Pressure Cookers – what's cooking?

[mkayahara]

Thanks for the tips on pressure-cooker dulce de leche, pazzaglia. I gave it a try today, and it worked like a charm!

[LindaK]

Yesterday I finally got around to making chicken stock in my pressure cooker, using the ingredient proportions and guidelines from Modernist Cuisine—all very simple and straightforward, actually. It took 30 minutes to prep everything, then it sat on the stove for 90 minutes. No attention required, save the occasional glance at the pressure indicator to be sure everything was operating safely (I’m still overly cautious, probably). Once off the heat, it took about 20 minutes before I could safely open the lid.

I am still in a mild state of shock at what I saw. Perfect stock. Clear, golden, limpid stock. It hadn’t been skimmed during cooking and I hadn’t strained it yet and still I saw none of the scum that normally one has to skim off during the stock making process. I strained out the solids, cooled it over ice, then stuck it in the fridge overnight. This morning I skimmed off the thin layer of fat on top and marveled at the bowl of clear, gelatinous stock that remained.

If you make stock, do yourself a favor and get a pressure cooker. I can’t wait to try this again with other stocks.

[scubadoo97]

I've been using mine for beans recently. One batch of chickpeas for hummus yesterday and another batch today which then went into the oven for roasted crunchy chickpeas. My freezer is over flowing with bags of chicken bones and scraps. Some of which will be turned into stock later today.

[Emily_R]

Linda -- does MC say to cook chicken stock for 90 minutes? At what pressure level? The other PC books I've consulted said 30 minutes, and so that's what I've been doing (in fact, just made some with the carcass of a chicken I roasted on Friday)... I think a few times I've gone to 40 minutes, but never thought to push it that long...

[LindaK]

Emily, yes, MC suggests cooking time for chicken stock as 1-1/2 hrs. That's the low end of the recommended times for various pressure cooked stocks. The time for beef or veal stock is 2-1/2 hrs.

Pressure is 15 psi, which is the high setting on mine.

[scubadoo97]

Glad to know the recommended setting is 15 psi cuz that's all I have on my Fagor and my average time is in that 60-90 min time zone. Bones crumble after 90 min so I wasn't sure if more flavor could be extracted past that time. I get a high level of gelatin setting when cooled. If more chicken flavor can be extracted I'd like to know.

[Emily_R]

Wow -- I'm shocked it can go that long, since the flavor I get after 30 minutes is beautiful! Next time will try for 60 or 70 minutes and see what I think...

[Jan Virtanen]

Anybody care to share how to do MC beef stock? I would like to be economical and make my stocks in pressure cooker now on.

Used to do it in open pot 12hours like instructed in Bouchon cookbook but i think that is waste of electricity.

I have learned that pressure cooker makes it better and in less time ?

[Emily_R]

Wanted to come back and say thank you! As it turned out, I still had the chicken solids that I had used to make the 30 minute stock -- they were in the fridge, getting ready to be given to the cats. So I pulled out two cups of that stock, put the rest back in the PC with the solids, and gave it another 30 minutes. (I couldn't bring myself to leave it there for a whole hour -- maybe next time).

Then my husband and I did a blind taste test, 30 minute vs 60 minute stock. No question, 60 minute was better -- fuller, richer mouthfeel. Glad I checked this thread!

[cteavin]

I just tried this method and I was surprised at the clarity. Does anyone know if the water inside the pressure cooker is still while under pressure thus preventing it from clouding?

About flavor, I prefer the traditional method. 18 hours between 80 and 90 degrees Celsius is about right for me. I feel the longer cooking time give the stock more complexity through the mallard reactions.

I made Mexican Black Bean Soup this past weekened in the PC with about 30 minutes of cooking time and it was perfect.

