Thoughts on Pressure Cooking

[The Knize]

We use ours for pot roast and for osso bucco. The time saved is definitely worth it and I am about 50/50 success/embarrassment when it comes to meat in a dutch oven. I haven't screwed up one in the pressure cooker yet. I also use the big 16qt pot for soups and chili, so its a multitasker.

Good point. It is a nice, big, heavy conventional pot, too.

I did a pork belly and then a beef tongue in mine recently. I think I will stick to braising pork belly or turning it into bacon.

I wish my mother was around to tell me how to do the tongue. What I did was not very good, but I sort of took the beginning of a Latin recipe. I think my Mother roasted or baked tongue. Also, did tongues once come smoked, sort of like bacon?

 

[Tim_McD]

I have been following this thread with interest and I am going to take the plunge. I am just about settled on the Instant Pot electric, as the feature set aligns with what I think I want.

Multi-function (pressure & slow cooker), stainless interior pot, in-pot browning, timed on/off and one touch preset programming (for the lovely bride). The only thing I haven't settled on is sizing of the cooker.

My lovely bride will be happy to gift it to me for Christmas, should I buy it for myself.

 

[Sergio Campos]

I did a couple of rounds of dulce de leche. Really fantastic stuff. I always knew you could make it by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk, but I had never had the guts to try it. Nothing could be easier.

I really like Brazillian food. Especially feijoada. Nice to have lots of bean dishes. So satisfying and tasty.

Glad you enjoyed it. And since we are on the topic, here is what we had for dinner yesterday, a "caldo de mandioca", cooked the cassava like the recipe for ribs above, but with sausage and bacon instead of ribs. Once the cassava is really soft, you put it in a blender and make a puree of it. Then you put it back with the sausages and bacon, and you have the "caldo" (means broth in English). Very nice in the winter.

 

[The Knize]

Outstanding Sergio!

I will sure want to hear about the electric pressure cooker/slow cooker combo in action. I am frankly struggling with the pressure cooker a bit. A slow simmer gives me more control.

 

[johnmrson]

I love my pressure cooker. It makes the best Malaysian beef Randang, amongst lots of other good things.

 

[langod]

I wish my mother was around to tell me how to do the tongue. What I did was not very good, but I sort of took the beginning of a Latin recipe. I think my Mother roasted or baked tongue. Also, did tongues once come smoked, sort of like bacon?

My grandmother used to make a beef tongue also. I believe she baked it. She also made a kick-*** horseradish sauce for it. I remember her making it fairly regularly when I was a young teen.
Sadly, the recipe was lost when she died in 1982. I haven't sampled beef tongue since.

 

[weizemanner]

I do, however, find that an overnight soak is still a good thing for dried beans. Is that a typical experience?Yes, I find that soaking beans even for a couple hours before cooking them in the pressure cooker reduces cook time and gives the beans a better texture.

Second, it seems to me so far, and I realize this could be a matter of getting the seasoning and, say, proportions of water, right, that things cooked under pressure taste different than things cooked in an open pot on the stove top. I'm not even saying at this point that I prefer one taste over the other, but my sense is I like the flavor of open container cooking better. Seems more complex. Perhaps more intense. Is that a typical experience? Any other thoughts on that? Maybe some flavors are good to keep contained and under pressure. Forced back into the food, so to speak. While there maybe other flavors are better to boil off into the air. Pressure cookers increase the pressure in the pot by about 15psi to increase the boiling temperature of the water to about 250' instead of 212'. This higher temperature cooks food much faster, but also destroys delicate flavor compounds and dulls bright and acidic flavors. It makes food taste canned, because that is the same process. After cooking under pressure, try throwing in a small amount of fresh seasoning especially herbs or cracked pepper and a splash of something acidic (vinegar, wine, sherry, fruit juices, hot sauce, etc.) and let it sit for a little while.

I have not yet gotten used to not being able to monitor things closely as they are cooking, either. In an open (or conventionally covered) pot one has the opportunity to constantly adjust various things, such as the amount of liquid and seasonings. Not so in a pressure cooker. I tend to taste a lot as I go along and adjust anyway.
Another reason your pressurized food may seem to be lacking in depth is that you get different types of flavors from the same food when it is added in different stages. EG garlic cooked for a long time is sweet and buttery and nutty, while garlic tossed in at the end is spicy and pungent. Again, use the PC for the longer cooking items and keep some of the herbs, spices, and more tender vegetation out until you release the pressure.

Final question, I have considered getting a slow cooker, but they seem more utilitarian than fun. Am I wrong about that? Do folks find big flavor differences from dishes prepared more conventionally--whether good, bad, or indifferent? Are there parallels with pressure cooking?
If I do the advice above, I see very little difference. I like slow cookers too, but they are pretty boring, toss the food in, wait 12 hours, eat. I also love that my pressure cooker is non-stick. I hate cleaning crocks. Everytime I make something in a crockpot, some of the meal becomes the new bottom of the pan.

I wonder if one can put oil in a conventional pressure cooker and get a "KFC" effect? <g> Seems dicey and I do not even like KFC!!! I imagine that a cooker designed to use oil under pressure is an expensive item though, and the safety features of any modern pressure cooker are impressive.
The short answer is no... The long answer has phrases like "might burn down your house" in it.

 

[weizemanner]

Good point. It is a nice, big, heavy conventional pot, too.

I did a pork belly and then a beef tongue in mine recently. I think I will stick to braising pork belly or turning it into bacon.

I wish my mother was around to tell me how to do the tongue. What I did was not very good, but I sort of took the beginning of a Latin recipe. I think my Mother roasted or baked tongue. Also, did tongues once come smoked, sort of like bacon?

Cheek can come smoked like bacon... Tongue probably did somewhere at some point too.

I usually make it into lengua. Just take a jar or can of salsa verde and put half or more in the pressure cooker with the tongue, add an onion cut in half, a couple cloves of garlic whole and grind in some pepper and chile powder add water to almost cover the tongue. cook until its tender and chop it up put it back in the pan with the other half of the jar of salsa and let it cook for a little longer.salt and pepper to taste. add some spice to it if you like, but I prefer to just put spicy salsa on my tacos.

 

[jovan]

My experience with a pressure cooker is limited to making soup stocks and soups.. So I use fresh herbs from the garden so less is more because of the intense flavors. I also use chicken feet, necks, etc. Because of this intensity. Not sure if that helps you with the beans?

 

[Topgumby]

Stews, chili and soups here. I'm going to try beans next. The condensed milk thing sounds like a hand grenade waiting to happen, but what the heck....I'll try anything once.

 

[Alacrity59]

Biryani tonight. Went very quickly. Lots of slicing and dicing but only 7 minutes at pressure. Cauliflower, carrots, green pepper, mushrooms, peas, and onions. Mixed with two cups of basmati rice, salt, tumeric, garam masala, and cayenne pepper.

Very much a comfort food. Went well with the chapati I made yesterday and another 9x13" pan filled with roast ziti. As rich as this is I still bet it is healthier than my too frequent visits to burger and fry joints last week.