In the Pressure Cooker!

[John in Covina]

I was wondering if many of the Loungers either currently use or recall family or friends using a pressure cooker for preparing family meals. My mom & dad got one for a wedding present from my dad's aunt in 1950 and as a kid my mom made amny fine meals in that thing. It was big - bigger than most i have seen lately, rounded and had a seperate weight for over the steam nozzle port thingy. My mom would cook and the weight would dance making a great shoosha-shoosha noise. From pork chops with potatoes and kraut to some awesome pot roasts. That thing made some fine cooked meals. Smoked butt with winter veggies - top notch.

Anyone else recall the pressure cooker?

 

[I Adore Film Noir]

This looks familiar:

Boy, did I hate that thing, it was so noisy and I was always waiting for it to explode.

I don't think Mom liked it much, either, she didn't use it often.

 

[Salty O'Rourke]

My mom used one, more for canning than cooking although I recall her preparing pot roasts in it if time was of the essence. I had one right after I finished college and struck out on my own, but haven't used one in years.

 

[Gregg Axley]

I have an old one, and an electric one.
The electric one (from Presto) is much safer. LOL
In fact I used it Christmas Eve, to finish cooking a beef brisket I smoked for over an hour.
Chili, stew, chicken breasts, and especially roast beef, all of it comes out good and in half the time.

 

[Wally_Hood]

This was a staple appliance when I growing up. Tough cuts of steak would be cooked up to a more tender quality. I thought pressure cookers had been outlawed or something. Replaced by modern convenience prepared foods, perhaps...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Colonel Sanders built his entire fortune on a pressure cooker.

 

[Gregg Axley]

This was a staple appliance when I growing up. Tough cuts of steak would be cooked up to a more tender quality. I thought pressure cookers had been outlawed or something. Replaced by modern convenience prepared foods, perhaps...

LSS, my wife and I both work, and when we get home neither one of us wants to cook.
One of us has to be the adult, and fix something.
To be serious, I have numerous counter top appliances for this very reason, (rotissere, nuwave oven, pressure cooker) and I have pages and pages of recipes for each appliance, depending on the meal I want to fix.
The most amount of time a meal takes? 1hr (for roast), all others 30 minutes start to finish.
The pressure cooker has it's advantages, such as tenderizing tough meat, and not drying it out. Then again, unless you sear the meat (chicken, pork, and beef) it comes out "greyish." So I sear boneless skinless chicken breasts on all sides, then put it in the pressure cooker
for 12 minutes to make chicken sandwiches. Throw in a few ingredients I have written down, and you have a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, minus the frying. Yes the Col made his fortune in a pressure cooker, but from what I remember reading it was more of a pressure fryer. Those are commercial for the most part. With a home pressure cooker, you never want to attempt to fry something in it, unless you want the lid wedged in your ceiling. :eeek:
While I was reluctant at first to use one, now I try to cook in it at least once a week, including a few successful attempts at making cheesecake in it.
Looks like this one...

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[John in Covina]

Colonel Sanders built his entire fortune on a pressure cooker.

The idea of deep frying under pressure is a wild one. A friend of mine told me of a girlfriend he had at college whos' brother had his face swiped off when the lid blew off one of them at the KFC he worked at. They reconstructed his face but his sister said he never really looked they way he did before the accident.

 

[Gregg Axley]

That's why they don't sell one of these friers for home use.
With the model I have, I'm sure you could remove the lid while it's pressurized, but you'd need the build of a professional wrestler to do it.

 

[Stanley Doble]

When I make chili I laugh at danger, though death is my co pilot and the devil dances on my pressure regulator.

LOL not really. I am a fan of the pressure cooker, and use mine regularly. In 40 years have never had a fatality.

I like mine best for soups, stews, and boiled vegetables especially hard to cook ones like beans, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets, rutabagas.

Beans and ham hocks, bean soup, chili, beef and barley, beef stew are all a breeze. I can step in the kitchen door with a sack of groceries in my arms and be sitting down to home made beef stew in 45 minutes.

 

[Gregg Axley]

When I make chili I laugh at danger, though death is my co pilot and the devil dances on the pressure regulator.

LOL not really. I am a fan of the pressure cooker, and use mine regularly. In over 40 years have never had a fatality.

I like mine best for soups, stews, and boiled vegetables especially hard to cook ones like beans, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets, rutabagas.