[Emily_R]

Hold on a second. I just looked up the Modernist Cuisine chicken stock recipe, and the version I found cited in a newspaper article lists using 1.5 pounds of wings and 1.5 pounds of ground chicken to make four cups of stock? Or is it 8 cups of stock? Is this the recipe people here are using? And I assume that the meat is thrown away at the end of the process? This is so colossally wasteful of food and the resources that are required to raise a chicken that it actually seems almost unethical to me. I make 8 cups of chicken stock in the PC using maybe one and a half roast chicken carcasses and a few wingtips. Is it crystal clear? No. Is it delicious? Yes.

[deepfryerdan]

I have only ever made Beef 'n' Noodles with mine. It's my mother-in-law's recipe and it's all I've ever tried. I hear pot roast is a breeze in them, too.

[LindaK]

Emily, using the proportions in MC I used 1 lb of wings and 1 lb of meat for 4 cups of stock. The wings cost me $2.50, the meat was the scrap meat I'd accumulated in the freezer for making stock. I don't find this to be inordinantly expensive or wasteful. There are recipes using carcasses but they also call for adding a small amount of meat. But I've always used some meat in my stocks anyway so this is nothing new for me.

To your question about whether the meat/bones are thrown away at the end, the answer is yes. If I had a pet to give it to, maybe not, but what remained was not edible. MC makes a good point about the pressure cooking stocks vs. tradition simmering: "The proof is in a bite of what remains when you strain...the stock at the end of the simmer. If it still tastes like beef, veal, chicken, or vegetables, then the traditional process has not fully extracted all the flavor."

That's the key take-away for me, that pressure cooking stock maximizes the flavor extraction from whichever combination of bones/meat we use.

deepfryerdan, I have yet to "graduate" to cooking large cuts of meat in a pressure cooker, but I also hear that it produces incredibly tender pot roast.

[gdenby]

Hold on a second. I just looked up the Modernist Cuisine chicken stock recipe, and the version I found cited in a newspaper article lists using 1.5 pounds of wings and 1.5 pounds of ground chicken to make four cups of stock? Or is it 8 cups of stock? Is this the recipe people here are using? And I assume that the meat is thrown away at the end of the process? This is so colossally wasteful of food and the resources that are required to raise a chicken that it actually seems almost unethical to me. I make 8 cups of chicken stock in the PC using maybe one and a half roast chicken carcasses and a few wingtips. Is it crystal clear? No. Is it delicious? Yes.

One of things MC notes is that using the PC will allow making the stock concentrated enough that the usual reduction by evaporation is not needed. That's a saving, because the traditional open pot method usually starts with at least 50% more water than the final stock yield. I've followed recipes that yielded 3 cups of stock from an initial 12 that took 6 hours of simmering. If you consider that there is also water in both the chicken and veggies, the standard method uses drastically more energy than the PC method to boil away the fluid.

There's no reason to assume the chicken is tossed afterward. I often use my bones for a second go round, although the resultant liquid is much much less flavorful than the first. And while I will eat the used chicken, my cat won't, and that's a pretty good indication of how flavorless the meat is.

As a comparison, Thos. Keller's traditional recipe starts with 5 lbs of chicken (I believe) and ends with 6 cups. Both TK & MC are making exquisite stocks, something one might be lucky to get once in a great while.

As a FWIW, the clarity is supposed to result because the water in the PC is not boiling, and thus emulsifying the protein to produce cloudy stock. I've been making stock with a PC for 5 - 6 years, and mine is often cloudy. After reading MC, and some of the info over at Cooking Issues, I realize that my cooker often is boiling inside. I've paid a little closer attention to how I bring it to pressure, and noticed that if I let the temperature come up slowly, I get a small amount of steam and water dribbling from the vent. Once at pressure, I can hear the fluid inside bubbling. If I bring the temperature up rapidly, so the the indicator pops up suddenly, and then reduce the heat, I hear no bubbling. The results are clearer, tho' not as clear as I'd like.

[Chris Amirault]

Quick question for the experts. I made black beans last night and, while most came out excellent after an all-day soak and 3m in the Presto, there were a few that were not tender. What gives? Any tips, adjustments, whatever?

