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Jason:

I think any with a flat bottom would work on a smooth top stove. All the ones I have ever seen have perfectly flat bottoms.
Most of the new pressure cookers have a "resetable" pressure relief valve. If the pressure gets too high, a buttom pops up. Let the unit cool a little and press the button back in.
Try one, I am sure you will like it!
 
Jason, you want to stay away from a stamped aluminum cooker. The bottom bulges out when pressure builds. Make sure that any stainless steel cooker you consider has a thick aluminum sandwich base for even heating and to make sure that the cooker's base remains flat during cooking. It's less important when cooking with gas, but important with electric. Most Linens & Things sell FAGOR pressure cookers from Spain. It is supposed to be a very good cooker for a reasonable price. Be sure to check ebay and Amazon for some good deals once you have decided what you want, but don't fall for off brands. I like Kuhn-Rikon and WMF Perfect Plus cookers. When looking at different sizes, remember that you can cook a smaller amount is a larger cooker, but you cannot cook a larger amount is a smaller cooker. The usable capacity is 2/3 of the cooker size so a 5 or 6 quart or liter is really not that large.

We loved eye of round roasts done in the large diameter 6 quart cooker. They needed an hour and a half at 15 lbs because they are so thick, but the richly flavored and well seasoned broth in which they were cooked, after a thorough browning, made them delicious. We also liked to put whole onions and a clove or two of garlic in beside the roast. When the roast was done, we lifted it out and put potatoes in the broth and then carrots, added a little salt and pepper, used the squeeze bulb baster to squirt the broth over the carrots a few times and then pressured that for 10 minutes. The potatoes get infused with the broth so they are golden inside and the flavor is in the carrots also. That was one of our favorite Friday night dinners. Sometimes we would have an extra special treat if time permitted, dumplings. They were dropped on top of the carrots and cooked without pressure until they were big and fluffy.
 
Just remember one of the secrets to pressure cooking is to get a good brown on the meats to be cooked before hand by searing at high heat. We usually sear out roasts and such in olive oil and garlic with pepper before actually sealing the unit up for pressurizaton. This also seals in the juices and flavors.

Tomturbomatic:

You are certainly correct about the size of the cooker. We started years ago with a 4 qt unit and we had to cut up the large pot roasts into smaller pieces before cooking.
 
Revere Pressure Cooker

Jason, I bought a Revere pressure cooker a few years back at their local outlet store. Two pressure settings, flat bottom to it and it works well on the flat top GE stove I have.
 
I still like a Presto pressure cooker

for a lot of reasons, but one of them is that replacement consumables, gaskets and overpressure plugs are very easily available, even (usually) in small-town hardware stores.

Presto does have a newer series with built in quick release, and most of the features of the European pressure cookers. They make stainless steel pressure cookers with aluminum bottoms. However, aluminum cookware doesn't really freak me out.

However, for a pot roast like Veg's above, you want pressure to drop naturally. If you were to quick release a pot roast, it would be an inedible brick.
It is, admittedly, a challenge to wait, when it smells that good.

Again, I will mention Lorna Sass as one of the best writers on pressure cooking. Her "Pressure Perfect" is excellent. There are other writers, like Victoria Wise "The Pressure Cooker Gourmet," and it's a good book, but I just like Lorna's books better.

I am adding the link to Presto's home page.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

http://gopresto.com
 
Second time around

Today it was pork chops. Center cut, very lean.

Mmmmmmmmmmm. They came out fork tender and delightful. I made some gravy too (used Wondra flour this time. Anyone ever used it?) Served alongside were cauliflower (the gravy helped take the curse off it) and some herbed rice.

I don't know why I avoided using a pressure cooker for so long. Sucker is great!

veg
 
Wondra

flour is terrrific. It is specially processed, spray dried, I think (not certain,) so that it makes sauces without lumping. It's not cheap, but for special circumstances (like Thanksgiving gravy,) it is well worth it.

When novice cooks ask me about flour-based sauces, I strongly suggest that they use it until they get more experience. I can make a lump-free gravy now without it, but I still like it and still buy it once in a while.

