Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough are a force to be reckoned with — the dynamic duo’s cookbooks are always welcomed additions to my collection and their recipes are flawless. Their newest book – The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book is no exception.
My name is Jenny and I have residual pressure cooker phobia. My grandmother was one of the only women butchers in the meat packing district in East St. Louis, Illinois so long ago. She would bring home questionable meat products – at least they were to me – pigs feet, blood sausage and the like. My mind is still flooded with memories of my grandmother’s kitchen. We were not the typical family with fond memories and shared cooking experiences — but I do remember her kitchen. She lived in a shotgun style house in Madison, Illinois which is moments away from St. Louis. The kitchen was fairly large. Her pantry was a metal cabinet with two doors – actually everything was white and metal in the kitchen. She always had something cooking and usually in the pressure cooker – the way it would rattle and shake – it was a bit intimidating. I think she used the pressure cooker a great deal because she worked long, hard hours and this was her way of getting food on the table in an efficient manner. I do remember one day going to her house for visit – it was a short walk down the railroad tracks (cue the banjo music) and she was standing on the kitchen chair scrapping pigs feet off the ceiling. Yes, a pressure cooker mishap.
It’s been forty plus years, time to let go of my fear and embrace the pressure cooker. The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book has 500 easy recipes for every machine – stovetop and electric – from oatmeal to cheesecake to stews. I haven’t had a chance to try the recipes as I just received the book and I need to make sure my cooker is up to the pressure. I do know many of my friends have been cooking from the book and are incredibly pleased with the results (and their photos of their creations look tempting as they have been sharing them in our Share your Dinner event in the group). On March 19th we will be cooking from the book again #pressurethursdays, join in and post your meals in the event!
I have marked many recipes to attempt including French onion soup chicken thighs, chicken and pasta in a spicy peanut sauce, chicken mac and cheese, maple Dijon wings, coconut chicken soup, braised chuck roast with balsamic vinegar and corned beef and cabbage in spiced cider. Saturday we’re having a guest over for St. Patrick’s Day fare – so I think I will try that. I trust with Bruce and Mark’s wonderful instructions — there will not be corned beef on the ceiling.
Update 3/15 — the corned beef and cabbage in spiced cider was excellent – perfectly tender and delicious and not a morsel made it to the ceiling.
It’s a wonderful book with incredible variety as is typical with the dynamic duo’s books — so there is no reason to fear the pressure cooker.
Random Number Generator picked #12 Judy Pike Krist and #82 Linda Mire please send your addresses to me icywit @ gmail dot com. Congratulations!
TIME FOR THE GIVEAWAY
Thanks to Bruce and Mark and their publisher Clarkson Potter, I have two copies of this book to offer to two random readers. For a chance to win leave a comment on this post telling me if have you ever used a pressure cooker or not. US Addresses only. Random number generator will pick a winner on March 27th. (Your comments are numbered and I use the RNG program to pick a winner.) Thank you and good luck!
I have my Mom’s ancient Farberware pressure cooker, and still use it to make her beef stew recipe in 12 minutes! And that is with chuck roast, that comes out like “butta” !
I would love to have the Under Pressure! The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book to my collection.
Thank you for the giveaway! I have long used pressure cookers. I have a WMF Perfect Plus 8.5 quart stove top and an Instant Pot electric.
I have never used a pressure cooker, don’t own one yet-but its one the wish list and I’m diligently saving for one. I see so many good things about them. This book will inspire me.
I love my pressure cooker! It’s probably my favorite kitchen appliance. <3
I was permanently scared (not scarred) by my mother making us leave the kitchen when she loosened the pressure in her old cooker “just in case”.
I have never used a pressure cooker.
I just got my first cooker the other day and made pulled pork. Really easy and fast.
I only recently got into pressure cooking, and mostly just make stock. I would love this book, as Bruce and Mark have not failed me yet.
I actually have beans pressure cooking right now.
I’ve never used a pressure cooker before nor do I remember anyone ever using one in my family.
I bought my first electric pressure cooker three years ago, and I went through that one in two years, so we bought a new one last year. We use it at least three times a week, and couldn’t live without it.
I need some advice and recipes for my pressure cooker, would love to win. Thanks Jenny
I have both this book and an Instant pot on my wishlist, just waiting for me to take the plunge! I haven’t cooked with a pressure cooker since the 80’s and that was a commercial sized for making refried beans.
