Pressure Cookers – what's cooking?

[nickrey]

jayt90 mentioned upthread cooking seafood in the pressure cooker so when I made risotto last night, I just added a few frozen shrimp as an experiment. I ran some water over them for about a minute or two so they were partially defrosted when I added them.

I was afraid that they would be overdone but in the end they were just right and had a good texture. In addition to the shrimp, the risotto had onion & shallots, lemon confit, dry vermouth, arugula, parsley and plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano.

The rice was a mixture of arborio, carnaroli, and a third variety, in an effort to clean up my pantry. Probably a heresy, but it came out great.

I don't defrost them at all. Bury them in the resting risotto as you add the cheese (and butter, if used) and the residual heat will both defrost and cook them to a perfect al dente texture.

Edited July 27, 2012 by nickrey (log)

[ChrisTaylor]

Nice things to say about Fagor's service, at least in Australia. So. Day two or so of having my 6L Fagor. Set the pot part aside to air dry while I took care of other dishes. And boom. The pot slips onto the tiled floor and the handle snaps off, meaning I'm unable to lock the lid in place. Stupidity, on my part. Yeah. I emailed Fagor and, maybe because I said outright I was happy to pay for a new handle (~$10 plus postage), they posted one out within a few days. Nice. I'll try not to turn this one into a dozen black plastic shards on my kitchen floor.

[haresfur]

I've been working on a white-bean chicken chili that I'm getting pretty happy with. I've been using black-eyed beans but any white bean would do. I'm sure the taste profile could be adjusted but for the purpose of this thread I think it is a nicely efficient use of the pressure cooker. The procedure is:

Take one whole chicken, remove legs/thighs and wings for a separate dish and put the rest in the pressure cooker and cover with water. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Crash cool and remove the chicken. Add 2 cups beans to the broth and pressure cook on high for 25 minutes. While the beans are cooking take white meat off the chicken and shred with forks. Slow cool the beans (or get impatient after a while and crash cool). Drain water to level of beans but reserve to add if needed later. Add chicken, 1 cup chopped onion, 4 jalapenos chopped (or more - family compromises, you know), a green capsicum (or red) chopped, cumin, salt, pepper to taste. and simmer about an hour. Serve with sour cream or shredded white cheese and cilantro.

I haven't experimented with pressure cooking after adding the chicken back to the beans because I worry about making mush.

[bonkboo]

Hi all,

I'm looking for new pressure cooker recipes/ideas. I've done some of the MCAH and the Carrot Soup recipe. I've also done stocks. Often I've used it to speed short ribs and the such when time constrained. The other day, I was listening to the first lecture in the 2012 Harvard Cooking and Science series with Harold McGee and Dave Arnold. Dave was talking about doing a mustard seed thing, and how the pressure cooker treats garlic smelling souls differently. And I realized that while I enjoy hippressurecooking.com when I have basic questions, I'm looking for ideas on taking it to the next level.

Any ideas?

Edited February 12, 2013 by bonkboo (log)

[pazzaglia]

Bonkboo,

Go to Ideas In Food and type "pressure cooker" in the little search box on the right.

I like to browse their recipes with Google image search (I'm very visual). So use this google link, too.

Prepare to have mind blown.

Ciao,

L

[Mjx]

An eG forum search for 'pressure' brings up a good handful of discussions, including the Pressure Cookers - what's cooking? topic.

[bonkboo]

Thanks, folks. I'm going to check these out. I hope to report back on some good stuff.

