Electric pressure cooker

[vintage1963]

My husband bought me an electric pressure cooker for Christmas, and I love it! On Christmas Day I made steamed veggies in it and today I made a pot roast with potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. The roast was so tender and fell apart easily and turned out great. If anyone has some recipes for the pressure cooker they would like to share I would be interested in trying them.

 

[norgeway]

A Pressure cooker

Is my go to piece of cookware,It saves SO much time,for instance , potatoes to mash...8 minutes,a stewed chicked, 30 to 40 minutes,I use the book only as a guide, some things take longer to my taste,vegetables are wonderful in the pc, green beans take 5 minutes with only the water that clings to them from washing,soup and all kinds of beans cook wonderfully in the pc, corn on the cob..bring up to pressure as soon as 15 pounds is reached , take off heat, release pressure and your corn is perfect, same for cabbage, etc.stewed apples, same technique, My whole family has used pressure cookers for many years, my Aunt Jean is still using the 6 qt Mirro Matic my Uncle bought her in 1952!I have dozens of them, Mirro Matics, Prestos,Wear Evers, Revere Wares,Nescos,and many others, I even have a Swiss Made Kuhn Rikon, It is great, but no better than the vintage ones.I even have a Mirro Matic and a Presto deep well PC.

 

[westtexman]

Which One Do You Have?

I just bought an Instant Pot yesterday (the 6 qt model), but I haven't yet opened it. I thought about exchanging it for the 8 qt model, but I'm not sure.

 

[dermacie]

Pressure Cooker

I have an 8 quart Presto Anodized aluminum stove top pressure cooker. I had an electric one and gave it to my brother. It wasn't a good fit for me. I use mine for beef stew, soups, and green beans mostly.

 

[petek]

I have a couple of stove tops and a Bravetti electronic I bought a number of years ago because as you know I'm a gadget geek..
I love it and now use it mostly because it takes away the guesswork and timing.. just put the food in, press the appropriate food type button and walk away till it beeps.

The only slight downside if you want to call it that is that it does take longer to come to pressure than a stovetop, but not much longer. So for a person who wants utmost simplicity highly recommended..

If I'm doing something like potatoes for boiling or mashing I'll just use the stovetop pc... a couple of minutes coming to pressure,, 7 min at pressure and they're done and you don't have to use much water either.

Great for soupls like my fave, lentil.. just toss everything in and within about 30 minutes it's done.. stew etc same thing.. No real recipes required I find, just reduce the liquids is all for the most part.

 

[sudsmaster]

I was looking at the Instant Pot today on line, including the (mostly) rave reviews on Amazon. I recall I've also seen them offered at Costco for less than what Amazon wants.

I was curious, and then I remembered that I bought a Cuisinart 6 qt electric pressure cooker a few years ago. I used it a few times, mostly to cook artichokes, once for beans. When I got it out of his storage spot in the back of a small appliance cabinet in the second kitchen today, I realized it had a number of settings, which while not as numerous as that of the Instant Pot, would serve nearly all the uses I might have for it, including "browing", "keep warm", "sauté" and "simmer". It doesn't have the "slow cook" option, but then I have several crokpots for that. The one feature the Instant Pot has that might be worth it is that it has a stainless steel inner pot. The Cuisinart has an aluminum part with interior teflon coating. But considering how infrequently I use it anyway, I suspect I won't be rushing out to Costco to pick up an Instant Pot. Besides, I really don't have room for yet another kitchen gadget.

 

[thespiritof76]

Now, that I have a large spaceous kitchen.....

Anyone have a good suggestion for a vintage, good, easy to use Electric pressure cooker? I have always wanted one, and wanted to experiment with one..=)

 

[askolover]

I fix orange glazed ribs in my stainless stovetop PC with clad induction friendly bottom. The recipe was in the Presto "Pressure cooking is pleasure cooking" cookbook. I often substitute pineapple juice for the orange but either makes a good dish. I've also used the recipe on pork chops.

