We have a 14-yr-old Tower 6 litre stainless steel pressure cooker that sits on the hob like a normal saucepan. You can google that and in the UK there's a model

We have a 14-yr-old Tower 6 litre stainless steel pressure cooker that sits on the hob like a normal saucepan. You can google that and in the UK there's a model on Argos for about £45. So not crazy posh or anything. Been very happy with it. To come to pressure, it takes a few mins just like bringing a pan to the boil. Bear in mind (a) shouldn't be all that much water in it, doesn't need anything like what you need for boiling or steaming (b) need to keep it all clean or this will affect it coming to and staying at pressure (c) rubber ring can perish affecting performance, having said that we haven't replaced that in years. Taking it off the hob it'll come off pressure in 2 mins or so. A trick of course with the older and/or inferior pressure cookers is you can simply run cold water from a tap onto the lid, for instant depressurisation. works a charm :). So I don't know why yours takes so long, but I think it shouldn't . something seems wrong to me. As for recipes with a lot of prep time, yes that can be true of recipes, same as for slow cooking. However , certain things cook really fast with barely any prep e:g beetroot, pearl barley, lentils. I'm. a big advocate of pressure cookers as both a time and energy saver. Good luck and bon appetit :)