I use mine to make chop suey for Ashley, she loves the stuff. I just cut round steak into bite sized pieces and brown them, then add a quart of beef broth and some soy sauce, maybe 1/4 cup. Cook for about 15 minutes in the pressure cooker and let the pressure release naturally. Add a flour and water or cornstarch and water slurry to thicken the "gravy", and stir in 2 large cans of chop suey vegetables. Heat vegetables through and serve. I also make beans in mine sometimes, and I've been known to make swiss steak with this old recipe from the Mirro company. It originally had pickled onions, which I left out because who the heck has pickled onions on hand without picking them out of a jar of my homecanned bread and butter pickles? Swiss Steak The original recipe from Mirro included pickled onions. Those didn't sound so exciting to me, so I adapted this recipe to my family's tastes. I add two cans of stewed tomatoes and 1-2 cups of water, depending on how long I'm cooking this dish. If I make a double batch, I use 2 cups of water so that the meal doesn't burn before I can get the pressure down. I also don't dice the steak, I just cut it into serving sized pieces, which for me is about the size of a deck of cards. For a 4 QT cooker 1/4 cup Flour 1 teaspoon Salt dash Pepper 1 1/2 lbs Round Steak-1/2 inch thick 2 tablespoons Shortening* or oil 2 cans of stewed tomatoes 1-2 cups water Mix flour, salt and pepper. Dice steak into cubes, coat with flour mixture. Brown in hot shortening/oil in cooker. Add tomatoes and water to steak in cooker. Cover, set control at 10 and cook 30 minutes after control jiggles (or cook at 15 for 25 minutes). Cool cooker normally for 5 minutes, the place under faucet. Once you open the cooker, you can thicken the juices for a "tomato gravy". Simply mix a little flour with a little bit of cold water, then add to the cooker. Cook with lid off, for about 5 minutes or until juices thicken. Repeat if necessary to thicken juices to the desired consistency. Annie

Last night I fixed some really good and easy pork for Tex-Mex dishes like flautas, burritos, and enchiladas. oil just to coat the bottom of the pressure cooker 1 to 1 1/2 lbs fresh pork (not smoked) cut into 1-inch cubes salt and pepper 1 TB or more taco seasoning 1/2 to 3/4 cup water 1/2 to 3/4 cup salsa or Mexican seasoned tomato sauce (I used Herdez, a rather thin, not chunky salsa which I like - use mild, medium, or hot, your choice) Pour some vegetable oil in the pressure cooker, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan. Heat on medium high until the oil is hot. Sprinkle cubes of pork with salt and pepper. Add pork cubes to pan and brown lightly on all sides, turning them over with a spoon or spatula. Sprinkle taco seasoning on pork cubes. I used 1 TB, but you can use more if you like a very spicy taste. Stir the cubes to distribute the taco seasoning all over them. Add in the water and salsa. If you are using a pound of pork cubes, use 1/2 cup of each, salsa and water. If you are using closer to 1 1/2 lbs. of meat, use the larger amount of salsa and water. Bring everything to a boil. Put on the lid of the pressure cooker, add regulator if your cooker uses one and cook under pressure for 18 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let pressure drop naturally until all the pressure is released and the lid can be removed safely. Shred the pork cubes with two forks and stir to combine with the juices and seasoning in the pan. Use the pork to make flautas, enchiladas, burritos, tacos or any favorite Mexican pork dish. I made enchiladas by filling corn tortillas with the pork, diced onion, and grated cheddar cheese. Roll up the filled tortilla and place in greased casserole that has had some enchilada sauce poured into the bottom of the dish. Add the filled tortillas one by one until the casserole is full. Pour more enchilada sauce over all, top with more grated cheese and cover with foil. Bake at 375F for 45-60 minutes. Serve hot.

fawnridge, would you mind posting the recipe for the brisket you grew up with. The way I've always prepared brisket is below, but I sure would like to try your growing up recipe. Brisket Woody's Concentrated BBQ Cooking Sauce* Dried Onions Pepper Salt Garlic Salt Oregano Seasoning Salt Cumin START THIS 2-3 DAYS (BETTER IF IT MARINATES FOR 3 DAYS) BEFORE YOU PLAN TO COOK IT. THEN YOU HAVE TO ALLOW 7-8 (OR 12) HOURS TIME TO COOK IT. Before buying brisket, look at the bottom -- the more meat you see the better. Buy the one with the most meat visible from the bottom. Tear off piece of heavy duty aluminum foil large enough to completely enclose the brisket. Place brisket on the foil. Brush (I just pour about 1/2 jar of Woody's on brisket and spread evenly with hand) one side of brisket with Woody's -- be liberal. Then sprinkle on the garlic salt, oregano, seasoning salt, salt, pepper, dried onion, and cumin -- be liberal with the seasoning too. Turn brisket over and repeat this on the other side. (I like to start with the bottom side of the brisket then turn it over and finish the top side. That way it is ready to put in refrigerator when I am finished.) Wrap the heavy duty aluminum foil and place on a large platter, a roaster, whatever will fit the brisket. Marinate in refrigerator for 2 or 3 days. When ready to bake, leave in foil and do not open it up. Put in 300 degree oven and cook for 7-8 hours. (I put in 250-275 degree oven and cook for 12 hours.) You can bake this overnight; for cooking 7-8 hours just turn oven on before you go to bed, put the brisket in the oven and it is ready in the morning. (I put in oven at 6:00 p.m. and take out at 6:00 a.m.) Remove from oven and unwrap foil (be careful, there are lots of juices in the foil so open the foil carefully and leave cupped so the juice does not run out). After cooking, you may take the fat off or leave it on. (I also like to drain off the juices and put the meat on a large platter.) This has an incredible flavor and is extremely tender. IT IS WONDERFUL! You can slice and serve on plates. You can use for sandwiches. It is great served on hamburger buns with a slice of onion as a sandwich, served with pepperoncini and cherry peppers and either French fries, potato salad, or potato chips. *Can purchase at Kroger's; it is with BBQ sauces. Italicized remarks are my additions.

I've thought a few times about a pressure cooker and came close to making the plunge a couple times. But then I started seeing how the speed is not quite what it's hyped up by the manufacturers. Cook in 20 min... OK, but they fail to mention it also takes 20 min or so to bring it up to pressure, then another what, 10-20 min to depressurize so the time savings isn't as significant. I didn't grow up with one and haven't been with anyone who uses a pressure cooker to know what the food is like so I don't know how I'd like it. The other concern I have is whether I'd clean it well enough. Seems to me you have to be pretty careful to disassemble and clean all the seals, valve and other parts of it thoroughly or it wouldn't seal properly. I've also read that the electric units don't build up the same pressure as a manual one so it would be longer to cook than an old fashioned one, although I would think I'd much prefer an electric unit. Lastly, can't quite justify the cost although I've seen that Aldi occasionally has a unit at a pretty reasonable price. I need to get more of an education on them to make a decision. I enjoy reading about peoples' experiences and thoughts on them. Have watched a lot of videos on them already!