Pressure cooker question

kah22

I bought the Tower pressure from Lidli isle and I’m just getting used to it The manual says ‘After a while the pressure-limiting valve will

raise and steam will continuously escape with

a ‘squeak’ sound. Reduce the level of heat and allow the pressure cooker to continue cooking for the required time.

Now I’m uncertain what they mean by ‘reduce the level of heat.’ How far? Does there have to be a a little steam coming out of the safety valve. How do you actually judge min heat.

Would love your views. I’m just cooking for one.

maryb

It’s a bit trial and error.  You don’t want it hissing furiously otherwise it could boil dry especially if you only have the minimum level of water in.  On the other hand if you reduce the heat too much the pressure will drop.  I find if I put the cooker on my smallest gas ring and turn the heat right down that sometimes happens so I know to keep that ring turned up just a little.  Keep an eye on it for the first few times and if you see the pressure dropping tweak the heat up.  You’ll soon get a feel for it

Good luck.  I wouldn’t be without my pressure cooker

LadyHarriet

Like @maryb says, it's a bit of trial and error - I have a Tower PC and found that on my ceramic hob, I have to lower the heat from 6 (maximum)  to 3 to maintain pressure but not have it hiss like a disgruntled snake. 
I do love my pressure cooker, especially for cooking things like dried beans and I also use it when cooking gammon as it does cut the cooking time (and therefore the power used) quite a lot. It is also the biggest pan that I have got, so brilliant for making quantities of soup (with or without using pressure!). 
I also have a slow cooker and a Remoska, but wouldn't want to be without the pressure cooker - good luck with yours 

joedenise

You definitely need to still see a little steam coming from the vent.  I bring to pressure on the Power setting on my induction hob, which is a step beyond the normal max of 9, and then turn it down to 4 but occasionally that will be too much and need to turn to 3. (which is a halfway point between 3 and 4!).

Persevere with it as it's brilliant for the quick cooking of lots of things especially cheap cuts of meat to make delicious stews, dried beans and as @LadyHarriet says, gammon joint.

kah22

I also have an induction and what I’m trying at the moment is bringing the pot to high on my hottest zone and then once it reaches pressure point move it immediately to my least powerful zone and at the moment I’m hovering between 5 and 7 but my mind tells me 7 is to high that pressure should be maintained at a lower number. Anyway that’s my thoughts at this point in time

joedenise

That could be because the least powerful zone isn’t hot when you move the PC over.  I would have thought a lower figure would be enough to keep it at pressure.

tastyhog

Depends on your cooker, you want it on enough that steam is still coming out in a slow but steady stream, as long as there's still steam coming out its at the correct pressure. it also depends on what you're cooking, whether it's got a thick liquid or thin etc

On my cooker it means on the front left ring it's on 1 or 2, which keeps it ticking over. 

JohnnyB70

It would be working at its best just below the temperature at which steam escapes. The problem is that you can’t tell if you are just below, or a long way below, which is why it’s probably safest to have it so a little bit is coming out. That tells you that it’s not running too cold.