Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Pressure Cooker Recipes


AzRaeL

Recommended Posts

The 8 litre isn't sold anymore; I tried to order one about a month ago and was informed that it is no longer produced.  You can get an 8 litre Magefesa from qvc, but it's not the nice one.

However, the 6 litre is pretty nice too!

Like everything else you could ever want... if you keep a weather eye peeled, sooner or later the old-style 8-litre Magefesa will turn up on eBay. :biggrin:

Yeah, I've been watching eBay, don't even think about trying to outbid me. :biggrin: I think I mentioned on the other PC thread that I bought the 6 litre model. I'm quite happy with it.

For what it's worth, the 6 and 8 litre models are identical in diameter; the difference is 2 inches (whoops, make that 4 cm :rolleyes:) in height.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Um - but speaking of why... just how little is your "little Kuhn Rikon"? I'm thinking that this might be another context in which Size Matters. If you think about the difference in capacity between the two, i.e. the amount of air that needs to be subjected to pressure (sorry, I haven't had coffee yet and I know the correct terminology is escaping me for the moment :wacko: ), mightn't that account for the difference in liquid requirement?

It's only 2 1/2 liters, I think. It's really nice for when you want to cook just a few carrots or something, and by the time they're done cooking the water seems to have gone aaway, or thichened--anyway, there's no need to drain them.

I guess it could be because it's small and there's less air to expell, but that wouldn't account for my big Magefesa only needing 1/2 cup of water. Don't the cheaper pressure cooker need at least a cup of water? That what Lorna Sass says (her books are good, especially Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

. . . I'm still curious to know how much smaller.
If you're losing steam -- any steam -- the amount of water lost (and therefore the amount required) will depend on a variable which is impossible to control with accuracy. Steam may be escaping slowly or quickly, depending on how much heat is applied -- it's like a steam engine, but one with an escape valve acting as a governor.

In other words, in order not to run dry, there must be a larger reserve. You'll learn just how much when the steam stops coming out and the food is carbonized. :laugh:

John Whiting, London

Whitings Writings

Top Google/MSN hit for Paris Bistros

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 8 litre isn't sold anymore; I tried to order one about a month ago and was informed that it is no longer produced. You can get an 8 litre Magefesa from qvc, but it's not the nice one.

Which one is which, and which is "not the nice one" and why? Whew! :blink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My electric pressure cooker uses hardly any water. I can boil a cup of beans in less than two cups of water for an hour, and at that time there is still liquid left.

Of course, that's not what the directions in the owner's manual say to do. They want me to boil the beans in four times as much water, with oil floating on it, and then throw away the liquid. But I've found that as long as I don't presoak the beans (which causes foaming), this works fine for me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 8 litre isn't sold anymore; I tried to order one about a month ago and was informed that it is no longer produced.  You can get an 8 litre Magefesa from qvc, but it's not the nice one.

Which one is which, and which is "not the nice one" and why? Whew! :blink:

The nice one (which is no longer available, despite the web order form) is the Rapid II seen here, while the not-so-nice one is a set available from QVC here.

Both are 18/10 stainless with a triple layer fully encapsulated bottom :hmmm:; I didn't look very closely at the "not-so-nice" one (hey, it's on QVC!), but, upon further review, it seems comparable to the Rapid II.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

red kidney beans (rajma) are another ingredient commonly cooked in the pressure cooker in most north indian homes. following my mother i soak the beans overnight and then pressure cook them (recipe available upon request). i suppose this might be overkill. instead of soaking them i might just cook them longer--but i do get a childish pleasure from the sight of the beans having expanded overnight. can i claim this for the pleasures of slow food? (before i pop them in the pressure cooker, of course.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

red kidney beans (rajma) are another ingredient commonly cooked in the pressure cooker in most north indian homes. following my mother i soak the beans overnight and then pressure cook them (recipe available upon request)

Yes, please! I haven't tried your dal recipes yet, but am looking forward to it and am very interested in learning more.

i suppose this might be overkill. instead of soaking them i might just cook them longer--but i do get a childish pleasure from the sight of the beans having expanded overnight.

Yes - as if some magic has occurred in the night. :shock: Which actually I suppose it has....

can i claim this for the pleasures of slow food? (before i pop them in the pressure cooker, of course.)

Hmmmm. I'm hardly the authority on this, but I suspect that the overnight soaking of legumes is far too universal a practice to qualilfy, technically, unless it's followed by equally long cooking. :sad:

(edited for clarity in last graf.)

Edited by balmagowry (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I need to bend some serious thought to why anyone buys the fancy expensive models when the plain old ones work so well
My own excuse is (a) size matters. :biggrin: Mine is big enough to do a good-sized bird in and also to use as a stockpot.

I decided to try steaming a chicken in the PC last night. I don't have any of the modern spring-loaded cookers, just an old-fashioned Presto PC and a big pressure canner (also Presto-Matic). The smaller PC is much too small to accomodate a whole bird, so I used the canner instead. Both cookers use the jiggling-weight for pressure control, and the mechanism appears to be identical on both.

