The Pressured Cook: Over 75 One-Pot Meals In Minutes, Made In Today's 100% Safe Pressure Cookers (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

No one else works wonders with a pressure cooker as does Sass (Cooking Under Pressure). In this collection of expert recipes for one-dish meals, she turns away from her vegetarian-specific recipes to create an appealing overview of the world's cuisines. Not only are today's pressure cookers not the sputtering, sometimes explosive devices of the past, but Sass's recipes are not the usual monochromatic, single-flavored one-dish meals. Beef Stewed in Coconut Milk with Rice Noodles and Green Beans is colorful and spicy; meatballs and tiny pasta bob along in Italian Wedding Soup. Although the ingredients are cooked together in a single pot, they are sometimes separated after cooking for greater variety in texture. For example, the recipe for Short Ribs in Pasta Sauce with Olives and Parmesan Potatoes calls for removing the cooked potatoes and mashing them, then serving them as a bed for the ribs. Unusual combinations such as Asturian Beans and Clams, with saffron and kale, are as tempting as the heartier Pork with Sauerkraut, Mushrooms and Potatoes. Even when Sass falls back on old favorites, she adds little touches to make them new: Split-Pea Vegetable Soup is topped with a mint cream made with sour cream or yogurt, and Provencal Vegetable Soup receives a few tablespoons of Pernod. Tips for using and storing pressure cookers and recipes for such basics as broth, beans and grains make this collection complete.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Sass is probably right to emphasize "100% safe" in her subtitle?some cooks still have visions of exploding pressure cookers. However, that is not a danger with the newer cookers (and rarely was with older models) and should not keep home cooks from trying Sass's quick-and-easy imaginative recipes for one-pot meals. Author of the excellent Cooking Under Pressure (LJ 11/15/89), among many other titles, Sass has an engaging, no-nonsense style and offers many tips and variations for her wide-ranging recipes. Recommended for most collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Cookbooks; 1 edition (February 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688158285
• ISBN-13: 978-0688158286
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #132,059 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another terrific cookbook for pressure cookers!, February 21, 1999

By A Customer

This is another terrific cookbook from Lorna Sass! Although we eat vegetarian food 99 percent of the time, I actually welcomed a cookbook that combines meat and vegetarian recipes--it will make a great gift for some of the "mixed" couples in our life (carnivores/vegetarians). Besides, it's a snap to convert the meat recipes to vegetarian by simply leaving out the meat and/or substituting it with tofu, tempeh, bulgur or the like.

But now to the good stuff: I can't emphasize enough how FANTASTIC the cheesecake recipe is in this cookbook! Until now, the New York cheesecake from a certain membership warehouse had been our yardstick for great cheesecake, but this recipe has it beat hands down. Fantastic flavor and texture. Other dessert standouts are the bread pudding recipes, which are delicious and healthy at the same time.

As a main course, the Chickpeas in Eggplant-Tahini Sauce is a delicious dish and tastes like you put a lot more time into preparation than is actually the case. It's always a treat when you can put together something like this to wow guests. Another favorite is the Split Pea-Vegetable Soup with Mint Cream. I LOVE the counterpoint the mint cream makes with this hearty soup. And you just can't beat the convenience of a pressure cooker when it comes to making extremely flavorful meals in a short amount of time. We've converted a number of friends to pressure cookers, and they've never regretted it. This cookbook makes a perfect addition to your cookbook collection.

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Basic and Sexy in the same book, May 21, 2000

By	Kathy "AnUnnaturalCook" (Middle River, MD United States) - See all my reviews

Because Lorna Sass was considered to be the queen of pressure cooking, my family gave me this cookbook and "The Pressure Cooker Cookbook" by Toula Patsalis when I first got my pressure cooker. I found Lorna Sass's recipes to have clearer instructions and a higher success rate.

Since then, I have become addicted to "Split Pea Soup with Smoked Turkey", page 91! The "Smoked Turkey Risotto with Corn and Roasted Red Pepper" on page 93 was also tasty, but it seemed like a lot of work to end up with what resembled an adult macaroni and cheese.

I was grateful that Lorna Sass's book included a full repertoire of pressure cooker basics: various stocks, beans and rice, plus beef stew. Sass's chicken stock had the same list of ingredients as in "Joy of Cooking", but the broth was more gelatinous due to the pressure cooker. That was a mixed blessing, because I had always enjoyed "Joy of Cooking"'s version as a chicken soup, using extra chicken pieces to thicken the broth, but adding back the chicken meat and the still recognizable vegetables to have a soup verging on stew. The pressure cooker version turned the vegetables to mush, but my husband was delighted that I added some egg noodles instead to the soup.

All in all, the book combines basic and sexy recipes, with a high probability of success. Isn't that just what a first pressure cooker cookbook should offer?

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great cookbook for busy people!, August 10, 1999

By A Customer

Although I have used and enjoyed other cookbooks by this author, I welcomed a new pressure-cooker cookbook that was not exclusively vegetarian. The recipes are extremely reliable, well-tested, designed to be made quickly and, best of all, the ones I have tried have been terrific. I highly recommend this book to anyone with a busy schedule. My particular favorite is a beef chili recipe that includes dried poblano chiles which gives the dish a deliciously smoky undertone.