Pressure Cooker

[Meenah]

I'm definitely in the cooking mode. Does anyone have a pressure cooker and how often do you use it? Is it something I would never use and regret buying?

[Michele]

Re: Pressure Cooker

My Cooks Illustrated just had a short about them. I'll try to transfer the info for you later today. (yep I get CI now! I feel soooo cool!! It was 1 of my Christmas presents from Russ. Theother was a 4.5qt sauce pan.)


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[Vanquisher]

I use my pressure cooker ALL the time. I love it. I need a new one though because I broke the dial on it (where it locks or releases the pressure).

[Michele]

Cooks Illustrated just has short little blurb about them. Here's some quotations:

We're still impressed with the size, speed and ease of our longtime favorite stovetop model, the Fagor Duo 8-Quart Pressure Cooker ($109.95), but wondered if we should trade up to an electric model.

They tested 4....and "only one locked easily and cooked beautifully" (the Fagor Electric Multi-Cooker) but they felt the other functions weren't that great - ok as a rice cooker, weak as a slow cooker. They still preferred the stove top model.

[Michele]

http://www.cooksillustrated.com/equi...sp?docid=21521

the link to the full online article

[Vanquisher]

That is the newer model of the exact same pressure cooker that I have! I have really liked it, so maybe I'll just replace mine with the same when I get around to it.

[Vishenka69]

Is a slow cooker same as pressure cooker same as crock pot? Or are these 3 different things? I was thinking of getting one too but other than stews can't think of more uses for it.

[Vanquisher]

Crock-Pot is the original brand name of a slow cooker. Like Kleenex is a brand of tissue. It's just become synonymous. I have some slow cooker recipes that I was going to post, but I couldn't decide if I should keep them for a cooking club menu. A slow cooker cooks food at a low temperature (around 200 degrees on low and 300 on high), and it is usually plugged in.

A pressure cooker is completely different thing. While pressure cookers can be electric, traditionally they work by using the heating elements on a stove top. The pressure cooker has a lid with a seal on it that locks into place. Pressure cookers must be utilized with liquid. Because there is no where for steam to escape when the liquid boils, immense pressure build up inside the pot and quickly cooks meats by using the pressure. It can quickly cook a piece of tough meat or one that would traditionally roast for hours.

Both are often used to cook less tender cuts of meat, but can have different applications. I actually have a sickeningly sweet dessert recipe that uses a pressure cooker that my grandmother invented after the depression or the war or something where it uses staples that anyone has in their kitchen. It doesn't have to be done in a pressure cooker, but I have always made it that way.

I hope that helps.

[Vishenka69]

Which one do you use more/like better? I don't think I have the need for both but not sure which one I'd find more application for.

[Meenah]

Thanks for all of the info. A friend of mine loaned me her older stovetop pressure cooker and I will play with it before I make a decision. My daughter has the All Clad crockpot (the other thread) and I think I will borrow that as well.

[Michele]

Re: Pressure Cooker

I just got a slow cooker a few months ago and I've already bought a second. The first was too big. (it was a gift). Having children and working, the slow cooker is awesome! You just throw the ingredients in the morning (or before bed) and 6-8 hours later, it's done. I don't have to stand over a stove with whiny kids at my feet trying to "help."

I've never used a pressure cooker though. I don't eat a lot of beef or pork so I don't get the full benefit of the slowcookers ability to tenderize cheap meats.


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[HouseofWool]

Julie - I use both about equally. I like to prep a meal the night before, stick the crock in the fridge, then plop it in the cooker in the morning before I leave for work. I come home to a great meal that needs just a bit of finishing (thickening a gravy etc).

Pressure cookers are great for tenderizing tough cuts of meat or for cooking beans very quickly (30 minutes versus several hours).

I have both and use both. In a pinch the pan from the pressure cooker, without the lid, can be used as a large sauce pan.