Beans and ham hocks, bean soup, chili, beef and barley, beef stew are all a breeze. I can step in the kitchen door with a sack of groceries in my arms and be sitting down to home made beef stew in 45 minutes.

Vegetables? What are those?
Great post btw and very true. In fact I'm going to start using it more to save time. Now if I can get the wife to eat stews and soups, I'll be set.

 

[Stanley Doble]

A winter time favorite is boiled vegetables. Put the rack in the bottom of the pressure cooker with a cup or 2 of water. Fill with whole potatoes, carrots, parsnips, or a cut up rutabaga if you like rutabagas. Add 2 stalks of celery cut in 2" pieces, and 2 or 3 whole onions for flavor. Top with 1/4 head of cabbage. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes with regulator rocking.

Serve with corned beef, or just the vegetables by themselves.

There are all kinds of vegetable soup recipes too. One of my favorite soups, and one you don't hear of often, is red lentil soup with smoked sausage.

Red lentils, 2 carrots sliced, 2 stalks celery, an onion, 2 OXO cubes beef flavor or vegetable stock. 3 or 4 smoked sausages. A delicious soup, the smoked sausage really makes the flavor. I like to add some Tabasco or hot sauce and Maggi as well.

 

[Stanley Doble]

The slow cooker and the pressure cooker produce similar dishes but with the pressure cooker you don't have to wait all day, it cooks most dishes in 10 - 15 minutes. At high altitudes it is a great time saver because water boils at a lower temperature and it takes things forever to cook. Not in a pressure cooker.

 

[RegentSt1965]

I remember my Mum and my Gran using one. It was reguarly used to make most of cheap cuts and save on fuel. Always seemed like a time bomb to me as a kid - didnt stop me seeing how much play I could get on the valve before I let all the pressure out though.

 

[okbrewer]

I have a Cuisinart electric pressure cooker that I use quite often. It's great for cooking rice, quick! Last night I took a Tri-tip that I had smoked on Sunday, and put it in the pressure cooker with some sliced onions and beef stock. Cooked it under pressure for 30 minutes and let the pressure subside while I made some savory cheese waffles. The meat fell apart like I wanted, I thickened the sauce and served over the waffles. MMMM!

I also use the pressure cooker when I make tomato sauce from whole tomatoes. I've cooked with mine quite a bit. It's a good time saver and also infuses flavor into whatever is being cooked, and the electric ones are safe and easy to use.

Bob R in OKC

 

[Stanley Doble]

A winter time favorite is boiled vegetables. Put the rack in the bottom of the pressure cooker with a cup or 2 of water. Fill with whole potatoes, carrots, parsnips, or a cut up rutabaga if you like rutabagas. Add 2 stalks of celery cut in 2" pieces, and 2 or 3 whole onions for flavor. Top with 1/4 head of cabbage. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes with regulator rocking.

Serve with corned beef, or just the vegetables by themselves.

There are all kinds of vegetable soup recipes too. One of my favorite soups, and one you don't hear of often, is red lentil soup with smoked sausage.

Red lentils, 2 carrots sliced, 2 stalks celery, an onion, 2 OXO cubes beef flavor or vegetable stock. 3 or 4 smoked sausages. A delicious soup, the smoked sausage really makes the flavor. I like to add some Tabasco or hot sauce and Maggi as well.

Forgot the tomatoes. In the lentil soup, add a 19 oz can of crushed or chopped tomatoes.

 

[Cody Pendant]

linguine

Mom cooked Tongue! Pealed and cooled and sliced for sandwiches!
Yum!:eusa_clap

 

[gonnabeadoc]

My mother used one for canning. The only time I ever saw it used for anything else was to quickly cook a roast for last minute guests. The roast would usually go into the slow cooker, but I came out just as tender from the pressure cooker. And in much less time.

 

[stevew443]

I use a pressure cooker quite often to prepare chuck roast. I get the most inexpensive roast I can find and let it cook for an hour and the meat comes out so tender that it can be cut only with a fork. I am looking to replace my pressure cooker with one that is much smaller.

I also remember back in the late 70's or early 80's there was a pressure fryer on the market to make fried chicken. I had one and used it a couple of times, but it scared me way too much to use often.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Having that oil under pressure, is what turned Col. Sanders hair white.

I've been using mine lately, to cook green beans with smoked paprika.
Gives them a smoky flavor, without adding bacon.
I know...bacon goes with everything, but sometimes extra fat doesn't go with anything at my house!