Have we talked about pressure cookers?

[berettafan]

Received a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker for Christmas. Friends have told us these things are like magic. We have no prior experience with them but when we got one in our hands we figured we might as well try it and see what the big deal is.

In short, holy crap how have we been without it?!

Bag of dry beans (rinsed) in enough water to cover the beans by about 1/4" to 1/2" and set it for 10 minutes.

Then drop in a couple thawed chicken breasts, chilis and some seasonings and set it for 12 minutes.

Let pressure naturally release and bam, we're eating a fantastic white chicken chili! I am not exaggerating when I say that when I touched the chicken breasts they fell apart. Fell apart.

We have also put a whole chicken in with 1 1/2 cups of water and seasonings for 25 minutes. it too fell apart when I tried to lift it out of the pot. With the whole chicken I browned it in the pot using a small amount of oil before adding the water and pressure cooking. The negative thing with skin on is the chicken skin is a discard after it comes out. The positive side is the meat is so incredibly juicy, tender and flavorful you won't be too upset about the skin.

Since it isn't particularly pretty when a whole chicken comes out we just pulled the meat off and served it that way.

[berettafan]

Oh and the broth you end up with makes a crazy gravy.

picked up an oxo fat separator to speed the gravy process so next whole chicken should produce easily separated stock that will make an instantly usable gravy to pour over the insanely juicy chicken.

[whiskyb]

We use our stove top pressure cooker all the time. Never had a dry meal come out of it.Also the fact that it cooks in less than half the time we use less power

[javadog]

I use mine (stove top, not electric) all the time to cook chicken for my dogs. I tend to cook it for a very long time, long enough to make the bones soft. 5 to 10 pounds at a time, water near the top. Makes a very rich chicken stock. I use some of it for other things, they get the rest.

You can save some of the fat for cooking things like fried rice.

JR

[HardDrive]

We use our stove top unit all the time. Wife is Indian, so we are always cooking lentils, chickpeas, red beans, etc...

[Danimal16]

The best made is a Fissler. If not that go with a Fagor. If you like any type of soup, marinara, carnitas, chili verde, etc. the flavors captured in a pressure cooker are the best.

[jyl]

I use my pressure cookers all the time. At high pressure, 15 min cooking equals 1 hour of "normal" cooking. So dishes that normally take many hours can be done in an hour, and you can make chicken stock in 20 minutes, rice in 7 minutes, etc. For more speed, fill the PC with boiling water from your kettle, it then gets up to pressure much faster. I have Kuhn-Rikon stovetop PCs. Very nice but rather costly. I've also used a Fagor electric PC that was really good, and convenient.

Lorna Sass "Pressure Perfect" is a very useful book, gives the times for all sorts of foods as well as other PC cooking tips.

[wdfifteen]

One of my favorite comfort foods is my Mom's beef stew. It is one of my earliest memories of food. I was devastated when, as an adult I asked her if she got the recipe from my grandmother or great grandmother or someone and she said, "No, I saw it on a can of Campbell's tomato soup when you were a baby."
I still have Mom's old Mirro full manual pressure cooker and I make this a couple of times each winter.

Start with a pound of beef roast cut into bite size pieces. Roll in flour, put in the PC with a couple cups of water, cook for 20 minutes. Toss in some onions, carrots, potatoes and - hold onto your shorts - a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Add water if it's too thick. You can cook it without pressure for half an hour or put the lid on and risk overcooking the vegetables in a few minutes. Add salt, pepper, and Worchestershire sauce to taste. The flour, fat from the beef, and the tomato soup makes an incredible smooth tomato gravy base for the stew.

[red-beard]

I have 2, small (4 qt) and large (10 qt). I use them all the time for making soups, beans and stews. The only issue is that with beans, some of them will disintegrate in the pressure cooker. It makes a thick porridge. For regular beans I do the overnight soak and use a crock pot.

Yesterday, I made a multi-bean ham soup with a cutup ham-steak, 2 onions, couple of table spoons of fresh chopped garlic, 2 tsp of black pepper and 2 cups of rehydrated multi-bean mix. I use water and concentrated chicken stock, to just cover everything. Left on high for 5 hours, then low for the rest of the day (4 hours). I was actually done in 5 hours.

I can do the same thing in the pressure cooker in about 1.5 hours. Blanch the beans (heat water until it boils with the beans, then turn off for one hour). Then add the rest of the ingredients and pressure cook for 30 minutes.

Many times I'll also add chili-power and cumin.

[tabs]

Originally Posted by Danimal16

The best made is a Fissler. If not that go with a Fagor. If you like any type of soup, marinara, carnitas, chili verde, etc. the flavors captured in a pressure cooker are the best.

I bought a Fissler in a Thrift store for $13.00. and a 25 QT Presto for $4.00.

[greglepore]

Six minute risotto...or go to Modernist Cuisine site and try the recipe for caramelized
carrot soup

[nynor]

use one all the time to sterilize substrate and my sterile field.

[dafischer]

Two words. Pot Roast. The best pot roast comes from a pressure cooker. We use about a 4lb Angus Chuck Roast in our Fagor. Brown it up in some oil, add sliced onions, water, burgundy, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and paprika. Cook it on high for about 20 min, blow off the steam, add quartered or halved potatoes depending on size, and thick carrots cut in big pieces. Fire it back up, cook for about 20 min, and blow off the steam. Take everything out, don't bother seperating the fat, add flour and water mix, salt and pepper, and cook the gravy till smooth. The meat is fork tender, and the vegetables are fantastic. Yummy stuff.

[stevej37]

Have used mine to save time when doing ribs...20 minutes in the cooker and then onto the grill for the bbq sauce. The taste is the same as if done entirely on the grill...and the meat will fall off the bone if not careful.

[aigel]

I don't use mine as much any more after getting a slow cooker with a metal insert that allows browning meat, onions and vegetables. I do believe that a stew / pot roast etc. from a 10h crock pot recipe is a lot better in terms of the intensity of the flavor, especially the gravy, than a 1h pressure cooker.

These days I use mine almost exclusively on brown rice and beans ...

G

[71scgc]

They make great still pots too.

Carter

[fintstone]

We use ours almost every day. Dried beans, ham, pot roast, pork roast, chicken, etc.. Just made some excellent hummus from dried garbanzos (chick peas) in mine. Saves a lot of money because it makes crappy meat tender and tasty...and can buy the dried beans, etc. in bulk.

[berettafan]

Another key to the dry beans vs canned is the enormous amount of salt being avoided.

[fintstone]

We also make stew, meatballs, corned beef brisket, cabbage and potatoes, heads of cauliflower, green beans and other fresh veggies in ours. It cooks them all very quickly.