I placed the aluminum rack that comes with the canner in the bottom and dumped in about two cups of water. I placed a heat-proof bowl (about one-inch smaller diameter than the canner) on the rack, tossed in some roughly-chopped veggies, poured about 1.5 cups water over the veggies, then placed the previously brined chicken on top. I added the water in the bowl because I thought it would make a good start on some stock.

I placed the weight in the fifteen-pound position on the pressure valve and brought the canner up to temp. I cooked the chicken for twenty minutes (a bit too long as it turned out) and killed the flame under the canner, giving it another five minutes to slow-release the pressure. I don't have any recipes for pressure-cooked chicken so I relied on a sample recipe from a web search. I need to find some of the books mentioned earlier to have a better chance of converting the cooking time successfully.

Anyway, the chicken was moist and flavorful, if slightly over-done, and the juices dripping into the veggies produced a nice-tasting but thin broth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 8 litre isn't sold anymore; I tried to order one about a month ago and was informed that it is no longer produced.  You can get an 8 litre Magefesa from qvc, but it's not the nice one.

Which one is which, and which is "not the nice one" and why? Whew! :blink:

Perhaps this is the "nicer" Magefesa?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(Partially) pressure cooked cassoulet

This is not a complete recipe, only a suggested mode of adapting whatever recipe you usually follow. My own traditional recipe, based on Charles and Lindsey Shere’s recipe in the Open Hand Celebration Cook Book, takes most of a week’s worth of separate tasks; I can do this pressure cooker version in a day.

The starting point for a cassoulet is usually confit of goose or duck. For purposes of preservation, this is of a saltiness beyond what my palate now prefers. Instead, I begin with duck legs which I accumulate through the year as they go on sale at Waitrose having reached their sell-by date (not, in this case, their sel-by date). They go into the freezer to await the January cassoulet. After slow thawing, they are browned in the pressure cooker and a large frying pan, then combined in the pressure cooker with about a cup of water and a conservative sprinkling of salt (plus, if you like, crushed juniper berries). The cooker is brought to full pressure and the legs are cooked for about fifteen minutes, then checked for doneness. I continue to give them five-minute bursts until the meat comes readily from the bone. Leave the skin on or not, as you please and also, if you like, cut the meat into chunks for.the diner’s convenience. The juices go through a separater jug to separate the fat from the very strong stock.

The pork and/or lamb stews are similarly cooked, first browning the meat then adding whatever vegetables your recipe calls for. Perhaps a couple of cups of water; it’s not necessary to cover the meat. Cook for fifteen minutes and check, cooking further as required.

The pork stew may include one or two pig’s feet. If they are not split, it will be easier to separate the meat without leaving jagged pieces of cut bone. I leave them whole and transfer them from the pork stew to the lamb stew and finally to the beans, so that they are cooked much more thoroughly than the other meats.

The sausages are first browned in a pan at high heat, then go into one of the meat stews.

The timing of the beans is, of course, critical – best to check after ten minutes and every five minutes thereafter. Use more than enough stock/water to cover and top up as required when you check for doneness – this will provide the topping-up stock for the final cooking in the oven. Salt conservatively until you've arrived at the stock's final concentration. This final oven cooking is the stage at which the pressure cooker is no substitute, but if the intermediary stages have been properly judged, a couple of hours in a moderate oven should suffice for a well-browned crust and a thick rich sauce.

To reiterate, I’ve said nothing of the finer (and more contentious) points of cassoulet construction, such as how often to break the crust, or mixing blended cooked pig fat and garlic with the final stock. Take this as a series of suggestions for adapting your own preferred recipe to pressure cooking and turning out a very creditable dish within a single day.

John Whiting, London

Whitings Writings

Top Google/MSN hit for Paris Bistros

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's less nice about the QVC one? I have the 'nice' one (lucky me!), but the QVC set looks like a good deal.

Just to confuse you further, the "nice" one was formerly sold on QVC. I think that Magefesa just changed styles, and now QVC is carrying the newer models. I don't think you should judge whether or not it's "nice" based on whether or not QVC is selling it. I happened to buy the 8 L and littler one (2 L?) from some guy that was selling QVC salvage (returns mainly) on eBay for I think around $35 bucks (this was at least 5 years ago). Brand new and still in the QVC packaging.

regards,

trillium

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What's less nice about the QVC one?  I have the 'nice' one (lucky me!), but the QVC set looks like a good deal.

Just to confuse you further, the "nice" one was formerly sold on QVC. I think that Magefesa just changed styles, and now QVC is carrying the newer models. I don't think you should judge whether or not it's "nice" based on whether or not QVC is selling it. I happened to buy the 8 L and littler one (2 L?) from some guy that was selling QVC salvage (returns mainly) on eBay for I think around $35 bucks (this was at least 5 years ago). Brand new and still in the QVC packaging.

regards,

trillium

"Nice" was in reference to the appearance of the model I own. Frankly, I thought the QVC set looked...cheap. Given the price, I originally (wrongly) assumed the set was made of aluminum. As I mentioned earlier, the QVC set appears to be a fine deal...I kind of wish I'd gotten it instead :huh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I love using my pressure cooker, a 15 yr old regular ol' Wear-ever. It puts me back at my mother's stove faster than any other way of cooking. One of my current favorite recipe's is an adaptation of Scotch Broth from the Lorna Sass book, substituting chuck beef for lamb, reducing the amt of liquid used, and adding agrlic - can't cook without garlic!

