Can anyone tell me about pressure cookers?

[RamblingRosa]

I've seen one for £20 at Argos and I was thinking about buying it but I'm not entirely sure what they can be used for. I'm veggie so I wouldn't be making any meat stews. I was thinking it might be good for cooking dried pulses which take forever to boil. Someone told me you can make great curries in them. Do you have one and what do you use it for? Is it worth getting one?

Having said that, my sister had one years ago and the food tasted "different". Not horrible or anything, but definitely different. Perhaps it was her cooking.

Ha ha! Does your sister's cooking taste different in general or just when it's in done in the pressure cooker ?

PS. we seem to be hanging around the same threads...just saw you in pedants' corner

Sorry, had to go on the school run.

No, my sister's cooking tastes different when done in the pressure cooker. Can't quite describe it, but it definitely tastes different. We can tell when dinner has been done this way.

I will wait to see if anyone else has noticed this.

I've got one.

I use it without pressure for soups just because it is big enough to make double quantities.

With pressure, I use it for meat stews, steaming veg, steaming fish (salmon fillets take about 5 minutes instead of 20 in the oven), veggie stews.

Curries must taste good in them because all my Indian relatives rely on them heavily but I've never tried.

Thanks Otherside. So is everything quicker in them?

Yes, for example my veggie stew, I fry the leeks etc first then once I've added the carrots, potatoes etc, it takes about 5 mins for the pressure to come up and then another 5 minutes to cook. But you can't just add things in easily so I have had to get used to cutting the cauliflower the right size so that it hasn't completely disintegrated by the time the potatoes are cooked!

My Dad uses his for dried pulses.

That's really quick! Thanks. I might get one.