Just wanted to thank everyone who wrote so knowledgeably about pressure
cookers. I have wanted one for a long time and finally took the plunge and
just got the Kuhn Rikon 5 qt. Made a pot roast in it today. wow! that was
fast -- and good! I sort of followed the recipe in the little cookbook that
came with it for barbque pot roast but I added carrots and potatoes after an
hour and then cooked it another 6 minutes or so. Yum And I was real excited
that I didn't blow up the kitchen :-)

I noticed that I did have to adjust the flame slightly every so often during
the hour cooking time to maintain the pressure but considering the whole
thing took not quite 1 1/2 hours from "take meat out of fridge and look for
spices" to turn off the flame, I certainly can't complain :-)

I think it's time for a trip to the local bookstore to look for a couple of
cookbooks ....

Ellen

"Ellen" wrote in message
...
Just wanted to thank everyone who wrote so knowledgeably about pressure
cookers. I have wanted one for a long time and finally took the plunge and
just got the Kuhn Rikon 5 qt.

Bah that would be 7 liter/7.4 qt ...

Ellen

"SBarbour" wrote in message
...
Hi Ellen,

I highly recommend a cookbook called "Pressure Cooking for Everyone".
There
are several recipes I make routinely, my favorite of which is the Pork and
Butternet Squash Stew. Yum! I can't remember the author's name, but I'm
sure I'm giving you the correct the name of the book.


Thanks, I'll google it :-)

Ellen

"Ellen" wrote in message
...


"SBarbour" wrote in message
...
Hi Ellen,

I highly recommend a cookbook called "Pressure Cooking for Everyone".
There
are several recipes I make routinely, my favorite of which is the Pork
and
Butternet Squash Stew. Yum! I can't remember the author's name, but
I'm
sure I'm giving you the correct the name of the book.


Thanks, I'll google it :-)

Ellen

Ellen,
I just got this book on ebay for $0.99. I just got a Kuhn Rikon 7 qt. this
week myself. I made the pork chops with potatoes and onions from the recipes
that came with it and my daughter even loved it. It's going to take some
getting used to but this is a great way to cook tasty meals.

"sshay" wrote in message
.. .

"Ellen" wrote in message
...


"SBarbour" wrote in message
...
Hi Ellen,

I highly recommend a cookbook called "Pressure Cooking for Everyone".
There
are several recipes I make routinely, my favorite of which is the Pork
and
Butternet Squash Stew. Yum! I can't remember the author's name, but
I'm
sure I'm giving you the correct the name of the book.


Thanks, I'll google it :-)

Ellen

Ellen,
I just got this book on ebay for $0.99. I just got a Kuhn Rikon 7 qt. this
week myself. I made the pork chops with potatoes and onions from the
recipes
that came with it and my daughter even loved it. It's going to take some
getting used to but this is a great way to cook tasty meals.



Thanks for the tip -- my family would like that pork chop recipe. Yes it
does seem like it is going to be very useful.

Ellen

Ellen wrote:

Just wanted to thank everyone who wrote so knowledgeably about pressure
cookers.

Heh, I guess I wrote enough to be four people. Those other personalities
are taking over again...

I have wanted one for a long time and finally took the plunge and
just got the Kuhn Rikon 5 qt. Made a pot roast in it today. wow! that was
fast -- and good! I sort of followed the recipe in the little cookbook that
snip
I think it's time for a trip to the local bookstore to look for a couple of
cookbooks ....

My KR came with _Pressure Perfect_ by Lorna Sass, which was included as
a promotion. Didn't they put in a copy with your cooker? I've only
glanced through it, but it looks pretty complete.

"Jeff" wrote in message
news:xQRJe.1076$0d.15@trnddc04...
Ellen wrote:

Just wanted to thank everyone who wrote so knowledgeably about pressure
cookers.

Heh, I guess I wrote enough to be four people. Those other personalities
are taking over again...

Ah but it really was informative!


I think it's time for a trip to the local bookstore to look for a couple
of
cookbooks ....

