Church of the Pressure Cooker

I have been a PRESTO pressure cooker devotee since I was 17 back in 1978. My musician friend Rachel Maloney and her husband Chris Turner harmonica genius taught me how to cook rice and beans in the pressure cooker. My life was forever changed. That Christmas I bought one for my sister and my mother. My mother was terrified of them since she and all of her generation had heard horror stories of applesauce on the ceiling. I tried to demonstrate how this was no longer an issue if you pay attention. Pressure cooking is like driving a car. You have to be smart and alert but you ought to be in a kitchen. I taught a class in the 90's to 8 people who were petrified of the pressure cooker but wanted to learn. It was the best workshop because we cooked a whole bunch of dishes in only a few hours. We made applesauce in 3 minutes, potato salad in 3 minutes, and brown rice and beans at the same time in 20 minutes. Then for the finally we made lamb stew in 18 minutes. If you want me to teach you I will.

My friend Andrea was born in Italy and he cooked with the pressure cooker every night when he was working at Brown University living with my friends Donna and Phoebe. He brought his pressure cooker over from Italy in his suitcase. A man after my own heart. I wonder if he'd be stopped at the airport if he tried that today. Sadly he might be accused of making a bomb.

Right now I am making chicken stock. I am pressure cooking butt ends of carrots, cabbage core and outer leaves, and my leftover blizzard chicken carcass. It smells amazing and I'm feeling very nurturing. When I am ready I will strain the stock and it will be useful for my rice and beans cooking in the week coming up.