[BrooksNYC]

Many decades ago, I had a Risotto Primavera at Harry's Bar in Venice that was so good I've never forgotten it. Googling turned up the following:

=========================================

Risotto Primavera Harry's Bar
Serves 6

THE VEGETABLES
1 clove of garlic
4 oz (115 g) mushroom heads thinly sliced
3 small artichokes cleaned and sliced
2 small zucchini cut into small cubes
6 asparagus cut into ¾ inch strips
¼ red bell pepper cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small spring onion (only the white part -- about 1 inch, diced)
1 TB diced onion
1 TB olive oil
Salt and pepper

THE RISOTTO
10 oz. (250 g) Arborio Superfino rice
2 quarts chicken broth
1½ cups white wine (an Old World Chardonnay)
1 small onion (sliced and diced)
4 TB (45 g) butter
3 oz. (80 g) finely grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

PREPARE THE VEGETABLES
Mince the garlic. Heat the skillet over medium-low heat. Sauté garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Remove the garlic and add the sliced mushrooms. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes until they have lost their liquid. Add the artichokes. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the diced onion and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add the zucchini, the asparagus, the bell pepper and the spring onion. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring often for 10 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust accordingly. Set aside the vegetable mix.

MAKE THE RISOTTO
Melt 3 TB butter in a heavy pot over medium high heat. Add the diced onion to the pot and sweat the onions until transparent.

Add the rice. Stir the rice into the butter and onions coating the rice for about 1 minute. Pour the wine into the rice and stir quickly for 1 minute. Add 1 ladle of broth. When the broth begins to boil check the timer. It will now take 22 minutes to cook the rice. As the broth evaporates add another ladle of broth. Stir constantly the rice. Continue until the 15 minutes has passed.

Add the vegetable mixture and cook everything for an additional 7 minutes. Turn off the heat. Stir in the remaining 1 TB of butter and the Parmesan cheese. Let rice sit for 1 minute. Serve hot in individual plates.

=========================================

I understand that pressure cooking reduces the recommended 22-minute cooking time to 6 or 7 minutes. I also realize that risotto in a pressure cooker requires less liquid, but my math skills are horrendous. If any resident pressure cooker experts could tweak the broth / wine quantities shown above, I'd be most grateful.

Thanks very much!

[pazzaglia]

Arborio rice is 2:1 ratio in volume broth:rice in the pressure cooker. So weigh out the rice in a 4-cup measuring cup and note the measurement it reaches, and double the quantity of broth. Use only 1/2 cup white wine.

My standard pressure cooker risotto for 4 people is 2 cups arborio, 4 cups broth, 7 minutes high pressure with Normal or cold-water quick release.

Just walked by a Harry's bar a couple of weeks ago - never ate there, though. They have one in Rome, too. It's right across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Rome!

Ciao,

L

Edited February 18, 2013 by pazzaglia (log)

[BrooksNYC]

Just the person I was hoping would stop by today! As always, thanks for your expert help, Laura.

Can't speak for the other outposts of Harry's Bar. The original in Venice used to be fun, and the food was good enough that I still remember this risotto 30 years later. Recent reviews of Harry's have been meh. A shame.

Nothing beats having Venice outside the window, but am hoping this recipe conjures a bit of the old Lagoon magic. Thanks again!

[haresfur]

Pressure cooker cauliflower leek soup, very loosely based on the MCAH vichyssoise. Rather than SV leek juice, I do them in the PC at the same time as the cauliflower (I've tried potato but I liked the cauliflower better).

Quarter the leeks lengthwise and trim to fit in the bottom of the PC and cover with water. Put coarse pieces of cauli on a steamer tray above the leeks. Cook 12 minutes on high pressure and crash-cool. Put the cauliflower in a blender. Fish the leek out of water and mash through a strainer, catching the liquid. Discard the solids. Add the leek juice to the cauliflower, salt & white pepper to taste and puree. Add the rest of the water as needed to thin to where you like it. Serve, garnished with parsley and freshly grated nutmeg.

A lot easier than mucking around with the sous vide.

[ePressureCooker]

I'm quite late for most of this conversation, but I'll gladly add my two cents for anyone who reads this thread hereafter...

Regarding mashed potatoes, I actually get a great texture on my mashed potatoes. You do need to use a trivet, or even better, a vegetable steamer, to keep them above the water and out of contact with the bottom of the pan. The second trick is to add everything together hot, steaming hot potatoes, milk and butter heated *almost* to the point of boiling. You have no idea how much milk the potatoes can absorb when you do that, its quite astounding.

