Any One Use Pressure Cookers ?

[toploader55]

I have my Grandmother's 1939 Presto Pressure Cooker. Found it In a box of stuff about a year ago. Sprayed the Bi Metal Pressure Regulator with WD-40 for about 2 weeks. Found the new gaskets form the Presto Web site. I remember it as a child how the different steam sounds it made. Works perfectly. Cast Aluminum Body, Wooden Handles. Presto said it was one of the first ones they made as there is No Model number cast in to the body. 4 qt. Just a memory come back to life. Like the machines you all have breathed new life into.Eau Claire Wisconsin. Man, do I wish today they made things this well today.

 

[andrewinorlando]

I've got an 8 qt Presto from the early 1980's...use it all the time, still has the original gaskets and seals, and it works like a charm. Minus the gaskets, the whole thing goes in the dishwasher and cleans up well. It's a fun way to cook.

 

[~sudsshane]

How was the meatloaf....

 

[andrewinorlando]

Fabulous!! Made a lovely sandwich out of it. Cooked in my Kenmore Micro/Convection oven in 30 minutes!!

 

[~sudsshane]

That Kenmore Convection/Micro Oven you have is just fabulous! How old is it again??

 

[petek]

Love my pressure cookers. I use a pressure cooker regularly but not for anything fancy just to speed things up like cooking potatoes etc. which seem to take forever boiling away on the stove in a regular pot. The 3 I use are the plain jane old aluminum Presto jiggler, a TFal with two pressure settings and pressure release switch and my favorite now the electronic model which takes all the guesswork out of timing. Any pc makes excellent stew fast, great for rice as well.

 

[peteski50]

Pressure Cookers!

I have a pressure cooker for almost 2 years now. I don't use it often but I do like using it. I would like to go to a class to learn more about pressure cooking. I did burn it bad twice.
Key is to use a lot of liquids. If anyone knows of classes in the New York area please let me know.
Thank you,
Peter

 

[petek]

What did you burn? If yours didn't come with a metal tray insert for the bottom you could use any small wire/metal cooling rack that will fit and keep stuff from touching the bottom of the pan for those times you're not using much liquid.

 

[mattl]

I use mine often, it really takes very little water. You just need to get it up to pressure and then drop the heat until the weight on my Presto just rocks, med-low on my cooktop. Very little steam escapes. My dad used to use it on high and the top would just rock and spew steam. I read the manual and it says to reduce the heat until it just rocks back and forth. Had some real interesting recipes in the book from the '60s...

 

[gredmondson]

I have a six quart Revere Ware pressure cooker from the early seventies. I think it may have been recalled because when I contacted the company to replace the pressure release plug, they wanted me to send it back to them. I jerry rigged a rubber pressure release plug from Presto. It still works just as it did thirty five years ago. I also have an eight quart and and a twelve quart Mirro. Potatoes, stew, pot roast are great in a pressure cooker. My mother used to make a steamed persimmon pudding in our pressure cooker. I did it once -- and thinking about it now makes me want to make it again.

 

[lederstiefel1]

Silit and Tefal

I use my two pressure cookers from Tefal and Silit only for stuff that needs very long cooking-times, like beef- and chicken-broth, beef-tongue, curly-kale (green cabbage), red cabbage, Sauerkraut, goulash or goulash-soup, my doggy's weekly stew (meat & veges) and stews/soups made with white beans, peas, lentils, barley, and so on.
The Tefal is a 4.5 liters allover stainless steel one with a silicone gasket and two different weights, the Silit is a 7 liters orange-coloured enamelled one with a stainless steel lid and a rubber gasket and a switch and pivot-manometer.
I seldomly use the inner trays which therefore I keep in a box in the cellar.

Ralf

 

[laundromat]

I have 4.Two 8 quart Prestos a 6 quart electric Mirro and an 8 quart Mirro.All are stainless steel not aluminum.I am making some beef vegetable soup as I am writing this.

 

[kenmore58]

I used to be deathly afraid of pressure cookers, but then my ex taught me how to use one and I've been hooked ever since. I have four electric ones and use them all the time. There are some excellent pressure cooker cookbooks out there. Check on Amazon and ebay for them.

Ron

 

[toggleswitch]

I have just one, and that is enough!

Upgraded to a 6qt SS jobbie by Fagor. Re-learning to use it as I tossed my aluminum one decades ago.

 

[mrboilwash]

I have a modern enameled preasure cooker and I wouldnt use any other pot for goulash, broth from scratch and beef rolls.
Potatoes go into a regular pot in this household.
My granny had an American handed down preassure cooker from the 40s or 50s, dont know which make it was, it was aluminumm with plastic handles and a very heavy jiggler on top, I guess the jiggler was made of lead and covered with aluminum. She loved it for all kinds of meat dishes and by the way she died of alzheimers. Not sure if the aluminum is to blame for that.

 

[maytagbear]

I have a 4 qt

electric Presto from the late 60s.

I use it a lot. Later today, I am going to cook some brown rice in it. I like it for chili, I use it a lot for pot roasts....

One of the best writers on Pressure Cooking is Lorna Sass
My favourite of her cookbooks is "Pressure Perfect."

In the New Year, I hope to get the 8 qt Presto.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[gadgetgary]

How 'bout some

of your favorite 'pressure cooker' recipes????

 

[panthera]

current thinking

On Alzheimer's is that the aluminum deposits found in the brain are a symptom of the disease and not a cause.
I started using pressure cookers when living at 2,700M and wanting to eat rice or beans or anything like that without cooking for two days.
(Ok, for rice that was an exaggeration. For beans it was not).
Started out with a 1947 aluminum Presto - wooden handle and all.
Today, I use the outstanding stainless steel prestos from the 1980's when in the US and my enameled Silit when back in Germany.
The Silit system is quieter and technically far more advanced.
But there is just something about the jiggling weights on the prestos which pleases me.
What does worry me about aluminum is the tendency for the cast metal to suddenly fail. We are talking some serious energy here...

 

[gyrafoam]

I have five different sizes of old Presto's and a huge old National Canner from the 1930's. Love 'em all.

Just had the local folks over for dinner about a few weeks ago and used a large one to make my Country Fried Steak and gravy in.
Fork 'tenda!