get this
book BEFORE you buy the pressure cooker. You'd have a
better understanding of what you're buying that way.
I also recommend that you get a "second-generation"
cooker, the differences between first-generation and second-
generation cookers are explained in "Great Vegetarian
Cooking Under Pressure." The second-generation cookers are
much safer, especially for cooking beans, and do not have a
"jiggle top." The one I have has three separate safety
pressure releases.
I have a Magefesa, I like it very much -
http://www.magefesausa.com
It's stainless steel and 6-quart capacity. I'd like to have
a 4-quart cooker also, for carrots and other long-cooking
veggies.
Other second-generation brands are Fagor and Kuhn-Rikon
(sp?). I chose the Magefesa because it was less costly than
any Fagor and Kuhn-Rikon I could find, although it wasn't
cheap ($99, including shipping within the USA).
Pat Meadows