Help with pressure cooker

kah22

Bought a Tefal 6 litre standard pressure cooker last week and decided to cook a full chicken today using a basic recipe: seared the chicken with garlic and dried herb butter and added the chicken to the pressure cooker with about 700 mls water plus stock cube.  

I had my hob on the high setting but it never reached full pressure. After some time I thought 'no, this is not right,' so I stoped cooking and when I opened the pressure cooker the liquid had almost boiled dry. 

I'm wondering if you can put to much liquid in a pressure cooker, or if the herb butter could have blocked the pressure ball  Any ideas?

knightstyle

Sounds as if the seal is not sealing. They don't last for ever.

theonlywayisup

knightstyle said:

Sounds as if the seal is not sealing. They don't last for ever.

I read it that the pressure cooker is only a week old?

OP I don't use pressure cookers so can't help.  

MovingForwards

Ask in the old style board as they do use pressure cookers.

I'm assuming you did close the lid properly, until it clicked, forming the seal.

twopenny

I use a pressure cooker , how much butter went in?
Look around the vent hole. Small disc of rubber with a metal pin. Is that pressed in?
When you had it coming to pressure was there any escape of steam from anywhere other than where the weights go on?
Yes, the amount of water is essential depending what you are cooking. That should be in an instruction book. 
There is a maximum/minimum amount.
You should bring the cooker up to pressure without the weights until a steady stream of steam comes out. Put the weights on and wait for a steady stream of steam and start timing from there.
Did you use the right weight? There should be 3.
Never put it on fierce heat. Just enough to produce steam.

adsk

If it's a Tefal Secure5 pressure cooker I find (like a previous Prestige pressure cooker that I owned) that to get the  pressure cooker to seal (i.e. the red indicator pops up which allows the pressure cooker to come up to pressure) it often helps to have the pressure cooker lid on for 10 secs when liquid is boiling in the cooker, remove the lid and replace again.  My guess is that this evenly distributes steam/moisture across the lid, which then allows a seal to form.

Sistergold

If you closed it properly then the seal is not working. If closed properly and seal doing its work it can not boil to dryness without hissing so much you will know you need to do something. Mine is not a tefal but a prestige but I guess it should work the same? Have you tried watching YouTube see how it should work? 

MSE_ForumTeam5

We've moved this thread to the Old Style board which is where our cooking experts hang out

-taff

Working pressure cookers dont boil dry. As above, there's either something wrong with your seal, or your pressure regulator, or if it's one with a removable presure regulator knob, did you put it on?

PollyWollyDoodle

It definitely sounds as if it wasn’t sealed. Sometimes it’s just that the silicon ring isn’t pushed firmly into place all round.  You usually know because there will be lots of hissing and steam coming out. Was the pressure valve definitely closed?  I’ve got an instant pot (electric pressure cooker) and if I forget to turn the release valve to the closed position it won’t reach pressure.