Regarding the dulce de leche, not surprisingly, Hip Pressure Cooking has a page on that: http://www.hippressurecooking.com/dulce-de-leche-pressure-cooked-condensed-milk/

Regarding stocks, its my understanding that most cooking schools and many restaurants produce their stocks in pressure cookers, and not just for speed. I'll also include these two links from cooking issues regarding making stock in your pressure cooker:

http://www.cookingissues.com/2009/11/22/pressure-cooked-stocks-we-got-schooled/

http://www.cookingissues.com/2010/01/27/pressure-cooked-stock-2-changing-pressures-playing-with-chemistry/

One of the things they noted was that they got vastly better stock results from a pressure cooker that did not have a jiggle top, and that they believed this was because the jiggle top pressure cookers release more of the cooking liquids (and one might presume, some of the volatiles that create flavor as well).

I have an electric pressure cooker which only reaches 10 PSI, not the standard 15, but I have read that actually they do reach 15 PSI at points during their pressurization process, and then settle back down to the advertised PSI. I primarily make poultry stock, and find that chicken bones will remain intact for about 90 minutes, after that, they rapidly break down. Turkey bones will last longer, they don't break down as fast as the chicken bones do, but I haven't really experimented with cooking them longer than 90 minutes.

I suspect more people are cooking at altitude than they realize. The USDA apparently categorizes anything 3,000 feet and above as high altitude cooking. 1/3 of the country, mostly in the West, is above altitude. If you don't know your own altitude, I found a neat little link where you can use Google Maps and your own address to find out what your exact altitude is:

http://www.daftlogic.com/sandbox-google-maps-find-altitude.htm

(The standard rule of thumb is you're supposed to add 5% cooking time for each 1,000 feet (305 meters) above 2,000 feet)

As for carmelizing onions in the pressure cooker, I have never done it all the way in the pressure cooker, I generally don't want mush, but I have actually used my pressure cooker to do PART of the carmelization process, to speed it up a bit, or perhaps more accurately, to do the first part (sweating the onions and getting the water out of them) in the pressure cooker, while I do something else. I slice the onions, add 1 cup of cold water, put the onions on top of the vegetable steamer, and pressure cook on high (10 PSI) for 4 minutes. For those with standardized pressure cookers (those at 15 PSI) I'd experiment with 3 minutes. Use quick pressure release.

You end up with this white onion juice or "stock" in the bottom, and you don't throw it out. The last batch I made, I made for brisket and carmelized onions, so I measured the onion "broth", added enough beef broth to make 2 cups, and then cooked the brisket in the beef broth/onion juice mixture. I finished carmelizing the onions in a skillet, and added them to the brisket before pressure cooking. They imparted a lovely carmelized onion flavor to the broth. But you could also use the onion broth with other vegetables to make vegetable stock.

BTW, if anyone wants proof how little things move around in the pressure cooker, even under high pressure, look in the pressure cooker after pressure cooking some sliced onions (assuming you've placed them on a vegetable steamer). They'll have lost some of their water and juices, but not a thing will have moved out of place.

[Heartsurgeon]

i roasted some turkey wings until brown in the oven, added it to a cooker within which i have sauteed some celery, carrots, onion, garlic.

Added some thyme, bay leave, peppercorns, covered with chicken stock.

30 minutes at high pressure

killer turkey stock.

to precious to use (some of you know what i mean).

later, browned some turkey thighs in the cooker, added some celery, carrots, onion, garlic peppercorns, turkey stock, cooked on high pressure for 15 minutes.

cooled off, opened the pot added cup of rice, lid back on cooked for 10 more minutes.

outstanding turkey &rice soup.

[ePressureCooker]

Oh yeah, I love cooking turkey thighs and drumsticks in the pressure cooker. Not only are they nice and tender (without having to brine them beforehand), but it makes it so much easier to pick the meat off the bones.

Below was last night's dinner. I made French onion soup in the pressure cooker, then did the crouton and cheese in the oven.

