Pressure Cooker vs slow cooker without electricity

[Alastair A]

PS to above. Curiosity killed the pressure cooker cat. This is a rear time when set (and maybe keep time) and then forget give the best results. Busy chefs the world over know this. Any weather serious weather expected do a quick set and set aside as storm endurance prep'. Hi tech bulky thermo bags are not needed. Use a regular blanket and maybe a partial reheat as indicated. Cheers all.

[Aden]

I may need to have 2 pressure cookers with different sizes if I want to cook rice/bake bread, and meat stew at the same time. Will it be better or efficient to get the multi-interpots in the one pressure cooker?

However, I am not sure how it works by using the multi-interpots, as the rice can be cooked in less 20mins but meat stew may be more than 3 hours.

Sorry for asking this silly question as I have never used this kind of pressure cooker. The main thing is that I would like to cook any hot meals in the pressure cooker in order to reduce the ventilation and save fuel/gas on the boat.

[Alastair A]

Hi all. I suggest low tech, low cost, most flexible use, usual pots that fit on the stove top and coincidentally physically nest inside each other for storage. Short handle types further minimize storage space. A cooking oil wipe inside greatly helps with sea air corrosion if indicated. Your food will taste so'ooo much better and fuel will be minimal. Regarding storms at higher latitudes, crew may ask to bunk down to mind the "winter wife". Can be good for hypothermia. Best wishes all cruisers.

[gradyho]

Speaking of Thermal Cookers, I remember "back in the day" some 50 years ago, my Grandmother putting a ham in a pot with about an inch of water and putting it on the wood stove with high heat. As soon as the water started to boil, which wasn't long, she set the pot in a bushel basket (peach basket) lined with 2 or 3 quilts. She would fold the quilts over the top of the pot and set the basket in a closet. 24 hours later she would take it out and serve the Ham for supper. I remember it being some of the most tender and best tasting Ham. Of course we also had Cat Head Biscuits and Red Eye Gravy.

My galley ware consist of a small SS sauce pot, a small 8 inch cast iron frying pan and a Fagor Pressure cooker. My stove is propane, a converted outdoor grill with 2 LARGE circular cast iron burners, each burner about 5 inches across. Fireproof material all around the stove and also above it. I can boil water at the drop of a hat. Using the pressure cooker takes only minutes. I never leave the stove while cooking. I have multiple shut offs for the propane, 2 manual and 1 electric. I love my stove, I love my galley and I love propane !!

[Alastair A]

PS again pardon me. If you are buying new, just get the heaviest pots that you can. This is all about pressure in use and "retained thermal mass" in cooking and keeping warm. Cheers, all in cruising.

[Laughing Buddha]

Aden -
I'll add our 36 years of using the BRA (vo) pressure cooker and the Sass cookbook too. She gives heaps of tips so you can modify many of your family favorites to save propane - and a BIGGIE - reduce cabin heat!

I see no one has mentioned home canning with a pressure cooker - something you can't do with the other alternatives. It is a safe and time proven method of preserving foods - and saves a heap of freezer space for passage.

And,it is a great back up to refrigeration. We saved many pounds of meat that was in our freezer when the GB quit in the Tuamotus (1999). We provisioned for 9+ months, and had been underway for 2! Nancy, broke out the canning jars, dutifully went through the steps with surgical precision, and we didn't loose anything.

She is now planning more canned recipes like one-pot meals, e.g. home made lasagnas, etc for our next ocean passage. Handy to have easy meals to heat and eat underway - again read the directions - you don't eat cold from the jar!

Yes, I'll admit, jar storage can be a hassle, and need to keep the lids and seals on hand. A trip to the US, NZ, even Mexico will usually find them. In fact as we are preparing to return form a 'stateside visit, 3 sets of lids and rings (large and small) are in hand carry!

Cheers- Jim

[Olddave]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

We are using two pressure cookers aboard for about 30 yrs. One of them is over 40 yrs. old, and the other maybe 20.

We use them as plain pots, with pressure for some dishes [stews, one pot meals, beans] , and without the gasket, for stove top bread making. You also can bake cakes in them. When it is hot, equatorial temps, it is really nice to bake your breads on the stove top in the morning when it's cooler. In a seaway, with their positively attaching lids, they're spill proof.

Ann

Hi Ann

Is it possible to use a pressure cooker to produce something similar to a normal oven baked loaf?

Please share a couple of your favourite bread/cake recipes.

Thanks, Dave

[Alastair A]

Hi all. Yes. Very easy baking is a big "espri de corps" lifter. It easily is possible to bake beaut' bread easily (even with sea water). I'm a baker and a sailor (architect comes third). Dry ingredients are easy to find shopping and store on board. The fresh baked smells and eating are always a highlight at sea.
This may need a new thread? Cheers, A.

