Pressure cooking

Cafe Society
1

So, I recently got my pressure cooker out and gave it another try. The chicken and fish that came out of it were surprisingly tender and tasty.
This is a thread for sharing cooking tips when using a pressure cooker.

Do you have any tricks you’ve learned about pressure cooking?

Do you know any good recipes using a pressure cooker?

If instead of putting water into the pressure cooker, I put a diluted sauce, would that cause a safety issue? Would that fail to cook the meal? Would the diluted sauce effectively get into the meal and leave its flavor?
The user manual says that when I take the pressure cooker off the oven, I can either leave it alone for 15 minutes or run it under water to cool it and make internal pressure go down. Does pouring lukewarm or even cold water present a long term hazard and risk of critical failure, since I’m taking a very warm object and quickly putting it into contact with cold water?

2

I’ve used a pressure cooker for years. And rapid cooling doesn’t interfere with flavor or cause critical failure, IME. And I often substitute flavored liquids for water in the recipes.

I’ve made pot roasts, stews, chowders, spaghetti sauces, soups, saurbraten, vegetable dishes, and more. I prefer the programmable types of cookers where you tell it how long to cook it at pressure, it brings the pressure up, holds it there, then shuts down itself. But I’ve cooked with the oldstyle ones with the weights on top, where if you knock that off, you have the food all over the ceiling.

Rather than list a bunch of recipes I’ve used, let me know what particular dishes you’d like to try and I’ll share how I’ve gone about it if I’m able.

3

I generally avoid carbs and concentrate on meat (especially lean like chicken and fish) and vegetables. What are your favorite recipes along those lines?

I don’t have a programmable cooker nor am I using a style as old as the one you describe. It looks about like this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UGmpj0c4lr4/TC8NeEa-lCI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/2mqT1uZTUWE/s1600/pres.jpg
Will typical plates crack when used in a pressure cooker?

4

I just made a great key lime cheesecake in my pressure cooker. My sister does tons of pressure cooking, including canning of fruits, veggies and meats.

StG

5

If the cooking time for, say, pork sausages, is 8 minutes and I leave them for 12 minutes or more, what happens? Does the meat get dry?

6

I’ve been using mine lately for beans, trying to wean myself off canned beans. Dried beans are WAY tastier, but sometimes I’m looking for a quick dinner, and the pressure cooker can do 'em in 25 minutes or so. So far, so good. It’s worked well, and though I can slightly tell the difference between cooking them traditionally versus the pressure cooker, the pressure-cooked ones are plenty good.

I have one similar to MichaelEmouse, though without the long handle. I’ve never had a problem with it exploding or doing anything other than cooking the way it’s supposed to.

7

I would guess it would dry out.

But I gotta question pork sausages in a pressure cooker to begin with - they don’t take much longer than 10 minutes or so to poach in a pan with water. Why would you pressure cook them?

8

I don’t know if they would crack or not, but I’d say they’d burn the loving shit out you trying to get them out. Also, why in the name of reason would you be putting a plate into a pressure cooker?

There are multiple awesome cookbooks devoted to use of a pressure cooker, I suggest you go to your local library and see if they have any in their collection.

9

any water cooler than the inside of the cooker will cool it. if you have an electric stove top then moving it off the hot burner/element will help it cool faster. water will not hurt, though you have to handle a hot pot with some weight (use both handles) and if you dislodge the steam regulator weight then you will have a steam release.

over filling the cooker with small food like beans or rice is not good. maybe no more than 3/4 full is my recall.

liquid it the cooker becomes steam. you need enough volume to account for that. it will vary with the size of the cooker. also the absorbency of the contents will also affect the amount of water needed.

10

I’m guessing to raise the food out of the liquid maybe? I’ve used a trivet for that purpose.

11

many large cookers will have a raised metal platform with holes. this is useful for canning to keep the jars from touching a hot spot that might occur on the pan bottom on high heat.

12

Holy cats, QtM, sauerbraten? Yum. I don’t have a pressure cooker (yet), but I’d really love to see that recipe/method, if you have the time.

13

Yeah, I can’t see any good reason to do pork sausages in a pressure cooker. In 20 minutes you can do them with less hassle any of a number of normal methods. I generally like to cook mine slowly poaching them in a gentle simmer (bring water to boiling, then drop heat until it’s simmering) for about 10 minutes, and then browning them on a grill or greased hot cast iron pan. You don’t want to cook them too aggressively so that they burst. I would think that pressure cooking would cause them to burst and 8 minutes under pressure plus 12 minutes out would be far too long. In my experience, most people overcook sausages or cook them over too high a heat, causing them to burst and leak their juices and fat all over the place, making them dry and mealy.

