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30-11-2014, 07:45
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Circumnavigating@S/Y Elise
Boat: Najad 373
Posts: 114
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Pressure Cooking - Advice Please
Hi,
We are in the middle of our circum navigation planning, and realize that there is no McD in the middle of the Deep Blue.
We are considering Pressure cooking and need some advice:
-Which brands to consider?
-The "process" around Pressure cooking?
-Tips and Tricks with Pressure cooker, some funny och good tricks?
Thanks,
Jonas
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30-11-2014, 07:55
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: North Charleston, SC
Boat: Camano Troll
Posts: 5,176
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Quote:
Originally Posted by Segelplaner
Hi,
We are in the middle of our circum navigation planning, and realize that there is no McD in the middle of the Deep Blue.
We are considering Pressure cooking and need some advice:
-Which brands to consider?
-The "process" around Pressure cooking?
-Tips and Tricks with Pressure cooker, some funny och good tricks?
Thanks,
Jonas
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Do a web search on pressure cookers and pressure cooking.
__________________
Ron
HIGH COTTON
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30-11-2014, 08:04
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#3
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2008
Boat: Bestevaer 49
Posts: 16,151
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Quote:
Originally Posted by Segelplaner
Hi,
We are in the middle of our circum navigation planning, and realize that there is no McD in the middle of the Deep Blue.
We are considering Pressure cooking and need some advice:
-Which brands to consider?
-The "process" around Pressure cooking?
-Tips and Tricks with Pressure cooker, some funny och good tricks?
Thanks,
Jonas
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Despite never having used a pressure cooker as a dirt dweller, I am now a huge fan of pressure cookers .
Regarding tips:
I use mine almost exclusively as a "slow cooker". Once it has come to pressure I simply turn it off and leave the contents to sit anything from a quarter of an hour (eg potatoes) to an hour or two (casseroles, beans, soups, chicken stock). This saves gas, minimises heating of the interior, and produces great flavours. Next to no steam is produced, which is a huge bonus if you have no extractor fan in the galley.
Regarding brands:
With horror tales of pressure cookers exploding and contents plastering the roof, I went for an expensive cooker (German made Fissler) and after seven years of use I've decided it was not just worth every penny, but a bargain. It looks and functions as new and I bet will outlive me .
In use during a passage with the stove gimballed:
__________________
SWL (enthusiastic amateur)
"To me the simple act of tying a knot is an adventure in unlimited space." Clifford Ashley
"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea." Isak Dinesen
Unveiling Bullseye strops for low friction rings
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30-11-2014, 08:05
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Homeport: Fair Haven, NY
Boat: 1993 Sabre 362 #113
Posts: 608
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
We are by no means pressure cooker experts as we have been learning to use one at home in preparation for cruising.
The top brands appear to be Fissler and Fagor
We have 2 Fisslers one large and one smaller one. The smaller one seems most appropriate for a boat as it will take up less space, heats more quickly, and won't prepare too much food. The smaller Fissler also does double duty as a frying pan. They are heavy and appear to be well made.
The two advantages to pressure cooking are shorter cooking times and better flavor. For example a corned beef brisket can be cooked in about an hour in a PC but takes 2 or more hours on the stove. Flavor in the PC cooked beef is better.
Cooking dried beans is also faster than soaking and then simmering for a couple of hours. An hour or so in the PC and their done. So there is a fuel savings.
There is little advantage to shorter cooking foods, such as white rice, the advantage comes when cooking foods that take longer, the cooking time is shortened and thus there is fuel savings.
Lorna Sass's book Cooking Under Pressure is the classic one for pressure cooking. It includes both vegetarian and non vegetarian meals. I do find her cooking times for beans to be a little short.
Pressure cookers work because at a higher pressure you can get steam to a higher temperature above 100* C so food cooks faster.
Hope this helps.
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30-11-2014, 08:16
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#5
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2008
Boat: Bestevaer 49
Posts: 16,151
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Lochner
We are by no means pressure cooker experts as we have been learning to use one at home in preparation for cruising.
The top brands appear to be Fissler and Fagor
We have 2 Fisslers one large and one smaller one. The smaller one seems most appropriate for a boat as it will take up less space, heats more quickly, and won't prepare too much food. The smaller Fissler also does double duty as a frying pan. They are heavy and appear to be well made.
The two advantages to pressure cooking are shorter cooking times and better flavor. For example a corned beef brisket can be cooked in about an hour in a PC but takes 2 or more hours on the stove. Flavor in the PC cooked beef is better.
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We posted almost simultaneously .
I am a big fan of Fissler cookware as well.
My pressure cooker is the 3 litre version. It serves double duty as a frypan (handy as contents can't spill or splatter out), as well as being used anytime a large pot is needed.
