Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Just went to look, never thought of that.

Mary.

Tonight, I made Pork Belly Adobo, from MC@H. This was really really good. Served with rice & Broccili. It is a super rich flavoured dish, so a strong green is definitely required. I have another belly in the freezer, and will almost certainly use it for this dish, possibly the SV version just to see, though the pressure cooked one is so good, I'm not sure.

I bought a new, larger PC since I was having so much fun with the smaller one. I've now learned I cannot be distracted when making anything. I put it over high heat and LEFT THE ROOM for 1/2 hour. I realized it was on when I could smell the broth upstairs. Mad dash to shut off and ordered kids not to enter the room....just in case.
From now on I will only use if I'm wearing a timer or in the room with it.

p.s. stock was excellent!

Jean,

I've done that. But the good news is that I now know the pressure release safety valve works on my pot! Since then I've taken to standing there and waiting until pressure is achieved, and once I turn it down to low to maintain pressure I can safely wander away.

My Fagor has a disk bottom too. I'm not sure I've seen one that didn't. I'm using induction though, so it hasn't been an issue.

Lower-cost PCs are made of aluminum without a disk. Of course that disqualifies them for induction.

Yah, I think mostly the disc seems to be something you have to live with. One tip that I've started using: Bring the contents to a boil (or close, if you don't want them to boil) with the lid off. This lets you get most of the heating done while being able to stir the contents to help prevent burning. It will prolong the total time it takes to get to pressure, but not actually by all that much.

Last night I made a chicken rice dish with the PC and the bottom layer of rice burned. I thought next time I would add more liquid but Paul your tip sounds more promising.

Normally, I'm the voice of doing things on top of a stove instead of having an electric appliance. When it comes to the pressure cooker, I'm squarely in the electric appliance camp.

Fill it, set it, leave it. No mess, no burning, no foul. Although, I do brown in a DO before going into the cooker...it's a downside, but one I'm willing to live with.

Amy

I had a burning problem too. Yesterday I made CI's pressure cooker Texas Beef Chili from Best Quick and Easy Recipes. It clearly needs to be tweaked. 25 minutes at high pressure, followed by 15 minutes natural release and quick release if what was left, was too much (the beef totally fell apart after that long), and I was left with a thick layer of blackened food along the bottom of the pot. Despite these things it tasted ok (just needed a dollop more chipotle purée for my taste, as well as a touch of sugar to brighten it up), but cleanup was a disaster. Grrrrr. Hard to imagine how this passed the described level of scrutiny in the test kitchen.

I don't have fancy pressure cookers, mine are all old. Some aluminum and some SS (I love my old heavy Mirro 6qt. aluminum one best.), 4 qts. and 6 qts.. but I've used them as long as I can remember and my mom used hers constantly till right before she died at 90. I have an electric stove, but my mom had an induction and then a glass top. Here's what I've saw and have experienced.

When I sear meats, I do that first. then add the aromatics (sofrito usually). Before I close the cooker, I deglaze the pan with whatever liquid, usually dry sherry if no other wine is used in the recipe. I scrape the bottom clean as I would my SS pans. Usually that is done at a lower temp, so because of the electric stove I turn up the heat as I add the liquid. Then I close the lid and wait until it comes to pressure and lower the heat to med-low once it is fully jingling.

If the pressure thingee is going wild, I turn the burner down, but also take it off since it is electric and it takes a while to go down (or up). I make sure the seal on the gasket is good. If you see a lot of steam or droplets on the side of the cooker, it means it is not tight, and you are losing liquid. Since I know my cookers, for some I just automatically add more liquid to compensate. Then when I wash the cooker, I take the gasket off and put if in the freezer before putting it back or replace it (I've replaced some of mine a couple of times over the 40 years I've had them.)

The longest I cook anything is my Cuban Pot Roast which has a full eye of round, cut in half (one whole Costco package.) and that cooks for at most 1 hour. My stews, meatballs etc, cook for about 20 minutes, beans for 20 and German Potato Salad for 5 minutes after full pressure.


So the message is, when in doubt add more liquid. For most things, you can reduce it at the end if needed. I use the same rule I use to cook my rice, the liquid should be at least one knuckle above the meat (about 1").

Finally, I use my sense of smell. As soon as it starts smelling strongly, I immediately take mine to the sink and use cold water to bring the pressure down. Then I check, stir, add more liquid if the meat is not as tender as I like it (I am a lazy eater and prefer my meats fork tender.) I then put it back on pressure 5 to 10 minutes and check again. I leave the burner on while I check. I imagine with the new fancy ones, it is a lot easier to de-pressure to check. FWIW, the only time in all the years I've been using it, that I've really had to scrape it, was when I spaced and added to much liquid to my black beans, and then left it uncovered on the stove to reduce over medium heat. When I smelled it in the bedroom 3 hours later, I had a huge mess. But that was my idiocy, not the pc. Obviously should not have cooked that day.

I generally get wonderful help from everyone here, and this is the one instance in which I believe I have a lot more experience that most of you. So I am hoping I can help others as you have helped me.