Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes [Paperback]

Vickie Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 29, 2008

The Ultimate Pressure-Cooker Cookbook

Nobody knows more about pressure cookers than Vickie Smith, creator of the leading pressure-cooker Web site, MissVickie.com. Now, at last, Miss Vickie has gathered all of her pressure-cooker wisdom into a book. Whether you're a pressure-cooker newcomer or a longtime fan, you'll find all the recipes, techniques, and tips you need for a lifetime of great pressure-cooker meals.

Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes is jam-packed with nearly 400 fast, tasty, foolproof recipes, ranging from one-pot meals like Chicken and Rice with Mushrooms to Sweet and Sour Pork, Navy Bean Soup, and Chocolate Malt Cheesecake. Miss Vickie's detailed recipe instructions and special techniques, such as "pan in pot" pressure cooking, guarantee that each dish comes out perfectly cooked--and perfectly delicious.

But Miss Vickie gives you more than just great recipes. Her book also provides in-depth guidance on every aspect of choosing and using a pressure cooker, including:
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A buyers' guide to modern pressure cookers
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Step-by-step pressure-cooker instructions
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Pressure-cooker safety
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Basic and advanced pressure-cooking techniques
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Common mistakes in pressure cookery
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Adapting recipes to the pressure cooker
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Tips, tricks, and troubleshooting


Offering hundreds of recipes that are proven to work--and proven delicious--plus plain-English answers to all of your pressure-cooker questions, Miss Vickie has created the single most useful pressure-cooker book ever published. It's a resource you'll turn to again and again as you explore the world of pressure-cooker possibilities and pleasures.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Smith, founder of MissVickie.com, a highly trafficked Web site devoted to all things steam-pressured, compiles her expertise in a single tome, covering the history of pressure cookery from its inception in the 17th century to its resurgence today. Smith extols pressure cooking's benefits, including fuel efficiency, faster cooking time, reduced fats, higher levels of nutrient retention and the ability to create lower-cost one-pot meals. Several pages are devoted to exact cooking times for specific vegetables, meats, fish, beans and even pasta shapes. Though there are a fair number of recipes featuring legumes, for example, this cookbook is mainly geared to a meat-eating audience. As might be expected, a good deal are stewlike creations, but Smith covers eclectic ground with dishes like Italian Seasoned Veal Tortellini Stew; Walnut Chicken Braised in Pomegranate Juice; and Mexican Posole (pork stew with green chile and hominy). Outside of the one-pot meals are ragus, pilafs and pulled meats for sandwich stuffing. Smith even rounds up some intriguing desserts like Sweet Dumpling Flan with Caramel Sauce and a basic bread pudding with six variations. Eminently thorough and enlightening, Smith's cookbook is bound to please the beginner pressure cooker and aficionado alike. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Smith, founder of MissVickie.com, a highly trafficked Web site devoted to all things steam-pressured, compiles her expertise in a single tome, covering the history of pressure cookery from its inception in the 17th century to its resurgence today. Smith extols pressure cooking’s benefits, including fuel efficiency, faster cooking time, reduced fats, higher levels of nutrient retention and the ability to create lower-cost one-pot meals. Several pages are devoted to exact cooking times for specific vegetables, meats, fish, beans and even pasta shapes. Though there are a fair number of recipes featuring legumes, for example, this cookbook is mainly geared to a meat-eating audience. As might be expected, a good deal are stewlike creations, but Smith covers eclectic ground with dishes like Italian Seasoned Veal Tortellini Stew; Walnut Chicken Braised in Pomegranate Juice; and Mexican Posole (pork stew with green chile and hominy). Outside of the one-pot meals are ragus, pilafs and pulled meats for sandwich stuffing. Smith even rounds up some intriguing desserts like Sweet Dumpling Flan with Caramel Sauce and a basic bread pudding with six variations. Eminently thorough and enlightening, Smith’s cookbook is bound to please the beginner pressure cooker and aficionado alike. (Mar.) (Publishers Weekly, January 7, 2007)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764597264
• ISBN-13: 978-0764597268
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (150 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #11 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Appliances

More About the Author

Hi Everyone!

