Pressure Cooker vs slow cooker without electricity

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by 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.

Stew in a pressure cooker, with normal bite sized pieces, would take about 10 to 15 minutes depending on the cut. Pressure cooking reduces cook times tremendously!

If you are cooking items with similar cooking times you can use a layering system inside the pot.
First, add your your ingredients for your first dish. Put a trivet in the pot. (a trivet will probably come with your pot, or turn a custard cup or similar shallow dish over so the cup is facing the bottom of the pot) Make sure that the trivet is sitting on the bottom of the pot and not on top of your food.
Second add a shallow pan or even a bowel on top of the trivet. Add your ingredients for the second dish inside this pan. Make sure that the pot is no more than 2/3 full. Now you can cook your food!

If you like, there are even special tiered pans you can buy for your pressure cooker.

Making bread requires different cooking parameters than stew, so I would probably cook them seperately. But there are a lot of dishes you can cook this way.

For the past month, while we were finishing packing our house, I had my pressure cooker and 2 frying pans to cook with. The only other thing I wished for was a small sauce pot. But even still, I did not really "need" anything else! In fact, I could have skipped one of the fry pans. But there is just two of us so we keep our meals simple. Your needs may be different but I mention it to point out how versitile the pressure cooker is.

Note: food cooked in a pressure cooker tastes a little different than food cooked in a regular pan. It has more flavor!

[Tom and Maje]

Originally Posted by Aden

I am thinking of getting a pressure cooker for cooking on the boat, but I am not sure which brand is safe and good quality. I definitely don't want to have any explosion accidentally on the boat. Honestly, I have never used it before in my life and thought that it would be simple and efficient for cooking on the boat. Any recommended brand?

I am shocked to find the slow cooker without electricity (wonderbagworld) suggested by people on this forum. I was wondering if it could do the same job like pressure cooker apart from their big pumpkin bag.

I use both for different purposes. I have a Fissler pressure cooker. Like you, I had no prior experience using them. One thing to remember is that you can only fill them about half full, so get a big enough one.

The pressure cooker I use for fast meals when I don't want to overheat the galley. I also use it for beans (takes a fraction of the time), and passage meals. The Wonderbag I use for yogurt, and stews.

Maje

[lampeach]

We have use a pressure cooker with all the good results listed above. At the risk of highjacking the thread, we are now using our Solavore solar oven more often now where we once use our pressure cooker. It is not fast, but will cook anything that you would in a slow cooker (including a whole chicken, roasts, soups) and requires no fossil-fuel energy. Cooking temps (180F - 300F) depends on sun intensity. Just set the oven on the foredeck, point towards the morning sun, pre-heat to 180F+, put in your dish and food cooked by late afternoon.

[CatCouple]

Originally Posted by lampeach

We have use a pressure cooker with all the good results listed above. At the risk of highjacking the thread, we are now using our Solavore solar oven more often now where we once use our pressure cooker. It is not fast, but will cook anything that you would in a slow cooker (including a whole chicken, roasts, soups) and requires no fossil-fuel energy. Cooking temps (180F - 300F) depends on sun intensity. Just set the oven on the foredeck, point towards the morning sun, pre-heat to 180F+, put in your dish and food cooked by late afternoon.

what happens if it clouds over halfway through your cooking time?

[Symphony]

Does anyone have experience with Monix stainless steel 8qt pressure cooker? Made in Spain. Not cheap.

[Laughing Buddha]

Symphony

It appears to be a "functional equivalent" of our tried and true BRA - also made in Spain as I recall. The short handles are very "storage" friendly vs the household long handles.

I see it listed on Amaz0n for under 75 pounds Sterling. Brexit brigs it in probably under - or near - 100 USD. I'd go for it (even as a spare) but my bags are already full for travel back to the boat!

