Pressure cooker recipes / questions

maryb

I'd choose a pressure cooker over a slow cooker but most people on here seem to swear by slow cookers
I cook ham joints in the pressure cooker then they just need 20 minutes in the oven and the stock makes wonderful soup with a handful of mixed beans and pulses (Country soup mix from Sainsburys) a chopped onion and a teaspoonful of curry powder

newleaf

I've had a pressure cooker all my adult life, but I only got my slow cooker 3 years ago! My mum was a keen user of a pressure cooker, and she bought me my first one when I left home - I'm on my 3rd now. I use it for soups, stews, Chilli (made with stewing beef, never mince), steamed puddings, boiling bacon joints etc. The only thing I don't do is veg - it overcooks them IMO, I prefer to use a steamer.

pom_2

Would you say that they are beter than slow cookers? I really love cooking with my slow cooker - I've been doing stews, chilli, soups, curries, even puddings. Everything seems to come out too wet though, even on the hottest setting - I end up finishing things off in the oven to thicken them up a bit.

Would a pressure cooker be better?

FZwanab

I use my pressure cooker more than anything else in my kitchen. I use it to do potatoes, stews and lately I cut up a whole chicken with a carrot, onion and celery and cook it for about 30 mins, then I take out the chicken and pick off the chicken for a big curry or sweet and sour dish and use the liquid remaining as a chicken stock for soups or stews. However, I now love my slow cooker too for days I know I will be too busy to cook.

dolly_day_dream

As our eating habits changed from meat and veg to curries etc I got rid of our old pressure cooker. I soon regretted it though and was very happy last year when I managed to buy the identical model back (aluminium) for 50p from a car boot sale.

There are some things that are better cooked in it than in the slow cooker IMHO I have to admit that my slow cooker is just a basic model that I got free from a catalogue years ago but pulses seem to cook better in the pressure cooker than in the slow cooker. I would always make soup in the pressure cooker and after trying the slow cooker last year will return to making my christmas puddings in the pressure cooker this year.

The pressure cooker also doubles as a stock pot, extra jam pan and best of all I can cook Curry Queens curry sauce in it and save some of the 'wonderful' smell from invading the whole house.

twink

i bought a prestige pressure cooker many moons ago and its still going strong, it was invaluable when the children were all at home

suziewuzie

I agree with several previous posters - pressure cooker is brill for soups; pulses; stock making (freeze carcasses from chicken, then make a big batch of concentrated stock); jam; chutney; Christmas Puds; stews; gammon joints. Just made a huge batch of hummous in it this morning -very quick way of cooking the chickpeas. Wouldn't be without it. I started using one back in the 70s when I lived in a bedsit, and only had a Baby Belling cooker. I could make a whole meal (with the veg and pots) in the Pressure cooker on one little electric ring!

maryb

My kitchen to be is still a big space where the builder is conspicuous by his absence!!
I'm getting very good at cooking on a Baby Belling - It's amazing what you can do - and yes the pressure cooker is invaluable!

But how do you cook a turkey in a Baby Belling? It's not that I'm a pessimist or anything but.....

Chipps

Pressure cookers are brilliant! Although I don't think you can do a direct comparison with a slow cooker - they are quite different. I have had 3 pressure cookers over the years, & still have 2 slow cookers.
They are both good for making stock; if I need it quickly I would use the pressure cooker (45 mins) but otherwise its so easy to put the chicken carcase in the slow cooker overnight. In the morning it smells like there's something good to eat!
For stews, liver & bacon etc, it depends on the timescale, too.
If you want it now - pressure cooker!
If you want to put it on in the morning, go out & come back to a lovely welcoming cooked meal - slow cooker!
Not sure I'd want to be without either of them!

whistler-alison

I rarely use my slowcooker, but the pressure cooker gets used much more especially for stocks and soups. When I use the slowcooker I have to chop everything else the night before and then have to get up earlier to put it in the cooker in the morning before work (before my shower otherwise I hum of onions for the rest of the day). And I also think that I am out too long because it always tastes dry and overdone (it would be in the cooker for eleven hours while I was at work and then would not be eaten for about another two while I wait for my OH to come home). Whereas with the pressure cooker I just get in from work, chop it all up shove it all in and it is done from start to end in 20 mins while OH is in shower. Personally, I find teh pressure cooker more convenient.