Anyone any experience using them?
How easy to avoid explosions? :mellow:
Yes.
Very.
No.
Impossible.
Tips?
Worth getting?
Great. Just great. HI NSA!!!
I won one in a curling bonspiel several years ago.
I've always wanted to use it, but never have. I'll watch this thread with interest though. :)
Pot roasts and beef stew.
I get the impression the pressure cooker has been replaced by the Slo Cooker.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 22, 2014, 04:39:34 PM
I get the impression the pressure cooker has been replaced by the Slo Cooker.
I hate slow cookers.
How can you possibly hate slow cookers? :huh:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 22, 2014, 04:39:34 PM
I get the impression the pressure cooker has been replaced by the Slo Cooker.
How can one replace the other? They have totally different purposes (that is one cooks really slowly, and other cooks really fast)?
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 22, 2014, 04:39:34 PM
I get the impression the pressure cooker has been replaced by the Slo Cooker.
Nope. I use both appliances all the time (one of them at least once a week, often both).
Pressure cookers are great because you can cook stuff ridiculously fast in them. You can pressure cook potatoes to a completely soft state in like 5 minutes.*
Slow cookers are great at making meat really tender, but obviously it takes many hours to cook a roast in one.
*This does not include time to get the cooker up to pressure nor time to depressurize it, but neither process adds more than like 5-10 minutes tops.
You kids with your instant gratification.
Also, a modern pressure cooker in good repair should be totally safe. They have pressure relief valve thingies in case there's a pressure buildup.
Quote from: Caliga on January 22, 2014, 04:53:18 PM
Also, a modern pressure cooker in good repair should be totally safe. They have pressure relief valve thingies in case there's a pressure buildup.
Yep.
You gotta watch those family hand me downs from the 60's and 70's.
I make hoppin john in my pressure cooker fairly often. Black-eyed peas take zero minutes to cook in one. :)
When we were growing up, my mom used to cook with a pressure cooker all the time.
What she would do was throw a bunch of vegitables and a dismembered chicken - bones, skin and all, but taking out the guts - into the pot, then cook the hell out of it.
Then, we would eat the stew. There was always much left over. That, together with the bones (which were tossed back into the pot) went into the fridge.
Next day, she would throw *more* vegitables and, perhaps, more chicken, into the leftovers pot, which was then pressure cooked AGAIN.
This process was repeated until the put was, basically, a chicken graveyard, full of vegitables too mushy to identify, and gristly bones - at which point the bones and mush were finally tossed out and the process re-started.
We never actually died from this diet, it was very quick, and it was a very inexpensive way to feed lots of people ... which is about all that can be recommended about it.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 22, 2014, 04:54:13 PM
Yep.
You gotta watch those family hand me downs from the 60's and 70's.
Also, I think as long as you're paying attention the thing's not gonna blow. The little pressure regulator on top of the lid should stop whistling if there's a pressure buildup (I think), so in that case all you'd have to do is take it off the heat and run cold water over the cooker till the pressure drops.
Quote from: Malthus on January 22, 2014, 04:57:30 PM
When we were growing up, my mom used to cook with a pressure cooker all the time.
What she would do was throw a bunch of vegitables and a dismembered chicken - bones, skin and all, but taking out the guts - into the pot, then cook the hell out of it.
Then, we would eat the stew. There was always much left over. That, together with the bones (which were tossed back into the pot) went into the fridge.
Next day, she would throw *more* vegitables and, perhaps, more chicken, into the leftovers pot, which was then pressure cooked AGAIN.
This process was repeated until the put was, basically, a chicken graveyard, full of vegitables too mushy to identify, and gristly bones - at which point the bones and mush were finally tossed out and the process re-started.
We never actually died from this diet, it was very quick, and it was a very inexpensive way to feed lots of people ... which is about all that can be recommended about it.
Isn't that called pot au feu or something in French? Endless stew. :cool:
Quote from: Caliga on January 22, 2014, 04:59:37 PM
Quote from: Malthus on January 22, 2014, 04:57:30 PM
When we were growing up, my mom used to cook with a pressure cooker all the time.
What she would do was throw a bunch of vegitables and a dismembered chicken - bones, skin and all, but taking out the guts - into the pot, then cook the hell out of it.
Then, we would eat the stew. There was always much left over. That, together with the bones (which were tossed back into the pot) went into the fridge.
Next day, she would throw *more* vegitables and, perhaps, more chicken, into the leftovers pot, which was then pressure cooked AGAIN.
This process was repeated until the put was, basically, a chicken graveyard, full of vegitables too mushy to identify, and gristly bones - at which point the bones and mush were finally tossed out and the process re-started.
We never actually died from this diet, it was very quick, and it was a very inexpensive way to feed lots of people ... which is about all that can be recommended about it.
Isn't that called pot au feu or something in French? Endless stew. :cool:
In fact, we (my brothers and I) used to call it "the endless stew". I have no idea if this was the official name for it or not.
It was certainly not a culinary delight. :lol:
Lots of chicken souls. Poultrygeists even.
:bleeding:
Quote from: Sheilbh on January 22, 2014, 03:43:32 PM
Anyone any experience using them?
How easy to avoid explosions? :mellow:
Yes, we used ours at least once a week for as long as I can remember.
I'm still here.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 22, 2014, 05:03:58 PM
Lots of chicken souls. Poultrygeists even.
You may have to perform an eggsorcism.
I can tell you all about pressure cookers. I'm living in one right fucking now.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 22, 2014, 04:49:47 PM
How can you possibly hate slow cookers? :huh:
I like slow cooking things myself. But I don't always have time and I'm not always organised enough.
Pressure cooking's a way of speeding things up.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 22, 2014, 05:03:58 PM
Lots of chicken souls. Poultrygeists even.
