YESTERDAY’S PRESSURE COOKER QUESTION generated a lot of email. Here are some highlights.

Reader Mark Marshall emails:

I can’t recommend enough the Stainless Steel Presto 8 Qt. at Amazon with the “Better Together” Lorna Sass book combo.

Bought it for my wife last year and it has more than paid for itself. The cookbook is excellent, and things that used to take lots of time and electricity, such as beans or legumes, are prepared quickly. Homemade apple butter and the most amazing lobster bisque (pressure wash those lobster bodies with a little clam broth) are some of our own experimentation.

Reader Rosemary Bright offers a useful warning:

Words of wisdom: when using the pressure cooker, before opening it you take off the little thing on top to let out all the steam. The key words here “Let Out ALL the Steam”.

As a bride I was hurriedly cooking vegetable soup before my father-in-law came for lunch so I threw it all in the pressure cooker. I didn’t wait until all the steam completely out and opened the lid (which is a twist and lock sort of thing). Soup went all over every where — I jumped back so it didn’t burn me, but it was all over the walls, the stove, the floor …. A mess.

So, Let All the Steam out before opening. Otherwise, a great way to cook fast (potatoes, for example – or rump roasts) and tender.

Good advice, I’m sure. Reader Kay Dinolfo emails:

I have both a stovetop (25+ y.o.) and a self-contained electric pressure cooker (bought off HSN). Like them both, and biggest difference in cooking is how much more you have to babysit the stovetop model to keep it cooking steadily. Not difficult, but needs more attention. The electric one, you just plug in, set the time, and you’re off to the races. HOWEVER… like buying a foreign car, repairs are much more difficult on my electric one, which wound up with a broken handle. Took me ages just to find the replacement parts, and I wound up buying a freight-damaged cooker off eBay for a dollar for its parts. The stovetop model is a Presto and my local Ace Hardware store carries any and all the replacement parts (gaskets, primarily, which wear out) conveniently and economically.

Reader Thomas Wright emails:

If you like cooking beans and whole grains, or making stews and pot roasts, pressure cookers can be loads of fun. They can be used as regular pots as well, so they do double duty. I use mine at least once a month, sometimes once a week.

Pressure cooker advice is simple. For the best brand that is easily available: Fagor. They are reasonable priced, well made and easy to maintain and come in a variety of sizes.

Pressure cookers are very good at two things. Cooking grains and legumes, and cooking tough meats.

Reader John Shonder agrees:

We have this one from Fagor and use it several times a week.

The “queen” of pressure cooker cooking is Lorna Sass. I recommend this cookbook for some great recipes.

And, finally, Clarice Feldman emails:

I have two Kuhn Rikon pressure cookers. They are wonderful for making stews in a hurry and fabulous for making risotto. The best Indian cookbook writer I know recommended it–she has some curry recipes using a pressure cooker–and so many chefs were raving about risotto made (fast) in pressure cookers, I tried it. I now never make it any other way.

So there you are.

UPDATE: A tip from reader Robbins Mitchell:

I grew up in Paris,Tn and my mother would cook pot roasts and quick cook potatoes for mashing in the pressure cooker…and when she took it off the stove, she would ALWAYS hold it under cold running water in the sink for a minute or so to condense the steam before removing the little thingy on top just to make sure there were no accidents….and there never were.

I had a girlfriend from Paris, Tn when I was in college. She was a credit to her hometown.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Kuhn Rikons are high-rated, but kind of pricey.