I understand that the monotony of making risotto can be eliminated by using a pressure cooker - has anybody tried this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recently received a Kuhn Rikon 7-litre pressure cooker as a gift. Before that, I had spent much time debating whether to get the Kuhn Rikon or the Magefesa. The price of the Magefesa was attractive, and its top ranking in Cook's Illustrated was also alluring. However, I had several concerns: 1) The ranking was from way back in 1996; 2) I was a little weirded out by Magefesa USA's primitive website, which has never been updated in all the years I've been visiting it; 3) I was concerned about repairs and parts replacement, since Magefesa isn't widely available (epecially here in Canada); 4) Magefesa's toll-free number is no longer working (for Canada, anyway).

If you check out the pressure cookers on Magefesa's main Spanish site(click on "Catálogo" on the menu across the top), you'll see a whole range of interesting-looking newer models; the Rapid II model sold in the States isn't even listed.

Edited by cherrypi (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understand that the monotony of making risotto can be eliminated by using a pressure cooker - has anybody tried this?

I do it all the time, because I like having risotti dishes as part of the weekday repertoire. Here is a recipe from Lorna Sass. You can experiment and add things like peas or asparagus at the end when it's not under pressure. I mostly just started with the liquid:rice ratios from that recipe and took it from there. And be sure to pay attention to what sort of rice you're using, she give guidelines for arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano.

regards,

trillium

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And be sure to pay attention to what sort of rice you're using, she give guidelines for arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano.

Vialone nano works best for me in the pressure cooker--with arborio and carnaroli my risotto often turns out mushy & overdone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all-

my 2 cents re: pressure cookers-

Used to work for WS pt time and got a Kuhn Rikon. Promptly returned. Not a good machine- can't do small beans, grains. Overpriced.

Eventually got a Magefesa and then a few more- been really please with quality, customer service and price. Of course, overseas you have a much better selection...

I wrongly or not, consider Fagor a bit like Revere Ware. My mum had that line but really- not a long lasting quality cookware.

The Demeyere has always intrigued me but since I have my 3 pressure cookers from Magefesa already- who really needs another?

Lorna Sass books are helpful to give you times etc and then you can adapt from there

Her 2nd book not as good as the Vegetarian one and The Pressured Cook.

ANd yes- of course, I tried to get the de Groot book- many times but have not been able to land one. Pity.

Lastly- I was big into the pressure thing about 4 years ago, 5? Since my 2.5 year old I either

cook cook with her helping depending on mood and season AND time or use my Westbend Slowcooker which you can use to first brown on stove and then put container on warmer/heater. I found a few books, both quite different in their approach - Pye and Rodgers- but I don't love either.

Now here is a new topic! How to adapt recipes to the slow cooker. They give tips but sometimes I just don't quite get it right.

Well- here's to better Guinness Beef Shanks- I know it could work. The slow cooker also might be ideal.

Oh- one last thing. I used to often use my PC for broths- talk about saving time. I did an taste test using Amanda Hesser's Autumn Stock from the Cook and the Gardner comparing the stove top and the PC. kind of a crazy late night thing. Call me naive but I had no comparison how different the taste would be. Pretty radical. Of course there is a lot of depth to this broth.

I think making your everyday chix broth/stock in it works fine but for the more high falutin' special stocks defn go stove top. And therein lies the diff betwn quick and not.

Miiki

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you trying the same times and liquids for the different types of risotti? If they turn out mushy and overdone, then you may want to cook them for less time.

Yes, I always just follow Lorna Sass's directions for time. I think, though, that arborio in particular is just trickier to get right--it's done to perfection, then almost immediately turn to mush. Vialone nano seems to have a bigger window of 'just rightness,' so it's easier to cook in a pressure cooker where you can't see what's going on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ANd yes- of course, I tried to get the de Groot book- many times but have not been able to land one. Pity.

What? Hie thee right away unto ABE - that'e where I got my copy a couple of weeks ago. In pristine condition, $2.00. Shipping cost more than the book! I just looked now and they're listing some 20 copies, starting at $4.50.

EDIT for clarity

Edited by balmagowry (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually like to make all my stocks stove top vs. pressure cooker... I find the pressure cooker extracts too many undesirable flavors that can overwhelm the stock. This could be because most of the chicken stock I make gets used in Chinese/SE Asian cookery where you want a nice clear, light, chicken "essence" sort of thing. Hard to do in the pressure cooker!

We mainly use the pressure cooker for things like dals, risotti and artichokes, along with a few meat dishes where you don't lose much flavor. It's also useful for beans that we don't buy locally (which are fresh and tender for a dried bean). A book I found more helpful then the Sass books (not that they weren't helpful) was actually Tom Lacalamita's. His style of cooking was more similiar to mine and I really appreciated the charts with times for veggies, and the advice on how much water to add to things.

regards,

trillium

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 years later...
×
×
  • Create New...