I purchased a new Presto last week, and have been having fun with it.
My husband suddenly became a vegetarian a few weeks ago, after eating
meat with gusto all his life, and following Atkins pretty carefully
for a year and a half. He saw a PETA exhibit outside his office one
Friday and he realized didn't want to eat animals. He's always looked
down on "hippie freak vegetarians", since he grew up in Berkeley and
lived there until age 36 (only to move to Oakland, where all the
hippie freak vegetarians moved when Berkeley got too expensive). So
his sudden change is remarkable. Be careful what you scorn, you may
become it one day.

Since I have learned a thing or two in my 42 years, I did NOT remark.
I just started cooking beans, which I rarely did during his 18 month
Atkins program.

Sometimes the d****d beans take three hours or more, even with careful
pre-soaking. I got sick of it, decided to spring for the Presto. Yes I
could have tried E-Bay or garage sales but I wanted a new one with a
warranty, and my local hardware store had it in stock, no waiting.

The Brazilian daycare lady taught me how to make pintos her way - the
secret is to fry the onions and garlic in oil, separate from beans,
about 1/2 hour before the beans are done. Add and simmer a while
longer. She also uses bouillon cubes, which I do occasionally. Today I
tried cooking the beans without the cube, and using aromatics instead
to generate flavor. They turned out creamy and good.

Pressure Cooker Pinto Beans

Pick over and rinse 2 cups dry pintos. Soak in water (to cover by 2-3
inches) either overnight, or bring to a boil, boil 2 minutes, turn off
heat and let sit one hour. Drain off soaking water when ready to cook,
and give another rinse.

Put pintos in pressure cooker with one peeled and diced carrot, one
stalk chopped celery, one bay leaf, and several sprigs of parsley. Add
5 1/2 cups of water (the Presto pressure cooker manual suggests less
water but I didn't want to be sorry later), close pressure cooker and
heat according to your cooker's instructions. My Presto manual claims
that pintos need 25 minutes to cook under pressure; let it cool on its
own.

Meanwhile chop two onions, saute on medium heat in olive oil (or
whatever - non-vegetarians could use bacon grease, mmmm) until golden;
add chopped garlic to taste - I used 4 cloves. Make sure the onion is
quite cooked but not burned.

When the pressure cooker has cooled and it's safe to open, add the
onion garlic mixture and simmer for five minutes. Salt and pepper to
taste - you're going to need more salt than you realize. I think I
must have put at least 1 1/2 teaspoons or more.

Fish out the parsley sprigs and bay leaf. Serve over rice or with
tortillas.

Leila