Pressure Cooking Again!

[danemodsandy]

Presto vs. Everything Else

Panthera's giving it to you like it is- there are some wonderful imported pressure cookers out there, and when they're new they work beautifully. The trick is keeping them working. Every pressure cooker has a gasket (and possibly some other parts, like air vents) that must be replaced periodically. These parts are rubber, and rubber deteriorates with age.

When gaskets and other rubber parts deteriorate, the pressure cooker may fail to come up to pressure, or may fail to release overpressure. So, for safety's sake, new rubber parts are an absolute necessity from time to time.

It can be tricky getting parts for some of the imports, though I understand Fagor is better than most. Presto parts, on the other hand, are in damn near EVERY hardware store in America. It is no problem whatsoever keeping a Presto in good, safe operating order. There can sometimes be problems with other makes.

'Nuff said.

 

[perc-o-prince]

'Nuff said...

...is right. I'll be on the lookout for a 10qt. Presto!!!

Thanks to all,
Chuck

 

[danemodsandy]

Presto Link:

Here's a link to the largest Presto cooker; it's an 8-quart size.

If you don't often can or prepare large quantities of food, the six-quart model will suffice for most people. Remember that you will have to lift a pressure cooker full of food to reduce the pressure. This is done by taking the cooker off the range and putting it under cold running water to lower the temperature quickly. A six-quart model filled to its operating capacity (four quarts) is plenty heavy, trust me.

You can see the whole Presto range at www.gopresto.com

If you're young and strong and have the biceps, then you could go for a larger size.

http://www.gopresto.com/products/products.php?stock=01370

 

[rp2813]

I agree that Presto is the way to go. I have an old Mirro 4-quart and the last gasket I had to buy for it could only be found on line, so your cooker doesn't have to be foreign made to have issues with availability of replacement parts. On the other hand, the ACE within walking distance from me carries all sorts of parts for Presto. So when I was in the market for a larger cooker and found a great deal on a Presto 8-quart aluminum model, I didn't hesitate to grab one. My favorite use for a pressure cooker is for doing artichokes, and two of the larger sized ones won't fit in a 4-quart. The 8-quart Presto has plenty of room and has consistently cooked things faster than the 4-quart Mirro even though they both use the same amount of pressure. Not sure what's behind that, but bottom line is that I'm completely pleased with my Presto.

 

[danemodsandy]

Stainless vs. Aluminium

I do not want to challenge anyone's choice of material when buying a pressure cooker, but I would like to point a couple of things out...

Aluminium is as good as anything else, so long as it's in like-new condition, and so long as acid foods are not left in it. It's a good, sound choice for the budget-conscious. But- and there's always a but- it can be pitted by acid foods and salty ones, and it can be weakened by banging and dropping. You can't see the damage (unless you actually dent the cooker), but it can have a stress crack that won't show up unless it was professionally examined. Obviously, a pit or stress crack is not a good thing to have in a pressurised vessel of any sort.

These drawbacks can be minimised. When you're through cooking in an aluminium cooker, get the food out of it and wash it right away. That stops the action of the food on the metal. And if you're careful not to bang or drop the cooker, all should be well from the standpoint of stress cracks.

With stainless, the metal is highly resistant to the action of salt and acid, and it's stronger, too, eliminating most of the problems inherent in aluminium cookers. Stainless cookers are more expensive, but they repay their higher cost in a lower care requirement, in my opinion.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I had two Presto stainless steel cookers. The old style one had a wavy bottom so it was not good for electric stoves. It was not defective, that was how the old one (pre late 70s) was made. It had the carbon steel heat core between the two layers of stainless. It was ok for cooking stuff in water, but it was easy to have stuff stick and burn in it. The newer one looked like it had a disc base, like aluminum between layers of stainless, but it was just flat and did not extend all the way to the sides of the pan. It too was not so good at heat distribution and like light gauge stamped aluminum cookers, the bottom bowed out as the pressure rose. Of course, the Revere Ware pressure cookers made in the late 40s to early 50s did that as well as the Revere Ware stainless steel copper bottom pressure cookers made in the 70s. Which Presto are you using, or are you using it over gas or maybe induction? Both Presto stainless steel cookers are OK that way. I like the Ruhn Rikon and WMF pressure cookers. They both are made with a nice thermal base that really captures heat and spreads it well. I used my 2.5 qt Duromatic pressure fry pan last night to make Swiss Steak.

Years ago at a big flea market, I found an early 50s 4 qt. Presto stainless steel pressure cooker with a copper bottom. I had only seen one picture of this model in an early 50s BH&G and never suspected that I would find one. The lady selling it had received it as a wedding present. She took good care of it and it is still beautiful.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tomturbomatic:

"Which Presto are you using, or are you using it over gas or maybe induction?"

I'm using a 0135003, a six-quart stainless model from 1987. This was a single-gauge stainless cooker, without the bimetal bottom you mention. It works very well for me, on both electric (my preferred heat source) and gas. Very occasionally, I'll want to do something that requires real browning, which I handle in a cast-iron skillet, then I transfer to the cooker. For 90% or more of the pressure cooking I do, the single-gauge bottom works fine.

Other cooks, of course, may have other considerations. Presto's current stainless models have a bi-metal base, with an aluminium disc welded to the bottom of the cooker, for improved browning ability. Twenty years ago, when I got my Presto, the technology for making a bimetal disc base was fairly new and pretty expensive (remember the shocking prices of Cuisinart cookware when it was introduced?). Today, that technology is cheap; there's bimetal disc cookware in Kmart.

 

[panthera]

Yeah, ok

I notice that my Prestos cook a bit more evenly over induction than on a traditional "burner". But the difference is hardly worth mentioning.
Aluminum sandwich bottoms are the best of both worlds.
Pity aluminum stress cracks and pits so easily, it sure is lighter and great at heat distribution.
Still and all, I keep my Sicomatics in Germany and my Prestos in the US and am happy with both worlds.
Oh...I do put my Prestos in the dishwasher, just remove the rubber gasket and over-pressure valve first. No problem - at least not in the last, er, heavens! thirty-one years!

 

[danemodsandy]

I Should Mention:

Because of the tall, narrow "pot" shape of a pressure cooker, browning is not going to be optimal anyway, no matter what bottom it has, because those tall sides hold steam in around the food. Steam is a prime enemy of browning; the caramelisation of natural sugars in the food cannot take place as well in the presence of moisture. This is the reason that non-stick cookware never browns as well as other kinds; non-stick works partly by holding the food's natural moisture against the surface.

If you'll look at skillets, they're shaped with low sides- often slanted outwards- to disperse that steam quickly. That optimises browning, in addition to whatever virtues are possessed by the cookware's construction.

By using a cast-iron skillet to pre-brown meats before putting them into the pressure cooker, I feel I'm getting the best of both worlds.

Your mileage may vary.

 

[selectomatic]

Mmmm! Corned Beef and Cabbage!

I love it! Also Beef-and-Noodles is a favorite Pressure-Cooked meal for me. Until recently, we used a 1960s Presto with a rocker (loved that syncopated rhythm!), but it finally became too pitted to use.

Now that spring is here, and warmer weather will make oven-baked meats inexcusably inefficient, it'll be soon time to break out the pressure cooker for delicious, tender, inexpensive meals.

Again, Mmnmmm!

-kevin