Last week, I headed out of the house to run errands and came back with this 6-quart puppy:
It’s a Fagor Elite 6-qt pressure cooker. I can’t believe its taken me all this time to dive in! Goodness! I can now have black beans within 45 minutes of deciding that I want them. There is little in my cooking life that has brought me this much joy. Well… maybe bread baking, but this is really, really big.
I think I can get the start-to-finish time down to even less, as I get more experienced (and brave) about de-pressuring the cooker by other methods. My first batch was more mushy than I really care for, but it was a small batch that was perfectly suited for mashing and refrying.
I’m getting closer to the texture that I want with every batch and I think I should have the cooking time down for a tender-but-firm bean soon. And then, I’ll move on to cooking things besides beans with it. Hehe.
The picture at the top is of my third batch of beans from earlier in the week. We’ve been eating those on tacos, nachos and fideos.
aneelee 
OH, once you’ve gotten used to it, you will wonder how you ever lived without the thing. I rarely cook beans any other way. Have you read anything by Lorna Sass? She’s written a few awesome pressure cooker cookbooks.
I’m packing up my slow-cooker this afternoon to sell at a garage sale later this month. I don’t see myself ever enduring the 4-6 hour cook times for bean again!
I have not read that book, but shall place at the top of my library list. Thanks!