Orange Glazed Ribs
3 lbs. country style ribs (I get boneless but either is fine)
1 T oil
1/2 c brown sugar
1 t grated orange peel
2/3 c orange or pineapple juice
1/4 c soy sauce
1/2 t ginger
1 clove garlic crushed (or minced garlic)

Trim excess fat. Brown ribs (I never do) and place in cooker. Combine remaining ingredients and pour over ribs. Cook 15 minutes at 15 pounds pressure. [this post was last edited: 1/2/2017-06:55]

 

[askolover]

baked potatoes

I also use my PC to fix baked potatoes. I take two good size russets and slice them in half and place them inside up on a steamer rack in the PC. 15 minutes later they are cooked moist and tender and the peeling just slides off. Then I place each potato in a bowl and add the fixings like bacon, cheese, butter, etc. By far the BEST way to fix baked potatoes! I hate microwaving them.[this post was last edited: 1/2/2017-06:53]

 

[petek]

There's a difference between an electric PC and the newer electronic PC.. The electric PC's have been around for decades and are basically just a stove top with a built in heating element whereas the electronics like the Instant Pot etc are for the most part totally automated, programmed etc.

 

[vintage1963]

The one I have is Cuisinart. My mom and my grandma both had the Mirro stove top ones. They were used quite a bit as I remember.

 

[norgeway]

I have a

1955 Mirro Matic and a 1955 Presto, both work well..

 

[petek]

I have a Tfal stovetop I got a deal on a few years ago and I like it very much.. Heavy duty SS and a 2nd regular lid with an adjustable vent.
It has two pressure settings with quick release, that's handy over dunking it under water.

Surprised though how few people use them.. that fear of an explosion probably which has been eradicated.

 

[intuitive]

Tfal stovetop pressure cooker

I have an 8L Tfal that i use regularly stews, curries, corned beef, puddings and baked custards all excellent and so quick. I had a Sambonet 6L previously and only reason i changed over to the tfal was i could no longer purchase spares i.e. a seal o ring.

I LOVE using it.

 

[panthera]

Electronic versus electric

Unfortunately, all current electronic models run at only 11psa or even less.

The electric Presto's (not in production but still easy to buy NIB) run at 15psi.

The difference is enormous. Especially above two thousand feet.

Anyone who wants to can should go with the biggest they can justify, eight quart over six in any case.

 

[sudsmaster]

Which is why a couple years ago I sprung for a Mirro 16 qt pressure cooker.

No, I didn't really need it. I thought I did, for canning garden produce, but then I got employed again and still haven't used the damn thing. It's stove top of course. No pressure gauge but a collection of different pressure wigglers. I think there's a plugged port on the lid, though, where one could add a gauge.

I imagine the current electronic PC's don't get up to 15 psi for fear of liability. I don't see any power issue that would prevent them from getting there, though. Might be that the inner pot / outer housing configuration doesn't lend itself to higher pressures, though. I know the inner pot on my Cuisinart is not very heavy.

Currently the house smells heavenly when I get home. I attribute this to the weekend of slow roast pork butt and subsequent pulled pork prep on the range. Well, it beats the cat box aroma, that's for sure.

 

[lowefficiency]

Sudsmaster, when you say "plugged port on the lid", are you talking about the safety pressure relief valve? They typically thread into the lid from the top, and have a bolt head as they are replaceable. Sometimes they look like something important, other times they just look like a bolt. The inner part will blow out if the pot pressure exceeds what the center weighted valve can alleviate. The idea is that the pressure relief valve will blow before the whole pot does.

I makes quite a bang when they go off, but nothing even close to what it would be like if you didn't have that safety valve!!

 

[sudsmaster]

Yes, it's been a while since I looked at it, but as I recall it's a spot with a solid plug quite separate from the safety relief valve.

I'm not quite as stupid as I seem...

 

[mixguy]

Love them so much I have three of them!

I started out having an WeeCookerie 3 qt pressure pan. Really liked cooking whole meals using the recipes in the included booklet. Followed by a Presto Stainless steel 4 qt stovetop model that I replaced the gasket and pressure plug once in over 25 yrs of use. Watching HSN I bought an Ultrex model that I just retired because the nonstick coating started peeling off. It was a great pressure steamer and great of handling big roasts and cooking 2 lb. batches of dried beans. Also a great for making stocks and soups too. Looking for another 8 qt. stainless pressure cooker to replace the Ultrex but having a difficult time deciding what to get. The Ultrex advertised having a 30 year guarantee, what good is that when the company disappears after 5 years! Thankful I never bought a set of non-stick cookware.