I finally used it a couple of days ago. It didn't go smooth, as I ranted on another forum. Its just that I find the instructions confusing and when you already intimidated, it doesn't help. I wasn't sure what the float pin looks like when under pressure as it didn't change from when I put the lid on. I didn't know it was working, until after the cooking time and when I released the steam, then the pin dropped a bit. But it was as high as it was under pressure when I put it on. So that was confusing. I figured it would stick out higher. Be nice to have some pics of that in the manual. The timing stuff is also confusing.
I used a recipe that used the meat/stew button, which says 35 minutes. But in the chart in the booklet it says for stew 20 minutes. That is a huge difference and it doesn't say what release on that chart, natural, instant, no clue.
Anywho, I made Thai beef curry and it came out really good. I used the recipe from this site.
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/13958635...hai-beef-curry
It uses the preset button and it was very very tender. I like it that way, but others might want more chewiness. I don't like my beef chewy though. I just cut up a chuck roast on sale into 1.5 inches large chunks.