Need pressure cooker help!

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sunnysmile

Cook
Joined
Jul 13, 2007
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I am going to be making freezer burritos tomorrow as I talked about in another thread, and I've decided to make my own refried beans for them. I want to use my pressure cooker. It is a large one, also used for pressure canning. Does anyone have experience pressure cooking beans? I've looked online for tips, because my manual says to not cook beans or grains in the pressure cooker. I'm sure this is a blanket statement for liability sake. Beans tend to foam alot when cooking, and their concern is that the foam, or loose skins from the beans may clog the steam vent, causing pressure problems.
As I said, I've seen directions online for it, but I would like to hear some personal experiences if anyone has them before I do this. My plan is to only fill the pressure cooker 1/2 full and add oil to prevent foaming. Can anyone help me?
 
I've never done beans in the pc. I know the others here have. Just hang around, I'm sure someone will chime in soon!
 
I believe you have to be careful of foaming when using a PC for beans. Don't some recipes call for oil in the water?
 
Yep - for every cup of dried beans put 1 TBS of oil in the mixture and use 4 cups of water. You do NOT want the foam to clog up the escaping steam. Also, use the quick release method when cooling them down.
 
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I come from a long line of beans-in-the-pressure-cooker people. My mother would do this every other week or so, as did her mother before her. I've only made beans that way a dozen times or so.

For what it's worth, I've never heard of this being an issue. My advice: don't worry about it. I'd advise against putting oil in there either, unless you want oily beans. Family recipe:

Pinto beans
Water to cover, plus 4 inches or so
Whole onion, peeled
Red chile powder
Salt

There are a few schools of thought on preparing the beans (other than sorting them, which I highly recommend). One is to soak them overnight in salted water, then discard the water, rinse and cook. Another is to bring them to a boil, discard the water, rinse and cook. My mother confided in me that she always does one or the other, but she doubted it really made much difference.

Good luck on your burritos, let us know how they turn out.
 
I make beans in a pressure cooker weekly and have done so for the past 10 years. I never add oil, but I also never, ever fill the pressure cooker to more than 2/3 full when cooking beans.

Refried beans are cooked until soft and then they are fried in a frying pan usually with lard (pig fat) or bacon fat. If you are going to fry the beans in oil or fat after softening them in the pressure cooker the it does not matter if you add oil to the water in the pressure cooker. Not all pressure relief valves are made the same and some oil may be a prudent ingredient to add just to suppress or reduce the foaming action of the protein in the beans.

I never use anything but fresh tap water to soak the beans before cooking. Your salt should be added to the beans after cooking and any other herbs, spice and flavors should be added during cooking.

Traditional refried beans are, I believe, pinto beans. I use a combination of pinto beans and black beans (4 to 1 ratio) because the black beans break down long before the pinto beans and provide a nice mushy gravy consistency to the mix.
 
I cook all types of beans in my pressure cooker. Being Indian majority of our food includes beans of all kinds.

Here are a few tips to cook them without a problem or a big mess on your hand or ceiling :)

Soak the beans overnight in plentiful water. Next morning drain the beans and water in a colander. Ensure you put plenty of water to rinse the beans out.

Add enough water to cover the beans and then as KitchenElf wisely indicated add a tbsp of oil to the water. Don't worry your beans will not be oily. Beans have so much starch that the oil is all absorbed. The oil helps prevent sticking of the beans as well (they tend to do that as they cook down)

Finally cook the beans on medium low if you can and follow the directions of your cooker. For example I have a Seb (French) pressure cooker that indicates that I have to start my cooking at 1 and then move it to 2. I follow that closely but when I move it to 2 I reduce the heat lower and that avoids the steam from accumulating too fast.
 
one of my favorite cookbooks was put out by the Michigan Bean Commission. It is a booklet on every thing you could possibly want to know about beans.

Yes, you can cook dried beans in a pressure cooker. Their recommendation is to soak the beans overnight in water. Drain water. Add beans to the pressure cooker. The cooker should be no more than 1/3 full. Add water to cover and add 1 tablespoon of oil to reduce foaming. Secure lid, cook at 10 pounds pressure for 20 minutes.
 
Thanks so much for all your replies. I feel a lot better about doing this now. I'll let you know how they turn out, as this is my first time. Wish I could have you all over for burritos! :)
 
I use the pressure cooker all the time for beans. I made baked beans over the weekend and last weekend I made refried beans. I've never added oil in the 20 years or so I've been doing it.

Anyway, for refritos I cook up pinto beans and diced onion in some well seasoned liquid, then I mash them up and "fry" them with just a little oil, and add seasoning and maybe some extras like chopped cilantro or jalepenos, depending on my mood.
 
I had success today, no problems whatsoever. I cooked 3 pounds of beans in my 21 quart pc, filled only half full over the beans. I could have cooked more beans in that amount of water, I had tons left over, but I would rather err with too little beans than too much. Added my ground beef and topped with shredded cheese. Ended up making 85 smallish burritos (soft taco size tortilla) for the freezer. Hopefully this will keep my two teenagers, tween and husband filled for a while.
 
jennyema said:
I use the pressure cooker all the time for beans. I made baked beans over the weekend and last weekend I made refried beans. I've never added oil in the 20 years or so I've been doing it.

All I can say is it's recommended to add oil. I guess those two people "it" happened to made enough of an impact for the recommendation :LOL: Also, you probably put the right proportions of water to beans making the foam a non-issue.
 
pc

when i was a teen in tennessee, my mom made press.cooking stuff all the time. i remember stuffed cabbage. not beans though.

as i was just learning to cook, i put rice in the cooker. blew the little gauge and the lid right off.

been scared of em ever sense.

babe :(
 
I just found a site called Miss Vickie's (this system won't allow me to post a URL), that has pretty much anything you'd need to know about pressure cookers, including buying tips. She says to stay away from the Chef's Design models, as they don't come up to the standard 15psi and cooking takes longer and recipes have to be adjusted accordingly. So I guess I'd agree with Cook's and say that Fagor gives you the most for your money.
 
She also says to avoid electric pressure cookers:

Electric pressure cookers seem to be plagued with problems. Yes, they attract novice pressure cooker users who are unsure of pressure cookery, and that helps convince newcomers to "graduate" to the standard stovetop model. If you are contemplating an electric appliance be aware that the very short warrantee -- usually only 1 year compared to 10 with stovestop models -- is a telling indictment of problems to come.
There are fewer safety mechanisms on electric models than on stovetops. Most electric cookers have a smaller capacity. Another drawback is the lack of infinate control options available to users. There is no means of rapid cooling for delicately steamed foods such as tender-crisp veggies like the stove top models which can be placed. All those limitations will minimize the usefulness and cooking options.
 
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