BlogHer - Have You Tried Cooking in a Pressure Cooker? - Comments

I'm loving it!

Kalyn Denny — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:30:32 -0600

Mine is the non-jiggle type, with a pressure valve on top. It's safer for people who don't really know what they're doing. I agree, saves lots of energy. It's the "new" green way to cook!

Actually it was reading all the Indian food blogs that first got me interested in trying it!

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

They are pretty standard..

snigdhasen — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:25:48 -0600

...in Indian kitchens. I got a small one with me when I came to the U.S., and my first landlords were quite freaked out by the sound of the whistle!

Saves tons of power. Have two now. They have non-stick ones in India.

Mine came in the mail!

Kalyn Denny — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:41:01 -0500

Can't wait to have a chance to try it out. Thanks for sharing your experience with it.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Pressure cooking season started for me this week

eaphillips — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:30:07 -0500

http://www.enlightenmentgirl.blogspot.com

It got cool enough in Tennessee for soup this week, so I got out my pressure cooker for the first time in a while. I made a beef vegetable soup from a Weight Watchers recipe that would normally take 75-90 minutes to simmer. In the pressure cooker, it took 15, plus 5 minutes to cool and release pressure. Yummy, tender carrots and zucchini, top round beef that fell apart like a fattier cut, brown rice cooked to perfection. I'm eating off of this this for the week!

I also make a tomato meat sauce in my pressure cooker that is not only faster than conventional methods, but it just tastes better too. Somehow the texture is better; the carrots and celery are tender and the whole sauce just tastes "silkier."

So far, my Fagor is working just fine, but I am intrigued by the info about the Fissler.

pressure cooker recommendation

michellev — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:16:03 -0500

Hi -

I handle the PR for Fissler and thought I'd share a little info about our pressure cooker for those interested in trying one out (Fissler is well-known in Europe, but still fairly new here).

If you read the review that Kalyn linked to above from A Cowboy's Wife, she is using the Fissler Blue Point pressure pan set. This is an ideal set for someone who isn't very familiar with pressure cooking because it is many sets in one - pressure cook, grill, sear, fry, sautee, steam and braise. It's super safe too, as it exceeds saftey requirements in both the US and Europe.

It also has a super thick aluminum core base which means the base will never separate, warp or develop hot spots. Fnally, the surface is a Novogrill frying surface, a honeycomb texture for grilling and searing that requires little to no oil (healthy coking).

This set is silent, cooks super fast and requires less liquid. I admit I never used one until I started working on Fissler and was pretty impressed. I was hesitant at first, but quickly sold. It's nice to come home from work after a long day and still make a nice dinner but in half the time.

At any rate, just thought I'd pass along this info since there seems to be such a growing interest in pressure cooking - and now I know why!

Here is the pressure cooker I got

Kalyn Denny — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:01:11 -0500

I got this one but mainly because it was a bit smaller, and since I'm going to use it mainly for things like dried beans and grains I didn't want one that was too big. I'd love to know if I made a good choice, hope so! From what I read online, you can't go wrong with this brand.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Wow, interesting

Kalyn Denny — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:52:32 -0500

I'll definitely check out the pressure cooker blog and will add it to this post. Thanks for the info!

And I'm quite sure I'll be trying pressure cooking myself soon.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

Any particular recommendations for Kuhn Rikon?

Andrea Meyers — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:32:03 -0500

Hi Susan,

I don't own a pressure cooker but have been tempated on a number of occasions. My mother used one all the time when I was growing up. I looked at the Kuhn Rikon collection, and they have three different types: stainless steel, duromatic, and durotherm. What's the difference?

~Andrea,
Andrea's Recipes

You Haven't Been Bitten by the PC Bug -- Yet

VegQueen — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 18:20:58 -0500

Once you start pressure cooking regularly you can get pretty addicted to it. Some of the things that I rarely make but hear are great are pot roast, corned beef and other kinds of meat, too. I made my husband meat loaf in it and it was quick to do and he said that it was delicious.

After you use it for beans, try it for other things. The Kuhn Rikon is a good cooker but more expensive than some of the others. Anything without a jiggler is just fine for me.

Happy PC Cooking.

Jill Nussinow, MS, RD The Veggie Queen -- Planting Produce on Your Plate

Read my blog at www.theveggiequeen.blogspot.com and www.pressurecooking.blogspot.com

Oh good!

Kalyn Denny — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:38:54 -0500

So happy that I picked a good one. I think I'll probably prefer regular cooking too, but I know I'll use it for things like beans and lentils.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

:)

Cowboytf — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 22:24:44 -0500

I still prefer good ol' old fashioned cooking but sometimes it's nice to know that I can whip up a GOOD, quick meal that is NOT processed;) Thanks for the link love. I do appreciate it. And I do love the pressure cooker feature on that particular pan. It's extremely safe!
*******************

My Wooden Spoon ~ Where it's perfectly legal to use a little pot!

A Cowboy's Wife ~ Ranch photography and tall tales from Son up to S

I ordered one!