I have the “cooker” now I would love this book.
I’ve never used a pressure cooker and would LOVE to start!
Used it last night making Dal for a class.
Oh how I’d love this book! 🙂
I have been dying to get a pressure cooker!! And this book to go along!!
I have the phobia, too 🙁
I have the cooker, still in the box. I even have the books. Now I just need to use them already.
Yes, I have a pressure cooker and would love to have a cookbook that would inspire me to use it more often.
Yes, I’d love some inspiration.
Yes, I have used a pressure cooker in the past. Not too much lately, though. Both of mine need a new gasket. Maybe if I win this book it will give me motivation to go out and get at least one of them. Nothing like fresh veggies (especially green beans) from a pressure cooker.
No. Have a brand new beauty in the box. I am afraid to commit.
Would love to have this book to use with my new pressure cooker!
Yes, several times.
I own an electric pressure cooker and use it often. Great time saver and the results are amazing!!
I am also digging out my pressure cooker after looking at a sample of this book yesterday. Haven’t used it in years and don’t know. Excited about this book and new recipients and ideas.
I have owned one for 3 years, but still haven’t had the nerve to use it yet!
I just started using a pressure cooker after seeing them recommend on the CJ page. Instant pulled pork!
I used to have a jiggle top bit now I have an instapot. Now that o have the instapot I use the thing almost every day in some capacity. When I was a teenager in France I noticed all the moms used pressure cookers to get amazing dinners on the table on many weeknights.
I have been using a pressure cooker since I was a teenager. My Grandmother taught me how to use it. It produces delicious meals very quickly. Love using it.
I have a Fagor and I’d like to use it more.
My Mom made Swiss Steak in a pressure cooker in the 60s. I can still hear the rattle and hiss if I try. My friend had one i used to borrow, but I’ve moved 300 miles away, so that’s right out.
I am newly fascinated with pressure cookers.
I absolutely need to expand my pressure cooker repertoire.
I bought a pressure cooker last summer to can with it have yet to use it for cooking….. It still frightens me a little bit. I would LOVE this cookbook to guide me through the process and to inspire me!!
I bought a pressure cooker just to cook Indian food (thank you, Madhur Jaffrey), and now I use it often. Makes fantastic (no fuss) risotto!
I use my pressure cooker often.. I purchased one in Spain years ago and after I got over my silly scares of it blowing up, I now love it.
I received a pressure cooker this year and I absolutely love it. I was thinking of buying this book so it would be great if I won it! 🙂
I have my grandmother’s pressure cooker and have gotten over my fears and have been using it more lately. This book would surely guide me in the right direction! Thanks to the publishers and Jenny for this opportunity!
My husband gave me a pressure cooker for Christmas last year. My mother then proceeded to tell me a story about my grandmother and her pressure cooker. Evidently she made spaghetti sauce in it and it exploded all over the kitchen! I’ve been terrified to use it since. Maybe with Bruce and Mark’s guidance I can overcome my fear. I’d really like to!
Bought one and was too afraid to try. Took it out about 2 months ago and am addicted. Spare ribs off the bone in 20 minutes, soup in 15. Even frozen chicken in 1/2 hour. Stays on my counter we use so often. Godsend for people that work.
I have never used a pressure cooker but the recipes you mention above have me considering buying one 🙂
We love our pressure cooker. Used to have a stove top but now own our second electric one. I think we use it 1-2 times a week.
We love, love, love our pressure cooker. I’m so glad that more recipes are available. Thanks for this amazing giveaway!
I have an electric Fagor pressure cooker that’s still in the box, I’m still too scared of it to take it out.
I would love this book.
A much needed book for our kitchen. Grandma makes rice pudding and several stews using hers. Would love to venture into this type of cooking. The book looks wonderful. I’ve personally never fired one up, would probably find a nice vegetarian recipe for the first dish.
I have never cooked anything in a pressure cooker but I certainly am interested in learning more about it and maybe gaining enough confidence to actually try it.
Have never used one, always been too afraid. Maybe its time to step up!
Love pressure cooking, could always use some new inspiration!
I love using a pressure cooker. I fel like I am cheating the laws of physics;)
i would love this!
