Non-motoring > Pressure cookers Miscellaneous
Thread Author: WillDeBeest Replies: 34
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 14:47 
 Pressure cookers - WillDeBeest
We've touched on these occasionally before but I'm actively considering one now and I'd be interested in the serious cooks' experience of them for things like stocks and chilli. I'm thinking one would be useful to fill the freezer with weekday dinners without spending my entire weekend in the kitchen. (Mrs Beest will be working for a living again soon, so there's gonna be a few changes around here.)

Specifically, Bromp mentioned salvaging a Kuhn Rikon Duromatic from a tip run. That's my likely choice - in 24cm / 8 litre form - and only partly because it features in one of my Heston Blumenthal books, so I'd be interested to know how he's got on with it.

Don't worry, John Boy, I'll look in on Traffic light phasing on the A38 after tea.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 14:51 
 Pressure cookers - John Boy
>> Don't worry, John Boy, I'll look in on Traffic light phasing on the A38 after tea.

I wasn't complaining WB. I was just surprised. I like cooking too. I'm a carer, so I do most of it around here.
Last edited by: John Boy on Sun 11 Jan 15 at 14:53
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 15:07 
 Pressure cookers - WillDeBeest
Only teasing, JB. That's half of what I come here for - as I hope you know by now.
}:---)
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 15:10 
 Pressure cookers - John Boy
>> Only teasing, JB.
>>
I know you're teasing, WB. I'm encouraging cookery topics. :)
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 16:36 
 Pressure cookers - CGNorwich
I think they have a sort of niche role a bit like microwave ovens. They are are handy to have for some thinks like making stock, reducing the steaming time for puddings or cooking beetroot but food cooked in a pressure cooker does taste different to food cooked normally. We have a Tower model which we have had for about 40 years. Wouldn't get rid of it but in the event it blows up wouldn't replace it. :-)

To be honest most of the effort in making a meal like a stew or casserole is in the preparation and the cooking time is largely irrelevant. As a gadget I would go the other way and get a decent slow cooker if you don't already have one.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 16:45 
 Pressure cookers - Runfer D'Hills
The lid blew off a pressure cooker in which my mother was cooking haggis when I was a child. The kitchen walls resultantly had a sort of temporary haggis wash effect as indeed did the two dogs who were in the kitchen at the time. They didn't seem to mind all that much and licked each other clean. The kitchen took a bit more sorting out.

The above has put in me in mind to have haggis, neeps and tatties tonight but as we don't actually have any haggis or turnip and the shops are closed and we live in darkest Cheshire it might be a bit difficult to organise.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 16:54 
 Pressure cookers - Haywain
"The kitchen walls resultantly had a sort of temporary haggis wash effect as indeed did the two dogs who were in the kitchen at the time. "

That reminds me of when I was a child in the prefab kitchen and my mother, in a hurry, didn't read the instructions on a can of Fray Bentos steak & kidney pie. Similarly, the resultant explosion blew open the oven door and pebble-dashed the kitchen with steak & kidney. The Jack Russell loved it.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:19 
 Pressure cookers - WillDeBeest
Everything I've read tells me that modern spring-valve pressure cookers do not have the same up-blowing tendencies of their ancestors. Yes, we do have and use a slow cooker, but it's not quite slow enough for my liking; it tends to boil things rather than simmering them.

HW's SKP must have been in the days when FB put more than three chunks of meat in each one. What used to be my absolute favourite convenience food has been ruined by the accountants.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:34 
 Pressure cookers - Runfer D'Hills
My favourite definition of an accountant or more specifically an FD is "The condom on the spearhead of industry" Or at least that's what I call ours. He calls me an "overhead" when things are crap and a "profit centre" when things are going ok ( usually this occurs when he hasn't implemented one of his infamous sales prevention plans )

He's ok actually, we get along just fine, despite his caution and my recklessness being in constant conflict.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:37 
 Pressure cookers - CGNorwich
No it's just nostalgia. They were always pretty awful
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:38 
 Pressure cookers - Runfer D'Hills
Accountants?
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:40 
 Pressure cookers - Haywain
"They were always pretty awful"

They were a luxury when the alternatives were tripe, faggots etc.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 19:04 
 Pressure cookers - Bromptonaut
Never thought much of the pies but FB steak and kidney pud was a regular basis for yha night meal, usually with boiled tatties. Still get one now occasionally if self catering in UK.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:38 
 Pressure cookers - Haywain
"HW's SKP must have been in the days when FB put more than three chunks of meat in each one. What used to be my absolute favourite convenience food has been ruined by the accountants."

