Pressure Cookers - thoughts?

20 min babybacks that fall off the bone is cool. I guess you just have to learn to not use as much liquid as in other methods. Otherwise it will 'blowup' and is a spectacular site I put too much stock in mine once and it boiled out. i.e. shot the top vent off and spewed a geyser up that hit the vent and sprayed 8 feet away then the cooker danced off the stove sliding on the liquid. But grabbed the mop and towels, checked the liquid again and finished under pressure anyway.

 

Just bought a 10 qt. fissler pressure cooker and want to make chicken thighs with curry, onions, potatoes, etc. tonight. Any thoughts or recipies?

 

It won't take long. maybe 15-30 min. I haven't tried chicken in mine yet, but if a chuck roast only takes an hour....

Build your gravy, then drop in the chicken/potatoes/etc. and bring to pressure ASAP. Depending on what all is in your gravy, burning might be a consideration as you won't be able to stir. Also, don't depend on the sauce thickening while it's cooking...there is virtually no evaporation when using the PC...so you'll either have to add a thickener afterwards, or separate the solids/liquids and reduce afterwards.

 

thanks, that helps a lot

 

Made up a recipe on the fly and it turned out very good. Nice layers of flavors and took only 12 minutes in the PC. Next time I'll have less gravy.

 

Excellent! 12 minutes is pretty damn quick!

 

Chix thighs were boneless, potatoes cut in .75" cubes, etc. it went PDQ.

Next I'll make one of my faves, braised short ribs. Just made a gallon of veal demi the old fashioned way. Beef and chix stock seem naturals for a 10 qt. PC.

Any advise is welcome.

 

Stocks are definitely great in a PC. MC@Home has a good approach for stock in the PC. They put ground chicken bits into mason jars, and put those into the PC. You get a nice stock and the ground bits settle to the bottom of the jar. And now it's canned so you can store for extended periods, depending on your rate of use and the volume you do in one session. I haven't taken this approach yet, but I'd be tempted to spend an entire day on it to produce a rather large quantity that would tide me over for 6+ months.

 

What's MC@home? I get something for McDonald's

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......


http://www.amazon.com/Modernist-Cui...042&sr=8-1&keywords=modernist+cuisine+at+home

 

How about size. 6 qt seems about right, but if I recall correctly you have to leave quite a bit of space in them. I wouldn't want one that is huge. pros cons on small/big?

 

Aeehh - both? I live by myself and occasionally would be fine with a small one. However, the beauty of it is that you also can make larger meals fairly quickly and freeze things away, so I am glad I went with a bigger one (8qt, I think...).

P.S. What about the Instant Pot that seems to come out of Canada? That seems to be a miracle machine - does not block a burner, is programmable, and also works as a slow cooker. Does anybody have experience with one of those contraptions?

Stefan

 

If you want to do canning at all, the 6 qt is likely to be severely limiting.

Yes, you cannot fill them more than 2/3 full for risk of clogging the valves.

I second Stefans notion of going larger and freezing some. Most of the stuff that's PC-friendly is also freezer friendly.

 

I would say I am using mine more often than waterbath. Stocks and sauces are awesome, chickens cant get any better treatment. Much better than from a bath imho.
Time is money too, you can get to the reducing stage in an hour, chicken boning and veg prep included.

 

Broke my leg so gave my son general directions for beef stew. He put in 2 qts. of beef stock, which is way too much. It was good overall, but took longer than expected and the stock washed out the taste of some of the seasonings. Next time 2.5 lbs. of beef 1 qt. stock?

 

Resurrecting the pressure cooker question. Any experience with Hawkins pressure cookers in stainless?

 

http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm
thats what we have cant remember if it was 21 or 25 qt we got it for canning so no cooking use yet. will be for sure looking at the cooking part as to use it more then we do now.

 

I have a Lagostina one since 10 years. I use it a lot. After 10 years of quite intense usage, i is just like new. The design of the lid closing system (which is the only critical point of a pressure cooker) makes it super safe, simple, and robust. I choose this model because my mother have one since 30 years. Hers is also in perfect shape and she never had any problem. She did not even had to change the joint in 30 years... http://www.lagostina.ca/html/productDetail.asp?idstore=&idpro=486&idcat=23&idsubcat=45

I use it for soups, potatoes, whitening cabbages, canning etc.

 

The Lagostina looks like a very nice rig. I see that it has a similar lid design as that of the Hawkins. Price of admission of the Hawkins is way lower, but it does get good marks in reviews I've read. considering the 6 ltr stainless steel version.