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

`Pressure Perfect' by Lorna Sass, the author of two other pressure cooker (PC) cookbooks among 12 books which feature vegan and vegetarian specialities, is a general manual on how to apply the pressure cooker to a wide variety of `applications' as my Food Network hero, Alton Brown would put it. Now that I think of it, I don't recall Alton's doing a pressure cooker episode on his `Good Eats' show, which confirms my suspicion that the pressure cooker has not entirely recovered from its doldrums. This initial impression is reinforced by the fact that I have seen no reviews of pressure cookers lately in either `Consumer Reports' or `Cooks Illustrated'.I thought to review this book when I noticed contestants on the `Iron Chef' (Japanese) and `Iron Chef America' show used a `PC' for selected dishes. Since they have a premium on preparing dishes that taste good, this gave me reason to think this old war-horse from the early 1950's may have overcome its drawbacks. This is especially true since there are now several newer models with features that correct a lot of the safety concerns the older models had. And, in reviewing a book on the microwave oven from Barbara Kafka, I was at least partially reassured that this gadget had its value in the average amateur kitchen.The pressure cooker belongs to that class of potentially useful, but not totally necessary utensils, which includes the microwave oven, the food processor, and the slow cooker. There is probably not one dish you can make which requires any of these gadgets (unlike a grill, which is necessary to do certain types of fast seared food). All offer opportunities to do the same job in less time than your conventional braising pot, knife and chopping block, and casserole. The problem is that each one comes with a drawback, although I would be hard pressed to find any complication introduced by the slow cooker aside from the extra space it requires in your kitchen cabinet.I believe the `PC' involves several drawbacks, some of which it has in common with the microwave. Both suffer from the fact that if a recipe involves any mid-recipe stirring adding, of fiddling of any sort, opening up the gadget and getting at the food is a nuisance. And, I suspect the nuisance level is a lot higher with the pressure cooker, as it requires one to bring the pressure down to ambient by a method which is either slow or hazardous. Another problem for many cooks is the fact that the pressure cooker is relatively heavy and bulky. I'm constantly surprised at how many people find things like an 8-quart Le Creuset casserole far to heavy for practical work.While this book did little to answer these problems, it actually introduced some to me of which I was unaware. The first is that to use it effectively, you really should have one rated at 6 quarts or more. This exacerbates the problem of weight. The second is that cooking things which foam up such as beans and other starches means you must cook at a lower fill level to avoid clogging the pressure release vent. Another surprise is that pressure cooking techniques don't work as well on electric range elements as they do on gas, due to the long time it takes for electric `burners' to drop in temperature.Aside from all these considerations, pressure cooking shares with microwaving the problem that you often can't brown food with the pressure cooker, and if you do before turning on the pressure, much of the advantage obtained by browning is dissipated.This book also did not allay my biggest fear about pressure-cooking. Pressure cooking works by cooking in water at temperatures above the limit of 212 degrees F, leading to being done cooking faster, without the adverse effects of cooking in oil. The additional premise is that this technique works especially well with inexpensive cuts of meat, the kind one would usually cook with a braise or even a slow cooker. The problem with the pressure cooker premise here is that while the high temperature will cook to safe doneness faster, it may actually dry meat out. This is the great paradox of long cooking in liquid. It is also why most conventional cooking methods work at a relatively low temperature, so that the gelatin and fat in the meat doesn't cook out entirely.Now I'm quite well aware of the fact that what I have just reviewed is more the method of Pressure Cooking than Ms. Sass' good book on the subject, but the issue of pressure cooking is exactly the reason for buying or not buying this particular book.If you are a long time pressure cooker practitioner, I can recommend this book, primarily based on the fact that it covers virtually every different kind of technique to which the gadget could possibly be applied. I also compared the book's recipes for making winter squash soup and risotto to my favorites, and found the cooking time is dramatically reduced, especially in the time required to cook the squash. On the other hand, you get no opportunity to add flavor to soup by roasting things like squash or tomatoes.The book is nicely organized with lots of variations to recipes; however, I would have preferred that such important dish as `chili' be made a main recipe. I'm also skeptical when I see a puttanesca PC recipe, since all the best puttanesca sauce recipes are done within 15 minutes anyway.My main reservation for newbies to pressure-cooking is that the book contains no pictures of the various models, illustrating the different types of seals and pressure release gadgets. If you are not a long time pressure cooker jockey, but you like to experiment with cooking methods, the book may be an excellent addition for quickly cooking dense or otherwise slow cooking stuff such as potatoes, beets, celeriac, beans, or sweet potatoes.

