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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?
 
Yes,

Pressure cooker manuals from big name manufacturers, i.e. Presto, Kuhn-Rikon, Fagor, do have detailed instructions that are great for a start, until you can swing by Borders or B & N, or an independent bookstore (or the LIBRARY!) for an independent pressure cooker book, like one by Lorna Sass (Pressure Perfect), Tom Lacalamita (Pressure Cookers for Dummies) or Victoria Wise (Pressure Cooker Gourmet).

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
PRESTO!

Well, last night, I took the plunge and bought a Presto 6qt PC. It's the typical classic PC only it has a rigid flat bottom for use on a smoothtop stove and a safety plug so you can't open it under pressure.

I setup to cook a beef pot roast in it. 2.75lb beef chuck roast, 3 taters (cut into chunks) and a chopped onion. Seasoned the meat, browned it, put the meat rack in the pot, 2 cups water (per recipe), taters, onions, lid on. I set the stove on high to bring up the pressure. Once it got going, lowered the burner to medium (5 on the dial) and let it chug for 45 minutes. AFter that, I let it de-pressurize on its own accord, opened the lid and MMMMMM MMMMMM!!!!!! And yes, fall off the fork tender. I couldn't even pick it up out of the pot without it falling apart.

YAY for pressure cookers. I never know why I never got one sooner!

Seems the formula for beef is 15 minutes per pound vs like an hour a pound if using in the oven or 6 to 8 hours in a crock pot.
 
Jason, I bet that roast was good, just wondering about the potaotes, I have always added those after cooking the roast for about 30 min. depending on size and then did the quick pressure relief and added the vegies. I would have thought the potatoes would have been mush after that time. Terry
 
La Patate

They were almost mush but they held their shape and was really good. The onions were melted all in the potatoes and meat giving a really nice flavor.
 
Try steaming vegetables

in your Fagor pressure cooker.

You gotta try this!!!

The steamer Fagor provides isn't any good. Get a standard stainless steel steamer basket that has those leaves which fold inward. Anyway, set it for high pressure, and go exactly one minute after the pressure indicator pops up. Then quick release.

Guaranteed to be the best asparagus and broccoli you've ever tasted! The bright green color remains, the texture is tender but still crisp, and there's much more flavor, especially with the asparagus (because the cooking time is much shorter than with conventional steaming). A pressure cooker is worth its keep for this purpose alone.

If you serve PC'd asparagus or broccoli to foodies unfamiliar with pressure cooking, they will notice and ask you what in the world you did.

Don't forget to use your pressure cooker for corned beef and cabbage, or pork and sauerkraut. And buy a second one to make the parslied and buttered new potatoes or else mashed potatoes, and a third to make the carrots! I'm serious! Tom Laclamita says it's not uncommon for Europeans to have three or more in a household.
 
A general rule for timing at 15 pounds of pressure is about 1/3 of the time it would take in a regular pan. The water you add to the roast can be any kind of compatable stock, or water and bouillon cube, part red wine, augmented with some favorite steak sauce, some tomato juice or even canned tomatoes, some rosemary, whatever flavors you like or usually use when cooking a roast. The wonderful thing is that they are "pressured in" and make a delicious roast.

If you use a steaming basket that stands above the water line, you can hard cook eggs that will not crack at 5 pounds of pressure for 6-8 minutes. The steam is gentler than the contact with hot water and the direct heat on the bottom of the pan like when they are usually cooked and the pressure around them helps equalize the forces of expansion inside the shell so the shell is less stressed.
 
Hmm, lol. Kinda like I have two microwaves. I guess in somje instances the PC would be very fast, but the thought of having to first brown the meat or chicken before PC doesn't sound too appealing, especially at the end of a long day.

Kinda like the idea of more than on ePC--talkk about near nuker-speed preparation!!!
 
Bob.....

Lorna Sass in "Pressure Perfect" eliminates most browning, and so do I, now.

She suggests, and I echo, spreading soy sauce on meat before cooking it. It looks brown, and tastes just fine. It's also less nerve wracking. I bet Lea and Perrins would work well for this, too.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
We use Lea & Perrins Worchester Sauce as part of the pre cooking marinade. Works just wonderful. But if you have your heat up high enough and use a good high temp oil the searing portion doesn't take long at all. Remember, you only want to brown the outside, not cook it.
We normally use just water with some spices as the liquid medium, but with all this talk about pressure cooking we drug ours out last night and made a pot roast and used Swanson's Beef Broth mixed with water (75/25) for a 3 lb pot roast. It turned out a little too salty for our taste. Maybe a 50/50 would be better.
We usually fast release ours, but last night we let it cool on it's own (20 minutes to release). We really didn't notice any difference. It was still good.
As we all here are finding out Pressure Cooking is a wonderful way to cook. But it still gets me that when you talk to most people about it usually the responses you get are "I wouldn't have one in my house", or "I thoght they took those things off the market, they always explode, don't they?".
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are "uninformed", putting it nicely.
 
