Pressure Cooker?

[KLAIT]

I work full time out of the house 10 hours per day and by the time I get home from work it is too late to make a "real meal". We eat faster cooking foods all week. I do use my crock pot maybe 2 times a week, but I was thinking of betting an electric pressure cooker to help me out.

Does anyone have one? Do you like it? Use it often? Recipes to share?

 

[geffric]

yes I have a pressure cooker and use it to make soup.. i got a cookbook called Cooking under pressure.. love the recipes in that book..

 

[jiminyC_fan]

It scares me but I really would like to try one. In the old days, I heard they could "explode" but I have now heard that that possiblity has reduced. A friend makes the best homemade chicken and noodles using hers. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

 

[SandrA9810]

we finally unpacked my g'mother's old pressure cooker the other night. She used to make a lot of good meals in it. It's a stove top one, the lid and pot lock together and there's a weight that sits on top. That's the only pressure cooker i've seen used, but i never learned how to cook with it.

Good luck, it'll be a new adventure in dinner.

 

[*BTMRR*]

My mom used a pressure cooker and the things she made in it were scrumptious. But she was so terrified that we were all going to get blown to smithereens by the thing that she'd command us to stay far, far away from the kitchen whenever the cooker was cooking. She passed her fear on to us. I remember my little sister running away in terror when Mom just pulled the cooker out of the cupboard!
I'm still scared of pressure cookers but I'd love to hear about anyone's successes. I'm getting sick of my slow cooker.

 

[kimblebee]

The only thing I ever remember my mom making in her pressure cooker was beets. Whenever we saw it on the stove we knew we were not in for a good meal

 

[Carl Fredricksen]

DW cooks in a 20 year old pressure cooker all the time. Makes the best stews ever. I have offered to buy her a new one, but she refuses and says she likes the one she has.

Pressure cookers have locks to prevent explosions, You'd have to heat it WAY up to cause something like that. Most of the newer ones have plenty of safeguards to keep you from having any problems.

Great utensil to have around, so good luck with it!

 

[ferrytale]

My MIL lives with us, and we bought an electric one from QVC a few years ago for her and LOVE it. In fact, we used it so much we burned out the control panel, and have to get a new one (that reminds me, I have to send in the warranty for the replacement...lol).
You can do lots of things, it does take some getting used to the timing, but we have done lots of different things - pork roasts, chicken, beef, vegetables, soups, tons! Don't be scared, the new electric ones are NOTHING like the old ones Nana used to use and I never had an issue with it "exploding". I suggest watching one of the presentations on QVC for one of theirs - the demo is accurate, and the product is great. We had ours for a good 2-3 years before we had any problems and we used it 2-3 times a week EASILY. Great...now I am hungry...lol.

 

[vettechick99]

We make ribs in ours. Cook them til they nearly fall off the bone then finish them off on the grill to get the crust on the outside. OMG so good! Having said that, pressure cookers make me nervous! I never leave it alone in the house and am always in earshot - which is pretty easy because they are loud.

 

[Gigi22]

DSis purchased a new pressure cooker a couple of years ago. She loves it.

 

[MrsPete]

I've been looking at the Cuisinart electric model. One of these days I'm going to break down and buy it.

 

[cristit14]

We have one. I use it for beef and noodle, chicken and noodles and ribs. When I cook the chicken for the chicken and noodles, I usually cook a bunch extra, shred it and freeze it for other recipes.

 

[lynxstch]

I was raised watching my Mom and Great Grandmother cook in one...and I couldn't live without it..I cook veggies in it, make porcupine meatballs, it's great for stews, makes a nice chicken (only thing missing is it doesn't 'brown'), makes great spaghetti sauce, have even used it for pressure canning..I have 2 of them..old fashioned Presto ones..and I love it!

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

make porcupine meatballs,

Is it hard to get the quills off the porcupine?

You don't really mean porcupine meat right? If it isn't, would you share the recipe?

Would any one else be willing to share recipes? I bought one deep enough to can pints of veggies, but would love to use it more often.

 

[pumba]

I love porcupine meatballs too...

In my pressure cooker, we make home made baked beans....They taste like we have had them in the oven for the 8 hours.

We put the beans overnight in the pot of water and let them sit.....Remove part of the water until it is just over the top of the beans......add an onion cut in half, molasses mixed with hot water to make it easier to mix in......some dried mustard and salt and pepper......then to top it off we put in six or so hot and sweet sausages......this is instead of the fatty pork ......
We love this and make it during the winter months...

My mom had a huge old one when we were kids and it never exploded ...once I made onion soup mix on a roast and the onions got stuck in the air release and blew that little button off.....no big deal we found it and put it back in....

 

[Seahunt]

I've been looking at the Cuisinart electric model. One of these days I'm going to break down and buy it.

Hey I just bought one of these about a month ago and LOVE it

I bought mine from Williams Sonoma for $99.95

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/prod.../?pkey=x|4|1||4|pressure cooker||0&cm_src=SCH

 

[vettechick99]

Guess what we are having for dinner? Pressure-cooked-grilled ribs! Thanks for starting the thread.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I have a question....what is the function of a pressure cooker. I get that you guys make scrumptious meals....but what is it about the pressure cooker that facilitates the yumminess? I.e. What's the pressure all about? Soups to ribs, I just don't get it.(faster cooking, more tender cooking, "air cooking"???)

I'd like to make yummy food, too!

 

[vettechick99]

I have a question....what is the function of a pressure cooker. I get that you guys make scrumptious meals....but what is it about the pressure cooker that facilitates the yumminess? I.e. What's the pressure all about? Soups to ribs, I just don't get it.(faster cooking, more tender cooking, "air cooking"???)

I'd like to make yummy food, too!

It speeds up the cooking process, while keeping moisture in (you add water to whatever you are cooking). Kind of like a slow cooker on crack. It took me 20 mins to pressure-cook my ribs and when they came out, they were falling-off-the-bone tender. We threw them on the grill to get the crispy outside. Best of both worlds!

 

[Aimeedyan]

It scares me but I really would like to try one. In the old days, I heard they could "explode" but I have now heard that that possiblity has reduced. A friend makes the best homemade chicken and noodles using hers. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.

I have never used one - though I like to cook and would love to try it - but DH has said we will never have one. When he was a small child, his mother was severely burned by one. Spend weeks in the hospital and now has major scarring on one side of her body. It was a horrible exp for their family to go through and no one will ever own one again (or talk about it much).

I know safety precautions are stronger now than then but I also understand it was a very traumatic exp for a small boy to go through and it's not worth my curiousity in a kitchen appliance to dredge it up