Cheers - Jim

[Badsanta]

In the usa I just went to Costco and they have a nesting pressure cooker. A 4 qt and a 6 qt that nest inside each other with the pressure lid and a glass one interchangeable with both pots. I bought a set, looks pretty neat but havent used it yet.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I have been using pressure cookers since I was 12 years old. Fast simple, never had a problem. I still have my first one from when I moved out to college and it was my only pot while traveling the USA on my motorcycle. You can cook anything in it fast. Fast cooking equals less heat in the cabin, less fuel burned. Beef stew 12 minutes, chicken soup 15 minutes those were the longest cook times, everything else is less time.

I would give up a lot of things before my pressure cookers.

[ErnestWalker]

In your look for the best Pressure Cooker, you will go over an extensive variety of sizes. Picking the wrong size can make utilizing your pressure cooker frustrating. Then again, a size that is perfect for the quantity of individuals in your family will probably turn into a go-to piece of equipment in your kitchen.

[Alastair A]

I really appreciate this thread. I use one larger and one smaller pressure cooker. If you use internal stacking pans in one larger pot then everything ends up tasting the same. I use both as pressure vessels, and as slow cooker, and as dutch ovens, and as bread baking ovens, and as spill proof regular pans. Have fun with two that fit together on your stove top and stack nested for storage. Please keep them nicely oiled. Alum or stainless is of little consequence if you oil after use. I do just a regular blanket wrap for slow storage cooking or hypothermia care. With 2 pressure pots, you can keep a patient warm with change-outs as needed and and also feed the active crew good hot food, so that you don't get any more hypothermia cases. Please don't put the pressure vessel in pressure mode in a bunk with a medical patient. It is however OK in "no pressure" and "slow cook wrapped" mode with shared warmth. Best wishes and tasty fun eating and baking, for all. Cheers A.

[Symphony]

I just finished eating a fantastic Choucroute garnie, a French Alsatian version of sauerkraut with pork knuckles, sausages, potatoes and herbs. The New York Times cookbook says it takes three hours and 30 minutes to roast. Once I had browned the knuckles and sausages, the rest cooked in 15 minutes in my pressure cooker.

Pork, sausages, potatoes, sauerkraut, onions, garlic, gravy- all in one pot. Easy clean up.

[Symphony]

PS I based mine off a recipe in the famous "Cooking under pressure" by Lorna Sass. I bought it for 99 cents in the Kindle reader in my iPad.

[weavis]

Being the lazy posterior I am, and after consultation with my first officer boatie, I went out and bought the instant Pot ELECTRIC pressure cooker for home. 6 quart version.

Lots of reasons for electric which are redundant to this conversation, but was to dip my toes into the pressure cooking arena after being dismayed by the taste many years ago after my mother cooked with one occasionally when I was a child.

I can say the memory has been erased.

My very first cooked dish was Biryani. Chicken to be precise. NO fuss, no bother no mistakes, no worries and no burnt pan. I did follow a YouTube presentation precisely. I did not film it simply because I expected a disaster... ANd yes, my food turned out just like this one...

As I continue my culinary adventures, I find myself falling under the spell of usefulness and versatility of this particular machine. Ribs are next to try..

Now I do NOT like stews overmuch, so Im cooking foods that I would make for myself normally... Next to try are Lamb dishes, pork chops etc... they require minor attention from a broiler after cooking but we are talking a few minutes only...

I would buy a stainless steel stove top for the boat... I just wanted to see if the taste was good...and by golly it is...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlkPp_JbljI

[SKG56]

Yeah, Like this thread, I've been cooking with pressure cookers since I was a kid, mother and grandmother used them a lot, it's just me, so going small, had a 5 gallon for my restaurant in Thailand, but on the boat have to think maybe 6 qt, love to cook and not used to cooking just for myself

[Aden]

Thanks for all your suggestions.

There are many choices of pressure cooker and most of them have fixed reviews especially of leaking or pressure relief issues.

I may go for the Prestige brand Strainless Steel 6L although it also have some negative reviews.