:lol: I laughed out loud at work
Quote from: Barrister on January 22, 2014, 04:52:11 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 22, 2014, 04:39:34 PM
I get the impression the pressure cooker has been replaced by the Slo Cooker.
How can one replace the other? They have totally different purposes (that is one cooks really slowly, and other cooks really fast)?
:face:
When the cooking time is ended, do you wait for the cooker to lower the pressure by simply taking it off the flame, or do you release the pressure manually (usually there's a kind of lock in the handle that can mantain the pot locked but if switched can release the pressure very quickly)?
L.
Quote from: Pedrito on January 23, 2014, 05:29:04 AM
When the cooking time is ended, do you wait for the cooker to lower the pressure by simply taking it off the flame, or do you release the pressure manually (usually there's a kind of lock in the handle that can mantain the pot locked but if switched can release the pressure very quickly)?
L.
It depends what you're cooking. For some stuff you are supposed to let it depressurize on its own, so yeah, all you do is take it off the heat and wait. For other types of food, you run cold water over the top of the cooker until it depressurizes. You're never supposed to just open it when it's under pressure.
Quote from: Caliga on January 23, 2014, 05:53:49 AM
Quote from: Pedrito on January 23, 2014, 05:29:04 AM
When the cooking time is ended, do you wait for the cooker to lower the pressure by simply taking it off the flame, or do you release the pressure manually (usually there's a kind of lock in the handle that can mantain the pot locked but if switched can release the pressure very quickly)?
L.
It depends what you're cooking. For some stuff you are supposed to let it depressurize on its own, so yeah, all you do is take it off the heat and wait. For other types of food, you run cold water over the top of the cooker until it depressurizes. You're never supposed to just open it when it's under pressure.
I'm not opening it, simply using a release valve to lower the pressure more rapidly.
L.
Ah, ok. My pressure cooker doesn't have a valve for that.
Quote from: Caliga on January 23, 2014, 05:53:49 AM
Quote from: Pedrito on January 23, 2014, 05:29:04 AM
When the cooking time is ended, do you wait for the cooker to lower the pressure by simply taking it off the flame, or do you release the pressure manually (usually there's a kind of lock in the handle that can mantain the pot locked but if switched can release the pressure very quickly)?
L.
It depends what you're cooking. For some stuff you are supposed to let it depressurize on its own, so yeah, all you do is take it off the heat and wait. For other types of food, you run cold water over the top of the cooker until it depressurizes. You're never supposed to just open it when it's under pressure.
Unless you enjoy that tasty dish known as "ceiling surprise". ;)
I still have an old pressure cooker that my parents used, but have never used it. I use crock pots (slow cook) sometimes and food and stews come out great in those. After reading this thread I may check out pressure cookers too, but I'd likely buy a new one instead of using the old one, if I decide to use them.
I've never used one, and my parents never used them, either. I guess my dad was traumatized as a kid by one exploding, so he wouldn't allow one in the house. I've adopted his fear, which I know is irrational, but I've never learned anything about them because of it.
I'm learning much in this thread, though. Thanks, Sheilbh, for starting it. :)
If you find it on the interwebs, look up the Good Eats Pressure Cooker episode. Let Alton Bown explain things.
Quote from: merithyn on January 23, 2014, 10:24:07 AM
I'm learning much in this thread, though. Thanks, Sheilbh, for starting it. :)
Yeah, I had kind of thought these were all just variations on the Crock Pot. :sleep:
They're awesome for making casseroles from cheap meat cuts you'd normally cook for hours in a fraction of the time.
I lost custody of mine in the divorce, I should probably get another.
If you follow the instructions (bring to the boil then down to a very low simmer so the stop cock only just stays in place) there's zero danger with modern models.
Unless you pack them with fertilser-based explosive, of course.
Quote from: Brazen on January 23, 2014, 11:15:29 AM
Unless you pack them with fertilser-based explosive, of course.
ed's colon is a pressure cooker
I actually used mine tonight to make this Dutch thing called stamppot. Basically you pressure cook a bunch of peeled and quartered potatoes for a few minutes. At the same time you cook down greens (I used bok choy tonight) and carrots in a skillet with a little water, and throw a kielbasa on top of that to steam. In a second skillet (or an electric griddle, which I used), you fry up diced bacon and onions. When the taters are done you loosely mash them up and then stir the greens, carrots, bacon, and onions in to them, and then serve that with cut up pieces of kielbasa on top. Delicious. :cool:
Quote from: The Brain on January 23, 2014, 12:04:03 PM
Quote from: Brazen on January 23, 2014, 11:15:29 AM
Unless you pack them with fertilser-based explosive, of course.
ed's colon is a pressure cooker
I ate Taco Bell today.
I could give you a run for your money with my continuous granola irruptions today.
I doubt it. My intestines are a mustard gas factory.
Quote from: Caliga on January 23, 2014, 09:42:37 PM
I actually used mine tonight to make this Dutch thing called stamppot. Basically you pressure cook a bunch of peeled and quartered potatoes for a few minutes. At the same time you cook down greens (I used bok choy tonight) and carrots in a skillet with a little water, and throw a kielbasa on top of that to steam. In a second skillet (or an electric griddle, which I used), you fry up diced bacon and onions. When the taters are done you loosely mash them up and then stir the greens, carrots, bacon, and onions in to them, and then serve that with cut up pieces of kielbasa on top. Delicious. :cool:
Should be good for beets and cabbage too. :P
I love a pressure cooker. Great for cooking legumes, or for canning.
I also love a slow cooker, cause I'm lazy as shit.
Quote from: derspiess on January 22, 2014, 04:12:53 PM
Great. Just great. HI NSA!!!
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