February 4, 2008
My new toy
Behold, my most beautious new kitchen tool -- a Fagor 6-quart stainless steel pressure cooker.
You know you've purchased a serious gizmo when it comes with an instructional DVD that shows you how NOT to blow yourself up.
All former concerns about pressure cookers aside, this is an incredibly easy tool to use. The pressure cookers of the 1940s or even 1970s are things of the past-- or at least, they should be. If you're still using one of those dinosaurs, consider updating.
This bad boy made me two batches of falling-off-the-bones chicken wings last night for the Super Bowl in six minutes!! Six minutes! Since when can you cook anything that fast?
All of the food at my house -- jalapeno dip, pigs in a blanket, veggie pizza, chicken pizza, spinach dip, cheese and crackers -- was delicious, but the guests descended on those wings like a swarm of locusts.
Do any of you use a pressure cooker on a regular basis? After I've had more time to experiment with mine, I'd like to do a column on them. I'd be interested to hear about your experiences.
Comments
[February 4, 2008 2:05 PM]
RichardLindsey!!
I have never heard of cooking wings in a pressure cooker!! Dish out the recipe please!!
Peace, out!!
[February 4, 2008 2:27 PM]
carrie : →http://www.gingerlemongirl.comNo, they scare me. My mother-in-law has one of those old dinosaur ones and I refuse to be in the kitchen when she's using it! I think death is imminent upon the use of one! ;-P
[February 4, 2008 3:16 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/Richard, I stupidly left the recipe at home, but I'll post it ASAP.
You will be amazed!! Amazed, I tell you!
[February 4, 2008 3:28 PM]
Vickie : →http://VickieI just learned to can this past summer with the large old dinosaur. After the fact some one told me about the new smaller pressure cooker. Tell me more it sounded like canning 1-3 jars at a time shouldn't that take longer. What did the wings go in, just down in the cooker?
[February 4, 2008 3:35 PM]
RebeccaMy mom always cooked a roast beef in her pressure cooker. The meat (an inexpensive cut) was always tender and juicy. She also cooked fresh green beans in one. However, I'm with Carrie, they scare me to death!
[February 4, 2008 6:00 PM]
paulyou know kfc uses pressure cookers for their fried chicken
[February 5, 2008 10:24 AM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/I had no idea, Paul. What do they do, cook the chicken in the pressure cooker and then bread it and deep fry it after that?
[February 5, 2008 12:33 PM]
JenniferActually it's something called a "pressure fryer" that cooks in fat but under pressure at the same time. Kroger's has them too. That's how they get the skin so crispy without soaking the meat in oil or drying it out.
[February 5, 2008 7:35 PM]
GingerFresh green beans in the pressure cooker!!! They are delicious!!! The newer pressure cookers aren't supposed to be dangerous. This recipe is for 3 lbs of green beans.
String and snap them. Put half amount of water to beans in cooker. Add 1 stick of margarine (not butter) and about 1/2 tsp of salt, if that is not enough you can add more salt at the end (personal preference). Cook about 12 minutes. Release steam. Take off lid. Cook on high on the stove top until water evaporates. Enjoy!!
[February 5, 2008 10:56 PM]
paulno its breaded first then into the pot ...thats the original recipie . the crispy is open fried
[February 5, 2008 10:58 PM]
pauli should have added that its pressure fied in oil or really, lard when i was working there years ago. it was dangerous too
[February 6, 2008 8:51 AM]
Kelly SimpsonI think pressure cooked greenbeans are the bomb!! and ginger has the right recipe, except you forgot the big piece of FATBACK!!! Or a HAMHOCK!
[February 6, 2008 10:51 AM]
LoriMy mom also cooks stews or roast beef in her crock pot. And of course, green beans! I don't have one because like some of the other commenters I'm scared of blowing up the kitchen! But Lindsey, you give me hope.
[February 20, 2008 3:12 PM]
Jill : →http://www.pressurecookingonline.comI became so enamored with my pressure cooker more than 10 years ago that I started teaching pressure cooking. Now I have a DVD to help people over the fear part. I use the Fagor pressure cookers and they are great, as are most of the stainless steel ones.
In addition to the quick-release and running water methods that you mention, there is always the natural pressure release which you use when you are cooking your 5 minute black or other beans. Beans in the pressure cooker are just amazing -- and consider chili, too.
I could go on and on but just glad that you got a pressure cooker and brought it out in the press.
[February 21, 2008 12:46 PM]
Susan SelvageI grew up using a pressure cooker. I have three for regular meals and two for canning. I couldn't cook without one. I laughed when I saw it was a "new" idea. They are wonderful items as long as they are used with respect, like anything that comes in contact with high heat. I truly wouldn't know how to cook a potato without one (other than the microwave).
[February 21, 2008 4:13 PM]
DebiI used to home can with a pressure cooker but the LAST TIME I did, the pressure valve blew off like a bullet and embedded into the kitchen ceiling. When I thought about what would have happened had I bent over the top of it.....
When I sold the house, the thing was still in the ceiling but of course I had patched over the hole! lol
I don't can anymore...
[February 21, 2008 5:44 PM]
Lindsey : →http://blogs.roanoke.com/fridgemagnet/Ha! I shouldn't laugh at that, Debi. It sure is a good thing you weren't in the line of fire.
Mine doesn't have a valve like that on top. But I doubt if that will convince you to rush out and buy a new one.
[March 2, 2008 1:46 PM]
LindaI have the same pressure cooker you have. I recently tried the stuffed cabbage rolls from the Fagor recipe book and they are terrific. So tender and cooked in 1 hour!