Hi. I've been toying with the idea of purchasing one of the newer (safer) pressure cookers. Colleague has one and loves it. Cooks Illustrated has a great cookbook to make yummy things in pressure cookers.

So, if any of you have one and use if regularly (or stopped using one for fear, etc.) I would like to hear from you.

Yes, I know there are reviews...but I want to hear from fellow compliance peeps.

I've only ever used one to make moonshine in...They kinda scare me otherwise.

can you cook a turkey in one?

Do tell, Joker!

Do you use the pressure cooker just to ferment?

When my mom was a kid, her mom's pressure cooker's lid blew off on the stove and tore through the ceiling. That was the last time they ever used a pressure cooker.

But I hear the electric models are completely safe.

My mother swore by them, using the heavy aluminum Mirro Matic she received in 1954 as a wedding gift until only a couple of years ago when the regulator fitting blew out, sending the regulator to leave a deep dent into the ceiling. Parts were still available and she wanted it fixed so my Dad obtained another fitting and installed it.

Now she's scared of it and won't use it. She was in the kitchen when the blow-out occurred.

We had some yummy roasts cooked in that thing for Sunday lunch when I was a kid.

My wife and I were also given one as a wedding present but later gave it away. I never was comfortable with the function of the regulator on ours. It never would cycle right.

Safer pressure cookers? Is that like a Glock pistol with its "safe-action" trigger?

Pressure cooker? The OCC is here. I'm living in one.

Well, ask them if they have any recipes.

Yeah, my Grandma's house had a hole in the ceiling from a "blow up" once.

I too have been looking at the newer one on TV shopping network. Wife wants one.

Wonder how many times the regulator or worse, the lid or a portion thereof, hits the ceiling before it hits the cook?

We just bought the Presto pressure cooker a couple months ago. I have yet to use it. We'd planned on canning some of the veggies from our garden but never got enough at one time to can. The local extension office of WA State University offered some classes in August in September that my husband and I went to. It taught us how to safely use a pressure cooker and covered 5 different topics from canning tomatoes, jellies, meats, etc. They were really really informative and we have some materials from the classes to help us in the future. The one thing I learned is that we cannot use our glass cooktop with the pressure cooker because it gets too hot and increases the likelihood of the canner exploding. Our instructor suggested that we use one of those electric burners and even take it outside.

This is what my parents have been using to heat their pressure cooker. Yes, this is the same one my grandma blew teh hole in her kitchen with.

My parents home is exlectric, so thisis what they did. They got one of the Turkey Roaster for outside. Bought a Propane tank. Now they use the burner and tank outside to heat the pressure cooker.

The most practical reason I'd get a pressure cooker is for canning low acid food items. I use a water bath canner now, but am limited as to what foods I can can.

I avoid these at all costs

My sister uses one to cook sometimes and loves it. The roast (or whatever) is cooked so much quicker. I believe she also uses it to can vegetables. I can ask her what she uses if you like - and where she gets her recipes.

Honestly, I remember my mom being fearful of them when I was young so it kind of makes me nervous, too.

If you grew up in a proper Cuban household there was always a pressure cooker going at some point in the day...Grandma/Mom always used it to make beans and stews. The pressure cooker is great for making the toughest cuts of meats tender...

not sure if this is what you;re looking for, but every time MsGilmore cooks there is pressure on the rest of the Gilmore family...do we say we like it, do we say don't like it, are eggs supposed to be runny like this, is roast supposed to be this color...

talk about pressure...

I didn't know you couldn't use a pressure cooker on a glass cooktop! Good thing I read this before I got interested in getting one.

Same here.
The pressure cooker scares me. So I stick to jams and jellies and applesauce.

No...it's modified actually and involves copper tubing.

I can ferment on my own, thank you very much

get one of the electric models, if I got one that's the route I would go

Peeps...how 'bout making me an apple pie with that electric model soon as you finsih vacuuming with the electrulux...k?

Every time my mom used her pressure cooker, I made sure I was at the opposite end of the house. Those things scare me!!