Pressure Cooking

Just got a T-Fal 41523200 6-2/5-Quart Speedy-Chef Express Stainless-Steel Pressure Cooker from Amazon at what seems like a really good price ($39).

With the chillier weather - I'm hoping you all have some favorite fall/winter recipes that a pressure cooker makes more convenient.

Thanks in advance!

I love all kinds of beef stews made in the pressure cooker. Cooks Illustrated maintains that chuck roasts make the best stews, but I much prefer brisket, which is rendered perfectly tender and juicy in the pressure cooker.

After browning the seasoned brisket in batches (cut into a few pieces in order to fit in the pressure cooker) I usually just throw in whatever root vegetables are handy along with some tomatos, cover with water and/or stock. Secret ingredient: just enough chopped chipotle en adobo to stoke up the flavor.

After a few hours (if you're at sea level, cooking time will be shorter), check for tenderness: a sharp fork pierces with no resistance. Remove the meat and cook down the sauce to desired consistency. Adjust with salt and pepper. Put the meat back in. Allow to cool overnight if you want to easily skim off the fat.

And, of course, serve with crusty fresh-baked bread.

Bill/SFNM

Cooking times ARE much shorter here in Illinois. Pot roasts or corned beef briskets only require 18-20 minutes per pound at high pressure----after the initial browning stage(pot roast). I have a Fagor model which I absolutely love----One bit of advice however / Go heavy on any browning and go LIGHT on any salt that you add to the cooking liquid. ( Flavors are concentrated and intensified in a pressure cooker ) Enjoy!!

LTH,

I've recently discovered that I am addicted to eBay. Yesterday my winning bids included a bluetooth headset for the chowgirl and an 8qt pressure cooker. I've never used a pressure cooker, but have always been intrigued by them. I'm looking forward to quickly making stocks, but what other LTH worthy items can be prepared using this badboy? I've heard that you can prepare a no-stirring-required risotto in a pressure cooker. Has anyone tried this? How about short ribs, Pot Roast, Asian Style broths? I need help.

Flip

Hi,

I have a pressure cooker intended for canning. I use it to transform Costco pot roasts, you know those 4 inch thick pieces of meat, into a tender beast in less than an hour at 10 pounds pressure.

Modern pressure cookers have a rubber nipple on the top. If the canner over pressurizes, then it will pop out and release the pressure.

Regards,

C2,

In your opinion is an 8 Qt cooker large enough to do any canning?

Flip

Maybe it is nostalgia for my youth, but I love pressure-cooking. I love the sound of the steam and the rattling top and breathing the thick moist aromas. Most of all, I like the feeling that I am doing something a little dangerous, performing a science experiment that is barely under control. However, pressure-cooking is not the thing to do on a hot muggy day (I do most of my pressure-cooking in the winter).

I think some things actually come out better in a pressure cooker than using slower cooking methods. Really fatty and tough meats come out well because the pressure seems to force out a lot of the fat and replace it with the cooking liquid. I often use beer or wine as the boiling liquid. Dishes I have made in my pressure cooker include short ribs, lamb shanks, ox tails, corned beef brisket, beef burgundy, lamb stew, beef stew and pot roast. The lamb shanks, ox tails and short ribs are my favorites.

I have had varying degrees of success with vegetables. It is hard to get the timing right. By the time you get the vessel up to pressure and then cool it off again, potatoes can turn to mush. If I am making a stew, I will generally pressure cook the meat for about 40-50 minutes(depending on the type and cut of meat) and then drain most of the fat, add the vegetables and some more liquid and just let it boil uncovered. Corned beef especially seems to benefit from some straight boiling time after the pressure cooking. Straight out of the cooker it is a little rubbery. Also, when you brown your meat before pressure cooking, don't do it in the pressure cooker itself, because it will cause the meat to stick to the bottom and burn.

I have also pressure-cooked dried legumes like lentils and beans. With those you have to be very careful that the beans don't clog the vent. The cooker should only be half-full. I imagine the same applies to making risotto.

I think this inquiry, nearly exactly, has been answered before.

In your opinion is an 8 Qt cooker large enough to do any canning?

It is probably too small for holding quart jars. You might get in a few pint jars. The size for canning is like 18-24 quarts.

I even have a double decker pressure canner, which holds 16 quart jars at the same time. I used it a few years ago before I got a new cooktop. It won't fit any longer. I am hoping to use it this summer using the turkey fryer set up as my heat source.

Pressure canning is for stocks, meats, meat sauces, tomatoes and non-pickled vegetables.

This is an earlier pressure cooker thread.

Pressure cooker recipes from Epicurious.com.

Instead of classic short ribs, has anyone pressure cooked short ribs cross sections (like for costillo de res) instead?