Yes - I'm going back some 55 years! In fact, when I checked the spelling of 'Fray' on Google, I was surprised to see that it was still going strong in the same style of flat can. I too remember that it was delicious - fortunately, mum persevered and we went on to have unexploded pie on subsequent occasions. Sorry to hear that the chunk-counters have had their say!
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:42 
 Pressure cookers - Runfer D'Hills
Don't think I've ever had a tinned pie. Might be wrong of course. Sounds suspect though to say the least. Tinned pie. Sheesh. English thing I suppose. Like eels. Just wrong.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:48 
 Pressure cookers - Crankcase
I've been scratching about trying to find something to eat tonight, had just about given up (happens a lot if I don't plan properly at the supermarket) and you guys have reminded me I have an emergency Fray Bentos steak and kidney in the cupboard. Sorted! Thank yew.

Last edited by: Crankcase on Sun 11 Jan 15 at 17:48
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:50 
 Pressure cookers - Haywain
"I have an emergency Fray Bentos steak and kidney in the cupboard."

DON'T FORGET TO TAKE THE LID OFF!!!

Apologies for shouting ;-)
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:52 
 Pressure cookers - mikeyb
Picked up a FB pie in a 99p shop a few months back. Not had one since I was a child, and to be honest, when I opened the tin I remembered why. It wasnt unlike opening a tin of cat food.

However, after the required time in the oven it was actually very nice - the flaky pasty came out fine, and I could be tempted to get one again in another 30 years
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:56 
 Pressure cookers - CGNorwich
Not quite as bad as whole canned chicken.

www.seriouseats.com/2009/04/whole-chicken-in-a-can-taste-test.html
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 18:08 
 Pressure cookers - sherlock47
>> Don't think I've ever had a tinned pie. Might be wrong of course. Sounds suspect
>> though to say the least. Tinned pie. Sheesh. English thing I suppose. Like eels. Just
>> wrong.
>>

Probably you did not remember or recognise it - after being dipped in batter and deep fried I suspect it would probably be almost acceptable :)
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 18:13 
 Pressure cookers - Runfer D'Hills
My first boss sent me to get him a deep fried Scotch pie in ( yes IN ) a bread roll and to ensure that prior to assembly the pie was smothered in brown sauce and that the roll was thickly buttered and that some plain crisps were added to the top of the pie crust.

He was Glaswegian though, in his defence.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:52 
 Pressure cookers - John Boy
>> I think they have a sort of niche role a bit like microwave ovens.
>>
I'm pleased to read that. I'd begun to think that I was very uncreative with ours (microwave that is).
Last edited by: John Boy on Sun 11 Jan 15 at 17:53
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 17:56 
 Pressure cookers - Crankcase
The microwave is often used to heat up Mr Brains faggots. Much quicker than the oven...
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 18:01 
 Pressure cookers - CGNorwich
"The microwave is often used to heat up Mr Brains faggots. Much quicker than the oven..."

sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me. What dic Mr Brain do?
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 18:03 
 Pressure cookers - Runfer D'Hills
Ergo, Volvo drivers like faggots?

Edit - or swiftly warmed up ones anyway.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sun 11 Jan 15 at 18:05
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 19:52 
 Pressure cookers - Slidingpillar
My pressure cooker is just a short cut machine for soup making. I can do a mean lentil and bacon soup, and quite a few others. I do know how to cook rice in one, but a simple saucepan with a good fitting lid produces better rice and if you need the time saved (roughly 15 minutes) you'd be better employed learning how to plan a meal better.

