Pressure Perfect: Two Hour Taste in Twenty Minutes Using Your Pressure Cooker

I got an electric pressure cooker and Lorna Sass's book for Christmas (yes, yes, I asked for a pressure cooker... ) The electric pressure cooker is great and very easy to use. I really didn't want to spend time watching the pressure cooker on the stove and trying to figure out how high to keep the flame so that the cooker stays at high pressure. My pressure cooker came with this little flimsy booklet and would've been virtually unusable without this book. The book great for a beginner and explains in great detail how each model (i.e. stove-top or electric) of the pressure cooker operates. The recipes are excellent and each recipe has ideas on replacing ingredients. I think the most valuable parts of the book are the cooking charts. I've been able to modify my regular recipes for use in the pressure cooker just on the charts alone. Overall, this book is a must-have in order to start using your pressure cooker.

Lorna Sass's "Pressure Perfect" really is that, I believe.She starts with a clear, but not stupidly oversimplified guide to pressure cookers and pressure cooking. To me, this section is almost worth the price of the book.I have an older, American made "jiggle top" pressure cooker, and these recipes work flawlessly in my cooker.The dishes range from very standard "American" dishes like chili and pot roast and excellent mashed potatoes that are very nearly as fast as instant, to rissottos, to a really delicious Chicken Biryani.The timing charts for meats, vegetables, and grains are presented twice, which is very handy. They are presented first in each section, and again at the end of the book, before the clear and concise index.None of the ingredients are impossible to find, and even the ones that are not common, can be mail/phone ordered. Sass includes contact information for stores and pressure cooker manufacturers.Wild rice is one of my favourite grains, and until I got this book, I rarely had wild rice beacuse of the lengthy conventional cooking time. I have it a lot more often.This is a well written, easy to use, friendly book.

Having purchased and thoroughly enjoyed Cooking Under Pressure and The Pressured Cook, it was a no-brainer to purchase Lorna Sass's latest offering for the pressure cooker. For persons new to pressure cooking and even for us 'old hands', this may be her best work yet.The first twenty-two pages are a primer for pressure cooking. Ms. Sass demystifies this cooking genre and guides the reader through what she calls, 'The Language of Pressure Cooking'. She reassures the novice of the safety of today's pressure cookers and generally provides all the information that the reader will need to be successful.What I really liked about this book (besides the recipes) are the 'extras': Variations, Transformations and Pressure Points. The variations suggest alternate ingredients, the transformations explain how to modify the recipe to create other dishes and the pressure points provide information, techniques and suggestions specific to different sized cookers. This is particularly useful as electric pressure cookers are now becoming popular and recipes don't always work the same as for stovetop models. But, you buy a cookbook in order to make great food! Pressure Perfect won't disappoint. I admit to being a poultry lover and the pressure cooker can turn out mixed results. The Chicken Cacciatore recipe was my first choice and it was a keeper! Subsequent recipes, all highly recommended were Spanish Rice with Chicken and Sausage, Beef, Mushroom and Barley Soup and Chicken Noodle 'Casserole' with Mushroom Sauce. I'm still experimenting and at least for now, every recipe has been outstanding. If your pressure cooker has been in storage, drag it out and dust it off. Buy this book, read through the first two chapters and get ready for a wonderful culinary experience. You will be very pleased with your results...I know that I am!

Lorna Sass' passion for cooking is in every recipe description and comes through in the resulting food. I was blown away by the Curry in a Hurry and her method of cooking rice in a serving casserole on top of the curry (or other recipe). What a time saver and its much easier on the clean up too. I took this combo to a pot luck and just had to tell everyone how to do it. Also delicious and quick was the Beef Stew to which I added a bottle of Guinness! Lorna gives so many wonderful variations which entice you to personalize the recipes. It's also a great introduction to using a pressure cooker with so much information on how they work.This book is versatile, organized and imaginative and its going to get very dirty!

I'm a big Lorna Sass fan, and I fell in love with pressure cookers when I bought my very first cookbook of hers (Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure). I couldn't believe then how easy it was to use a pressure cooker, and I was bowled over by the results. This cookbook is no exception. We don't eat a lot of meat, so I really like all the variations that this cookbook offers. Each recipe includes any number of variations, and many of the meat recipes have vegetarian versions. It's wonderful to be able to do different things with a single recipe, depending on your mood and what ingredients you have on hand. And the desserts? I was pretty sceptical when I thought about doing a cheesecake in a pressure cooker, but I was blown away by the results. By far the best cheesecake I've ever made. Yum! I'd highly recommend this cookbook, along with any of Lorna Sass' other cookbooks.