Pressure Cooker - Thoughts & Recommendations?

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You could go old school with a "vintage" presto pressure cooker/canner. I have a 21qt got it for maybe $50 many years ago. Or you can get the best of the best All American pressure cooker, though expensive they are worth it if doing a lot of canning or pressure cooking. I think my All American is 41qt. was around $450. You can usually get the prestos on craigslist. I enjoy the 21qt.
 
Read that even current electric ones do not go/hold 15psi. How true is this?
 
Not sure. But alot of people use pressure cookers for sterilization of tools, some companies make electric cookers with that in mind and they definitely hold and go to 15 psi. Is their a specific one your looking at?
 
Mucho Bocho said:
A pressure cooker used to sterilize tools is called and autoclave. They are not interchangeable tools. [emoji6]
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when your running a ghetto rigged operation it can be done, I've witnessed this working in mycology. But your right an autoclave is what would be used in more professional operations.
 
I'm reading that he's talking about sterilising tools in a pressure cooker rather than cooking food in an autoclave.
 
Buy a stove top one, look for European ones from Portugal or Spain.Really well priced and good quality.
Look for really thick base cooker
 
LifeByA1000Cuts said:
Unless your ingredients are suitable for quick release (relatively rapid depressurization - anything that can foam up or burst will) or cold water release (awkward to handle, needs a tap you can fit your cooker under, safety seems to be disputed), there is still significant cooking happening during the cooldown, affecting timing calculation - you can't stop the cooking NOW. Also, how quickly things heat up is a bit stove-dependent, even with the same wattage thermal mass and thermal resistance of different hob types is different. And given we are talking a device that accelerates cooking, and how something as simple as diced spuds can go from good to mush in a few NON-accelerated minutes...

Also, you cannot really do anything where the combined result is low in water content (unless you can separate the water, as with simple boiled things) - we need the water to operate it!. Consistency cannot be optimized as you go - you can't thin or thicken or par-blend stuff in between.

If something burns to the bottom, you will only notice when the smell makes its way out with the steam.

Also, flavouring compounds that already suffer at 100°C (from thermal degradation not evaporation that is) will take an even bigger hit at 121°C.

Also, 15psi sound so harmless - it's 1 bar, a rural water hose can have 10 bar on it? ... until you consider the fact that you have something in there that will remember it should be a gas if pressure is lowered to atmospheric. Fiercely.
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Praise be 1000cuts, I agree completely and yes you should get a Hawkins! Guy's kuhn is great and all, gota love the steamless version. But your spending $$$$, try a Hawkin's first no it's not made here but quality and price is well worth a try.

yes, PC have limitations but here might be a trick that can help (at least for the water) get a SS metal ring or stand that you can put a SS bowl on. Hawkins gives you a stand because Indians usually cook this way, as to not scorch the bottom, not sure about the others.

Yes, scorching sucks but eh what are you going to do? I've been cooking some sweet potatoes buy skinning them and cubing them, then throw them in the PC with butter! at the same time, (while the pan is hot) very little water. and cook them, the water evaporates and cooks/fluffs and condenses the sweet potato juices and butter is enough liquid for the cooking process.

Also i really like using rapid depressurization to puff whole potatoes (explode), if I can time right then they are really light. I don't have any times because a)lazy b)mostly done on luck





https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GT5FKK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

in all fairness I have the 3 liter and i dropped the the lid and it did bend slightly where the washer fits in. All in all, I'm not worried because i spent 60 at a brick and mortar shop!
 
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Try Evinox on Magnafesta both really good cookers. Made in Portugal and Spain, thick base and 1/2 the price of a German on .
 
And btw, Hawkins has been on my things-to-try list for years, the principle certainly looks "safe by simplicity if not mishandled" to me.
 
I wasn't sure at first if you were pulling my leg about the hawkins or serious about them, sorry about that. I do find them interesting (and stylish), seriously, but that is because I love messing with indian recipes that tend to be full of whistle measurements and ingredients that you are not supposed to put in a european pressure cooker :) Also I like how they are making really handy small sizes, which could be just swank if you need one component of a larger dish pressure cooked.
 
no worries, my responses do tend to have lots of sarcasm but don't take it personally, it's all good in the kitchen. European style PC? I think that just might be a marketing gimmik, considering the pressure cooker is originally British. Yea smaller sizes are convenient but I worry smaller sizes wont get used much by me so I tend to avoid them. Even when I'm caramelizing sugar I just use a quart pot. I kind of want the whistle-less one Hawkin's has, a friend of mine has it and she loves it. Though the whistle measurement is kind of growing on me, it's just so gd loud.
 
I had a electric, I think electric is safer than others
 
"European" as in anything coming with a lot of bulky plastic shrouded stuff on the lid, a "barber pole" pressure indicator and a regulator with a dial :)


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I'd not go for a British made model, it will leak oil that could ignite on the stove. ;)

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Electric-Anything means you shift the responsibility for it not overheating and causing an accident from the cook to the appliance maker.

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Can a foolproof design ever actually mean "will take any fool messing with it out of commission in short order"? ;)
 
I have a kuhn rikon and an instant pot, and for pretty much everything but rice and other grain, I grab the stove top one. Especially if there's a sear step or it continues cooking to reduce at the end.

For what it's worth, the kuhn rikon cooks hotter, and you can cool it down faster by running it under water.
 
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