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!

 

[danemodsandy]

Presto!

I have a 6-quart Presto in stainless. I've come to prefer the Presto to the fancy-schmancy European models, because the supply of replacement parts comes and goes on the Euro stuff, but Presto is always there for you. This is no reflection on European manufacturers, but rather American distributors, who handle stuff while it's new to the American market, and "hot", but who disappear like muggers in a dark alley as soon as they can. Back when I was in the housewares biz, I saw MORE Euro stuff come and go, rendered useless by lack of support.

 

[petek]

That's my concern with some of the new ones on the market including my electronic one..where do I get a new gasket etc if'n when this one needs replacing. T-Fal is pretty well positioned but probably need to order but Presto parts are in every hardware store. I can't see paying $300 or more for the cachet of having a Swiss made Kuhn-Rikon either

 

[petek]

On yahoo groups there's a group called pressure cooker recipes

 

[rp2813]

Yeah, I finally bought a big Presto based on ease of obtaining replacement parts. Just down the street at my local ACE Hardware to be exact. Finding a gasket for my Mirro 4qt involved going on line and waiting. The one ACE that carried Mirro parts closed and I haven't found them in a store since.

I don't use either one as much as I'd like. I often recommend pulling one out for cooking jobs that would otherwise be too long, but my partner rarely agrees with me. I put my foot down when it comes to artichokes. There is no other way to cook them but with pressure. Not much more than 15 minutes from popping them into the cooker and serving them up.

 

[retro-man]

love pressure cooking

I have my mothers pressure cooker from I believe 1960. It is a Mirro-Matic 4 qt. The weight for the pressure valve is a heavy round disk. It has 3 holes in it. Each hole represents a different pressure setting. 5/lbs, 10/lbs, 15/lbs. I used it all the time for pot roasts, chile, baked beans and a lot of vegatables, esp beets. It has the base plate to raise the food off from the bottom for low water usage. I did make quite the mess last fall when I thought the pressure was gone out. I had removed the weight and let it all out, but didn't remove it from the burner which had been off for at least 20 minutes. I wish I could have seen the look on my face when I released the cover and about 1/2 of the beaf stew I was making overflowed out and over the sides. Covered the stove and drippans were overflowing, not to mention three very happy dogs covered in stew. They had a grand time licking up the floor and themselves. I had to change clothes and do a lot of cleaning up. I must say this is the 1st time I have had an accident with this. So I learned never to do that again. Remember to remove from unit to cool.
Jon

 

[drhardee]

The husbear uses and ADORES his mothers' 1974 Avocado Green Presto Pressure Cooker. We almost came to blows (well, none that night!) when I offhandedly suggested discarding the wretched thing and letting me buy him a brand new one.

You'd have thought I said "throw the dachshund in the trash and let me buy a new one"!

It's been Maytag'd and Miele'd to a fare thee well, and every time I dish-wash it, some more paint flakes off. To keep him happy I only hand wash it now. He bought a new gasket set..one for the valve and a big one at a local hardware store..it was easy. We just took in the lid and fumbled around til we found the right one. He'll be cremated with this thing!

 

[drhardee]

We've even got the original owner's manual and cookbook, dated 1974

 

[petek]

This is what your avocado Presto looked like when it was new and never used. The recipe book for mine is dated 1970. Excuse the dust on top I only gave it a quick sleeve wipe

 

[paulg]

They scare the #%$&@ out of me.

Those pressure cookers scare the living daylights out of me.
I WANT to know them... and love them as you all do. I've heard nothing but good from those who use them properly. But honestly I would probably cower under a table as I make my first pot roast. My partner wants nothing to do with them. If I did find an electric PRESTO I may take the plunge. I'd place it on a card table in the yard and plug it in the garage while I check it with binoculars from the second floor...
Oh perhaps I'm being a little overdramatic. But what's to stop an older unit from malfunctioning and blowing me to bits?

 

[petek]

By the 70's all the pc's had safety pressure relief rubber plugs in the lid usually.. you can see it on the lid of mine in the picture above. It will blow out long before the pot could explode.
CR tested them a couple of years ago and purposely plugged them to see if they worked and they all did. I don't worry about it. I wouldn't use a real old one without the safety relief though.

 

[whirlcool]

I was waiting for someone to bring up the dangers of pressure cooking.
Nearly everyone has a story about how Grandma's pressure cooker exploded and sent the contents of her chicken soup up thru the roof where it landed 6 blocks away in all directions.....

But the fact is, that even with pressure cookers from the late 50's:

All pressure cookers have pressure relief valves. The ones from the 50's had them made out of metal. If they got too hot, the metal melted and all the pressure would release as a woosh of steam. No explosions. With this type you had to go to your local hardware store and pay about a buck for a new one. The old one unscrewed with a wrench and you just screwed the new ones in. I have seen these on 1958 Mirro's.

The rubber kind is easier to deal with. If it pops up, lower the heat and push it back down. Simple and no replacement needed.

About explosions. All pressure cookers now have interlocking lids The lids are kind of like airplane doors. The higher the internal pressure, the tighter the lid is held on. When the unit is working (pressurized) you couldn't take the lid off very easily if at all.

If more people would only try them, they certainly would use them more. They are safe to use and the results are just wonderful. Once you've had a pot roast or spare ribs done in one of these, there ain't any goin' back.

Remember, the key to sucessfull pressure cooking is in the browning of the meat before pressure cooking it. On a pot roast we use olive oil and garlic on high heat to sear the meat quickly. This usually takes about 10 minutes (5 on each side).