No, just a heavy/thick, usually cast-iron pot. (I can’t think of any that are not cast-iron, but I don’t think they’re limited to this material.) This is a typical one. You can use them on the stovetop or in the oven. I generally slow cook in them (3+ hours), either on the stovetop over low heat, or in the oven @ 325. They are very good for even distribution of heat and keeping the moisture in. I basically use them anywhere I would use a slow cooker. They are also great for making no-knead bread.
Is this the texture of pudding or more like baked custard? I love baked custard but don’t do it very often because it takes so long to cook. Could you share the technique?
I believe it’s called a “Dutch Oven” because it’s not really an oven (q.v. “Dutch Treat”, “Dutch Courage”, ect). You can use it as though it were an oven, however, if you want to cook biscuits on a campfire.
I did mashed potatoes last night- quartered six russet potatoes, half cup of water, five minutes to get to pressure, six minutes at pressure, quick release. Added milk, butter, salt and mashed in the pressure cooker pot. They were creamy and fluffy and I didn’t have to heat and dump quarts of water.
You can also make great cheesecakes in your pressure cooker. I don’t know that it’s any faster, but there’s no cracked crust and it comes out very smooth. I have a Fagor 4 adn 8 quart combi (same lid fits on both bases), which is about 9" in diameter. An 8" springform pan fits in there just fine. Instead of using the stupid triangular trivet, I put a copper cookie cutter in the bottom adn rest the springform pan on that. Make sure you cover your springform pan (including the top) in aluminum foil.
StG
'zackly.
I’m skeered.
It is safe. It cannot explode. It has multiple safety valves and cannot be opened under pressure. If the pressure release valve get clogged there are two others to vent the pressure.
Sold!
The day this thread started I picked up 2 books of pressure cooker recipes from the library. I’m ready now to give it a try.
Any advice on choosing one?
Yes, everybody’s mother or grandmother, or aunt, or next door neighbor’s best friend’s hairdresser’s cousin’s mechanic’s girlfriend’s roommate’s godfather’s daughter’s lesbian lover’s field hockey team captain’s therapist’s mother had a pressure cooker that exploded. The lid always hits the ceiling and there is food all over the place and they thought a bomb went off in the kitchen. Somehow I think it doesn’t actually happen that often since all commercial models built for at least 50 years (probably 100 years or more) have multiple pressure relief systems.
Also, they wouldn’t be using it right anyway. Once a pressure cooker is up to pressure, the heat should be turned down to the point where steam is just escaping to maintain that pressure level. Otherwise the problem would be overfilling the cooker causing food to jam the release valves. Many are made of aluminum so that the pot will deform under enough pressure allowing steam to escape before catastropic failure.
Little neck clams work great in a pressure cooker. Bring the cooker up to pressure them remove from the heat until it stops hissing. The littlenecks will be perfectly done.
Well, my preference was for an electric one so I didn’t have to fuss with managing the heat level. Plus, I have an electric stove, which doesn’t regulate heat as quickly. The downside is that it doesn’t get to as high pressure, so foods cook a bit slower than on a stove top model.
I bought the Cuisinart 1200PC 6 qt as Costco. Fagor is another good brand. These were the two brands I was deciding between, but when the Cuisinart was right there and cheap, I was sold.
I grabbed the Fagor Splendid 10 qt pressure cooker/canner because I do canning as well. 6 or 8 quarts is fine for most people’s needs. Fagor is good because they have stainless steel pans, making it much less likely to scorch more delicate/less liquid dishes.
Edit: Massive pressure cooker site, with recommendations of different pans and breakdowns of the material they’re made of, etc.
Dinner update: Jasmine rice- 2 minutes to pressure, 3 minutes at pressure, 7 minutes with natural release, then quick release and done. Easy peasy and no 'splosions.
ETA: The site linked to above is good, but Miss Vickie does seem to have a an anti-electric cooker bias, at least in my past reading of her site.