Pressure Cookers

[JM123]

Hello,
I use a pressure cooker entirely for cooking beans. However, I think the usage can not be so limited. I wish to use it often, as pressure cooking helps reduce cooking time(I have definitely seen it in case of beans), and can be a massive energy saver, if used daily.
Can anyone guide me how to involve pressure cooking in daily cooking?
Any recipes will be very helpful.

Thanks

[Scotch]

I have two really great pressure cookers, a 5-quart and an 8-quart, both made by the Swiss company Kuhn Rikon. They replaced an old electric pressure cooker I bought from HSN one night on a whim (read "after two glasses of wine"). That got me interested enough to buy a good one, and I then decided I needed a larger one, too. Bottom line: I love them!

I suggest that you pick up a few good cookbooks for the pressure cooker:

• Anything by Lorna Sass is great.
• Pressure Cookers for Dummies has a lot of good recipes and advice.
• Express Cooking by Barry Bluestein & Kevin Morrissey
• Pressure Cooking for Everyone by Rick Rogers & Arlene Ward

Also, if you're into Indian food, Madhur Jaffrey specifies a pressure cooker for several of her recipes.

[Katie H]

JM123, did your pressure cooker come with an instruction booklet? If so, they generally have a section that includes recipes.

I use mine for all manner of things. I just usually throw in my meat or poultry, some herbs and spices and a small amount of liquid and cook away. Most of the time if I'm cooking pork or beef, I brown the meat in the cooker to give the meat more flavor and some crust. And, as you said, cooking with the pressure cooker takes far less time.

Just play around with it. I'm sure you'll become expert at it in a little while.

Really LOVE my Kuhn Rikon. One of the best purchases we ever made.

[FincaPerlitas]

Pressure cookers are ideal for any sort of braised meat recipe, such as pot roast, lamb shanks, or this recipe for beef ribs which I posted in another thread a couple of days ago.

Braised Beef Ribs
2 or 3 slices bacon, diced
3 lbs beef short ribs, trimmed of excess fat if necessary
1/3 cup each of onion, carrot and celery, finely chopped
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 pinch dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup dry red wine (such as cabernet savignon)
1 1/4 cups beef, veal or chicken stock
Flour (for dredging meat and thickening the gravy)

Cook bacon over medium-low heat to render the fat. Season beef with salt and pepper, dredge lightly in flour and brown in rendered bacon fat. Add onion, carrot and celery and continue cooking until limp and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic, wine, stock and seasonings. Taste for salt and add more if necessary. Cover and cook 25 to 30 minutes at 15 lbs pressure.

When done, remove from heat and allow to cool down naturally until the pressure releases, about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, make a slurry of flour and water. Remove meat and bay leaf, turn heat to medium-high until the liquid is boiling gently. Stream in flour slurry with a whisk until the sauce thickens. Cook a couple of minutes. Spoon a little over the meat and serve the rest in a side dish. Serves 4.

[JM123]

Hello everybody,
Thanks for such quick replies & nice advices.
I am glad to have put frward my concerns in this forum.
I'll definitely try some meats next time.

Cheers