Pressure cooking

[Harry Callahan]

Bring up pressure cooking in certain company and you hear the familiar refrain, "You'll put your eye out kid". Yeah yeah, we've all heard the stories. Old Aunt Martha, may she rest, blew the kitchen stove through two walls where it crashed into the cast iron bathtub, barely missing Uncle Joe. Yadda Yadda. They're making these pressure cookers so safe nowadays, it's virtually impossible to hurt yourself. Darwin awards candidates notwithstanding.

As recently as Super Sunday, I used mine to turn a marked-down roast into some of the most tender (fall apart with a fork) stew meat you could imagine. It went into a pot of (dare I say) "award winning" chili that really rocked the ol tastebuds.

I've seen some models on late night infomercials that are self-contained. Plug-n-play with a cord and push-button programming. Mine is old school, you need a stovetop and a wristwatch to operate it. Stainless steel of course. I can use it to can foods, (and regularly do). I can turn a marked-down roast into a couple of pints of canned meat that will keep for a couple of years in the cellar. Good stuff for a quick meal. Just heat and eat. Better than the overpriced Brazil/Argentina canned mystery meat you see at the local supermarket.

Canning abilities aside, this thing really shines for it's intended use. Pressure cooking. It's like a hillbilly microwave. With this device, you can go from having a bag of dried navy beans to serving a pot of ham-n-bean soup in a couple of hours.

Anybody else into pressure cooking?

[DrivebyTrucker]

I like using a crock pot. I never gave pressure cooking a try. Care to make a comparison for us? Other than the obvious with the pressure cooker being faster, and the crock pot requiring little to no supervision.

[jstrykr74]

I use mine all of the time. Actually I have two. An old school stove top unit that I use for canning mostly and a digital counter top model that I use for everything else. It's amazing how fast it cooks. I've read that is why some areas of the world use them, to save fuel.
A pressure cooker does make some cheap cuts of meat very tender. Sort of like a a crock pot on meth. I use mine for rice a few times a week. It's not so much because it's faster, but I set it for 15 minutes and forget about it while I prepare the rest of the meal (comes out perfect every time). It also can be used as a steamer for vegies which is nice. Chicken comes out falling apart in 15-20 minutes.
The newer models are a lot safer and don't require constant attention. The one I have has three safety valves, so while I'm sure someone could and has blown one up, it probably took some effort on their part.

[Harry Callahan]

I like using a crock pot. I never gave pressure cooking a try. Care to make a comparison for us?

Sure. Crock pot cooking is great for college student dorm life. Put a whole chicken in a crock pot along with some veggies and come home later to a quick meal of fall-off-the-bone chicken and veggies. The unfortunate part of crock pot cooking is that all too often you end up with a mush-mash of taste. However, if you pressure cook your meat while getting the veggies (or stew or chili) started in the crock pot, you end up with fall-off-the-bone tender meat in a vibrant and wonderful veggie and herb "stew" that isn't overcrocked and mush-mashy, (if that makes any sense). Basically, with my superbowl chili I was able to attain greatness with the meat while the "bean" side of my chili still had an identity. My aromatics (chili powder and herbs and other spices) were still able to be appreciated for what they were instead of being cooked into an unidentifiable oblivion.

This applies to all sorts of wonderful things you can do with a tag team of crock pot cooking while utilizing the pressure cooker to turn a bargain cut of meat into a tender and juicy roast that will fall apart under fork or spoon pressure.

But hey, there's more. Presto puts out a book that illustrates full meals you can make in the pressure cooker ALONE within reasonable amounts of time. I've made some of 'em. They're a little more labor intensive than using both a crockpot (or dutch oven) along with your pressure cooker, but they DO in fact work.

Alton Brown had an episode on the Food Network where he used oxtail to make beef broth. I followed this recipe (with you guessed it, marked-down oxtail) and suffice it to say, within a couple of hours I had medicinal grade beef broth that any 19th century doctor would have been honored to pack in his medicine bag for house calls or just plain eatin'.

[Harry Callahan]

I use mine for rice a few times a week.

For rice (and beans) pressure cooking has no equal. My wife is scared of the pressure cooker so if she cooks rice we can always look forward to eating rice with a "crunch" factor. No matter HOW LONG she boils it. I can put a rice in the ol Presto and have it come out fluffy and ready to rock in a third of the time. Makes me look like I know what I'm doin'. And that's always a good thing.

[VTguy17]

I made a whole cow tongue in mine last week and do it regularly. Throw the whole 4+ pound tongue in there, add a little water and when it's done the skin falls right off the tongue and the meat is shredded. I Usually make beef tongue taco's. I love cow tongue.