Being new to PC'ing, I read some reviews and went ahead and bought Lorna's book (also her Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure, which I love to pieces).I cannot say enough good things about this cooking manual. It is very well organized by food group (chicken, meat, veggies, desserts, etc.) and the index is complete. It has a great intro which discusses tips and hints which I found invaluable (as a newbie). It also has cooking table charts which gives lists of how long to cook individual items. How long does a 3 lb Cornish hen need? It's right in the chart, so you can make your OWN recipes if you want.So far, I've made about 15 of the recipes, and each has been delicious. I won't go into the benefits of PCing because you already know them. But the one thing I didn't realize was how MOIST food would be because they're cooking with steam. More succulent chicken I've never tasted. In fact, I've even gotten to the point when we have guests of letting them tell me what they want to eat, finding a new recipe in the book, and making it for the FIRST time for them. I was always told to NEVER make a new dish for guests, but with Lorna, you can be certain it will turn out wonderfully, and she has yet to disappoint. I generally add spices or other items that I think will taste good, and I haven't made a mistake yet (and believe me, I'm no chef supreme).But let me tell you one more thing. Cheesecake. You've read it in other reviews, but I would be remiss if I did not tell you about it. It is very simple (two boxes of Philadelphia regular cream cheese, two eggs, ½ cup sugar, some vanilla and lemon, and for the crust chocolate graham crackers). I did have to buy a Springform pan (Nordic Ware, from Amazon) for about $10. It took a whopping 30 minutes to make (a mere 15 at high pressure in the PC) and it is the VERY BEST CHEESECAKE I'VE EVER TASTED. It is moist for the reason I discussed above. It almost brought tears to my eyes, and I'm not kidding.If you can read and follow simple instructions, you simply cannot go wrong with Lorna's book(s). If you cannot do either, then don't buy this book and return your PC'er while you're at it.BTW: If you don't have a cooker, I would highly recommend the Kuhn Rikon Duromatic (5 Liter). While pricey, there is simply no better PCer to be found. I can't imagine living without it anymore. I had first tried an electronic model (since returned), but it was miserable in comparison to my Kuhn Rikon Duromatic stovetop model. Electronic models just don't work as well, and I've read that in plenty of places and from friends. The Duromatic is so simple, why get an electronic model with electronic touchpads that everybody KNOWS will fail at some point? It's not IF if will fail, but WHEN (probably one week after the warranty expires lol). NOTE: I have a gas stove; I have no idea how my KR would work on an electric range.And oh yes, I never took a PC cooking class; I just read Lorna's book and got right to it, with very good results.Happy cooking...

I have this on my iPad, and I use the Kindle app to read it. The recipes are good, and the author does a good job of describing the different types of pressure cookers that are available, which types you might want, and how to adapt her recipes to your cooker type, if necessary.I'm giving it four stars, because the Kindle version is not well-linked between index and recipes (some of the recipes aren't linked, and not all are correctly listed in the table of contents) and vice-versa (no link back to table of contents or beginning of each section at the end of each recipe). I find this to be a huge drawback with cookbooks in Kindle format, making it much harder to compare recipes and maneuver through a book. Sure, you can leave bookmarks, but why should I have to place bookmarks on my first or second glance through a section? I haven't decided if any of the recipes are favorites; I'm still trying to see what the book offers...This isn't the end of the world, but it makes the cookbook far more difficult to use than it could be.

loads of info for the novice, plus lots of easy to use and addapt recipies, good read with many tips

Essential for pressure cooker owners some nice recipes.

Great Book,great Recipes,Great info on Pressure Cookers.

This is a great book for people who like recipes whose ingredients are easily found! The instructions and explanations are clear and concise.

Do no make the same mistake I did, this is a regular pressure cooker recipe book, not for electric one like Instant Pot. Nice recipes though.