Cooking under pressure

[Ozz]

We were a large family growing up, poor as church mice. I was the youngest, with six brothers and sisters . I remember going with mom and dad to the market to buy chicken necks. Big bags of them. I don’t remember the price, but it was very low. Mom would put them in the pressure cooker and cook them down for dinner, we would have veggies and potatoes also, it was a good meal for me. Our Collie dog Pat, also ate chicken necks for dinner. I was raised with pressure cooking.
Colonel Sanders was perfecting his recipe in the early 1930s, he was troubled that it took around 30 minutes to fry the chicken in the iron skillets for waiting customers, that was just too long. He didn’t like the quicker method of deep frying the chicken in fat, the taste wasn’t up to his high standards.
In the late 1930s he saw a new cooking method demonstrated, a pressure cooker. The green beans came out tasty and perfectly cooked in just a few minutes.
Colonel Sanders wondered if this method would solve the problem of the long wait for his chicken orders. He purchased some of the cookers, and with much experimenting, adjusting recipes, shortening levels and temperatures, he was satisfied.
The speed of cooking, and tenderness of the product, (along with his secret recipe) led to his success.
The first commercial pressure cooker in the United States debuted at the New York worlds fair. It’s intense steam heat tenderizes tough foods, and keeps the flavor and nutrients in the meal. Food cooks from 1/3 the time up to 10 times quicker. Slow cooker results in a fraction of the time.
At sea level, in an uncovered pot, the water boils at 212 degrees, the steam that comes off of it is also 212 degrees, no matter how much heat is applied to it, the temperature will never raise above 212 degrees. At 15 PSI inside a pressure cooker, the temperature raises to 249.8 degrees.
Pressure cookers are very popular in extremely high altitudes, as it is impossible to get water to boil there.
If you want to save energy, a pressure cooker is great as well, the energy from a cooking stove can amount to 10 percent of your electrical consumption.
A warped bottom pan bringing 1.5 liters to a boil consumes 219 watt-hours
A flat-bottomed pan, 190
A pressure cooker, only 60
The heat expelled to your kitchen by cooking with the stove that has to be removed by air conditioning, is a cost to be considered as well.
Additional savings realized by pressure cooking will be the ‘one pot’ method, as we know, the browning of meats (Which is called the Maillard reaction, discovered and named in 1910 after the French physician Louis Camille, ) and the caramelization of sugars are flavor enhancers in cooking, you can do both, brown and caramelize in the pressure cooker. This saves two pans from the sink, or dish-washer
Fish and veggies cook in 4 minutes, soups in 9 minutes, and a beef roast in just 35 minutes.
I cooked a nice steak stew for dinner last night, I cubed the stew meat, coated them with flour, seasoned with garlic salt, black pepper, seasoned salt, and crushed basil. I browned the beef in olive oil, removed and set-aside the beef while I caramelized the medium sized chunks of sweet onion. This was also set-aside.
I finely chopped some onion, carrot and celery pieces so they would cook down in the beef stock with the flour-coated meat for stew gravy.
The meat and 1 can of beef stock cooked for 20 minutes under pressure, I then added the veggies, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 more cans of beef stock, brought the pot to pressure for one minute, then cooled down under running water to release the pressure, uncovered and simmered for 15 minutes on low. The meat chunks were fork tender, the stew thick and flavors were intense.
Dinner was done in under an hour. And no, I don’t eat chicken necks anymore…

[grampachet]

I was talking with DW about those pressure cookers we used to use and wonder why I haven't seen any for quite awhile. Your descriptions sure made my mouth water. I am soo hungry now.

[Ozz]

grampachet, I think people may be a little cautious about trying them, so many old stories about them being dangerous. Wal*Mart has them, they are really nice. It made me hungry just writing about last nights dinner.

[eeoski]

I refer to my pressure cooker as a "poor man's microwave." I really love the way it infuses the flavors of the veggies and meats throughout...the meat comes out so tender. Biggest trick with them is to ensure they are fully cooled down before trying to open them. Otherwise you WILL decorate the walls and the ceilings, not to mention yourself, with steaming food. I have only seen this once when my grandmother misjudged when to open her's up. Family "trick" is to turn off the heat, let the "rocker" stop rocking, place the pressure cooker in tap water (room temperature), let is sit in the water a couple of minutes, take the "rocker" off the top, and when the little pressure "chimney" pops down then the pressure is off and it is safe to open the lid.

Now I am going to pull out the pressure cooker and a nice piece of beef and cook it up with some veggies this week! Thanks Ozz!

Robin

[Ozz]

Sounds good Robin, let us know if you come up with any new recipes for the cooker.
On the cooling down, I use the kitchen sink sprayer on the top and sides, when the vent starts sucking in water, I know it is ready to open.
Beans are awesome in it, I insure there is plenty of water, as the beans soak up lots of water, then bring to pressure, immediately take off and cool down, pour off the remaining water, and replace it with chicken stock and ham, or spam, and onions, then recook for 10 minutes.
The pouring off of water, de-toots the beans...

[CanDo]

Boy, I must have been asleep to miss this topic! I was always afrai of pressure cookers - all the old stories - yet I loved the flavors and textures of the foods. So I bought a digital pressure cooker (Cook's Essentials from QVC) and love it. Beans, beef stew, porcupine meatballs - all are wonderful, easy, and FAST! The cooker has 3 safety valves, is electric, and super easy to clean. For all of us "chickens", this is the way to go!

[Ozz]

Dang! an electric pressure cooker. Cool beans. I like the added safety of the three relief valves. I sometimes worry when I cook a full pot of beans, or something that may float, or migrate into the safety.
Good idea with the redundancy.
I wonder about steaming veggies, don't do it much, as it seems lots of work when a bamboo steamer is pretty quick.
I don't think you are Chicken, just up to date!
Thanks for joining in my thread.
Bonn Appetite!! (probably not spelled right, but hey, this is a cooking thread, not a writing thread...)
Ozz

[Waynem]

Anytime I cook it's "under pressure!"

[ARJ]

Sounds like some of you enjoy a good bowl of beans. Try this. Do a search for " Bolita Beans " and buy some (not sold in stores). They are also available at Adobe Milling in Dove Creek, CO.

They are similiar to Pinto beans but much creamier.

Bolita beans with ham hock

1 pound bolita beans
1 ham hock about 1 ½ pounds
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
Serrano or Jalapeño peppers. The more, the merrier (and hotter).
Salt & pepper to taste
Corn bread (Betty Crocker mix works well))

Soak beans in 4-5 cups water for about 4 hours.

Chop onion and mince garlic. Sauté in bacon grease or canola oil until transparent.

Mince peppers.

Pressure cook ham hock for 45 minutes. Remove from pot, debone and discard fat & bones. Rough chop meat.

Pressure cook beans in 4 cups of water for 1 hour.

Add meat, onion, garlic and pepper, (water if necessary) and simmer until ready to serve. Serve with corn bread.

Serves 4, or two really hungry buggers.