[gradyho]

FWIW, new pressure cooker vs. old pressure cooker.....I remember once when my Mom was cooking some green beans in the pressure cooker, the "old type" with a weight on a small stem to release pressure and a safety valve which consisted of a rubber stopper in a 1/4 inch hole in the lid. For whatever reason, the stopper blew....2 quarts of green beans out the 1/4 hole in the lid traveling at light speed, faster than a speeding bullet........80% of the green beans on the ceiling, the rest on the walls, floor, cabinets, etc.
Took Mom 2 days to clean it up and Dad another week to replace the ceiling......I love my pressure cooker, but go for a new type pressure cooker, not your Mom's, just saying........
Grady

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Alastair A

Hi all. Yes. Very easy baking is a big "espri de corps" lifter. It easily is possible to bake beaut' bread easily (even with sea water). I'm a baker and a sailor (architect comes third). Dry ingredients are easy to find shopping and store on board. The fresh baked smells and eating are always a highlight at sea.
This may need a new thread? Cheers, A.

Yes please!

I'm looking forward to it.

[HankOnthewater]

Like ‘Sea Dreaming’, I have a Tefal pressure cooker, 2 actually (6 and 9 lt), one for the boat and one for home. Hmmm, for nearly 30 years, and had to replace the seal once.
All the advantages have been mentioned already, and I cannot think of any disadvantage. The only cautions are: to clean lids and ports to relief valve and is not to overfill the pot.

I have also a ‘slowcooker’ (referring here to the 'retained heat' cooking method), that is a cooking pot heated up initially, then put in an insulated box/wrap/container for 2 to 10 hours. Very good, also saves on gas. With two pots… ideal for rice dishes. I have a set by Thermos shuttle chef. The pans itself are better than most other SS saucepans! The added advantage of these pans is that the pots do not have a handle each side but a swiveling handle on top, so you can lift the pan with one hand, while the other hand keeps the cook steady in a seaway…….
According to the Thermos specs the pots loose about 4 degrees (celcius) every hour when completely filled (ie with 6 litres).

If I had to choose between them, and only one choice: pressure cooker would win, just.

BTW, the ‘slow-cookers’ I know are electrical, and need 300 to 900 Watt over several hours. That for me excludes such pot on a boat.

Items I have, photos borrowed from internet

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Laughing Buddha

Aden -
I'll add our 36 years of using the BRA (vo) pressure cooker and the Sass cookbook too. She gives heaps of tips so you can modify many of your family favorites to save propane - and a BIGGIE - reduce cabin heat!

I see no one has mentioned home canning with a pressure cooker - something you can't do with the other alternatives. It is a safe and time proven method of preserving foods - and saves a heap of freezer space for passage.

And,it is a great back up to refrigeration. We saved many pounds of meat that was in our freezer when the GB quit in the Tuamotus (1999). We provisioned for 9+ months, and had been underway for 2! Nancy, broke out the canning jars, dutifully went through the steps with surgical precision, and we didn't loose anything.

She is now planning more canned recipes like one-pot meals, e.g. home made lasagnas, etc for our next ocean passage. Handy to have easy meals to heat and eat underway - again read the directions - you don't eat cold from the jar!

Yes, I'll admit, jar storage can be a hassle, and need to keep the lids and seals on hand. A trip to the US, NZ, even Mexico will usually find them. In fact as we are preparing to return form a 'stateside visit, 3 sets of lids and rings (large and small) are in hand carry!

Cheers- Jim

Missed my post ref extra salmon and tuna eh.

[TOPGALLANT32]

I use a small 4 qt pressure cooker. I cook beans,rice soups and bake bread in mine. very fast.
grew up on a farm canning with them and never ever had an issue. Just dont remove pressure valve cap while under pressure .you can use them for canning on your trip .
In valuable on a sail boat. Super efficient.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

In this instance one does not use pressure so use a slow cooker recipe instead. Just heat your food until very hot, pull it off the stove and wrap in insulation. The food will keep cooking for hours. Just like a slow cooker without spending fuel or big bucks for a thermal pot.

Seems the issue is slow cooking = running heat longer vs. pressure cooking = heat and use pressure.

What's not to like about NOT using more fuel?

[Aden]

Originally Posted by TOPGALLANT32

I use a small 4 qt pressure cooker. I cook beans,rice soups and bake bread in mine. very fast.
grew up on a farm canning with them and never ever had an issue. Just dont remove pressure valve cap while under pressure .you can use them for canning on your trip .
In valuable on a sail boat. Super efficient.

TopGallant32

You use a small 4 qt pressure cooker, do you mean that you cook your meat stew and plain rice in turn unless it has multi-pots inside the pc? I don't want to mix the rice and meat cooking together.