[Modernist Cuisine at Home] Pizza Sauce

[Anonymous Modernist 15027]

Hello Everyone. I just tried the Pizza Sauce from Modernist Cuisine At Home and it was a disaster. I did exactly what was said in the recipe. Basically the same recipe as the Marinara sauce but just leaving out the vegetables and starting with garlic and olive oil. After 45 minutes in the pressure cooker it all was just burned at the base of the pressure cooker. I had a similar situation with a Heston Blumenthal recipe where you had to put cherry tomatoes on the vind with a little water in the pressure cooker and it also got burned to the base of the cooker. Basically I can throw everything away. What went wrong? 45 minutes in the pressure cooker seems very long to me. Also gauge pressure of 1 bar means nothing to me. I have a standard Tefal pressure cooker with 3 settings. I have absolutely no idea what gauge pressure that thing gets inside. Basically when the thing starts piping I reduce the heat and start timing. What did I do wrong? Any help is very much appreciated.

[Anonymous Modernist 16780]

The Tefal pressure cooker can't reach 1 bar, which is 100 kPa (kilopascals). It can really only reach about 80 kPa. (Check your instruction book to be sure. It should say what it's operating pressure is, though it might state it in psi instead) I believe it's also a jiggling weight style pressure cooker, rather than a spring valve, so it doesn't really give you a clear indication of when it reaches it's maximum pressure. This style of cooker also tend to lose a lot more water than the spring valve style, so maybe try compensating with extra water, and/or reducing the temperature sooner.

[Anonymous Modernist 15027]

Thanks. I couldn't find anything about the operating pressure in the instruction book. But I will write them an e-mail. Maybe Tefal can tell me.

I always turn down the heat to the minimum as soon as pressure is up. With how much water can I compensate? Any other way I can compensate?

[Anonymous Modernist 15027]

I just saw that on the lid of the pressure cooker it says 140kPa, which translates to about 1.4 bar or about 20psi.

So is it possible that there is to much pressure?

[Judy Wilson]

One trick the chefs often tell people is to shake the pressure cooker a few times, especially as it comes up to pressure.

Does your pressure cooker indicate psi? All of our pressure cooker recipes use 15 psi.

[Anonymous Modernist 15027]

I always shake when it comes to pressure.

Like I said. The lid of the pressure cooker indicates that it goes up to 20 psi.

Is that to high?

And if yes how can I compensate?

reduce cooking time?

[Judy Wilson]

Is there another setting for 15 psi?

[Anonymous Modernist 15027]

There are 3 settings. But none indicates how much pressure is beeing created in the cooker.

the lowest setting is the setting for releasing pressure. the second setting has a picture of vegetables on it and should be not as strong as the 3rd setting which has the picture of a grilled chicken on it.

But no idea which setting creates how much pressure.

Any ideas?

Does the pressure cooker you use only have one setting?

And how do you know that it is 15 psi?

[Judy Wilson]

Hi, I have a Kuhn Rikon. It came with a manual that indicates which setting is which psi. Did yours come with a manual? If not, I suggest that you contact the manufacturer.

[Anonymous Modernist 15027]

I just got an answer from Tefal. They say that the model that I have reach 1,5 bar. The recipes in Modernist Cuisine always use a pressure cooker with 1bar/15psi. So what shall I do to get the same results with 1.5bar.

[Anonymous Modernist 310]

You'll need to experiment. There is no exact conversion between the two pressure. Did TeFal tell you the pressure of the two other settings? It's not only the taste that change, it may also the final results in taste and colors:

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

Here's the most interesting part for you:

"You can see that higher pressures = browner color. Chicken and veal stocks reacted similarly at the same pressures, so I‚’ll discuss them together. Confirming our previous results, stovetop was better than 15 psi vented, but not as good as 15 psi. The aroma of 15 psi vented was superior to both stovetop and 15 psi unvented””bizzare. 20 psi had a good aroma, some thought better than 15 psi unvented, but its taste was muted. The 24 psi stock was the brownest by far, but smelled and tasted dead. We need to run tests between 0 and 15 psi to determine optimum pressure."

Good luck with your tests. keep us informed!

Louis-Frederic