Which pressure cooker do you have?

RaymondLin

As titled really.  I’ve been oooO Ahhhhh Ummmmm over one of these for a couple of years but never bought one even though there are a few things I like to try.  The internet is all about “Instant Pot” (the brand) but is that the best one? I see Sage makes one, Ninja is another brand (with air frying feature) and Tefal.  Are they much if muchness?

stickyfiddle

We have an instant pot. I have no other benchmarks but it works well. 

I have to admit we only use it for about 4 things - bear in mind any pressure cooker takes some time to pressurise, so while it’s often easier it’s not necessarily quicker than regular cooking. 

I’ve found that while it can do loads of things, I do most of them better myself via trad methods!

boogieman

We’ve got a donkeys year old Tefal that still works fine. I’ve changed the gasket once I think. You can get fancy programmable electric ones that have digital timers and other gubbins but I don’t see the point really. 

monquixote

We have an instant pot.

You can use it to make meals with really cheap cuts of meat that would normally take hours in minutes. 

No idea if the other brands are better.

strumjoughlamps

We had an Instant Pot, great for pulled pork and cheap meats.

Teetonetal

We have a crock pot express. It's wonderful.

rocktron

I've used a Prestige pressure cooker for years.

When I bought it, it was the top ranked pressure cooker.

I don't know what is the competition on the market these days. 

yocky

Kuhn Rikon stove top jobby. Had it for years and use it frequently for stocks, beans and stuff like lamb shanks. 

Stove top ones are a bit more of a faff to keep at the correct pressure but they operate at a higher pressure (think that's still the case) and they're better for browning and that sort of good stuff that happens before the lid goes on. 

uksaint7

I would advise making sure the pressure the cooker gets to is 15 psi, many cheaper ones do not hit this level of pressure which means things take longer to cook

Nitefly

I asked the Housekeeper, who said, "We don't have one, we don't need one, and we don't want one".

Apparently slow and steady is preferable to fast and furious.

Emp_Fab

I tried mine for a while....   pain in the arse bit is that you can't easily check on the food without the huge faff of depressurising then repressurising.  Never really made anything in it that was worth the effort of getting it out.  Then I dropped the lid and the handle broke.  I can't be arsed to fix it.

Tannin

Can't see the point in them myself. What can you do with a pressure cooker that you can't do almost as quickly and a good deal more conveniently with an ordinary pot? Ans: nothing. Nothing that I can think of anyway. 

RaymondLin

Tannin said:

Can't see the point in them myself. What can you do with a pressure cooker that you can't do almost as quickly and a good deal more conveniently with an ordinary pot? Ans: nothing. Nothing that I can think of anyway. 

Nothing you like to eat anyway.  
 
Tonkotsu broth, that's an example.

Normal process is about 12hr minimum rolling boil on a gas hob (which is quite dangerous if left unattended and energy inefficient).  The way to do it on a ordinary pot is you need a LARGE pot with lots of water, you boil and reduce it down, then add more water and then reduce it down again over roughly 12 hours, you need to skim it from time to time.  It needs that time to breakdown the bone marrow, the only way to shorten that time to break down the bone marrow is through pressure.

Or about 4hrs in a pressure cooker.  You put the lid on and you leave it, because it is sealed, the water level won't go down and it won't need to be topped up, the water will get concentrated through the bone marrow breaking down and not reducing it.

Pretty much any meat that needs to be soften in a long cooking process can be sped up through pressure cooking.

I think you HAVE to admit an ordinary pot is not "good deal more convenient and quick"?

(p.s. I love ramen, I even went to Fukuoka in Japan to have Tonkotsu ramen, but I am too lazy for the hassle to boils something for a whole day and watch it so I have been thinking about this for a couple of years.  There are other things I can use it for like slow cooking)

RaymondLin

Emp_Fab said:

I tried mine for a while....   pain in the arse bit is that you can't easily check on the food without the huge faff of depressurising then repressurising.  Never really made anything in it that was worth the effort of getting it out.  Then I dropped the lid and the handle broke.  I can't be arsed to fix it.

You shouldn't need to check it, you might do the first time, but the 2nd time you would know.

If the first time you left it on an hour it's not soft enough, the next time you leave it for 2hrs.  You don't check it the 2nd attempt after an hour.  After a few times you will know how long you need to leave it for.

Tannin

That's one (1) example, RaymondLin, and for a food I've never even heard of. Probably most other people haven't either. (Not that I wouldn't try it, and doubtless enjoy it.) But any meat dish where you need to soften and break the structure down can be very easily done in a slow cooker, or simply kept on a slow simmer for a few hours in any decent pot. 

