Aehm...How embarrassing...Pressure cooker???

raeble

Ah yes, you might want to put open a window or two when using it. They do produce a lot of steam and the older ones make a racket. Don't put so much water in there when you cook your chicken otherwise you'll end up with an awful lot of gravy. I must say you are very brave opening it like that, I always open it after sticking it in the sink under the cold tap.

bargainqueen_2

raeble wrote:

Ah yes, you might want to put open a window or two when using it.
I think I will now, too. And all the doors. And have the fan on. And the hoover running...

raeble wrote:

I must say you are very brave opening it like that, I always open it after sticking it in the sink under the cold tap.

Replace brave...with stupid me thinks! Never mind, will see how dinner goes later (with MUCH less water!)

bargainqueen_2

Right, last night I made chicken in white wine sauce and some veg and stuff....And although i couldn't be bothered chopping the carrot into small chunks, it was all done within, like 2 minutes!!!! And tonight I made Spag Bol and it took me......aehm....all in all about 15 mins! And it tasted great! Thanks you guys, it was fab. Only one small explosion..... and the flavour made up for THAT

foreverskint

I wonder if anyone could give me some guidelines on using a pressure cooker.
#I was lucky enough to find a prestige one in a local charity shop today for the princely sum of £2.00. i have used one before but it was years ago, and i cant remember any cooking times or pressures.

Any help appreciated.

Rikki

People on this site will want to know the make and if possible the model number to be able to help. A good description.

An importent thing is to make sure you have all the bits as they can be dangerous if not weighted properly.

Pink.

Hi foreverskint,

I use my pressure cooker mainly for boiling potatoes and tenderising meat for stews etc, so I can't really help as most of it is trial and error.

A general rule of thumb that I use is that food cooked in a pressure cooker takes around one third of the time it would take if cooked on top of the cooker in the normal way.

Sorry I can't help more.

Pink

Ted_Hutchinson

Pressure cookers basically only have a gasket, valve and safety valve which can go wrong. So if you put a half pint of water in, put the lid on and bring it up to pressure you will soon see if the gasket is OK.
If it isn't the cooker will leak steam from around between the lid and the pan and the weight won't come up to pressure.
Spare parts are available from http://www.espares.co.uk/part/Small%20Appliances/Pressure%20Cookers/Prestige
but you may also find them in your local hardware shop.
If your weight is the type that has a central section you can adjust the heat under the pan when it reaches either low or high pressure. If it's the type that you unscrew the weights so you either have low middle or high then you have to wait till the selected weight is jiggling on the knob at which point you turn it down.

If you'd like to give more details of the stuff you are likely to be cooking I'll post the times for you.
I use
3 minutes carrots.
7 minutes for potatoes
10 minutes (slow cool down) for presoaked pulses.
15 minutes stews/casseroles.
Edit: Pinks rule of thumb a third of normal time is about right except for the pulses which I fine at 10 mins if soaked first and left to cool slowly.

foreverskint

Thanks for the speedy replies everyone:D

I checked the gaskets and valves etc in the shop and it all looks secure, and there were also 3 new spare gaskets in side the pan itself. I shall try out Ted's test first to make sure it's o.k. Its a prestige one and looks very good. It's not something I planned on buying but at that price I couldn't turn it doen, as I know there useful for things like steamed puds which we have a lot of and stews etc.

I'm assuming that the timing starts from when the cooker is up to pressure?

squeaky

A couple of other threads that might be of help are:-


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=81903

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=4747

Ted_Hutchinson

foreverskint wrote:

I know there useful for things like steamed puds which we have a lot of and stews etc.

There are 2 stages to cooking a steam pud in a pressure cooker. a)Steaming without the weight on and b) Pressure timed after the cooker has been brought to pressure
Sponge pudding
Normal cooking time 30 mins a)Steam 5mins b) Pressure 10 mins
.....................1hr-1and a half hrs a)Steam 15mins b) Pressure 25-30 mins
Suet pud in basin
11/2 to 2 hrsa)Steam 15mins b) Pressure 40 mins
After cooking allow pressure to reduce slowly.

I'm assuming that the timing starts from when the cooker is up to pressure?

Yes