Cooking Under Pressure

Cooking under Pressure

Pressure cookers can be a green and efficient way to cook a lot of meals, especially those hearty soups, stews and casseroles we cold climate people love to snuggle up with on a cold winters evening.

Kuhn Rikon Model

How pressure cookers work

Since the French invented the pressure cooker in 1679, cooks have known the efficiency of steam and pressure. While it hasn’t always been a safe endeavor to use pressure cookers, today’s models are a marvel of safety and speed. We don’t have to worry about turning our backs on a ticking time bomb of Bolognese sauce, as long as you follow the manufacturers instructions of course.

Pressure cookers use steam to speed up cooking by trapping the steam, which increases pressure on the liquids. This raises the temperature beyond a normal boiling point of a saucepan. A saucepan will boil water at 212 degrees F (depending on altitude) while the maximum temperature of a pressure cooker is approx. 250 degrees F. Therefore in many instances you can cut cooking time by 70%. They can help you to save money not only on your utility bill but also on your grocery visits. Cheaper, tougher cuts of meat and dry beans (vs. canned) cook up beautifully in a pressure cooker. Consider these savings over an average 20-year life span of a cooker, the amount saved is staggering.

For a complete cooking time chart and instructions that contain some interesting and useful information:fastcooking.ca/pressure_cookers/cooking_times_pressure_cooker.php

What to look for when choosing a cooker

I don’t think that anything less than an eight quart cooker is useful for a family as left overs are always ideal and a family of four or five will lick a smaller cooker clean, especially if the majority are male. Left overs are great for both alleviating the need for supper preparation the next day and for greater cost savings on electricity and grocery bills; cooking two meals once is always going to be efficient. A single person or a child-free couple will probably only need a 4-6 quart cooker.

•  Whatever size you choose, there are a few features you should be aware of, keeping safety and food flavour in mind. 
•  look for a heavy gauge stainless steel cooker. Avoid aluminium, while fine for pressure canners, can interact with some foods and impart a bad flavour.
• There should be a locking lid with a good quality rubber seal. The lock will prevent the lid from being removed before adequate pressure reduction has been reached.
• Look for a pressure valve that is attached to the lid and that has a gauge that is easy to read.

        There are some optional features that vary from model to model that you might want to consider such as:

heat diffuser—lifts food to prevent scorching (rice and beans)steamer—great for lifting food above water level (fish and vegetables)

Where to buy

There are many locations that will carry various brand name pressure cookers but I think you know what I’m going to say—shop local. Find a locally owned store that carries cooking gear and search out locally made appliances (in this case locally has a more ‘national’ definition).

Cusinart                     All American

Fagor                          Kuhn Rikon

Presto                         Mirro

Some of the stores that carry electric and stovetop models:

Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Sears Canada

Recipes for Pressure Cooker   
 found online from TEFAL and Jamie Oliver

http://www.tefal.ch/NR/rdonlyres/593A5FD0-513B-4A31-AF96-86FCD2EB20F3/753/JOrecipebook.pdf

Pot Roast Chicken with bacon, cider and mushrooms

Serves 4

• 1 x 1.3kg/23/4lb organic chicken

•1 sprig of bay

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 lemon

• olive oil

• a few rashers of good quality smoked streaky bacon, chopped

• a large handful of mushrooms – wild if you can find them, roughly torn up

• 1 tablespoon of butter • 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped

• 300ml/11fl oz cider

• 6 baby leeks

• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche

• a small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

• a small bunch of fresh chives, chopped

Season the chicken well with sea salt and pepper and stuff with the bay and lemon.

In a little olive oil, brown the chicken lightly on all sides in the base of the pressure cooker. Remove the chicken and add the bacon, mushrooms, butter and garlic. Fry for a minute or so, then place the chicken on lid and add the cider.

Clamp the lid on the pressure cooker, set the steam to the “meat” setting and when the cooker has come up to pressure, turn the heat down a little and cook for 25 minutes. Release the steam and remove the lid.

Lay the baby leeks in the basket and place in the pot over the chicken. Replace the lid and cook for another 5 minutes on the vegetable setting.

Remove the leeks and check that the chicken is cooked. The leg should pull away easily from the body. Remove to a plate and keep warm. Place the pressure cooker base back on the heat and stir the crème fraîche into the sauce. Reduce until the sauce is a nice gravy consistency, then add the chopped herbs, taste, correct the seasoning and pour over the cooked chicken. Serve with the baby leeks, some mashed potatoes and the rest of the cider!

Steam your starches!

With normal kitchen equipment it can be tricky to get perfectly fluffy rice and couscous. With a pressure cooker it’s a piece of cake. Steamed potatoes mash really well and if you cut them open to release their steam they become nice and dry – ideal for making potato cakes or even potato gnocchi.

Perfect steamed rice

This recipe works well for plain rice, basmati and jasmine rice too. If you want to add extra flavour to it, add a few bay leaves, or a cinnamon stick, or some cardamom cloves to the water. The rice will take on a fantastic perfume as it steams.

Serves 4

• 300g/11oz rice

• 600ml/21fl oz cold water

Pour the rice into a separate saucepan and cover with the cold water. Fit the steaming basket inside the pressure cooker and have it standing by.

Bring the rice to the boil and pour the contents of the pan into the basket inside the pressure cooker. The rice will be caught in the basket and the water will drain through to the bottom.

Clamp the lid on the pressure cooker, set the steam to the ‘vegetable’ setting and when the cooker has come up to pressure, cook for 10 minutes. Release the steam and remove the lid.

Lift the steaming basket, fork to fluff it up, season with salt and pepper and serve.

The best fluffy couscous

Plain steamed couscous is great but if you want to spice it up, you can try adding a pinch of cumin or coriander or even chilli to it as it’s soaking. The flavours will really come out in the pressure cooker.

Serves 4

• 250g/9oz couscous

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 200ml/7fl oz cold water

Mix the couscous, cold water and olive oil together then leave for two

minutes. Stir with a fork to break up any lumps of couscous.

Tear or cut a circle of greaseproof paper 5 cm/2 inch bigger in diameter than the base of the pressure cooker. Line the steaming basket with it and spoon in the couscous. Pour an inch of water in the bottom of the pressure cooker and fit the steaming basket filled with the couscous in it.

Clamp the lid on the pressure cooker, set the steam to the ‘vegetable’ setting and when the cooker has come up to pressure, cook for 10 minutes. Release the steam and remove the lid.

Lift the steaming basket out, fork up the couscous and serve.