[Mjx]

. . . . I made black beans last night and, while most came out excellent after an all-day soak and 3m in the Presto, there were a few that were not tender. . . .

Not claiming to be an expert, although I cook a lot of beans, but my understanding is that (assuming all your beans were covered by fluid the entire time they were reconstituting) the less tender beans are older, leftover stock that has been mixed in with fresher stock. Don't know whether there's anything to do about that, either: Whenever I've had a batch of beans with this problem, no matter how long I've soaked or cooked them, the hard beans never really fully softened. I pick my beans over pretty carefully, too, and I've never been able to spot the old beans.

[Jan Virtanen]

I tried to caramelize onions in my pressure cooker, i put them sliced with butter and salt in a jar together with a lid. They were not very darkly caramelized after 50mins of cooking. So i just made onion confit and canned it too So how should one caramelize large batch of onions in pressurecooker, like for using in onion soups, sofritto etc?

[avaserfi]

I have made a caramelized onion puree in my pressure cooker - no jar needed. The addition of baking soda really helps the Maillard reaction occur.

When the onions pressure cook, the excess liquid in them is released, but does not evaporate as quickly as it would in a pan. That is why I ended up making a puree, but you could always strain the onion juice/butter mixture and reserve it for something else. Using slightly less butter might be a good idea too, if you want just caramelized onions because the vegetable releases so much liquid during cooking.

My formula is here.

[Homebrew Guy]

I've been working on cooking through Lorna Sass' Cooking Under Pressure and Pressure Perfect. This week I made a beef goulash and hummus. Some of my favorite dishes have been the fast and tasty coq au vin and chicken curry in a hurry. I also make a couple of batches of steel cut oats a week. I'm hoping to try a cheesecake this weekend.

After a year of begging my wife finally relented to letting me get my pc last January and she has not regretted it. I've been the cook for the household since my son was born nearly 2 years ago and the pc has been a miracle. I've been making stocks as well, which are amazing. I'm interested in trying to make a roux. I'm a little scared of using a jar with a lid lightly tightened though. I've also really enjoyed Hip Pressure Cooking, a great blog about you know what!

I'm shopping for a larger pc these days and interested in giving some canning a try. Anybody have any suggestions or tips?

[Jan Virtanen]

I have made a caramelized onion puree in my pressure cooker - no jar needed. The addition of baking soda really helps the Maillard reaction occur.

When the onions pressure cook, the excess liquid in them is released, but does not evaporate as quickly as it would in a pan. That is why I ended up making a puree, but you could always strain the onion juice/butter mixture and reserve it for something else. Using slightly less butter might be a good idea too, if you want just caramelized onions because the vegetable releases so much liquid during cooking.

My formula is here.

So if i put like half a pot full of onions and salt butter, the onions will release enough liquid to cook on high pressure before scorching? I know theres is ton of moisture in onions. Gotta try soon, not want to use 5-8 hours of cooking onions again for Kellers Onion soup, as good as it is

[avaserfi]

I have made a caramelized onion puree in my pressure cooker - no jar needed. The addition of baking soda really helps the Maillard reaction occur.

When the onions pressure cook, the excess liquid in them is released, but does not evaporate as quickly as it would in a pan. That is why I ended up making a puree, but you could always strain the onion juice/butter mixture and reserve it for something else. Using slightly less butter might be a good idea too, if you want just caramelized onions because the vegetable releases so much liquid during cooking.

My formula is here.

So if i put like half a pot full of onions and salt butter, the onions will release enough liquid to cook on high pressure before scorching? I know theres is ton of moisture in onions. Gotta try soon, not want to use 5-8 hours of cooking onions again for Kellers Onion soup, as good as it is

Yeah, they should (I can't make any promises though, I haven't done it), but make sure to melt the butter before adding the onions. The butter provides the initial cooking liquid until the onions exude more.