I get a shaker can of it every so often, and store the can in a wide mouth preserving jar in the freezer.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Wondra

Wondra is one of those things that was around during my childhood that you see on the shelf and think "Wow. They still make that?"

Betty Crocker/General Mills pushed Wondra all through the 60's, and then pretty much dropped it for a long time. They still made it, but you never saw mention of it. Actually, you hardly ever see advertising for it.

My mom, who is a very good cook when she thinks about it, can make a beautiful gravy, but I'm afraid I inherited my paternal grandmother's inability to make anything even approaching a smooth gravy, regardless of the flour.
 
I don't know, Dan. For years I thought I didn't possess the "gravy gene" but I'm getting better.

Grab some Wondra and try it out. Practice makes perfect. If your gravy comes out crappy, you can always just toss it.

Back in the '60s, Pillsbury offered this granulated flour in 5lb sacks just like regular flour. I believe they called it "Instant Blending" flour. I have a commercial for it somewhere.

It must have been popular around 1964, as I have some Family Circle magazines from that year that mention substituting it in many of their recipes. There's even a recipe from Pillsbury about how to use it to make pie crust with an electric mixer! I want to try that once just because it sounds so weird.

veg
 
Dan, how are you making the gravy? Do you pour most of the fat off and stir the flour into the fat remaining in the pan to make a roux and brown it a bit? Then you slowly whisk in cold water to keep the flour from clumping and keep wisking (those flat whisks are great for this) until it comes to a boil? Turn the heat to simmer and cover. This stage is where, if you used a roasting rack, you can place it, upside down, into the gravy and let the nice glaze from the juices cook off the rack and into the gravy. Then all you have to do is remove the rack, check for seasoning and serve. Making gravy is the easiest way to get the really cooked on stuff off a pan.

I remember a friend's grandmother shaking a bit of Wondra into fried corn to slightly thicken it.
 
Nooo!

If the gravy comes out lumpy, Cuisinart or Waring to the rescue! If using a blendor, cover the lid with a kitchen towel, and your hand, in that order.

If the gravy is underflavoured, a few drops of Lea and Perrins (if beef) can work wonders. If the gravy is chicken, a few drops of Knorr liquid chicken broth concentrate performs similar magic. In either case, when I say "few drops," I mean a few drops, usually no more than 1/4 teaspoon.

I like to use beurre manie, which is a flour-butter paste of 50-50 proportions. Mix it well, either with a wooden spoon or in the processor, and then just drop in small bits to the very hot pan drippings/ broth, and stir. Usually perfectly lumpless that way. Lower the heat, and simmer until the flour loses that raw taste.

Pour into a preheated sauceboat.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Growing up we never had a pressure cooker. When I was around 11 or 12 I saw one in use at a friend's house. I decided to buy one for my mom. This was the later 60's and avocado was big, so I got her a green 4qt Mirro-matic. She used it once or twice and that was that--it was relegated to a storage cabinet in the basement. I ended up with it and still have it. When it needed a new gasket I did a lot of searching before finding one at a large ACE Hardware store which has since closed. Then it needed another and I ended up having to order it on line. Yet I regularly saw Presto gaskets and replacement parts at my smaller local ACE store, among other places. So when I saw a good deal on a huge Presto (stove top) PC I decided to upgrade. With a gas stove it's easy to regulate the heat and get the weight jiggling just right. The Presto is even faster than the Mirro was! By far the thing I use it for most is artichokes. They're done in 10-15 minutes. I don't get why more people don't use these things--they are great! I still have the Mirro instruction/recipe book and use that as a guide but the Presto consistently does everything in less time than called for in the Mirro book. I pull out the Mirro when I don't need the volume of the Presto, but I'm afraid it may have to be retired soon as even with a new gasket it doesn't always want to seal correctly and I really have to keep an eye on it.

Veg, thanks for reminding me that I need to pull out the Presto for a one-pot meal sometime soon!
 
One tip if you have a pressure cooker gasket that won't quite seal all the way is to coat it with cooking oil before putting it in the top on both sides. Our Mirro 4-qt unit had this problem and this took care of that.
 
Veg, You've Inspired Me. .

