Capitol Hill Blue Forums Misc. Topics Food, Drink and Cooking What are you making/having for dinner tonight?

Pressure cookers are excellent for soups, stocks, stews,meat, vegetables, or anything else that you'd cook. I'm partial to a red beans & rice made in a pressure cooker.

Do you soak them first, PIA? We eat lots and lots and lots of dried beans a lot and I don't have the problem of crunchy but you guys are making me think of trying them in my pressure cooker for a change (never done it).

Tonight we're having leftover (all organic) black-eyed peas, stewed cabbage, baked sweet potato with something or other added to fill it out. Maybe some mac cheese and some fruit and some good bread. A favorite combo for us.

Silly as it may be, I have a life-long aversion to pressure cookers.

My mother used one and, long ago, in the course of a kid-conversation with her I learned they could be 'dangerous.' If you took the lid off too soon...whoa...big, hot trouble. And then there was the SSSSSSSS of steam when she put it under cold water.

I'm sure I could handle the pressure (as it were) as an adult...but I've gotten by without one thus far and probably won't buy one in this lifetime.

I just might be in your neighborhood around dinner time, Olyve...

Pressure cookers now-a-days are much more safe. Mine has a button to let of steam before I try to open the lid.

I enjoy my pressure cooker a lot. They're very expensive too.

With the risotto, I sauté the onions in olive oil and cook the rice a bit right inside the pressure cooker before I add the liquid, place the lid on tight and lock it down, and let the pressure cooker do it's own thing for 8 mins.

Me, too, Naomi. Also, I remember my mother having difficulty lifting the pressure cooker as she got older. Are they still so heavy?

EmmaG

I tried soaking the dried pinto beans overnight, then tried soaking them for about 24 hours, then tried boiling them briefly before soaking overnight. (All followed by simmering high for 4 hours.) They kept coming out with very tough skins or even very firm centers. Then I read online about pressure cooking them for 20 minutes after soaking for at least 6 hours: Very creamy texture, maybe even too soft.

So now I wash them well, soak for at least 6 hours, and then pressure cook for 15 minutes. Then simmer with other ingredients for flavor for a couple of hours. They come out just right, tender with soft skins, but not falling apart.

Modern pressure cookers are lighter than your mom's version, but the steel ones are considerably heavier than a stainless steel pot of the same size. We had an aluminum 4 quart for years and recently replaced it with a 10 quart stainless steel model (free with credit card "Amazon Dollars"). It is very easy to use: You just close the top by rotating it about 30 degrees, and it is ready to go. Turn down the heat when it starts to hiss.

Amazon is a great place to compare models and read recommendations, even if you buy somewhere else.

Come on down, AN, we have plenty.
As it turned out, we ate the leftover veggie chili instead because Mr O was pining for a quesadilla to go with it.
I make good ones he thinks.
So the other is still yet to come.

Interesting PIA. Thanks for the info.
I have pretty good luck with the texture but sometimes they fall apart too soon. Getting the gentle simmer just right is sometimes a challenge. Blackeyes and chick peas are the hardest it seems.
I never have problems with crunchy though.

I usually fast track by putting them in boiling water for 2 minutes and then cover and wait an hour before cooking. Cooking usually takes an hour or so. I season them as they cook usually with minced garlic, cumin, maybe chopped onions, maybe crumbled oregano. Salt when they are nearly done.

I don't use my pressure cooker that often but remember the fear involved from my youth too. My cooker is about 10 years old I think, very light weight, probably a 3 or 4 quart and very easy to use also.
I don't remember it as being very expensive. $30 maybe? I think I bought it at Target.

Oh I've tried a slow cooker a couple of times. I haven't quite figured that out yet because I don't know if you should soak them first if you're going to be cooking them all day while you're gone. Sometimes they fall apart too.
Have any of you done that?

My ideal cooked dried bean is one that is whole and tender through and through. I often like to put leftover cold beans on my salad. Busted up beans don't work well for that.

From what I've read and heard, the old time pressure cookers could be dangerous. I had an uncle who was apprehensive around pressure cookers from one such experience. However, I've used pressure cookers for over 30 years. The modern ones are quite safe. I've had only one "bad" experience,which was my fault. I was pressure cooking collards on high heat, momentarily left the kitchen to check something on-line, didn't pay attention to the time or even hissing sound, and Kaboom! The pressure blew out the safety plug on the lid. Since I didn't witness it, I can only guess that it was a straight green stream to the ceiling. I spent half the day cleaning and repairing the green ceiling. Unless you did dry wall, you wouldn't even notice it.