But by all means get a pressure cooker for that one dish that needs it if that's the dish you particularly like. Still seems one more almost-useless gadget cluttering up the kitchen to me. (And yes, I've got one, inherited from my mother. Last time I saw it, it was in the shed somewhere and that was a few years ago. Maybe I threw it away already.)

RaymondLin

Tannin said:

That's one (1) example, RaymondLin, and for a food I've never even heard of. Probably most other people haven't either. (Not that I wouldn't try it, and doubtless enjoy it.) But any meat dish where you need to soften and break the structure down can be very easily done in a slow cooker, or simply kept on a slow simmer for a few hours in any decent pot. 

But by all means get a pressure cooker for that one dish that needs it if that's the dish you particularly like. Still seems one more almost-useless gadget cluttering up the kitchen to me. (And yes, I've got one, inherited from my mother. Last time I saw it, it was in the shed somewhere and that was a few years ago. Maybe I threw it away already.)

It is one example and my answer was more in jest of your kind of blanket question/ans of "nothing, nothing you can think of."  Which to me suggest me we eat different things.
 
I get what you are saying but I have an ice-cream machine…and if you have an ice-cream machine, the kind that has a condenser, you don't move it because if you do, it can't be turn on for 24hrs until the coolant settles.  I also have a £500 coffee grinder, it doesn't even make coffee, it just grind coffee beans.  I am weird like that.

So yeah, I am THAT kind of person lol. I have been fighting it off buying it for just 1 thing as you said and then I look at my ice-cream machine and that is the poster child for making 1 thing.  At least the pressure cooker can be move in and out of cupboards.  So yeah, i am fully aware how silly this all is, to buy an appliance for 1 thing but it's not the 1st time, or 2nd time, or even 3rd (looks at my juicer) or 4th (or my Tayaki griddle) or 5th….etc.  I am just curious which pressure cooker is best, not whether I can make use of it or get 1 use out of it.  Because, as illustrated, 1 is enough in my eyes, 0 would be useless, 1 would be useful.

p.s. Do you know what's funny? I don't even have a microwave in the house and my oven is broken, one would think I would get more use out of a microwave (and i have a ice-cream machine and a £500 coffee grinder) or get a new oven or get it fixed, I haven't got one because like you, there isn't anything a microwave do that i can't on a hob. lol  

And ps, without either i can still make pizza lol and thought about getting an Ooni.  I just love something that does 1 thing, a singular thing amazing.  There is something oddly satisfying about that. 

Tannin

Never, ever buy a kitchen appliance for just one thing.

(Looks at spaghetti machine. Also apple peeler/slicer, ice cream maker, juicer, yoghurt maker, tagine, two very similar woks, three teapots, cupboard doubtless contains various other, half-forgotten appliances which seemed like a good idea at the time  ... Hmmm .... do as I say, not as I do?)

Teetonetal

Tannin said:

That's one (1) example, RaymondLin, and for a food I've never even heard of. Probably most other people haven't either. (Not that I wouldn't try it, and doubtless enjoy it.) But any meat dish where you need to soften and break the structure down can be very easily done in a slow cooker, or simply kept on a slow simmer for a few hours in any decent pot. 

But by all means get a pressure cooker for that one dish that needs it if that's the dish you particularly like. Still seems one more almost-useless gadget cluttering up the kitchen to me. (And yes, I've got one, inherited from my mother. Last time I saw it, it was in the shed somewhere and that was a few years ago. Maybe I threw it away already.)

We use it for getting slow cooker results in 30 - 40 mins. Any soup or stew is particularly good, we used it more than the slow cooker and prefer the results, so got rid of the slow cooker.


It's also a great thing to take camping...

yocky

You can cook dried chickpeas in under an hour, rather than soaking overnight and simmering for 2 hours.

Chicken stock takes 40 mins rather than 3 or 4 hours. After cooking, the chicken bones are weirdly soft. Without judging if this is better or worse than the normal method, it's not just about the time involved. The end result is different. 

I make a dal and the cooking time for the lentils is 1 minute rather than 20 to 30. Admittedly you have to wait 10 mins for the pressure to release but that's still quicker than the usual method and I'm not having to stir a pot every few mins. 

Fancy ox cheek stew on the table within 45 mins after work on Monday evening? Why not.

It's annoying sometimes though for sure. You can't just lob some veg into a stew towards the end of the cooking time. 

thumpingrug

I have an amazon basics pressure cooker.  Its solid, reliable, easy to clean and does the job well.  Haven't used it in a while though,  Must dig it out and cook a curry.

boogieman

Tannin said:

Can't see the point in them myself. What can you do with a pressure cooker that you can't do almost as quickly and a good deal more conveniently with an ordinary pot? Ans: nothing. Nothing that I can think of anyway. 

Xmas pud!!! 

Also you can knock up a decent soup in about 20 minutes, rather than 2-3 hours.