Pressure cooker cooking!!!

[irish]

Someone mentioned pressure cookers on the crock pot thread and I think it would be great to see how many use pressure cookers these days and what they cook.

I have used the 4-6 qt pressure cookers for years and love to use them to make roasts with onions, potatoes, carrots, etc. It is great in the summer cause it uses less electricity and puts off less heat.

I don't make soups or stews in the pressure cooker but use it more to cook up meats when in a hurry. It is great to cook up the over the counter chicken breasts that you can buy up on sale and freeze. I add onions seasonings and cook up the chicken for chicken salad sandwiches and other hot dishes, mexican dishes, etc. Really tender with lots of flavor. The broth is excellent also for soups, etc. and can be frozen and used later.

One thing I found to be very good is to pressure cook a beef roast and a pork roast together. The broth is really good. Adding some cabbage on top of the meat also enhances the flavor big time.

Sure enjoy getting some new ideas. I tried to talk my DIL's into using a pressure cooker to make a fast meal after work, but they are scared stiff of the things. So great to come home and throw a frozen beef roast in the pressure cooker and have the meat done in 1/2 hours or so. Can have freezer hash browns, french fries, salad, etc and a quick meal that is tasty. I have even added the potatoes and carrots in with the frozen meat and it still turns out good. Add rutabagas and sweet potatoes for a different taste experience.

Waiting for recipes. Irish

[olmphoto2]

Thanks for starting this thread, Irish.  I'll be watching. 

[Linda196]

Oh how I miss my pressure cooker! Grew up with Mom using it several times a week, but my MIL is terrified of them, and passed it on to her son, so no pressure cooker in our house. I'm seeing a new version on the market with an amazing locking system, maybe I can get that and call it an increased atmosphere cooker or something LOL

One of my favourite meals from Mom's repertoire was what we lovingly called pressure cooker junk! She browned balls of ground beef  (not technically meatballs, no spices or added ingredients) in the bottom, covered them with sliced onions, put in the slotted plate thingy (her technical name) and piled peeled potatoes and carrots on top. Preparation took longer than cooking, and letting the pressure drop, with that wonderful smell filling the kitchen, took longest of all. Thicken the gravy and you're eating!

In the early summer, when the first green beans (string or runner beans in other areas) came on the market, she would fill the crockpot with them and some small new potatoes, little bit of water and some butter and cook them down.... she could probably eat the pot full, but she did share.

Thanks, Irish, for bring such great memories to mind this morning 

[Velcro]

Ok, don't shoot me.  I never thought of using a pressure cooker to actually cook things!  My memories of pressure cookers is canning everything under the sun with Mom and Grandma.

[Bucky]

Velcro - I'm with you, I didn't know you could COOK in a pressure cooker, I thought they were only used for canning purposes.

When I hear the word "pressure cooker" all I can envision is them exploding.  I guess my mom used one to can, but I don't remember it.  I just remember always hearing of them not locking right and causing a mess.

So great to come home and throw a frozen beef roast in the pressure cooker and have the meat done in 1/2 hours or so.

Irish, you can cook a FROZEN piece of meat in half-an-hour?  WOW!

I think I'll stick with my crock pot, but will be watching this thread to see about some recipes.

Bucky

[irish]

I mis typed---have to cook a frozen piece of meat in about 1 1/2 hour. I yype worse as I age!!!!

Also, I use the big cu anner these past years to cook up sweet corn. I husk and wash the sweet corn and place it in the canner and place the 2 qts of water as suggested. Bring it to 10 pounds of heat and then let it cook for about 10 minutes or so. Let it cool down ( I use a fork to gently let the pressure gauge go down) and then take the cover off carefully so you don't burn yourself. I have run the sink full of cold water and use a tong to place the hot corn cobs in the sink to cool. Let them sit a ferw minutes and palce on a plate and the heat from the corn will dry the water off the corn. Serve.

When we are done eating I have a lot of corn left that I just cut off the cob and place in freezer bags and freeze. This is the lazy woman's way to freeze corn. Not as good as some ways, but if you add a little sugar and butter and water when you heat up the corn later it is good enough.

Linda, I have one of those new canners with the "lock systems" and they are virtually explosion proof and so easy to use. I love it. A canner doesn't explode unless you don't follow directions and don't watch it. You need to stay in the kitchen when it is being used and watch the gauge(if it has a gauge) and with the smaller ones they say to allow the heat to be only hot enough to have a certain amount of jiggles of the (plug--whatever it is called) per minute. If it jiggles wild and crazy you need to get it off the heat immediately. Turn the heat up to 5 or so until it starts jiggling and then turn it down to 4 and then down to 3. Listen to the jiggles to ascertain how hot it is getting.

If you don't put the right amount of water in it you can have problems. Have to read the literature that comes with it. Good luck. Irish

[Linda196]

Sounds good to me Irish, I'm going to start the learning process with hubby! Calling it a canner may help, too. I don't really understand their fear of them, my MIL never saw one blow up, just didn't trust them. We never had the "jiggler" one, Mom's all had the little weighted dome cap with the piston that lifted during cooking to expose coloured rings, blue for low heat, yellow for medium and red for "don't let it get any hotter".

She did manage one funny "explosion" with hers, got impatient for the green beans once and tried slowly lifting the weight, but she wasn't slow enough and as it came off, a bean pushed up through the opening and hit the ceiling, but that opened the vent and no more problems.

[Katybarstool]

Irish and Linda

Your recipes sound yummy.

I don't use a pressure cooker any more - not since I put the safety valve in the wrong way and perforated my eardrums and the dog's eardrums when it exploded! That was 38 years ago, but it still puts me off. I do use a slow-cooker, or crock pot though.

Kathyx