Pressure Cooker Recommendation?

[missvickie]

Ok so I thought it was a Presto but it's not. It's a T-Fal. It's an older one.
Vita

If I can chime in on my favorite topic... let me add that the T-Fal is a non-standard pressure cooker. Since their product literature never mentioned the actual psi settings, I had contacted them some time ago and it came as no surprise that the T-Fal operates at only 11psi.

That poses many problems for you as the owner. Ever since 1917, pressure cooker recipes have been designed for the standard of 15 psi, and this is such a universally accepted fact that most recipes never need to specify the psi setting... a fact that the manufacturers of these non-standard unit capitalize on. Likewise, the electric models do not meet the 15psi standard.

In looking at the recipes T-Fal has on their website, you can see the differences in cooking times with a Risotto they say to cook 10 minutes versus 7 minutes at 15psi. At only 11psi, that means a 27% increase in cooking times for this product, which not only defeats the speed benefit of pressure cookery, but wastes more of your time in waiting for dinner, costs you more in fuel, and the end results are unpredictable.

Do look at what's available in today's modern pressure cookers, not the old fashioned 'jiggle top' models or the electric fads, but the new spring valve, stovetop models that deliver the most bang for the buck. I hope this gives you some useful information that will help you find the best pressure cooker for your needs.

 

[VitaWright]

Thank you so much! That was very informative missvickie. I may well donate it or just throw it away. Pressure cooking has always appealed to me but it would be nice to be able to do it right.

 

[pacanis]

That was informative, but I'd like to say as someone who has only used the lesser psi, electric PC, that 30 minutes is plenty fast enough for me to cook a whole chicken or a roast. Any faster and I won't be finished with my before dinner drink

I'll keep the psi difference in mind though, when following a recipe from a different source. Thanks.

 

[Russellkhan]

That was informative, but I'd like to say as someone who has only used the lesser psi, electric PC, that 30 minutes is plenty fast enough for me to cook a whole chicken or a roast. Any faster and I won't be finished with my before dinner drink

Yes, the switch to a standard PC requires a bit of adjustment in cooking methods. I recommend switching to simple straight shots as pre-dinner drinks. One plus is that they are so much faster both in prep time and consumption time that you can actually fit several in before the meal is ready. Just be careful to finish all chopping before starting on shooters.

 

[pacanis]

A good tip, Russell.

 

[Corey123]

I got a 6-qt Fagor pressure cooker, which I've had for 11 years now. I bought it from the Show Me Products booth at the New England Home Show around March of '97.

I've recently ordered and received a new gasket, 2 new handles and a new screw knob. Replaced the old parts with the new ones. Cleaned it up so that it's sniny and new looking once again. And now, it's as though I just gave it a new lease on life!

But in all of those 11 years, there never was a problem with the performance of the unit. It's a heavy thick-guage stainless steel unit. It stood the test of time, and I only spent less than $55.00 for those few replacement parts! So I'd say that a Fagor pressure cooker is the way to go.