But then, with nothing more than gas rings and dixies, I've done an evening meal for 40, a choice of main course, and when a vegetarian appeared - gave him the first real meal he'd had for 4 days.
Note to parents, when you complete a Scout permission to camp form, the fact your son is a vegetarian is relevant and is asked.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 20:19 
 Pressure cookers - Bromptonaut
The Kuhne and Rikon mentioned in the OP doesn't get a great deal of use tbh.

Seasonally it's called on for cooking and reheating Xmas pud. Some root veg, mainly beetroot, cook faster in it, but actually even beetroot will roast from raw if you're careful.

Mrs B uses it for soup, particularly if pulses are involved.

It never ceased to amaze me how often people would turn up on a Youth Hostel and only reveal their vegetarianism at first night supper time. OK, a big catered place like Keswick or Borrowdale might expect/plan but Black Sail or Ennerdale?
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 21:00 
 Pressure cookers - Kevin
>It never ceased to amaze me how often people would turn up on a Youth Hostel and only reveal their
>vegetarianism at first night supper time.

Maybe seeing what was on offer prompted their conversion to veggie Bromp?
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 21:05 
 Pressure cookers - Zero
Wont use one. - Pressure cooker that is. The food tends to taste and have a consistency of over stewed.
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 Sun 11 Jan 15 23:46 
 Pressure cookers - rtj70
Depends what you intend cooking. My wife makes very tasty soups in ours. And we do potatoes and sometimes other veg.
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 Mon 12 Jan 15 00:40 
 Pressure cookers - Armel Coussine
Being chunky, non-magnetic and capable of containing high pressure, a pressure cooker makes a very good basis for an improvised bomb or whatever they called those things in Vietnam.

I think there have been a couple of cases.
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Mon 12 Jan 15 at 00:40
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 Mon 12 Jan 15 14:19 
 Pressure cookers - neiltoo
And in Boston last year.
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 Sun 18 Jan 15 14:13 
 Pressure cookers - WillDeBeest
Well, it arrived yesterday and I've given it its first couple of runs. Partridge all the way so far: we had guests last night and they each got a roasted crown served on a casserole made, in 20 minutes in the pressure cooker, from the legs and carcasses. Worked a treat - not a hint of Z's 'overstewed' objection - and the leftover bones made a beautiful stock that is about to become onion soup for lunch.

Regulating the gas flame to keep the cooking pressure at optimum is taking a bit of practice but I've about cracked it. I think the next task may be an industrial quantity of pork and white beans for the freezer. Nice new toy, anyway.
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 Sun 18 Jan 15 14:44 
 Pressure cookers - Cliff Pope
I haven't seen one in action since childhood, but this thread is almost making me want to dig out our ancient specimens and have a go.

I used to be fascinated by the way the safety valve thing screwed together - rather like the smaller version on my toy steam engine.
The usual kind had a lid with a kind of double handle that clamped into position on top of its fellow on the pan itself.
But the other sort had an oval lid which one put inside the pan and then turned through 90 degrees to seal and locked with a large knob on a sturdy bridge over the top.
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 Sun 18 Jan 15 16:22 
 Pressure cookers - WillDeBeest
No bridge on mine; the top of the pot has bayonet flanges into which the lid fits, with maybe a 15° turn to lock it. When it's pressurized, the lid is forced upward against the bayonet, so it can't simply pop off.

I can't work out what about the 'new' design of pressure cooker - stainless steel, with a bayonet lid and a spring-operated safety valve - would produce different results from the unappetizing offerings we remember from a generation ago; I can't think of a technical explanation if the temperature and operating pressure are much the same. I'll reserve judgment on mine until I've tried it on meat with a serious amount of connective tissue, the unconverted residue of which is one of Mrs Beest's pet hates from her childhood memories. If it can do a good job on that, I think I'll be persuaded.
Last edited by: WillDeBeest on Sun 18 Jan 15 at 16:24
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