Cooking under pressure: In avocado of course

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I have a 4-quart Mirro-Matic (late '50s-early '60s, to judge by the model number) that I would be lost without. Great for any meat, chicken, mashed potatoes, etc. My favorite pressure cookbook is "Pressure Cooking is Pleasure Cooking" (1977).

The new books aren't really for me, what with their emphasis on trendy cuisine prepared in "today's pressure cooker"--the expensive kind without the rocker-regulator, even though that kind is still made.
 
Crazy, isn't it Steve. I brown pot roasts using oil, and also fry bacon down for sauerkraut and add some of the fat back to the pot. I think they probably do not want you the fill the pot half way or more with vegetable oil. They probably had some problems and stopped making them.
 
I'm not surprised there are quite a few pc fans here. Seems like most folks have never used one or are afraid of them. They're very popular with Asian cooking. If you go into and east Indian spice/cooking store you can find all sorts of pc's for sale.
I cook curried rice with veggies in mine and love the stuff. It's so simple. Equal parts long grain rice and water plus a dash of vegetable oil. Spice up the water with curry and/or assorted spices, add the rice and some chopped up veggies. What could be simpler.
Spicey chicken breasts are equally as simple. Pour in about 1 1/2 cups of water spiced up with curry/lemon juice, pepper. Drop in a couple of pieces of chicken and boy does it come out tasty. The flavor goes right into the chicken.
 
Oh my ... Fagor doesn't make a pressure fryer any more? I wonder what happened?

People not being responsible? I'm almost afraid to use mine; it works splendidly, however.

My lid is very different from the ones on those websites. Maybe I should take home a digital camera and get some pictures?
 
Pictures

Geoff, Pictures would be great.

Petek. I grew up with pressure cooking. My mom worked came home and had a meal on the table almost every night. When I came home from work or school, my job was to get the potatoesor veggies ready. Or, sometimes, I did the whole meal. Stews, pork chops, soups, etc.etc. I also use my 8qt for cooking a lot of potatoes for mashed potatoes for a large crowd. We did not use the pressure cooker every night, but at least once or twice a week. It also stems veggies very well, but you have to be quick with them, or they get overdone. Being Polish, my mom also cooks her cabbage rolls in them. YUM! But, again, you have to time carefully.
 
The threads are in the archives, *Super, 2005*

Most pressure cooker recipes are in Thread #1193, "Venus, guess what's cookin' tonite?"

Some more PC content in Thread # 930, "mix and match appliances?" In particular, Venus's pressure cooked corned beef and cabbage.

and Thread # 1243 "Pressure Cooker Rice Pudding."

I have changed my mind, Carolina Brand rice is best for the Pressure cooker rice pudding.

You're welcome.

Maybe if someone was on DSL or Cable connection, and had some free time (ha!), they might snag all the posted recipes through the years and compile them into a thread or two?????????

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
I'd post recipes but I don't have any. It's all done on the fly, pretty basic stuff. Why I first got a pc years back was that I used to get ticked waiting and waiting for the potatoes to boil and cook. From there I just sort of began winging it with stew and pot roasts. The old slow cooker never got much use after that because I can do the whole thing now and be eating it about 30 minutes instead of waiting all day.
 
My mom only used the PC for making Pot Roast with potatoes and carots, but I use them for much more. The recipe book for the MirroMatic has a recipe that is sort of a basic Rouladen. I took a piece of flanken that I had my butcher put through that machine that makes the meat look like minute steaks; I don't know how to describe it, but it essentially does what a long period of pounding would do. Into this piece of flanken, I would lightly pound seasoned flour and then put together a bread stuffing which I spread on the meat. Then I rolled this up, secured it with skewers and string and put it on to brown, all over, then pressured it in my richly seasoned broth mixture for a while. When it is sliced, the meat and stuffing are in a pinwheel pattern. Since it makes a wonderful gravy, I serve it with smashed potatoes. Green beans and carrots with this make for nice colors on the plate and call for at least one more pressure cooker.
 