Kalyn Denny — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 12:08:40 -0500

Okay, I guess you have the record! I took my buddy Susan V's advice and ordered a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker from Amazon.com, along with Lorna Sass's cook about vegetarian cooking in the pressure cooker. Also subscribed to your pressure cooker blog! Can't wait to try it.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

I Have More Than 5 Pressure Cookers

VegQueen — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:50:35 -0500

I teach pressure cooking so I can honestly say that I have more than 5 of them but truly use about 3 of them. They are the new spring-valve, quiet type. I am really scared of the other ones, having heard my mother's cooker explode and seeing the food everywhere. The noise it made scared me, too.

I use my cookers almost every day to cook beans, grains, stew, soup, chili and more. One of my students figured out that the money she saved by cooking her own organic beans in the pressure cooker for 1 year would actually pay for the pressure cooker.

The pressure cooker is the greenest way to cook, saving lots of energy. I'd marry mine but then I'd be a polygamist so I'll just love them without commitment.

Jill Nussinow, MS, RD The Veggie Queen -- Planting Produce on Your Plate Read my blog at www.theveggiequeen.blogspot.com and http://www.pressurecooking.blogspot.com

Thanks, even better!

Kalyn Denny — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 08:57:57 -0500

Thanks for chiming in. Love the idea of soaking beans and them cooking them even faster, since I'm starting to love dried/soaked beans and want to stop using canned ones so often. Better for the environment too.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

pressure cooker

sra — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:01:35 -0500

They're quick, and save fuel, which is important.

Soaking dry beans overnite and pressure cooking them will save more fuel and time :-) In fact, I've never ever cooked dry beans without soaking them overnite. Here in India, lamb/mutton takes a long time to cook in a pot - a pressure cooker will cut the cooking time by more than half.

Have You Tried Cooking in a Pressure Cooker?

Kalyn Denny — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:56:51 -0500

I'm someone who cooks constantly, and in my kitchen there's a huge assortment of gadgets, including electric things like a rotisserie, breadmaker, convection oven, food processor, blender, immersion blender, rice maker, and multiple crockpots as well as manual things like a grill pan, dutch ovens, a wok, steamer, food mill, and cast-iron frying pans. But one kitchen gadget I don't own and have never used is a pressure cooker.

Lately I'm becoming more and more curious about pressure cookers. My sister Valerie has several of them, and I know she uses one often when she's making dinner for her eight kids and time is of the essence. I don't have kids, but I know enough about pressure cookers to understand that they're used to cook foods much more quickly than usual, and I have a time shortage at my house too. The idea of cooking beans quickly without remembering to soak sounds appealing. I also like the way they can be used to tenderize inexpensive cuts of meat, sort of like a crockpot on steroids. I wouldn't be surprised if I end up buying a pressure cooker eventually, but before I do, I decided it might be fun to see what food bloggers have to say about them.

Maki from Just Hungry is obviously a pressure cooker fan. In a post called Pressure Cooker Love Maki tells about inheriting a pressure cooker and growing to love it. She says pressure cookers are perfect for vegetarians, and recommends it for beans, lentils, and brown rice.

Another good post about why pressure cookers can be useful comes from Start Cooking in a post titled Pressure Cookers - The Original Microwave. Here you can learn a bit about the history of pressure cookers, how they work, how they're designed to be safe, and why cooking in a pressure cooker is a good time-saver.

A Cowboy's Wife at My Wooden Spoon raves about the way the pressure cooker takes the work out of cooking and shows off her 30 Minute Beef Stew in a Pressure cooker (pictured above) to prove the point.

Kits Chow tells why she likes her pressure cooker even though she has lots of other pans, then shares a recipe for Braised Short Ribs the Pressure Cooker Way.

At Almost Turkish Recipes, Burcu shares the recipe for Pressure Cooker Steak (pictured above) that was a family favorite she couldn't resist even though she wasn't an enthusiastic red meat eater.

I am Gluten Free declares I Love My Pressure Cooker, and her recipe for Split Pea Soup with Herbes de Provence really does sound delicious.

I notice a lot of Indian bloggers use pressure cookers, and Nupur from One Hot Stoves uses hers when she adapts another blogger's recipe for Corn Quinoa Chipotle Soup (pictured above.)

Here are a few more pressure cooker recipes I thought sounded great, if you're getting interested:
Creamy Coconut Rice Pudding from Cooking with Amy
Webmonkey Pressure Cooker Chili from Brownie Points
Mom's Chili Beans from Simply Recipes
Orange Scented Beet Salad from Veggie Queen Adventures (Edit - She has a Pressure Cooker Blog!)
Creamy Black Lentils from Hooked on Heat
Creole Black Eyed Peas from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

Not everyone is a fan though. The Frugal Cook tells Why I Don't Like Pressure Cookers.

What do you think about pressure cookers? Have you used one, and how did you like it? And if any BlogHer readers have good pressure cooker recipes to share, please leave a link or the recipe in the comments.

Kalyn Denny writes about food and at BlogHer.com and shares her passion for cooking at Kalyn's Kitchen, where a pressure cooker just might be in her future.