I am a pressure cooking aficionado, and my goal is to inform everyone about all the benefits of today's ultra modern pressure cookers. Pressure cookers are in daily use at my house and with more than 50 years of hands on, practical knowledge, I have revived the lost art of pressure cookery. I'm sharing my decades of experience and passing on these little known techniques and tricks that were once common during the heyday of pressure cookery.

The growing popularity of pressure cooking has attracted the interest of cooks everywhere. My cookbook, "Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes", takes full advantage of these advanced cooking methods to maximize the full potential of all the new and improved features available in today's best, modern pressure cookers.

I'm very grateful that my cookbook has garnered many favorable reviews from the pros, but the best recommendations come from real world users who dish up my recipes in their own homes. Even after 2 years, my cookbook remains consistently in the Top Ten ranking at Amazon, and I've had a great time discussing my passion for pressure cooking with everyone. Looking at the stream of emails I get everyday, the interest is growing bigger all time.

My website, http://missvickie.com/ grew from a small, personal collection of pressure cooker recipes to become the premier reference for pressure cooking on the Internet. Today, my website ranks at or near the top in Google searches for all things related to pressure cooking. "Miss Vickie", has become defacto authority, "the guru" and acknowledged expert on pressure cookery with How-To recipes and step by step photo directions on my blog, http://missvickie.blogspot.com/

Here's a big THANK YOU! to everyone who has already bought my cookbook. For anyone who wants more information about my cookbook, or pressure cookery in general, please come visit me at the above links.

Miss V.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

349 of 359 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Valuable Cookbook, September 5, 2008

By 

jag14 "jag148" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes (Paperback)

I am really enjoying this book. It has a lot of information on cooking all different food types in the pressure cooker as well as tips to ensure success. (When reading, I recognized some of my previous cooking errors.) There are comprehensive pressure cooking time charts and information for multi-level cooking as well as real variety in the recipes . They predominantly call for fresh and easy-to-find ingredients.

I wanted to address the low-rating reviews that recommended Lorna Sass's books over this one. I own two Lorna Sass books: while they are quality cookbooks and do include more recipes for vegetables and grains, there is information in Miss Vickie's cookbook that does not appear in Lorna Sass's. I do understand that people's needs and preferences are different, but there is much in this book to recommend to all pressure cooker users.

There may be other motives in some reviews in which Miss Vickie's book is not accurately represented. I used to visit a pressure cooking forum on Vegsource (a vegetarian website). One day, Miss Vickie posted in response to a question on that forum and was attacked by other members of the site because she has meat-based recipes on her own website. When I quietly reported this to the moderator, hoping to have the offending post removed, I was banned from the site. Lorna Sass is heavily promoted on this site because she has written a book for vegetarian pressure cooking (although, paradoxically, she authored several other books containing numerous meat recipes). This experience has colored my view of some of the negative postings.

220 of 230 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I use this cookbook a little more often than the Lorna J. Sass books., September 24, 2008

By 

James N. Patterson (Carmichael, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes (Paperback)

I want a complete balanced meal when I cook. This means I use the microwave, pressure cooker, stove, and oven all at the same time to cook everything. I don't usually cook one pot meals. Pressure cookers work great for meats and grains. Brown rice is quick and easy. I tend to use a pressure cooker mostly for meats, soups, and stews. The Lorna Sass books are very nice. The Sass Whole Grain book cannot be beat. I have all of the Sass books but I find I tend to use this book a little more often than hers. I am glad that I have all of these cookbooks. I would buy this book first to begin pressure cooking, then get the Sass books. They have things that are not in Miss Vickie's book. Vickie Smith and Lorna J. Sass are the two best authors of pressure cooker cookbooks. If you want vegetarian or vegan pressure cooking, get the Sass books. They are superior for that. For a good all around general purpose pressure cooking cookbook I recommend you get Miss Vickie's Pressure Cooker Recipes. Its the one I reach for first. Its also the one I give as gifts to others.

144 of 156 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good recipes overall but not for electric pressure cookers, September 30, 2008

By 

ANS (WY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes (Paperback)

I have only tried a handful of these recipes. They turned out pretty great. However, they are all geared towards manual pressure cookers, NOT electric pressure cookers. The author is pretty clear about the fact that all her recipes are intended for manual pressure cookers and she is even a bit condescending towards those that purchase electric ones. I probably would have chosen a different book had I known that, since I own one of each and would like a book that covers both. If you own a manual one, I highly recommend this book though.