I NEVER brown meat if I'm using the slow cooker--why mess up another pan? I do brown it in the PC because it's already there and heated up, so why not? If it required a separate pan or the broiler or something, you can bet I wouldn't do it.

veg
 
Right, meats cooked in a slow cooker usually brown on their own. And when you brown your meat in the bottom of the pressure cooker not only do you use just one pan, but the remains of the browning process just add to the flavor when the liquid cooking medium is added. For additional taste, you could "deglaze" the bottom of the pressure cooker after browning but before pressure cooking with Sherry or maybe some Harvey's Bristol Cream.
 
Count on me to jump on any trend ;-)

I dug out my presssure cooker last night and made my standard pot roast, but added carrots and potatoes for the last 15 minutes (which I have never done before). It came out really quite well, and took about an hour and a half from start to finish, including prep and pressure build/drop time (usually 4+ hours in the oven)

I, like Veg, was impatient for the pressure to drop, and mine (a Fagor) has a steam realease switch which is quite dramatic, so I ended up using it both after the 1/2 hour of just meat, and the 15 minutes of meat and veggies.

The only thing I kinda didn't like about it was that there was a lot more liquid than there usually is, and it made it soupy.

My recipe is from Nora Ephron's book "Heartburn" (which is a hillarious read, btw)

You just throw all of this in a pot and let it go....

1 pot roast
Can of cream of mushroom Soup
Envelope of Dried onion soup mix
1 chopped onion
4 cloves chopped galic
2 cups red wine
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
tsp each of thyme and Basil

When cooked in the oven, it ends up with a nice rich gravy that is quite thick, but as I said, the pressure cooker retained the liquid and made it soupy. Do you think I should reduce the liquid in future attempts?
 
By all means, reduce the amount of liquid. My Presto instruction manual/cookbook says to use about 1/2 cup more liquid than you want to end up with (if you'll pardon the grammar!)

veg
 
A good rule of thumb is the longer a food will cook in the pressure cooker the more liquid you need to add. This is what generates the steam to create the pressure. You don't want a pressure cooker to run dry. So if you are only going to pressure cook for a short time, not nearly as much liquid is required.
 
Tom & Whirlcool, I've tried various tricks to get my Mirro to seal properly. Last time I bought a gasket I felt I was probably replacing a perfectly good one, and sure enough I had the same leak in the same spot, just to the right of the handle. If I grab both handles and squeeze just enough to stop the steam from escaping out the side of the lid, it will eventually seal but that kind of defeats the purpose of "cooking without looking" doesn't it? I also think I read something about the gasket starting to stretch out if you put oil on it too much of the time. I haven't given up on the Mirro yet, though. I've always made it my business to keep an eye on the PC until it was happily jiggling away as designed. As for the jiggling action, my Mirro is of the few-times-a-minute variety and it's quite an outburst when it does its thing. Meanwhile the Presto asks you to maintain a continuous gentle rocking motion on the weight, and is much quieter as it goes about its business.

Lawrence, my Presto's pamphlet was very limited in recipes compared to the booklet that came with the old Mirro. I usually pull out both manuals because if it's not in the Presto one, it can almost always be found in the Mirro's. But I should get an actual pressure cooker book.

Bottom line on PC's is that they won't blow up when used properly and are a great addition to any kitchen.
 
I agree that they are a great addition to anyones kitchen.
You know, we used our Mirro when we made the Pot Roast the other day. My wife said that it wouldn't pressurize properly. I stopped the unit and looked at the rubber gasket. It still looked like new and the next time we tried it, sure enough it was releasing steam like hell from the right side of the handle, just like you described. After about 10 minutes, it eventually sealed. I wonder if it's a warped lid? How old is your Mirro? Ours is about 12 years old.
 
Meat browning and pale gravy

Mom would ever once in a while pressure a cheap roast. Her secret for getting it to look appetizing was to brown it in the PC. Later years, she got onto the little yellar bottle of "Kitchen Boquet". It's found in the sauce/soup aisle at your grocery store. Think of it as "brown food coloring" for meats and sauces. Brush some on your roast before going into the PC and viola, a brown roast. Also, if your gravy is a little pale (and sorry, guys, Mom taught me to make my beef gravy with cornstarch and water, instead of flour.) add a few drops of the Kitchen Boquet into the gravy. Just becareful, a few DROPS is all you need. Otherwise, you can end up with something that looks very close to chocolate gravy!

duetboy
aka jeff
 

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