Regards,

I have not pressure cooked costilla de res, but I have slow cooked them. They were not good. The flavor was nice, but the bones were so thin, they disintegrated, leaving shards to spit out while eating, really unpleasant. My guess is you would have a similar experience in the pressure cooker, as both cooking methods produce similar results for soups, stews and braises (beef bourgignon, pot roasts, etc).

Regular short ribs are outstanding in the crockpot, and should be in the slow cooker as well. They are so simple to prepare (and so inexpensive), I don't order them out anymore.

This is the recipe I have come up with and made many times with great success:


3 lb. beef short ribs - cut thick - not the super thin ones.
1/2 C. dry red wine
1/2 C. chili sauce
3 T. packed brown sugar
3 T. white vinegar
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. dry mustard


Place ribs in crock pot

Mix rest of ingredients in a bowl and pour over the top.

Crock on low for 8 - 10 hours.

remove ribs

skim the fat from the top (I usually remove almost 1 cup).

turn crock pot to high and thicken with cornstarch or wondra.

serve over egg noodles (I use the Egg Papardelle from TJ's).

Flip -

I've made risotto in my pressure cooker many, many times, and with good results. It compares very favorably with what I've had in restaurants and what I've made the standard way [not that I claim to be an expert on what a perfectly prepared risotto should be... but what I make sure tastes good]. In fact, I developed kind of a 'base' recipe that I then add whatever savory ingredients to; the shrimp, scallops, mushrooms, spinach, what-have-you I saute while the rice cooks & get mixed in when the rice is done.

Lorna Sass has written several good and useful pressure cooker books; I think this was the first. [gotta figure out how to make that embedded link thingie work]*

And I've never had a problem with a pot roast sticking to the bottom of the pot when I've browned it in the pot. My pot as a nice, thick bottom, tho, and I don't recall that the older ones do.

Giovanna

*Mod edit to embed link. (G Wiv)

Hi,

I very intentionally add excess water when making a pot roast. It can be a good beefy stock for the future or with the excessive amounts of onions added to the pot roast before cooking, when degreased I call it Onion soup.

I will have to try the risotto. I like your 2-step approach G!

Regards,

Giovanna wrote:And I've never had a problem with a pot roast sticking to the bottom of the pot when I've browned it in the pot. My pot as a nice, thick bottom, tho, and I don't recall that the older ones do

I guess I should have been more specific when I referred to browning meat in the cooker. I have also never had problems with pot roast or lamb sticking. However, I did have problems with oxtails and shortribs, as well as floured stew meat. I think that certain fatty meats and flour leave a carmelized residue that makes the bottom sticky. The big problem is that you can't stir the food while it is cooking. So once it sticks, it will burn. I am sure you are right that the thicker the bottom, the less likely food is to stick. Also I suppose it is a function of the quality of the metal surface (my cooker is old and cheap). I find that removing the meat from the pot after browning, then adding the liquid and bringing it to a boil before returning the meat to the cooker, also keeps it from sticking. But I have just gotten into the habit of browning the meat in a separate pan while I bring the liquid to a boil in the cooker. Then I add the meat to the boiling liquid and secure the lid. It prevents sticking and helps the vessel get up to pressure faster.

Because of this thread, I started to research pressure cookers. I now see mine is totally old school. Therefore, I have decided to invest in a decent modern pressure cooker. If anyone has any suggestions as to brand and model, I would appreciate it.

We recently received a Presto 6-quart pressure cooker as a gift. I had never pressure-cooked a thing in my life, until tonight.

petit pois decided to make kreplach from scratch today, from my grandmother's recipe. My grandmother has passed the torch to my wife, deciding that at 90, she's too old to make 8-dozen dumplings from scratch. Today was a dry-run practice session for the high holidays which are surprisingly right around the corner.

Since we were going to be having kreplach for dinner, real chicken soup was required. If I was going to eat my grandmother's kreplach in a bowl of canned chicken broth, I might as well just commit ritual seppuku, because it would have represented an act of extreme dis-honor.

So, I decided to use my shiny new pressure cooker and I'm overjoyed with the ease with which I can turn a three dollar chicken and 25 cents worth of veggies into a quart and a half of chicken broth in 20 minutes.

For those of you who are pressure cooker veterans, this post comes of no interest. I really just wanted to share the joy that I am experiencing from my shiny new toy.

Best,
Michael

Just thought I'd share: this past weekend I enjoyed a complex, rich Mumbai goat curry at a friend's. She dragged out her pressure cooker which turned marinating goat into succulent, meat nirvana in about 25 min. Meanwhile, she neglected to warn me(or, I was just being absentminded) and the first time the steam let go I nearly crapped my pants. Pressure cooking fun!

