Pressure Cookers

[SoulRaven]

I use a slow cooker often. Stews and roasts are my favorites. Does anyone use a pressure cooker? A friend swears she gets great results with hers. Anyone?

 

[WalkaboutTed]

Last night I used our pressure cooker to make lemon chicken soup with white and wild rice. Taught #4 son how to temper eggs. I use the pressure cooker often. In fact I just gave to my #3 son my 30 year old cooker. I gave him the small one, which I should have kept.

I ramble. But yes, I've been using pressure cookers since the 70s. Get a couple of cookbooks, you can get them online or on any kindle device (including your Android phone). Just don't overfill the cooker. If you do, interesting things may occur.
Ted

 

[VanKitten]

I've used pressure cookers since the 70s.
My favorite is leg of lamb. Takes 45 minutes start to finish...and the sheep comes out falling off the fork tender! In my house it was called the "Mom special"

One thing you will learn...other than salt...no spices will survive the full cooking time...so same the spices till the last 3 minutes.

 

[grimmal]

We use ours all the time. Potatoes are quick Beans are quick and even tough cuts of meat come out great. Had 3 at the house and kept one for our travels. Some weeks we use it 4-5 times. Apples become applesauce in 2 minutes. We can 4 jars in it if we find something we like fresh and on sale. Keeps the heat outside because we use our propane stove for it.

 

[AbuelaLoca]

I'm scared of pressure cookers cuz there were a few mishaps in my childhood... not me, but sisters who managed to blow up the kitchen with them.

 

[frater secessus]

Pressure cookers check many vandweller boxes:

• quicker cooking means less fuel use
• quicker cooking means less heat in the RV
• good results with easy-to-store items like beans
• good results with frugal foods like cheap meats
• pressure canning for single-meal packing and ad hoc sterilization

I recently downsized from a modern 8qt cooker/canner to a vintage Presto 4qt cooker better suited to a campervan galley.  Passed the 8qt to my newlywed daughter who expressed interest in it.  I still have a 20qt canner that I will sell for gas money before going full time.

Crazy Grandma - there are two causes of pressure cooker incidents:  opening while pressurized (mitigated by interlocks these days) and overfilling so that the pressure valve gets filled with debris, blocks, and the emergency relief or vessel itself fails.  Both are easily avoidable by following instructions.  

 

[highdesertranger]

y'all know way more about pressure cookers then I know. highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

If and when I get my trailer back and on the road a pressure cooker makes sense. I'm thinking a 6 qt for a smaller size roast and the vegetables. Thanks

 

[TrainChaser]

A pressure cooker is not recommended for pressure canning. They heat up faster and cool down quicker, but the recommended times for pressure canning INCLUDE the longer time to get to pressure, and to cool down.

Here is the National Center for Home Food Preservation/Canning: http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html

And here is the not-so-smart Seattle attorney who gave himself botulism for taking shortcuts when canning. Note that he used a pressure cooker, rather than a canner: http://nwnewsnetwork.org/post/home-canning-hobby-leads-near-fatal-medical-mystery

DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME (OR ANYWHERE ELSE).

 

[CautionToTheWind]

I'm scared of pressure cookers cuz there were a few mishaps in my childhood... not me, but sisters who managed to blow up the kitchen with them.

Everyone needs to specify which: electric or stove top

AbuelaLoca- I have an electric Cuisinart Pressure Cooker. No experience with stove top type....my mother never had a problem in her years using one (stove top type).

I *absolutely* love my electric PC. Whip up so many things fast; wish I had another one.

Likely need a generator for powering this one on the road.

<b>highdesertranger</B>
y'all know way more about pressure cookers then I know. highdesertranger

That's a first

 

[AbuelaLoca]

I've been waiting for the ultimate info on the instant pot... how much solar/battery combo is needed to use one!?!?

 

[Cammalu]

I managed to find one of those that's much smaller. I don't think the brand was the same. It's a dandy and in the camper now. I use a larger one in the house.

This is the one I bought. It's just 2 Quarts.

https://www.amazon.com/COSORI-Elect...568164&sr=8-3&keywords=cosori+pressure+cooker

 

[frater secessus]

Note that he used a pressure cooker, rather than a canner

[Not disagreeing with you here, using the above quote as a springboard for an expanded conversation.]

The use of a pressure cooker was the least significant choice in the decision chain, and it may not have have contributed to the problem in any way.  There is no functional difference between pressure "cookers" and "canners";  the rampup/rampdown problem can also be induced by too high BTU in the burner (like a turkey frier) or forced cooling.   

There have been zero CDC-documented cases of botulism caused by use of small cookers when the processing was otherwise according to guidelines.   It is a theoretical hazard.  It is correct to say that small PCs (generally called cookers) are "not recommended" by the NCHFP.  It's not because they are not safe, but rather because they are "not known to be safe", ie not tested in that configuration.   An experienced person would look at the scenario and realize that one can get back toward the realm of the tested by ramping temps up and down at typical rates for larger PCs.  The general public will of course be best off following the published guidelines.  

BTW, they have a free online course the public can take and get a certificate.    It's a good reality check for folks who haven't ever seen/used the formal guidelines.

 

[CautionToTheWind]

I've been waiting for the ultimate info on the instant pot... how much solar/battery combo is needed to use one!?!?

[font=Arial, Helvetica, Helvetica, sans-serif]If anyone wants to answer, 1000 watts for the 6 Qt Instant Pot.[/font]

 

[TrainChaser]

"It is a theoretical hazard."

When you combine a 'theoretical hazard' with inexperience, carelessness or stupidity, the results can be fatal. Botulinum neurotoxin is considered one of the most potent, lethal substances known. As little as about 1 nanogram/kg can be lethal.

It won't happen to me. It won't happen to me. It won't................ oh, ****!

 

[SoulRaven]

O.P. here, I am not canning anything, just trying to find a faster way to do a cheap roast. Interesting about the botulism, my Mom canned every year and we all survived.

 

[CautionToTheWind]

This is the one I bought.  It's just 2 Quarts.

   https://www.amazon.com/COSORI-Elect...568164&sr=8-3&keywords=cosori+pressure+cooker

Super cute...I wonder if I can find this at Bed Bath & Beyond. I'm a bit leery of Amazon. I bought my first Cuisinart Pressure Cooker on Amazon, only lasted one year. 2nd was purchased at BB&B (great return policy).

 

[frater secessus]

Last night I pressure cooked one of my birds (turken rooster) I had in the freezer.  Very  tender even though he was much older than supermarket cornish rock broilers.  <-- don't get me started on factory farming

That's him or one of his brothers on the left, still a young bird then.  The white birds dusting and in the bucket are (were) modern game bantams. 



I hatched 40 birds from eggs and got 90% hatch rate, very ununsual.  And 90% were roos, very unfortunate.  /sigh



Chickens are one of the major things I will miss about full timing. 




After deboning he went into an Indian chicken dish over rice.  Tasty, and I was mindful of his contribution.

 

[Cammalu]

Frater do you have a chicken plucker? Takes me forever by hand


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[frater secessus]

No plucker.  I dispatch them in a cone then skin them like the first two minutes of this:

[video=youtube]

I do love chicken cooked with the skins on but my doctor has asked me to lose 20#  :-(