I was sent the Cooks Essentials Microwave Pressure Cooker last week to review, and I need to tell you I was skeptical. I remember my grandma using her pressure cooker for two things, canning and cooking beans. It being brought out included dire warnings about coming near it.

I've thought of bringing the pressure cooker into the house a few times (usually when using tougher cuts of beef in recipes), but have braised instead just to be safer. The thought of a pressure cooker inside the microwave was bizarre to me.

I decided to use one of the recipes that came in the provided cookbook just to make sure if anything went wrong and something exploded I would know who to blame. The whole family was amazed by the results.

The instructions for assembly of the pressure cooker itself were pretty simple. It was just a matter of inserting the relief valves and pressure seal.

To maintain safety and proper pressure there are silicon valves at several places

The primary pressure relief valve is used to equalize pressure to make it safe to open

The recipes that come with the pressure cooker are all pretty simple. Cut up the ingredients, put them in the cooker and close it up.

Ingredients cut and mixed according to the recipe

Using the conversion guide on the back page of the manual I increased the cooling time by 20% to compensate for the wattage of my microwave. The result was impressive.

our dinner after 24 minutes in the microwave

The stew came out well enough to impress the family. The only change I made was using a mixture of linguicia and andouille sausage instead of Italian sausage. The sausage was cooked through as were the vegetables, and the beans were cooked but not mushy.

In all I am impressed by this gadget. From raw whole ingredients to the table in 30 minutes makes this handy for any family, but it's 4.5qt capacity means leftovers too. Pick one up.