At 12:56 PM 5/9/2010, Malcolm Stebbins wrote:
>Pressure cookers are not so popular in N America,

Possibly because the early ones didn't have an overpressure/overtemp
fuse and occasionally went bang.  Maybe also because fuel was cheap.

>  but I have been using one now for about a year.

I grew up with one, s/s made by Revere Ware, with an actual dial to
set the pressure.  Much later, my Rival canner (i.e. large pressure
cooker) had a weight with three calibrated holes to put over a central nipple.

>15 minutes for lintels

I've always found that lintels are kind of like geese -- cook them
for three or four days along with an axe handle, then throw them away
and eat the handle. ;-)

>   Cooking time in a pressure cooker takes less time than in a pot,
> maybe it  takes anywhere from 5 minutes for things like split peas,
> 15 minutes for [lentils] and other beans,

My canner came with instructions that strongly recommended against
cooking legumes in it, then said to the effect of "ok, if you're
gonna do it anyway, make very sure never to fill the pot more than
one third because of the way they foam up.  Disregard this and we'll
be selling you a new fuse when the old one goes whistling past your ear."

Yours,
David