After going to Linens & Things, and then finally BB&B, I found the FAGOR pressure cooker. I really like to cook for family and friends, so I choose the 8QT. It came in a nifty package which also included another pan (maybe a 2 QT that looks more like a big skillet (I'm not being very technical here). Anyway, you can use the pressure lid for either depending on your needs, and it also came with an interchangable glass lid as well as a little steamer basket.

I bought the biggest, baddest, toughest and cheapest shoulder roast I could find that the grocery store and put my new pressure cooker to the test. I browned it in a bit of olive oil and fresh garlic, and then added a mixture of 1 pkg Liption Onion soup mix, 1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup and 2 cans water. Pressured for about 20 minutes, and then added potatoes and onions and pressured for another 20 mintues. I was in a hurry to get to an evening meeting, so I used the quick release method but it came out OH SO TENDER. I made a gravy out of the sauce (and added 2 beef boullion cubes) and it was the best meal I've ever had. I served it with some salad and had a GREAT meal!

I can't wait to try some other dishes in my new pressure cooker!

Bryan
 
No

Well, it looks like my two favorite appliances now are the pressure cooker and the Crock Pot. Apparently, I either want dinner done right now or sometime much later in the day.

I'm not sure what this says about my delicate psyche--but the pork chops were sure tasty!

veg
 
Welcome to the pressure cooking club! I am sure you'll find plenty to cook with that 8-qt unit! Just about anything you cook in it will come out fall off the bone tender.

I noticed that the newer pressure cookers sound different than the old ones. My Mothers kid of went "Jiggle-Jiggle-Jiggle" and the newer ones seem to go "Psst-Psst-Pisst". If anyone has an vintage pressure cooker, you'll know what I mean.
 
Pressure Cooker

I have the Presto pressure cooker and the insturction book my great aunt bought in 1940. She used it 2-3 times a week. Growing up in the 50's it was used as much as the microwave is today. I have fixed meat loaf in the Presto and it came out real moist.
 
I have both Presto and Mirro 16 quart canners and the Mirro 8 qt which will hold 4 quart jars. They are all of the older, more streamlined and rounded design. I used to enjoy canning, but kinda do not have time anymore. I found a vintage 50s Presto three piece regulator for canning so it uses the center part (rocks at 5 lbs) and one of the rings that slips down over it to hold 10 pounds for canning green beans and other low acid veggies and just the center for tomatoes. It looks similar to the weight Presto started using in the 60s, with the little triangular plastic knob and a latitudinal groove around the middle to make it look like it has the two rings except those are just one piece. My weight will rock and hiss to keep the pressure from rising above the desired pressure so you do not have to be watching the needle gauge and heat as closely as if you were using one of the newer weights that just maintains 15 lbs of pressure. And, unless you are canning at a high elevation, you do not have to worry if your needle gauge is accurate for 5 or 10 pounds of pressure.

Ralph, if you are having trouble with a U shaped gasket like the Mirro uses, you can try turning it over to see if it seals better. Mom's post WWII Presto was almost silent in operation once the heat was turned down to maintain the 15 pounds of pressure shown by the three rings that rose out of the gauge, but MirroMatics are supposed to rattle and hiss 2 or 3 times a minute to let you know they are maintaining the selected pressure. It's like having a bird in the room making noises regularly. Mirro even published a Braille cookbook titled Cooking Without Looking (perhaps a bit dated title-wise)for their pressure cookers and would supply Braille markers for the 3 different pressures on the regulator because the cook did not need to see Mirro's regulator, the sound would let them know when it reached the desired pressure. Kinahora, I am so grateful for my sight and that all of my senses work.

Has anyone visited Miss Vickie's Pressure Cooker site? It's not as chatty as this site and she is pretty much stuck on Kuhn Rikon cookers, but if you want to check out pressure cooking, that is a good place to go for a lot of information.
 
I'm gonna go look for a PC this weekend and try it out. I guess I'll get a traditional Presto just to be able to get parts for it when needed.

Does the manual that come with the PC's give you cook times like a certain minutes per pound kind of thing or how to convert regular recipes into PC recipes?
 

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