[rotuts]

very good to know !

[Plantes Vertes]

Mixed vegetable and lentil soup with ginger and chilis. It lacked somewhat in beauty but excelled in flavour, took 10 mins and fed 6 people for about £3.50:

[rotuts]

wow would you share that Rx?

[Plantes Vertes]

For the soup? Certainly, although it was more of an extemporisation than a recipe...

It contained

Olive oil (~1tbs)

6 cloves garlic

2 red chilis

1 onion

1.5in ginger

1/2 small cauliflower

1/2 small white cabbage

3 carrots

1/2 head celery

6 new potatoes, peeled

~3 cups red lentils

Salt and pepper

Coriander

1l vegetable stock

Water

I think that was it...

Chop the garlic, onions, ginger and chili, saute in the oil in the pressure cooker. Put the kettle on and heat up the stock at the same time.

Chop the other vegetables roughly while that happens.

Put everything but the coriander in the pressure cooker and add water to cover with ~2in to spare

Put the lid on, bring to pressure, cook 8 mins. Add salt and pepper and more water if necessary.

Garnish with chopped coriander.

[rotuts]

many thanks!

[Plantes Vertes]

We used the pressure cooker again to make a middle eastern stew with aubergine, onion, tomato, chickpeas and mint, which we ate with pita bread and spinach:

Edited May 25, 2013 by Plantes Vertes (log)

[Heartsurgeon]

update on gigantes beans recipe

beans have aged (i bought a lot)

soak 12 hours in salted solution (1 tsp/pound beans)

30 minutes at high pressure.

completely let the cooker depressurize on its own.

season as desired.

i had been in a hurry to depressurize the pot before. it appears that mush is unlikely as the cooking time increases (at least within the limits of 18 minutes to 30 minutes) if gentle decompression is employed.

decompression is a powerful tool that can be used in different ways apparently.

[ePressureCooker]

Heartsurgeon, Jane Sass recommends that when cooking beans, you don't force pressure release, she says it can tear the skins off the beans or otherwise harm them. She recommends letting them depressurize naturally for 15 minutes, then manually releasing the pressure. So she confirms what you've already discovered yourself. ;D

ETA: She adjusts the cooking time accordingly, calculating that 4 minutes of depressurization is equal to 1 minute of pressure cooking time.

Edited May 29, 2013 by ePressureCooker (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Any special tips on cooking lamb shanks in the pressure cooker? I have a couple of shanks and would like to try this technique. My pressure cooker is the venting type. I was thinking 30 minutes for the cooking time. I am going to brown them first before cooking everything in the PC. I am considering this recipe by Tom Colicchio (Braised Lamb Shanks with Roasted Tomatoes). Thanks!

[Ttogull]

I did lamb shanks about a month or so ago in my pressure cooker. I think I did them about 40 minutes in my KR with a natural release. They were wonderful. I like doing braise cuts in the PC - it seems that the meat is more tender and moist, and the melting of the collagen seems superior.

I am not an expert on the PC, but I like to think of cooking meats as cooking them with flavored steam. I don't put much broth, stock, or whatever in. Just enough (in my mind) to get adequate steam for pressure, and certainly nowhere near enough to cover the meat. What I get afterward is like a reduced stock. For the lamb shanks in particular, this had a very sticky mouthfeel like an over-reduced stock. I should've added more liquid either before or after, but it was sure tasty.

One last thing I remember: one of my shanks was too long to lay flat in the PC. I had to lean it up against the side of the PC. This did not seem to be an issue in the finished project.

[ePressureCooker]

Any special tips on cooking lamb shanks in the pressure cooker? I have a couple of shanks and would like to try this technique. My pressure cooker is the venting type. I was thinking 30 minutes for the cooking time. I am going to brown them first before cooking everything in the PC. I am considering this recipe by Tom Colicchio (Braised Lamb Shanks with Roasted Tomatoes). Thanks!

You probably already know this, but someone else reading might not, but use natural pressure release on the lamb shanks. ;D