I take a lot of grief from some good friends for my comments on pressure cooking beans in Heirloom Beans and here on the blog. I don't think it's a horrible thing to do and it certainly is better than canned beans, but it's still not my things, despite being a devoted Lorna Sass fan.

A new customer named Jan writes the following and I wanted to share it with you. Ever doubtful, I'll give it a try. Let me know if you do and what your results are:

Did you know that using a pressure cooker is better than you give it credit in your book? For a cup or two of beans, soak them in plenty of HOT water with 1 T of salt for only an hour or two. Pour off the salty soaking water. To pressure cook them: 3 cups of water to one cup beans with a glug of oil for 10 to 12 minutes under med-high pressure. Let the pressure go down naturally, 15 minutes. (I use a Fagor 6-quart) Stir in 1 teaspoon of salt to the warm beans. Refrigerate or continue with a recipe. Taste the "liquid" to see if more salt is needed. I pressure cook the beans for 10 minutes and then continue open lidded on the stovetop if they need additional cooking time (that's rare)