Also, the baking soda is an essential component to pressure cooker caramelization. Try using 0.5% of the onion weight.

Edited to add more information.

Edited July 2, 2011 by avaserfi (log)

[lindag]

I just began using pressure cookers within the last year and have become a major convert.

I have several cookbooks devoted to this method but one that hasn't been mentioned in this thread that I've found to be invaluable is: Janet Daily's The New Pressure Cooker Cookbook. I own several Lorna Sass books as well as Miss Vickie's and a few other odd ones but I really like Daily's book. It covers beans really well (which I've been cooking non-stop; I think I'm trying to do every type I can find.) She also cover vegetables well and there are lots of good recipes there.

Most recently I've been cooking red beans and rice, Hoppin Jon, Bean and Bacon Soup, Short Ribs, Barbecue Ribs...everything seems to be well-infused with flavor.

I haven't tried stocks yet as I have several containers in the freezer however I'm excited to read about others' experiences here.

Edited July 2, 2011 by lindag (log)

[Jan Virtanen]

I have made a caramelized onion puree in my pressure cooker - no jar needed. The addition of baking soda really helps the Maillard reaction occur.

When the onions pressure cook, the excess liquid in them is released, but does not evaporate as quickly as it would in a pan. That is why I ended up making a puree, but you could always strain the onion juice/butter mixture and reserve it for something else. Using slightly less butter might be a good idea too, if you want just caramelized onions because the vegetable releases so much liquid during cooking.

My formula is here.

So if i put like half a pot full of onions and salt butter, the onions will release enough liquid to cook on high pressure before scorching? I know theres is ton of moisture in onions. Gotta try soon, not want to use 5-8 hours of cooking onions again for Kellers Onion soup, as good as it is

Yeah, they should (I can't make any promises though, I haven't done it), but make sure to melt the butter before adding the onions. The butter provides the initial cooking liquid until the onions exude more.

Also, the baking soda is an essential component to pressure cooker caramelization. Try using 0.5% of the onion weight.

Edited to add more information.

Thanks, i will go and buy 4kgs of onions tomorrow. I would like to try the MC carrot soupe but havent found the complete receipt. You have a nice website btw.

[avaserfi]

I have made a caramelized onion puree in my pressure cooker - no jar needed. The addition of baking soda really helps the Maillard reaction occur.

When the onions pressure cook, the excess liquid in them is released, but does not evaporate as quickly as it would in a pan. That is why I ended up making a puree, but you could always strain the onion juice/butter mixture and reserve it for something else. Using slightly less butter might be a good idea too, if you want just caramelized onions because the vegetable releases so much liquid during cooking.

My formula is here.

So if i put like half a pot full of onions and salt butter, the onions will release enough liquid to cook on high pressure before scorching? I know theres is ton of moisture in onions. Gotta try soon, not want to use 5-8 hours of cooking onions again for Kellers Onion soup, as good as it is

Yeah, they should (I can't make any promises though, I haven't done it), but make sure to melt the butter before adding the onions. The butter provides the initial cooking liquid until the onions exude more.

Also, the baking soda is an essential component to pressure cooker caramelization. Try using 0.5% of the onion weight.

Edited to add more information.

Thanks, i will go and buy 4kgs of onions tomorrow. I would like to try the MC carrot soupe but havent found the complete receipt. You have a nice website btw.

It might be beneficial to run a small trial before throwing all 4kg of onions in the pot. Maybe try to do a 0.5kg batch and see how you like it, then adjust if necessary. The technique is fast enough that it shouldn't be a problem.

[FrogPrincesse]

I made risotto last night in my pressure cooker. It's what I make when I don't have the energy to spend a lot of time cooking and the fridge is getting empty. This version had plenty of shallots, young red onions, marjoram, and dry vermouth. At the end I added a ton of parmesan, goat butter, fresh goat cheese, Parma ham, and parsley.

Pure comfort food and minimal effort (with only one pot to clean).