Thank you, pressure cooker.
I tried several times to interest former Gourmet Editor-in-Chief Ruth Reichl in a story about pressure cookers, but it never went anywhere. Reichl openly admitted that she was scared of them and my attempts to convince her otherwise would not sway her. When I proposed an article about the wonderful vegetarian mains I served my family at home—many of which I cooked in the pressure cooker—she was gung-ho for the recipes, but not for the cooking method. That had to be relegated to an option, hidden down in the Cooks’ Notes. When I retested my recipes in the old-fashioned, traditional, long-simmering way to figure out new directions and times, it took me several long days in the kitchen, which only went to prove that the magic pan really had enabled me to transfer vast numbers of hours from time in the kitchen to time with my kids.
Gina Marie Miraglia Eriquez did her best to convert Reichl as well. Bored by the steaks and chops that comprised so much of our Quick Kitchen offerings because they fit into the time limit, she pleaded with me to let her use the pressure cooker to make an Italian lamb and bean stew for that column. I agreed on one condition: She had to make it on a day when Reichl was available to come to the test kitchen and Reichl couldn’t know in advance the story behind the dish. Miraglia Eriquez made the arrangements and alerted the web team so that the videographer could catch it on film. She also wisely named it Tuscan Lamb and Bean Stew. Reichl had often talked about how Tuscan-anything will sell and she had filed that away in her mind.
The day came. All of us on the test kitchen staff were like a bunch of kids waiting eagerly for the unsuspecting soul to sit on the whoopee cushion. Reichl was clearly preoccupied when she strode into the test kitchen, possibly even slightly annoyed that she’d been called away from her desk, but the aroma of braised lamb shanks, the meat meltingly tender and resting atop a mound of rosemary-infused white beans and vegetables, slowed her down and relaxed her stance. As she lifted a spoonful to her mouth, her eyes closed for a second and she smiled. “What are you calling it?” she asked Miraglia Eriquez.
“Lamb shanks with white beans. You know—Tuscan-style. It has some tomato and some rosemary,” replied Miraglia Eriquez. [Pause.] “And I made it in the pressure cooker.” With that, Reichl laughed and looked straight at me. Miraglia Eriquez then went in for the kill. “I have proved to you that you can cook in a pressure cooker and you can get great stuff out of it.” Reichl agreed and the recipe went into Quick Kitchen in the December 2008 issue with an active time of 20 minutes and a start to finish of one hour. Need I say more?
Kemp Minifie was wrapped up in all aspects of food at Gourmet magazine for 32 years, and is now part of the Epicurious team.
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