14

My family likes beans and rice. Can you make both together in a pressure cooker? I have one, but have absolutely no experience using one and am a little intimidated. Can someone give me a good, first-time, foolproof recipe to try to give my confidence a boost?

15

I don’t think you could do beans and rice together - the rice cooks much faster than the beans. I just use the cooker to do basic beans, and do the rice separately.

16

The main safety issue is if you have it full (I’m not sure the recommended fill amount, probably less than half full is fine) with something thick that could get into the pressure valve and clog it – either a thick sauce, or small object.
I did it once with a big load of (probably slightly overcooked by then end) beans, and a bean skin came off and covered the pressure valve. Luckily the pot had a smart design where the rubber gasket was designed to deform and automatically blow out at excessive pressures, so I only had to clean up a small section around the pot, rather than picking shrapnel out of the walls.

17

Any good recipes to share with me, Athena? gets off knees

I remember my former husband’s grandmother made killer mashed potatoes in the pressure cooker, but I don’t know how she did it other than just turn it on. I think I recall her saying she whipped the cooking water into the potatoes, perhaps in addition to milk.

18

Well, I was gonna post one with my first reply, but it seemed you wanted a one-pot beans and rice dish, and mine’s definitely not that. But here 'tis:

Pressure-cooked black beans (probably works with other beans as well, add a little more time for larger beans like pintos)

1 cup beans, picked over and rinsed. I don’t soak them.
4 cups water
A couple cloves garlic
2 t. salt
Any other aromatics or spices you feel like throwing in. Last time I put in a chipotle.

Put it all in the pressure cooker, bring to full pressure (read your cooker’s instruction manual for how to do this, it varies), cook for 26 minutes for black beans. I’d go 28 or 30 for pintos.

Meanwhile, cook up some rice. I like aged basmati, but whatever you like is fine.

Dice an onion, saute in lard in a big pan. Or if you’re lard-adverse, use oil. Throw in some garlic. When the beans are done, drain them and add to the pan with the onions/garlic.

Now, the fun part. You’re looking to add 3 things here - liquid to make a gravy-like substance, spice or other flavorings - because spice is good, and acid - because acid is also good.

So liquids. Here’s my go-tos, add one or more of the following:

  • a can of tomatoes. Adds liquid and acid, plus yummy tomatoes
  • a jar/can of salsa. Liquid AND spice.
  • beer. You might not need a whole bottle, so you get to drink the rest. Always a plus.
  • chicken stock, if you have some lying around
  • anything else you have lying around that sounds good. I’ve added marinara, or leftover enchilada sauce, or a bit of juice left over from braising something.

Spice: Once again, add one or more of the following:

  • Salsa (as mentioned above.) Heck, in a pinch, salsa is ALL I add. It works great.
  • Curry, for an Indian flavor
  • Cayenne if you are brave
  • Tabasco or other hot sauce
  • diced fresh jalepenos or other hot peppers. Or bell peppers, if that’s more your style

Acid: You want something acidic in this to balance out the starchiness of the beans and rice.

  • a squeeze of lemon/lime
  • the aforementioned canned tomatoes
  • vinegar, in a pinch

Also good stuff to add: frozen corn or fresh tomatoes (diced). Or any veggy, really. If I’m feeling in a healthy way, I add whatever veggies I find in the fridge.

Meat’s also good. I tend to have chorizo or leftover carnitas in the freezer, I often add some of that. With meat, a little goes a long way, you don’t need much. Leftover roast chicken is good, too. Heck, anything is good. I’ve thrown scallops and andouille in and it makes it into a semi-cajun type of dish. If you went with the curry, you could throw peas in and it’s semi-Indian.

Once everything is in the pot, give it a stir. Add more liquid or even water if it’s too dry. Serve over rice, with some or all of the following condiments: Cilantro, cheese, diced onion, corn, more hot sauce, limes.

Well, there you have it, that’s the Athena Way of Beans and Rice. Sorry it’s not more recipe-ish, but Beans and Rice is definitely a throw-together, whatever-I-can-find-in-the-fridge kind of meal. And it’s hard to really mess up.

19

Bless you.

20

a pressure cooker should have a safety valve/plug/device that is separate from the pressure regulation device. so that if the regulation valve port gets plugged another method is there to release the pressure.

beans are a problem item and good to not fuller than the directions say.

also once the cooker is up to temperature you can reduce the heat to just maintain the pressure. any more heat is wasted. too high heat also churns the contents too much and throws small bits like bean skins all around inside the cooker.