EC, I've been meaning to do a post on the EatLocal.com blog on chicken soup as a seasonal item. I mean every time we have celery or turnips or carrots or whatever that are starting to get a bit soft, the Condiment Queen kick starts the pressure cooker and makes a new batch of stock. Whatever herbs we have that week go in too. Not only is it quicker in the pressure cooker, it really makes incredible stuff. The pressure really extracts the essence of the chicken and ingredients.

Another seasonal thing about the pressure cooker, if you are one of those freaks like us, without central air conditioning, you can make chunks of meat in the summer without cranking the oven.

Vital Information wrote:EC, I've been meaning to do a post on the EatLocal.com blog

Rob,

You realize the eatlocal.com url goes to Skreeters pizza, right?

Gary

VI means EatLocalChallenge.com.

I have a beautiful pressure cooker...now two years old, and never used. I have been afraid of it. I know that people use them to can and cook. If anyone could give me some encouragement to use the thing I would appreciate it. Tell me how great the thing is, and what you do with it.

razbry wrote:I have a beautiful pressure cooker...now two years old, and never used. I have been afraid of it. I know that people use them to can and cook. If anyone could give me some encouragement to use the thing I would appreciate it. Tell me how great the thing is, and what you do with it.

There's a lot of good info above. I love my pressure cooker, but cook with it much more frequently in colder weather. It's great for anything that would normally take a long time to cook (read: cheaper cuts of meat), stocks and broths, sauces, beans, etc.

It takes a little getting used to, mainly because you can't fiddle with it in the middle of the cook like you can with a long braise (adding things, skimming stuff, etc). But once you find the sweet spot of how you like to use it, it's an extremely useful tool.

Best,
Michael

All this information was really great. However, what I'd really like to hear about are people's experiences with using the pressure cooker for canning.

In my experience, which is relatively limited, you need a pretty large cooker for canning, particularly if you want to can taller jars. You can only put short jars in the smaller pots, and not that many of them.

I'd suggest a good book on canning as it's a bit complicated. Or a good canning site. But, make sure it's up to date, as the rules change regarding the recipes, the type of bath they need (hot water open or pressure cooker closed), how long they need to be in the bath, etc.

I have made pasta sauce many times, as well as habanero jelly and chutney. I tried salsa, too, but prefer it fresh. When we do it, it's an all day affair between the sterilizing, the making of the food to be canned and then the canning process itself. I think it takes about a 1/2 hour for the water to boil in the large canner I have! So, it's not a fast process at all.

A year or so ago I bought a small freezer and started freezing my pasta sauce; I haven't canned anything since that purchase.

One of the things I love about the pressure cooker is how well it lends itself to improvisational cooking. Since you can complete a braise in about an hour, it doesn't feel like so much of an investment of work to throw a few things into the pot to see how they turn out.

Last night I found myself with a 1.5lb pork steak* and plenty of veggies. I gave the pork a quick dry rub (s&p, garlic powder, mild chile) and browned it off in the bottom of the cooker. I added mirepoix + garlic to the cooker along with some thyme + s&p and softened it all up (I went heavier on the celery for the mirepoix, because I like the taste of celery with pork). While this was simmering, I started to contemplate braising liquid. Initial thought was chicken stock (of which I had none) so I briefly considered water. Then I realized that I always have plenty of beer in the house (there's always an emergency case or two in the basement). I grabbed two bottles of the darkest beer I had (Two Brothers "The Bitter End") and poured them in the pot. I added a couple bay leaves and the pork and clamped on the lid.

45 minutes of medium-high pressure later and I did a quick pressure release, added some new potatoes and put the lid back on for another 10 minutes of medium pressure.

After opening, I figured I would have to reduce the liquid to get it to a good consistency, it's usually at this stage where more refined braises would strain, de-fat, and reduce the liquid. I didn't bother. It didn't look too fatty and the consistency looked good.

I finished it with a splash of cider vinegar, garnished with chopped celery leaves, and served with a side of kale. Not exactly summer fare, but I went from "I'm not sure what to do with this meat" to "beer-braised pork with new potatoes" in about an hour.

Best,
Michael

*The "pork steak" is really just some bone-in pork butt, cut into a slab. I think that slapping the word "steak" onto it makes it more attractive to people who wouldn't ever look at a whole pork butt. I just bought it because it looked good and economical.

razbry wrote:All this information was really great. However, what I'd really like to hear about are people's experiences with using the pressure cooker for canning.

Unless you are freezing, you will need a pressure canner for meats and non-acidified foods like vegetables. I have a weighted gauge pressure canner, because I can listen to the weight rocking back and forth to know it is ok.

Waterbath canner is for canning fruits, jellies, jams and acidified vegetables such as pickles, tomatoes, salsas (some are borderline and may need to be pressure canned).