With all the time in the world while cruising, I have never used it other than a slow cooker though. Once brought to pressure there is nothing that will not cook simply by turing off the heat and letting it sit. It very cold weather it would help to wrap it in a towel or blanket to help insulate it if a long cooking time is needed.
__________________
SWL (enthusiastic amateur)
"To me the simple act of tying a knot is an adventure in unlimited space." Clifford Ashley
"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea." Isak Dinesen
Unveiling Bullseye strops for low friction rings
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30-11-2014, 08:23
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: SW Oregon
Posts: 47
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
I own a large Kuhn Rikon and two smaller Fagors. The Kuhn Rikon is my favorite. Almost everything that is cooked on stovetop is done in the pressure cookers. I can make delicious soups in a half hour. Taste like they cooked all day. Fresh vegetables are cooked at lightening speed. Pressure cookers are scary at first but in short order they become simple. If I was going to buy another it would be another Kuhn Rikon. They are beautiful and their stainless steel resists tarnishing.
__________________
Motorhoming wannabe sailor
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30-11-2014, 11:18
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Circumnavigating@S/Y Elise
Boat: Najad 373
Posts: 114
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
So much worth with answers from experienced users!
Many Thanks,
Jonas :-)
Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum
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30-11-2014, 23:08
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#8
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2008
Location: cruising SW Pacific
Boat: Jon Sayer 1-off 46 ft fract rig sloop strip plank in W Red Cedar
Posts: 21,134
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
While I admire all the fancy high priced cookware, we still use 40 year old Mirro pressure cookers, one 4 L, one 6 L. They are not shiny, they are not shown in Gourmet magazine, but they, dare I say it, work just like the expensive ones! You can still get gaskets and other spares for them, they nest pretty well together, and I am still content with them.
And they are frequently available in "op shops" the world over for a few bucks. Those often need a new gasket, and they are another few bucks.
But, they are not shiny.
Jim
__________________
Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II, lying Port Cygnet Tasmania once again.
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30-11-2014, 23:33
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Back in Montt.
Boat: Westerly Sealord
Posts: 8,178
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Cate
But, they are not shiny.
Jim
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Fagor seem shiny and cheap... win - win
Fagor Splendid Pressure Cooker - 6 Qt | 918060607
I'm in the market just now...I believe ALDI have quite good ones in stock occasionally for about $50 Australian
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01-12-2014, 04:35
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#10
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 49,082
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Jonas.
Everything you could ever want/need to know, about pressure cooking:
➥ Pressure Cooker Recipes
Including
➥ Tips on Buying a Pressure Cooker
__________________
Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"
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01-12-2014, 07:17
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Southern Maine
Boat: Prairie 36 Coastal Cruiser
Posts: 3,080
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
We have a relative who swears by her electric pressure cooker. Yes, I read the link that Gord posted, which gives several reasons to avoid them. But...
I have an electric stove anyway. We'd be cooking mostly for 2, so the smaller size is exactly what we want, along with the smaller draw. We could in theory run it off the inverter underway, have dinner ready when we arrive at the anchorage, and never have to start the noisemaker.
Am I way off base here?
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01-12-2014, 07:52
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 184
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Is that copper one, the Fissler 6 qt vitacooker?
Land fall gourmand chef, 4 now.
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01-12-2014, 10:20
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Bay of Islands, New Zealand
Boat: Mariner 31 ketch (in Mexico)
Posts: 27
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Another great thing about pressure cookers - the lid locks, so even if the pot is thrown off the stove (only happened to us once, admittedly), your food doesn't end up all over the cabin. And they're heavy enough to bake bread in on top of the stove.
We were given an aged aluminium Presto pressure cooker in 1983. Used it for the 19 years we lived aboard, and still use it to cook beans here in NZ.
We just bought a Mariner 31 ketch in Mexico, and my first request was for a pressure cooker - stainless this time.
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01-12-2014, 10:45
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Cowichan Bay, BC (Maple Bay Marina)
Posts: 9,703
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
Quote:
Originally Posted by rwidman
Do a web search on pressure cookers and pressure cooking.
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And you can do a search on this very forum and read for weeks, there have been hundreds of posts on the subject. With great links, start bookmarking them.
__________________
Stu Jackson
Catalina 34 #224 (1986) C34IA Secretary
Cowichan Bay, BC, SR/FK, M25, Rocna 10 (22#) (NZ model)
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01-12-2014, 11:09
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#15
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Moderator Emeritus
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Jacksonville/ out cruising
Boat: Island Packet 38
Posts: 31,351
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Re: Pressure cooking advice please
I grew up with them but we haven't had one in my married life (over 30 yrs), once under pressure you can't remove the lid, it's locked. All the ones I've been around had a weight that controlled the pressure and a little rubber plug that popped up when the thing was under pressure and sat flat when there was no pressure, pretty fool proof if you understand the principle
Now that I said that we had a maid that worked for us when I was little that managed to get the lid off with it under pressure, and made an enormous mess doing so.
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