Any pressure cooker fans here?
Discussion
My parents had one in the 70s and used it to cook things like dried pulses (which would have taken ages otherwise). Nowadays such things are available in cans...
However every recipe I have ever seen for 'salade de poulpe' (a great favourite of mine) has recommended the use of a pressure cooker.
I'd be interested to know how the 20 minute beef stew turns out, and what cut was used. Can it tenderise eg. shin in that time?
However every recipe I have ever seen for 'salade de poulpe' (a great favourite of mine) has recommended the use of a pressure cooker.
I'd be interested to know how the 20 minute beef stew turns out, and what cut was used. Can it tenderise eg. shin in that time?
Mobile Chicane said:
My parents had one in the 70s and used it to cook things like dried pulses (which would have taken ages otherwise). Nowadays such things are available in cans...
However every recipe I have ever seen for 'salade de poulpe' (a great favourite of mine) has recommended the use of a pressure cooker.
I'd be interested to know how the 20 minute beef stew turns out, and what cut was used. Can it tenderise eg. shin in that time?
Reading the recipe book it does suggest that it will tenderise a tough cut in that time. I will give it a try and report backHowever every recipe I have ever seen for 'salade de poulpe' (a great favourite of mine) has recommended the use of a pressure cooker.
I'd be interested to know how the 20 minute beef stew turns out, and what cut was used. Can it tenderise eg. shin in that time?
Som did a beef stew at the weekend using standard stewing steak (no shin available). I browned the meat and cooked in a beef stock with some tomato past added.
The veg was added for the last 5 minutes of cooking time. The result: Great, meat falls apart and can be broken down with a spoon, the root veg is nice and soft.
When I find some shin I will give it a try and report back.
The veg was added for the last 5 minutes of cooking time. The result: Great, meat falls apart and can be broken down with a spoon, the root veg is nice and soft.
When I find some shin I will give it a try and report back.
condor said:
My parents also had one in the 70s - my main memory was we all had to stay out of the kitchen in case it exploded 
I think a slow cooker is relatively harmless
A salad spinner is even safer if you are worried!I think a slow cooker is relatively harmless
Seriously, a modern pressure cooker is a world apart from your parents one, technology has moved on in 40 years!
my dad often tells me of a time in the mid 70's when he worked on oil and gas in saudi. he was apparantly trying to make scotch in a pressure cooker which exploded quite dramatically taking his beard/long hair clean off.
why he was trying to make scotch in a pressure cooker was never explained.
why he was trying to make scotch in a pressure cooker was never explained.
A pressure cooker fan here. I don't use it as much as my OH does but find it a very easy and quick way to cook pretty much anything which would normally take ages. Meat always comes out very tender.
Mum used to have a pretty large one which was her mum's before. No idea what make it was but I remember it had cylindrical weights on top to hold the pressure and mum told tales of her mum taking the weights off too early and "everything shooting out the little hole up to the ceiling"
Our one now is smaller and a little strange (to me, maybe it's usual now) as the lid is a bit bendy and instead of clamping downwards, is clamped upwards. Hard to explain in words and took a while to work out how to use it at first as it's not immediately obvious.
Anyway, if you haven't tried one then give it a pop - they really have their uses and can also save a lot of time.
Mum used to have a pretty large one which was her mum's before. No idea what make it was but I remember it had cylindrical weights on top to hold the pressure and mum told tales of her mum taking the weights off too early and "everything shooting out the little hole up to the ceiling"
Our one now is smaller and a little strange (to me, maybe it's usual now) as the lid is a bit bendy and instead of clamping downwards, is clamped upwards. Hard to explain in words and took a while to work out how to use it at first as it's not immediately obvious.
Anyway, if you haven't tried one then give it a pop - they really have their uses and can also save a lot of time.
Thought I would give this thread a resurrection bump as I remember reading it back years ago. After a long time thinking about getting a Pressure Cooker, and recently I found some websites and blogs on people using them I decided to get one and give it a go.
My main reasons were so it was faster/cheaper to prepare dried pulses, and the second reason was I love curries/casseroles/stews in winter, and often too busy to get them started early enough, so end up eating really late.
The key things I learnt when doing my research was to go for Stainless Steel (which I would have anyhow), and more importantly, that a load of cookers (European made ones) out there don't run at high pressure 10-11psi v's the standard of 15psi. So simply you don't benefit so much in shorter cooking times. Not a big deal in steaming some veg, but a tough cut of meat it does.
Anyhow, so far I tried cooking in the Pressure Cooker a curry, and chilli, which both worked well, but the best results so far has been cooking pork shoulder for a few versions of pulled pork. I am impressed that you can blast pork shoulder in 1 hour and it falls apart! Which one version was tested on a friend one night to fill tortillas like proper Mexican style food I have had in parts of the US, and it was great.
My main reasons were so it was faster/cheaper to prepare dried pulses, and the second reason was I love curries/casseroles/stews in winter, and often too busy to get them started early enough, so end up eating really late.
The key things I learnt when doing my research was to go for Stainless Steel (which I would have anyhow), and more importantly, that a load of cookers (European made ones) out there don't run at high pressure 10-11psi v's the standard of 15psi. So simply you don't benefit so much in shorter cooking times. Not a big deal in steaming some veg, but a tough cut of meat it does.
Anyhow, so far I tried cooking in the Pressure Cooker a curry, and chilli, which both worked well, but the best results so far has been cooking pork shoulder for a few versions of pulled pork. I am impressed that you can blast pork shoulder in 1 hour and it falls apart! Which one version was tested on a friend one night to fill tortillas like proper Mexican style food I have had in parts of the US, and it was great.
Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff