sudsmaster
Well-known member
The Cuisinart automatic pressure cooker is working great.
However I wasn't all that pleased with the results with beans. I like the mayacoba or peruano yellow bean. Well, using the pressure cooker to skip the pre-soak resulted in uneven cooking of the beans. The small ones were tender but the larger ones were too tough. Extending the cooking time didn't entirely resolve the issue. Next time I'll go back to an overnight soak then followed by the pressure cooker and that should resolve the problem. If not, it only takes an hour or less to cook these beans on the stove-top, so a pressure cooker isn't really essential.
I have had better results with artichokes. I've been getting the jumbo type and found that following the recipe that came with the cooker resulted in under-cooking, esp the center (and most tasty) part. Nothing like under-cooked artichoke centers to give one stomach rumbles. I gradually extended the cooking time from the recommended 8 minutes to as long as 11 minutes, and that seems to be the answer. Next time I'll try 12 minutes, which should be perfect. Just waiting for Costco to restock more jumbo artichokes ;-).
Inadvertently I left the unit plugged in and on the WARM setting after the last batch of chokes. It stayed that way for about five days... in the patio kitchen. When I finally noticed it the cooking water had evaporated to a very thin brown crust. But thanks to the teflon coating it all came off very easily with a little warm water (after I let it cool down a bit. None the worse for the wear. The interesting part was the aroma of the dried out artichoke water. It had this very interesting spicy sweet aroma. I was almost tempted to taste it, but had better things to do. Now I'm wondering if it would make an interesting perfume ingredient ;-).
Later!
However I wasn't all that pleased with the results with beans. I like the mayacoba or peruano yellow bean. Well, using the pressure cooker to skip the pre-soak resulted in uneven cooking of the beans. The small ones were tender but the larger ones were too tough. Extending the cooking time didn't entirely resolve the issue. Next time I'll go back to an overnight soak then followed by the pressure cooker and that should resolve the problem. If not, it only takes an hour or less to cook these beans on the stove-top, so a pressure cooker isn't really essential.
I have had better results with artichokes. I've been getting the jumbo type and found that following the recipe that came with the cooker resulted in under-cooking, esp the center (and most tasty) part. Nothing like under-cooked artichoke centers to give one stomach rumbles. I gradually extended the cooking time from the recommended 8 minutes to as long as 11 minutes, and that seems to be the answer. Next time I'll try 12 minutes, which should be perfect. Just waiting for Costco to restock more jumbo artichokes ;-).
Inadvertently I left the unit plugged in and on the WARM setting after the last batch of chokes. It stayed that way for about five days... in the patio kitchen. When I finally noticed it the cooking water had evaporated to a very thin brown crust. But thanks to the teflon coating it all came off very easily with a little warm water (after I let it cool down a bit. None the worse for the wear. The interesting part was the aroma of the dried out artichoke water. It had this very interesting spicy sweet aroma. I was almost tempted to taste it, but had better things to do. Now I'm wondering if it would make an interesting perfume ingredient ;-).
Later!
