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Ooops, made a mistake with pressure cooker, help a newbie with one learn how to use it!

dekaspace1
Posts: 442 Forumite

Wasted some beef a while back and now a ham roast because I assumed you needed to cover the meat with water and ended up with meat that fell to pieces and fatty water around it.
At least it was yellow label meat so only lost about £2 worth of meat up to now but interested to know what to do for future so I don't make this mistake again.
It was also because I wondered about adding extras to the meat when cooking i.e like veg to make a big meal I assumed water was needed as if it was on a hob
So if say I wanted to cook a gammon joint and add things like veg to it, what would be best way? I know I can boil them on hob but i'd assume adding the veg at same time would add flavour.
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Comments
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I can’t tell you how to cook a gammon joint, but I can explain the basic principles of cooking a meal in a pressure cooker. They are best for stewing cuts of meat that would normally need a long, slow cook to tenderise. Remember that you are cooking your meal in a sealed environment and no liquid can evaporate.
Start by browning your meat - use the pressure cooker like a frying pan for a few minutes - and then, remove the meat and fry your aromatics (onions, garlic, ginger, spices if using). Return the meat to the pan together with any hard veggies that you’re using (carrots, potatoes, etc). ADD NO MORE THAN 1/3 of the liquid specified in the recipe put the lid on and bring it up to pressure. Turn the burner down to the lowest setting and cook for 15-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat. Switch off, leave for 5-10 minutes to allow the pressure to equalise, open and serve.
I mainly use my pressure cooker for cooking dried kidney beans or dried chickpeas*. Soak them all day first, drain and discard the soaking water**. Spread the beans evenly in the the pressure cooker, then cover with water. Aim to have about an inch of water above the top of the beans. Put the lid on, bring up to pressure and cook for 30-45 minutes.
HTH
- Pip
* I have a 10L pressure cooker, so will cook 750g-1kg of dried beans in one go.
** I usually freeze my soaked beans. It helps break down the cell walls and shortens their cooking time."Be the type of woman that when you get out of bed in the morning, the devil says 'Oh crap. She's up.' "
It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it - that’s what gets results!
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I cook the joint in pressure for the specified time as the OP has said, then reduce the stock and add the veggies to it at the same time, cooking it uncovered.
I use mine for a lot of beans too!1 -
I no longer have a pressure cooker. When I did have one I reserved it for tough meat needing long cooking - the sort of thing I now put in my slow cooker.I think a pressure cooker for gammon is a bit OTT. I work out the cooking time, simmer for half that and then put it in the oven for the remaining time (covered with foil until the last 10-15 ninutes whenthe rind is removed and some sort of glaze added). Cooking water then gets turned into lentil soup.1
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I used to do a whole dinner - stewing steak, potatoes, veg - in mine years ago but for the life of me I can't remember how I used to do it. But I do remember I didn't cover the food with water.Dekaspace - do you have a slow cooker? Lots of recipes for gammon.How about looking in your local library for a recipe book or in charity shops?1
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Pollycat said:I used to do a whole dinner - stewing steak, potatoes, veg - in mine years ago but for the life of me I can't remember how I used to do it. But I do remember I didn't cover the food with water.Dekaspace - do you have a slow cooker? Lots of recipes for gammon.How about looking in your local library for a recipe book or in charity shops?
The other place you could look is on the e-book site that you prefer and see if there are any going free. There seem to be quite a lot on "earth's biggest selection" for £0.00 when I typed 'pressure cooking recipes' into the search bar this morning and don't forget that Instant Pots are also a kind of pressure cooker too so you could look at recipes for those as well.2 -
Pollycat said:I used to do a whole dinner - stewing steak, potatoes, veg - in mine years ago but for the life of me I can't remember how I used to do it. But I do remember I didn't cover the food with water.Dekaspace - do you have a slow cooker? Lots of recipes for gammon.How about looking in your local library for a recipe book or in charity shops?I got rid of slow cooker when I got this as never used it, sorry for late response tired due to going ons with the world.as for things like gammon, the whole reason for me getting this was not necessarily to cut down on cooking time (though thast a bonus) but when I cooked something in oven it often dried out too much and I thought I could do a whole meal together.0
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Well, you can cook a whole main course in it, and quickly, too. I'll generally do gammon in the slow cooker, but in the pressure cooker if I'm short of time or have both my vegetarian daughters at home; one dislikes the smell of meat cooking, and in the slow cooker that goes on all day. I cover the ham with water, bring to the boil & discard the water, which I've been led to believe gets rid of the worst of the nitrates. Then add more water; about a third of the way up the joint, because I'll be using excess stock to make soup. I'll chop in an onion, carrots & some celery, throw in a good pinch of mixed herbs, some paprika, bay leaves, whole cloves & juniper berries & a teaspoon of honey; adjust flavourings to suit your taste. A few well-scrubbed spuds, of a waxy variety rather than a floury variety - they'd just disintegrate - bring up to full pressure & cook for half an hour. You can release the pressure fast, if you like. Skim out the cloves, juniper berries & bay leaves, & make a little gravy from the stock if you want. The potatoes may fall apart, but that's ok, they still taste good.
For beef, I'd make a stew rather than a "roast" - you can cut a joint into cubes - probably the same veg, with maybe a parsnip too, herbs, herbs, pepper (add salt after cooking, it can toughen the meat) a tin of tomatoes and a slug of red wine or beer, according to taste. Thicken with cornflour after cooking. If you're feeling really daring, you could cook it, then add dumplings & simmer for another half-hour without pressure.
Seconding the suggestion for finding recipe books - there's a lot you can do with a pressure cooker, but only if you know that it's do-able!Angie - GC Feb 25: £308.75/£500: 2025 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 0/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)0 -
For a gammon joint, as above I cover with water, heat gently and then leave to stand 2/3 hours. Discard that water.
From my first instruction manual (40!) years ago -
For the first 2lb of meat add 1/2 pint water. For each extra 1lb add another 1/4pt.
For the first 2lb cook for 30mins at high pressure. For each extra 1lb add on 15 min. We like it well cooked now so I usually add on another 10 mins or so.
Have used this for 3 different cookers over the years. I also use the stock for soup (courgette today, got to use them up some how) so add onion, celery, carrot etc.
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