Good morning!! I didn't take any digital pictures of my Fagor, but I found a link from Beck Sales where I bought mine from. I guess they are now called "Pressure Magic" and I have the 8 quart that is shown in the picture. Mine came with the steamer basket and a deep fry basket. The price hasn't changed much!! They are expensive, but it is a high quality appliance.

http://shop.wwip.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=8&CATID=6&Product_ID=66&count=4&Pcount=10&DETAIL=1
 
Pc Timing

Steve, Generally food cooks in 1/3 or more less time. Chicken takes around 8-10 min. Potatoes for mashed potatoes take 5-8 min. Here is a good example; Corned beef takes 60 min in PC as opposed to 3 hrs simmering on stove. I find it best that when you decide what you are going to make, look it up in the PC recipe book (your recipe that is close to the one in the book), and then adjust from there.
Green beans take 2 -3 min.

It is very important when cooking meat that it is browned nicely. You can do this in the PC, then add whatever else you want, then finish pressure cooking.

Pork chops browned, then add potatoes,onions, etc. make a nice one pot meal. Also beef stew comes out very tender.

As Tom stated earlier, Rouladen, ( which I also make comes out wonderful in the PC). However, you have to be carefull that you do not overcook. For some recipes, (say large pieces of meat, you can let out the steam, check for doneness, then if it is not done to your likeness, you can put the cover back on and finish cooking. In very little time, you will know who to adjust.
 
Have you ordered one yet?

Not yet. (But it sure is tempting). All in good time though. I have to get Joan at the right moment! LOL I wonder if I can find it on e-bay.

You really want to get me thrown out of the house? LOL
 
Ray is right ... 1/3 of the cooking time in a pressure cooker. Browning meat is very important. When I do a roast in the pressure cooker, part of my seasoning is paprika. I find that it aids in the browning and gives the stock a nice rich color.

Most of the meat recipes I have give a specific time for cooking and then you remove the cooker from the heat and let the pressure drop on its own accord.
 
Geoff, When you let the pressure drop on its own, do you lessen the cooking time?? I usually let the steam out, by putting a towel on the top of the pot,or........I put the pot in the sink and run cold water over it. But it is more dramatic(LOL) especially with the old Presto's to just take the jiggler off and put a towel on top of the pot.
 
Rapidly reducing the pressure on something like a roast can draw the juices out of the meat, just like it will draw the stuff out of jars when pressure canning. You will also lose some of your cooking liquid as steam, but the real danger is that as the pressure in the pan is dropping, higher pressure farther from the vent can erupt up through the food and force it out of the vent pipe. With an old Presto, you can tilt the regulator for short periods to bleed off steam if you don't want to run a little water over the cooker, but it is best only to reduce the pressure rapidly for things like veggies, fish and pieces of poultry when there is danger of overcooking while the pressure drops from 15 lbs at 250 F to 0 where it is still at 212 F. No, you don't reduce the cooking time when you let the pressure drop on its own.
 
Adjusting cooking time

Tom, Thanks for this usefull information. I drop the pressure rapidy on veggies and poultry as not to overcook. I also let a pot roast drop the pressure on its own, BUT.. at times adjust the cooking time, ( making it shorter), but at times the meat is not done, so I have to put it back on the stove again. So, thanks for the tip on "You do not have to reduce the cooking time when you let the pressure drop on its own"

Live and learn daily.
 
Hi guys ... sorry I didn't respond sooner; was out of the office for a bit.

Mr. Turbomatic is right; you don't adjust the cooking time - part of the cooking time is based on the pressure dropping on its own accord - it sort of "finishes" everything off.

The only time my Presto booklet says to drop the pressure is if there is a problem, or you are cooking vegetables, fish, poultry, etc. and the cooking needs to stop otherwise you'll end up with "mush"!
 

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