Pressure Cooker

For my birthday, my mom and grandpa bought be a nice big 10 qt. pressure cooker. I've been into beans lately, and this sure makes experimentation a lot easier - being that it only takes 10 minutes to cook a batch, rather that 2 to 6 hours. I haven't yet even begun to think about the things I'll be able to do with meat.

I have made two batches of beans thus far, one small red beans flavored with smoked ham hock, another was actually real simple black-eyed peas. Both cooked under pressure for between 10 and 15 minutes, and both came out with the most buttery texture - like nothing I've ever made. In both cases, the flavor has been slightly lacking - not sure how to address that. In the case of beans flavored by meat, maybe I'll cook the meat a bit first (after browning, of course) to let more of its flavoring agents emerge, then remove it and do the beans in the fluids for the last 10 minutes.

Another issue is how to time the thing. There's a little button that pops up once some pressure has been established, but I get the feeling that is sort of minimal pressure to seal the vessel. Later, steam really starts issuing from the valve - and I expect this means it has reached full pressure. My instinct tells me to start timing at this point, but I really don't know. Then there is the matter of pressure release and temp-down - a whole 'nuther ballgame. Will have to just do plenty of experiments...