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I would recommend buying this book even before you actually buy your pressure cooker because of the information provided on various types. The half dozen recipes that I have tried so far have all been successful. The instruction manual that came with my pressure cooker gives just the basic information and very few recipes. This book is a far better source of information for general usage of the appliance, and has enough recipes to keep me experimenting for a long time.
I made the Chicken Breast on a Shingle (the shingle is broiled french bread topped with swiss cheese) with a white wine mushroom gravy. Both meat recipes said to bring the pressure to high and then lower it to the lowest pressure possible for the duration of the cooking time and I figured since my electric cooker doesn't reach nearly as high a psi as a stove top version that it would work out to be about the same. This one just seemed to have the yummiest sounding recipes and the ingredients were a lot of things that I already had on hand.
I also made a steamed mixed vegetable side dish that was pretty good too. The theory worked really well on the 2 meat dishes (the chicken breasts and pork chops were both cooked to perfection), but it needs a little tweaking on the vegetable dish (the veggies were just a tiny bit over done, but still yummy). As far as adapting these recipes for my electric cooker, all I did was cook them on high for the entire cooking time.
I bought my electric pressure cooker a couple of months ago and checked out about 6 different cookbooks from the library to try. Last night, I made the Pork Chops with Stewed Tomatoes and Red Potatoes, also Excellent. And, this may be because I didn't have a steamer basket for my cooker so the veggies cooked in the liquid at the bottom of the pot instead of actually steaming, but I will be buying one soon and trying the vegetable recipe again.
So far, I've made 3 recipes from this book and all 3 have tasted wonderful. Excellent.
Since everything had been handed down to me I can now tweet my recipes to our updated tastes, like vegetables that aren't mush, though my dad's wild turkey soup can't be beet. cooker was very clear. I come from a long line of ancient pressure cooker cooks, you know aluminum, jig jig, basic stews, soups, bought one for my niece who's family didn't know what a pressure cooker was, being a teacher she went to her library and read, was so impressed with Miss Vickie, I had to check her out. Her beginning chapters on pressure pounds & what to look for in what you need & don't need for a Reg. If any more of my family wants to get a cooker I'll make sure to get them a copy of this book before they buy a cooker. GLAD I did. Even bought a new stainless steel one & tried a cheese cake Far Out.
It is very thoroughand has helped me out in getting the max use of my pressure cookers. I have a couple of pressure cookers and bought them when there was little available in the way of cook books especially written for these pots.
One previous reviewer pointed out the mushroom soup issue where condensed mushroom soup is listed as the only liquid, yet Miss Vickie specifically lists condensed soups as not a liquid for PC purposes. 204)The discrepancy in this recipe is that the ingredient list calls for chicken breasts that have been cut into bite sized pieces, then later in the recipe she instructs you to remove the breasts from the pot, as though they are whole breasts and despite the fact that the pieces are mixed in with the other ingredients. Overall I am satisfied with the book. I'm also very inspired to try her fruitcake method in the back. Very watery and I don't think any amount of evaporation would have helped considering there was no thickening agent of any kind in the recipe since the 1/2 cup of flour is used to lightly coat the meat pieces prior to browning.3. Hard to say since I did have success with pasta in the first dish. Sounds like a fun challenge. I think I should have done it in the second.
129)This was an ok recipe. To preface my review, I am new to pressure cooking and therefore you can take what I write with a grain of salt. I thought that might simply be an isolated issue, but two of the three recipes I tried had similar minor discrepancies.1. Regardless, it was very delicious and nothing was over or under done.2. There is a very nice variety of recipes, ranging from "fancy" to "my two-year-old will eat it". I guessed and added it in the first pressurization just to be safe. Steak and Cheesy Macaroni Dinner (p. I decided I would read through the whole book and try at least three recipes before reviewing.
Chicken and Pepperoni Pasta (p. Again, I followed the instructions very carefully. Everyone ate it, but it was a bit of a stretch to call it mushroom gravy. Sirloin Tips in Mushroom Gravy Over Wide Noodles (p. The issue is that the instructions state to brown the meat on all sides, then set aside.
Next time I will probably reduce the water and cook the pasta separately.If I was an expert at pressure cookery and still had the same results in the last two dishes, I might have given 3 instead of 4 stars, but I have to acknowledge that despite following the recipes carefully, I may be doing something wrong. The dish tasted good but the pasta was mushy while the chicken was tough and the sauce was very watery. I do plan to continue to try more recipes and fortunately the book has enough to keep me busy for a while. It would be impossible to remove all the pieces in that manner. There is a lot of information, and it is a very good resource to have.
I followed the recipe to the "T", but it turned out more like mushroom broth. It then neglects to tell you when to add it back (there are two cooking steps, one for just the sauce, then again for the pasta) even though it needs additional cooking. The only reason I did not give the book five stars is that there are some mild problems with some of the recipes. 141)This was the best recipe of the three.
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