[DrivebyTrucker]

I didn't realized they had digital pressure cookers. That sounds interesting I'll have to check them out. What kind of rice are you cooking? Just plain white rice? If just cooking roast/stew meat would the pressure cooker or crockpot produce more tender results?

[jstrykr74]

I prepare mostly brown rice or jasmine rice with the pressure cooker as those are our two favorites. The jasmine rice comes out nice and sticky, perfect for Asian style dishes. As for stew meat, it comes out just about as tender as in the crock pot, but with chicken I found it isn't quite as falling apart as in the crock pot. The chicken is very moist though. With the pressure cooker, you don't need to use nearly as much liquid, so the meat comes out tasting like meat and not the liquid it's cooked in (although I do love the crock pot too).

[Shann]

I made a whole cow tongue in mine last week and do it regularly. Throw the whole 4+ pound tongue in there, add a little water and when it's done the skin falls right off the tongue and the meat is shredded. I Usually make beef tongue taco's. I love cow tongue.

Thread veer warning. What does cow tongue taste like? Is it "organy\livery?" for lack of a better term or does it taste like beef?

[Phydeaux]

Got a Sears/Presto pressure cooker about 30 years ago as a wedding gift. It gets used quite a bit. the friends who gave it to us first asked us if we wanted one. I told them yes, but there were two conditions:

1. show me how to use it.

2. answer this question: did you ever blow the top off of one?

Both conditions were met and we got our pressure cooker. And yes she did blow the lid off on one. Got food on the ceiling.

I like making veggies and soups in the cooker.

Ric

[UffDa]

2. answer this question: did you ever blow the top off of one?

My mother used to make pea soup in a pressure cooker. (1950s) We didn't know exactly what happened, but it blew up. It caved in the top of the stove and the lid went through the ceiling.
We suspected that the pea soup clogged the pressure relief valve.

It looked like this before it blew.

[Phydeaux]

It's been a while, but I think that's the type of pressure cooker that Sally said she blew the top off of. Or it at least had a top that attached like that.

Made some soup stock in my cooker yesterday. I deboned some chicken thighs to use for dinner. Put the bones in with an onion, salt, red pepper flakes, garlic cooked for about 20 minutes, then let the pressure drop on its own. Came out pretty good. Has just a little kick to it from the peppers.

Ric

[DrivebyTrucker]

This thread is great. I am never using a pressure cooker. Ever! You don't hear about people blowing holes in their ceilings using a slow cooker.

[Loosearrow]

I use one all the time for pinto beans. I never had a problem. Just use less heat after the weight sizzles. Do not open under pressure.

[jstrykr74]

Look into the electronic models. Almost idiot proof. No weights to fiddle with, automatic temp. control, pretty such set and forget. Mine has two spring loaded automatic pressure relief valves and one manual valve. The gaskets on modern pressure cookers are designed to fail before the pressure rises to a dangerous level. Not only that, but if the pressure rises too high, the unit cuts the heat off. I'm more leery of leaving my crockpot running all day when I'm not there, although I do it all the time.

[elkins45]

I have no idea how someone could blow the lid off a modern jiggler-type pressure cooker. There's a pressure relief built into the lid. Now I can see how the ancient pettcock style ones could blow, but the new ones are pretty darned foolproof.

There's no better tool for cooking a roast from an old tough deer than a pressure cooker. Add an onion and a couple of bullion cubes and you can make a Nike Air Jordan fork tender.

[mete]

UffDa, you mean like my relative who instantly turned their kitchen to Blueberry blue ?? There are certain things that shouldn't be cooked in the pressure cooker .Does anyone read instructions ?
Pressure cooking breaks down connective tissue but toughens protein !

[willseeyalater]

If you are handy in the kitchen why not use one. Study up on it and don't overfill it. We do green beans (KY Wonder or Romano) with ham or bacon and onions. Whoa, tastes just like grandma came over to cook for us. We have a pressure canner that holds 7 quart jars. That is good for doing bbq pork in a hurry. You can fit two pork shoulder roasts in it if you cut the blade out and slice down the chunks. Add two cups of water to keep it wet and fire it up. When it is done in 30 minutes at ten lbs. pressure drain off the juice and fat, chop the meat and add your favorite sauce with smoke seasoning. Not the same as a wood smoked pork shoulder done with a dry rub but sometimes you have to punt. Feeds a big crew and no one is going to complain.

[hank_rearden]

he got it in post #1. beans. without PC, you boil the dried beens for at least 40 minutes. then you add the meat and condiments and simmer for an hour, hoping to god the beans and meat will be done at the same time. actually it's the same thing with pressure cooking the beans prior but you do it faster.