Bruce and Mark write GREAT cookbooks! I can’t wait for this one!
I have never used a pressure cooker. However, one time I was in France my French girlfriend cooked a Tete De Veaux in a pressure cooker. It was possibly one of the best things I ever ate!
Yes, please!
Never used one, would love to try it.
Never used one, would love to try it out.
i have not yet used my pressure cooker. I’m going to though, to make a whole urad dal recipe.
I’ve been wanting a new pressure cooker! This book would be wonderful to have to go with it!
I have not used one, but my grandma makes the best roast beef in the pressure cooker and is like to replicate it 🙂
I used one but not nearly enough! I bought one about a year ago and I’d say I’ve only used it 3 times. I need this book 🙂
I sure have! It might be older than I am 😮 One of my husband’s favorite things to make it in is meatballs. He does a great job!
I have never owned one!
I would really enjoy this book!
I have a fabulous new pressure cooker and I would LOVE to have Mark’s new book 🙂
Sad thing…I’ve never used a pressure cooker…though that’s not really the sad thing, the sad thing is I OWN a pressure cooker that I’ve never used. Brand new. Still in it’s unopened box.
I’ve never used a pressure cooker. I, too, grew up fearing them. When my mother used hers I would leave the house until I deemed it safe to came bake inside. I honestly can’t even remember what exactly she cooked in it. My son now has one! I guess I could, maybe, embrace the new technology of today’s pressure cookers.
Yes, I have one and I love it!
I LOVE my pressure cooker! Its from India and its absolutely a life saver 🙂 I use it a lot for meats, beans and anything that needs tenderizing 😀
I use a pressure cooker all the time! I just made Brazilian Style Beans today!
I use my pressure cooker all the time! I just made Brazilian Style Beans today!
I love using my pressure cooker and can always use another cookbook! I love that I can make delicious stock in a flash.
I’ve never used a pressure cooker, but would love to. I’ve always wanted one.
I have not used a pressure cooked before. I have always wanted to but have heard horror stories about them. I have now heard they are alot safer. I would love to try it and maybe having this book would warrant getting one.
I have an electric pressure cooker, but have never used it…HELP
I have never used a pressure cooker. I fear it would land me in the emergency room !
I first cooked with a pressure cooker in the 70’s and I loved using it. Made some great meals in a short time. I’d love to get back into it. Thanks for this opportunity.
I was given one years ago. Haven’t used it. This book might give me the needed confidence to do it!
I have several pressure cookers. They are so under utilized I am almost unworthy. My favorite is still the old Mirro with the rocker weight. It sputters and hisses and reminds me of my grandmother when she was still vivacious and full of energy and I was a very little girl still in awe of her.
I have been wanting a pressure cooker for a while now, I’be used one in the past but not for many years.
I have never used a pressure cooker, but I have ask for one for my birthday coming up in April! My Grandmother used them all the time. She had a giant commercial grade pressure cooker that she made Beef-Barley Vegetable Soup in every Fall. It was so good.
I have an electric pressure cooker and love using it…would really like some new recipes.
I don’t know if it is too late, but one word. ‘Dinner’. I am single and live alone. With my pressure cooker I can make a real soul satisfying dinner after work quickly and have leftovers. Until I got my pressure cooker I didn’t make those wonderful healthy warming meals unless I had company and a lot of time. Goodbye fast food…hello Stuffed Pepper Soup, Unstuffed Cabbage Stew, Homemade Four Mmnute Tuna Casserole…what else? I am running out of ideas. I need a new cookbook.
I have never used a pressure cooker, although I have one. I’m interested in trying some of these recipes. 🙂
I have two instapots! I use them often. They’re such a HUGE time saver. Love finding new recipes too. I’d love to win this cookbook!
I always like to try new things
I have a stove-top and an electric. Only used the electric once and want to put it to better use.
I have an instant pot that I am working up the nerve to use. I need more inspiration!
Ever since I got my instapot I use it daily. I used to have a jiggle top but rarely used it. When i was a teenager in France most moms used it several times a week to get an amazing dinner on the table after work.
Thank you Jenny, I am looking forward to receiving this book, I took possession of my instant pot on Friday, this will certainly give me the encouragement to use it. I appreciate all your links and give aways.