If you have both waterbath and pressure canner, then you can cover everything you want. If you go exclusively with waterbath, then you are limited to what you can do.

If this is not the feedback you were seeking, then ask your question more specifically.

Regards,

Ooh! OOoh! I've got a question!!! (hand waving eagerly in air)

I see pressure canners online as a separate item from pressure cookers: do they multitask? Can you use a pressure canner for regular cooking (I think you answered this above?) More importantly, can you use a pressure canner for (relatively) smaller amounts, or does it dry the food out too quickly? Which canner do you recommend?

I will guess that you can use the canner as a cooker...but they are usually so much larger, I don't know that you'd want to. My canner is HUGE. And it still only holds 6 quarts or something like that. It takes about 30 minutes to boil. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating, but you get the drift.

I suppose there might be canners that are small enough to use as cookers, but then they wouldn't hold much for canning. And, I suppose there might be families of 18 that could use the amount of food cooked in a canner, lol, but my family of two isn't one of those.

I have a Wisconsin Aluminum canner and a Fagor cooker I found at Costco for a nice price. I love each and am glad I have both.

I've been thinking for a while now about getting a pressure cooker. For years I was put off by my mother's tales of fires, explosions and catastrophes that would go along with the use of a pressure cooker. My husband's from Europe where his mother used one on a regular basis and found these tales to be highly amusing. While we were out browsing around at ABT last night we starting looking at the ones that they had and they had some very nice models. My husband surprised me last evening by telling me that he had ordered me one as a present so that I could learn how to cook with one and start down the pressure cooking path.

The model that he got was this one, which is the 6.5 quart model:

http://www.abt.com/product/25162.html

I've looked around on the web for some recipes, and the cooker itself is alleged to include a recipe booklet but honestly, I have no idea how to use a pressure cooker at all and how to judge the cooking time for various dishes.

Can anyone suggest a cook book or a resource I could look into to get a better idea of all the possibilities that my pressure cooker will hold for me? I am assuming that I can cook most anything in there that I can cook on the stove but I'm interest to learn how to gauge the cooking times so that I don't over cook everything that I experiment on.

Thanking you in advance..

Erzsi, there are cookbooks galore, but I haven't ever purchased one. I tend to use the Internet for my pressure cooking forays along with the instructions that came with it.

Ms Vicky or Mrs Vicky or some such is one site that has a LOT of pressure cooking resources, recipe, etc. It's not always the easiest to use; when you want a recipe, you download the file that contains it and many others, such as all soups, rather than just seeing the recipe for pea soup, let's say. How could I have been wrong???? It's MISS Vicky! She charges for some, but many are free.

Some of the recipe sites are decent sources, too. Recipezaar has more than Allrecipes, if I remember correctly. I have a Fagor (was very reasonably priced at Costco) and their site has some recipes.

Over time, you get more comfortable making things up. I recently wanted stuffed cabbage, but didn't want to wait for hours, so decided to try the pressure cooker. It wasn't exactly right, but it was good and next time I'll know what to do different.

One thing I've found that's pretty important--cooking times are deceiving. It says 12 minutes and you think, WOW, I'll be eating in 15! But, it takes quite awhile to get to pressure before the thingee pops and you can start timing. Also, you have the time while it releases the pressure. It easily doubles or triples the time. Now I remember it, but initially everything was much later than I planned on having it ready.

One other tip - cooking things together doesn't always work. Take 15 bean soup. For some reason, it's not so noticable when you cook them slowly. In the PC, though, one variety takes 3 minutes and another 7 and another 13. By the time ALL of them are done, the first ones to be finished are exploded all over and are mush. I've learned that bean soup is excellent when made in it...when it's all one type of bean. Actually, as I type this, I don't even make the soup in the cooker - I cook the beans about 15% short of being done, then add the other ingredients and continue cooking regularly. It only takes about 20-30 minutes after the beans are ready and I have excellent soup.

Hi,

Your canner seems to be the size of a 1.5 gallon soup pot. I have a huge pressure cooker intended for canning, which I use occasionally for pot roast or raccoon. I have been considering getting a pressure cooker for every day use, though nothing as big as what you have coming. I am thinking no more than just over 2 quarts for daily food tasks.

eatchicago has a pressure cooker with a quick pressure release, which he uses for two-step cooking: meat for the majority of the time, quick release to add vegetables and cook for 10 minutes longer. Whatever he has seems like a sensible tool for daily use.

New pressure cookers have rubber nipples on top that will blow off if the pressure builds too high in a pressure cooker. This did not exist in older pressure cookers, which is why those dramatic explosions occurred. Buying a used pressure cooker without a rubber nipple is not worth the risk.

Regards,