The Conservative Cave
Interests => All Things Edible (and how to prepare them) => Topic started by: ExGeeEye on April 17, 2013, 07:37:39 AM
-
Neither my wife nor I are accomplished cooks. We have fry pans (various sizes), pans for boilin' stuff (various sizes), a flat pan for pancakes, a slow cooker, and a microwave, and we use them all and manage to make some decent foods.
Both of us know what a pressure cooker is, but neither of us can think of what we would cook in one or why pressure is part of the process.
Would somebody enlighten us, please?
-
We also bake (cakes and cookies).
-
I don't have one. I want one, for canning, but I have a glass top stove, so I can't use one. I know people that use them to quickly cook meals that normally take a long time, and I know other people who use them and swear by them for making tough cuts of meat tender.
-
I have several in varying sizes, including a 6qt! I like them for beef/pork roasts and ribs mainly, and pork shoulder or ribs with kraut is one of my favorites. The big advantage of a pressure cooker is the greatly reduced cooking time and the moist/tenderness of the meat.
The danger with pressure cookers is the pressure (DUH!). Always make sure the latches and gasket that restrain and seal the lid are functioning and in good condition. BUT MOST IMPORTANT is to make sure that the pressure relief valve is functioning properly. I failed that last one once, and spent a day cleaning pork roast off the walls and ceiling of the kitchen when the cooker exploded from too much pressure.
BTW, the pressure cooker at the marathon was used only as a steel container. Not a pressure cooker as some are theorizing. It was just a super "pipe bomb".
-
For cooking tough meat cuts, which one works best? Has best flavor?
Pressure cooker or crock pot?
-
Watch my new reality show on A&E, Road Kill Gourmet. I use a pressure cooker regularly.
Moose and Squirrel Balls is a simple pressure cooker dish.
You can also drop a whole raccoon (or two possums, or six squirrels), skin and all, into an 8 quart pressure cooker with some onions and garlic. It'll come out pull-apart tender and taaaaasty!
:-)
-
What about the fur?
I think GOBUCKS mentioned once, cooking squirrel in a pressure cooker. He was serious, though. Those Tennessee boys!
I've never used one, and am not really interested in trying. Too much can go very wrong.
-
What about the fur?
Some like it natural, some like it trimmed, and some like it with the fur removed.
<Insert shaved beaver joke here>
-
For cooking tough meat cuts, which one works best? Has best flavor?
Pressure cooker or crock pot?
Crock. Best for 7 bone chuck roasts or any other "tough" pieces of meat.
-
I use it for very lean cuts of meat, like some wild game, beef and some cuts of bison. I also use it for meal that include dry beans after I've soaked them.
I only had one pop the top once in decades of use.
-
I've never used one....they've always scared me... :o
-
I just bought an electric one last week. I don't have much experience with it yet.
I've used it for an Indian lental dish (dal) and beef dish.
-
Cant can without it
-
Thanks all for helpful replies (and funny ones too!).
In the latter vein,
I can't can, or can-can*. I'm not canny about canning. Can he?
*Not that you would ever want to see that.
-
I like the sound of one rattling rhythmically while it's cooking. Something homey about that.
I really like the reduced cooking time during the summer when it's hot inside, but we need a real meal!
-
The only time I remember my mother using hers was for cooking vegetables (we ate a lot of turnips). Never used one myself.
-
Cant can without it
My parents did a lot of canning and had one of the big ones that held 5 or 6 quart jars, and had 6 wingnuts to hold the lid on.
-
My mom used hers for corned beef.
-
My parents did a lot of canning and had one of the big ones that held 5 or 6 quart jars, and had 6 wingnuts to hold the lid on.
Did your parents have to pay them to do that??
-
Did your parents have to pay them to do that??
:rofl: :hi5: