Any Pressure Cooker fans?

[Chil1234]

I'll admit, my childhood experience of my mother's old pressure cooker with its wobbly weight on top, hissing away bad-temperedly like an unexploded bomb, put me right off buying one for decades. :) But, after reading an article by Heston Blumenthal about the wonders of cooking under pressure, I was persuaded and bought myself one.

No wobbly weights or hissing valves in the latest models I was pleased to find. And, you know, he was totally right about pressure cooking keeping in a lot more of the flavour. Haven't bothered using it for delicate things like veggies because they steam beautifully in next to no time anyway. But I've had some good results with casseroles, soups and especially stock

Anyone else a convert?

Yes - had one years and years and Santa brought the electric Jamie Oliver one - which I love, you just brown the meat in it add stock/veg etc and tell it how long and away it goes. then when its finished it slowly releases the steam and keep it warm. I also love my slow cooker but not used it since Xmas

I am watching this thread as after years of my putting it on my Christmas list, my partner's granny finally bought me a pressure cooker. I haven't had time to read the instructions yet, and I don't want to end up like her with the lid punching a hole in the ceiling!

(My first biscuit!) Better have something with it

My mother's old Prestige pressure cooker did actually punch a hole in the ceiling once! My dad was heating up some soup and I don't know what happened next but it was bloody messy. The one I bought has a button that rises as the pressure builds, drops as the pressure drops and you can't physically open the lid until it's totally flat.

Yes - soup , stew etc love it .......

I am too scarred by the memories of my mother's 1970's one, that was a ^^ deathtrap

yes they are great and I think much better at tenderising slow cook type meat than a slow cooker and they do it faster too.

Also had a childhood incident with a pressure cooker which involved the police!!

I'm a recent convert. I love mine. It saves so much time. I don't have the temperament for a slow cooker but pressure cooker is a huge time saver. It also saves money because cheaper cuts of meat suddenly become viable and desirable. And the modern ones don't explode any more.

My favorite uses:
Boiled potatoes (done in about 10 minutes)
Any soup that has potatoes in them
Risotto (proper Italian, also less than 10 minutes)
Meat stews (tough, cheap cuts become lovely)
Ragu for spaghetti bolognese (30mins, and it tastes like I had been slaving at the stove for 4-5 hours)
Chicken tagines

This Australian book is an amazing resource if you are just getting started and yummy and stylish to look at to boot.

Eeek eek! I have just got down my new Prestige pressure cooker to carefully read instructions, (SexyDomesticatedDab - you are going to have to tell us about the police) and now I find my partner has thrown the instruction booklet away! Kitchens shop are going to see if they can find a spare copy FOR HIM TO PICK UP, I don't care what meetings he's got today.
So cross, as inspired by DonaAna and Chili I was really looking forward to trying out a cheap cuts of meat stew.

Dh swears by it - cooks red beans in it to make rice and 'peas'. My problem is that it steams up our wall hung kitchen units which are near to the hob and you can see warping

If steam is escaping maggiethecat, perhaps it's time for some new seals?... Mine emits a little bit to start with but, when the valve activates and the pressure builds, not a lot else escapes.

My Lakeland one is buggered. I have only had it a few weeks too, so have written to their customer service people (who are absolutely fab).

Politixmum - can't you download a coyp of the instructions from their website?

www.ehow.com/how_7833748_prestige-pressure-cooker-instructions.html
www.manualsonline.com/mdownloads/5daf1da1-cf6c-4a8d-a09e-b685d1d6b6e2.pdf

wa-hey!

Chili it's a brand new Prestige one - I'm wondering if he's using it correctly....

I don't think he can be. The steam is meant to stay inside so that the pressure builds, it cooks at a very high heat and you don't lose any of the flavour.

On mine you have to lock the lid to a 'closed' position with a button on the handle. When you boil the contents you get a small jet of steam out of a valve on the lid which suddenly stops as the valve shuts off and the pressure builds up. Barely any steam escapes after this point and the pan contents don't reduce as they might with conventional cooking. If I leave the thing set to 'open' by mistake then the valve doesn't activate and all I'm doing is using the pressure cooker as a big old pan.

I'd suggest reading the instructions again. If you're doing it by the book and steam is still billowing out enough to damage kitchen units then you'd have to see if the seals were damaged. In which case, get them replaced because it would be dangerous.

Another thought.... when the pan gets to pressure, does he turn the hob down low? If you have the hob too high you can get steam escaping through a safety valve. Sometimes you even have to turn the hob off when it gets to pressure so that it doesn't overheat.

Or is he releasing the steam "quickly" using the valve thingy ? That would create tons of steam very quickly ? IIRC you can stick the cooker under the cold tap and run cold water on it instead.

Useful comments. I think he has high heat on when he uses it. But seriously, there is a constant jet of steam escaping and I just assumed that's how it should be. I should add that dh does things his own way and often ignores instructions in favour of his better judgment .

I'll have a read of manual myself!

DonanAna please share your risotto recipe ! Off to make split pea soup (15mins in pressure cooker).

Chil - any chance you can link to the Heston article?

I have bad memories of my mothers pressurecooker - very overcooked vegetables and tough wobbly meat. once we were forced to eat a mutton and cabbage stew and it was vile.
but then my mother is not a good cook at all.

Could you do Chilli in one? I have had one gathering dust in the larder for about 7 years, never been brave enough to work out how to start it up!

Heston Blumenthal This was the one I read. I thought that if a bloke at the vanguard of good cooking was enthusiastic I ought to give it a try.

Yes Chilli is fabulous. You can even use braising steak diced small instead of mince and it's all meltingly gorgeous in about 30 minutes flat. Use less liquid than in a conventional recipe as the pressure cooker doesn't let any moisture boil away.

I do chilli all the time in mine, I make huge pots of ragu ready for Chilli/Lasagne/Spag Bol ...

Thanks Chil

Moo, the basic technique for Italian-approved risotto in pressure cooker can be found here. The Suzanne Gibbs book has a great basic recipe, too - well worth buying for just that one recipe IMO. My cooker requires 6 minutes on high pressure (undercook rather than overcook - you can keep stirring after releasing the pressure it if the rice is too al dente). My ingredients:

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• a handful of frozen wild mushrooms / soaked porcini
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• a couple of tbsp fresh parsley

* soften these for a minute or two in olive oil*

• 250 ml arborio rice
• a splash of marsala, sherry, Noilly Prat or the white wine you will be drinking
• 500 ml (or a bit more) chicken broth

* pressurize the cooker & cook for 6-7 min on high, then release pressure*

• a big chunk of parmigiano reggiano or grana padano cheese
• salt & black pepper to taste

* stir these in, perhaps a knob of butter too*

wahwahwah thanks for the link. Managed to get the Prestige people, who immediately emailed me a PDF copy of the instructions.

Now I need help as I carefully followed instructions (reading from my netbook as DP having guilt-strickenly printed them out left them in his office), yet the simple potatoes I cooked as recommended remained hard and undercooked.

I did add some extra bits of swede (thinking we would have lovely neeps and tatties). The booklet says if you cut them up to the same size they will all cook in the same time, is that not right? Should I have put more water in? I put in about 450 g of potatoes and 450 g of swedes all cut into 25 g pieces, with 300 ml of water. Steam seemed to be coming gently from the lid and there was a loud bubbling sound from inside so I turned heat down just a little and then cooked for 5 minutes before doing a quick cool down.

Advice please! I am really keen to get into pressure cooking.