Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes

There are some things of value in this book. The information is valuable, some very good advice. I like the PIP advice, some of the dessert recipes and some of the meats. But some of the dishes seem like crock pot type recipes (mix meat, noodles, etc) and the WORST thing about the book is that the section of the book that gives lists of "Meats", "Grains", "Vegetables" etc etc gives times that are going to leave your food mushy. The veggies were especially overcooked. I cut the time for brussel sprouts to about 1/4 of the time listed. If you are going to be using a PC, its not a bad book to have for information and some of the recipes but, if you are buying it only for the recipes, it loses stars. You may find yourself making lots of notations in the book to time estimates and changing the recipes so much they hardly resemble what was written, in my opinion....please don't start leaving comments criticizing me for leaving a less than stellar review - they are all opinions, none more valuable than another.

Although this book gives very comprehensive directions for pressure cooking, there are quality issues. First, the book itself: the paper is the same type used in cheap paperback novels. Also, it is not a nice bright white, and the brown ink the publisher used looks faded and makes the book hard to read.Second, several recipes instruct the cook to brown the meat called for, set it aside, add other ingredients, and lock the lid in place without putting the meat back in. In addition, every recipe repeats every step word for word. For example: "bring to X psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure, and cook for X minutes. Remove from the heat and use the X method to depressurize. Carefully open the lid after the pressure drops." All the other steps used in pressure cooking are also repeated word for word. In. every. single. recipe. in. the. entire. book.It would have been great to have the pressure, time, and release method listed separately at the beginning of the instructions instead of hiding them in the body.Third, the index is not comprehensive. While flipping through, I saw a recipe for lentils. When I looked for it later, I could not find it because "lentils" is not an entry, and I did not know the exact name of the recipe. This is a major flaw in a cookbook.The timing charts and techniques are of value, but overall, it's not very user friendly. Caveat emptor.

First I must say I've visited Miss Vickie's website quite a bit in the past and she provides a wealth of accurate information both on her website and in her book. A couple of months ago I bought the book and proceeded to go through it and pick out recipes to try in my pressure cooker(s). I have two. One is a 12 quart Hotel size Kuhn Rikon, and the other is a 7 quart Cook's Essentials that I bought years ago from QVC (Fagor is the mfg I believe). The first thing I noticed about the recipes themselves is many of them seem similar in flavor and type to each other. I attempted the Orange Chicken last night and although I used fresh oranges and lemons, followed the recipe method carefully, etc., the flavors were just not "there" - I used only a couple of teaspoons of the sugar because I could tell the result, as written, would be cloyingly sweet -- and at the end I had to adjust the seasonings in the sauce by adding soy sauce and red pepper flakes and a bit of powered ginger to give it any taste at all. Far too much liquid (this could be because I was using my Kuhn Rikon and it needs far less liquid than, for example, the Fagor) resulted in a TON of (bland) sauce. So far, not great. I've made a few other meals from the recipes in this book and they're typically under-seasoned and/or haven't quite resulted in a great meal. This isn't the case when I've used other recipes from other sources. I've also noticed that the timing doesn't seem consistent from recipe to recipe where the meat (for example, boneless cut up chicken breasts) and method is generally the same...sometimes 8 minutes, sometimes 10. Anyway - probably won't make much more from this book I'm afraid.

Evidently EPC (electric pressure cooker) owners are to be maligned for choosing to ruin a classic cooking medium with technology, if the introduction of this book is any indication. The author begrudgingly admits that some of her recipes will work in an EPC, but that we should never expect the same results as a tried and true stovetop model.Aside from the slap in the face to a significant market share of pressure cooker owners, the cookbook has some great recipes and tips.Despite my inability to do a cold water release, I've been able to make a fair number of delicious recipes using this cookbook. And they've come out with no discernable degradation of quality/taste, even with my meager science cooker.Hint: even though the pressure cooker accelerates cooking time, most dishes still have a fair margin for error in cooking time, so that you will not ruin them if you're unable to follow the time specifications and processes to the letter.

I wish I'd bought this book long ago. I've been pressure cooking for 20 years and I've learned quite a lot from this book. When I started long ago with my Revere Ware 6 qt pc, I had to figure it out as I went along. I used it for all the basics like baby food, stocks, soups, roasts, and mashed potatoes.I didn't really understand what was going on. I bought a set of new Fagor pcs a few years ago and didn't like them. This book has helped me understand what I was doing wrong. The manuals that come with most pcs leave a lot to be desired and after reading this book I realize most of my problems were operator error. Back in the day, it was hard to find information re the hows of pcing. The book does the best job I've seen of explaining the different forms of cooking and release methods. This book has clarified so much for me. I would highly recommend this book for anyone starting with pressure cooking.

Wow and what a big book it is. It's very comprehensive and packed with lots of information asidefrom actual recipes. If you need an A to Z type book then you may want to look at this one. There are no photos which is a shame. Miss Vickie is an American author and somewhat an expert, and so you will need to convert from cups to grammes and may find some ingredients, very occasionally I might add confusing, but all this information is readily available on the Internet or maybe in your other cook books, and shouldn't cause any problems at all.Recipes are very authentic and from around the world so there should be something for everyone here. For example, wondering what to do with your chicken? Well look no further there's bound to be a recipe you like in here - maybe Chicken a La King, Chicken Loaf, Chicken Penne Pasta with Walnut Pesto Sauce - the list goes on! It's just astounding what type of things can be cooked in the modern pressure cookers. I have cooked the following from this book: Southern Meatballs, Chicken Frajitas, Beef Burritos, Chinese BBQ Ribs and Lemon Shrimps & Scallop Fettucine and all have turned out beautifully.

I have had this book for about a year and haven't made anything from it yet... I have a host of other pressure cooker cookbooks which see a lot more action. The US Amazon site gives more favourable reviews than the UK version so clearly it has some fans. I just haven't found much I want to cook from it. Other reviewers have covered the reasons. The book is also printed on dull beige, rough paper which made me glad I hadn't bought it as a gift. I also have So Fast, So Easy by Beth Hensperger which is my go to for reliable healthy recipes despite also being written for the US market.

Good book to accompany our new pressure cooker, but resigned to the shelf of unused books very quickly

very dtssapointed very plain and colourless nothing in it inspires you to want to cook will not be buying anything by this person

miss vickie,s big book of pressure cooker recipes,some of the recipes were okay but then,most people wont eat half of whats in the book,mrs s.