My KR came with _Pressure Perfect_ by Lorna Sass, which was included as
a promotion. Didn't they put in a copy with your cooker? I've only
glanced through it, but it looks pretty complete.

It came with the KR cookbook -- not a bad cookbook but not attributed to
Lorna Sass or anyone else. I have used the bbq pot roast recipe (plus some
modifications of my onw) and the chicken stock procedure but my own recipe.
I will try some of the other recipes also. But of course one can never have
enough cookbooks so I am going to buy a couple or so more :-)

Ellen

Ellen, I'll bet there are more pressure cooking recipes online that you can
shake a stick at. Give that a try, too.
Dee


"SBarbour" wrote in message
...
Hi Ellen,

I highly recommend a cookbook called "Pressure Cooking for Everyone".
There
are several recipes I make routinely, my favorite of which is the Pork and
Butternet Squash Stew. Yum! I can't remember the author's name, but I'm
sure I'm giving you the correct the name of the book.

Happy cooking!

Sharon


"Ellen" wrote in message
...
Just wanted to thank everyone who wrote so knowledgeably about pressure
cookers. I have wanted one for a long time and finally took the plunge
and
just got the Kuhn Rikon 5 qt. Made a pot roast in it today. wow! that was
fast -- and good! I sort of followed the recipe in the little cookbook
that
came with it for barbque pot roast but I added carrots and potatoes after
an
hour and then cooked it another 6 minutes or so. Yum And I was real
excited
that I didn't blow up the kitchen :-)

I noticed that I did have to adjust the flame slightly every so often
during
the hour cooking time to maintain the pressure but considering the whole
thing took not quite 1 1/2 hours from "take meat out of fridge and look
for
spices" to turn off the flame, I certainly can't complain :-)

I think it's time for a trip to the local bookstore to look for a couple
of
cookbooks ....

Ellen

As seen from rec.food.equipment, on
Mon, 8 Aug 2005 20:13:03 -0400, "Ellen" wrote:

"Jeff" wrote in message
news:xQRJe.1076$0d.15@trnddc04...
Ellen wrote:

Just wanted to thank everyone who wrote so knowledgeably about pressure
cookers.

Heh, I guess I wrote enough to be four people. Those other personalities
are taking over again...

Ah but it really was informative!

Glad it helped.

I think it's time for a trip to the local bookstore to look for a couple
of
cookbooks ....

My KR came with _Pressure Perfect_ by Lorna Sass, which was included as
a promotion. Didn't they put in a copy with your cooker? I've only
glanced through it, but it looks pretty complete.

It came with the KR cookbook -- not a bad cookbook but not attributed to
Lorna Sass or anyone else.
snip

Mine came with that one, too. I'll have to glance through it,
eventually. My usual pressure cooker "recipe" is what I've come to call
"kitchen sink soup" because, way down at the bottom, the kitchen sink
IS in there. Start with some beef (cut small) or chicken, and add a bit
of every veggie on the produce stand: celery or bok choy, egg plant,
mushrooms, bell peppers, stringless string beans, onions, tomatoes (but
NO potatoes). Add a pinch of this, that, and the other herb, some
garlic, tomatoe paste, and cook-- about 20 minutes for the chicken, 30
for the beef. I'm finding the KR cooks differently from my old Fagor,
so I think I'll have to change that: cook the meat for 15 (chicken) or
25 (beef) minutes, depressurize, add the veggies, and cook for an
additional 7-10. Reheat with some lentils and rice cooked separately,
and it's a whole meal in one bowl.

Jeff

"Jeff" wrote in message
...

Mine came with that one, too. I'll have to glance through it,
eventually. My usual pressure cooker "recipe" is what I've come to call
"kitchen sink soup" because, way down at the bottom, the kitchen sink
IS in there. Start with some beef (cut small) or chicken, and add a bit
of every veggie on the produce stand: celery or bok choy, egg plant,
mushrooms, bell peppers, stringless string beans, onions, tomatoes (but
NO potatoes). Add a pinch of this, that, and the other herb, some
garlic, tomatoe paste, and cook-- about 20 minutes for the chicken, 30
for the beef. I'm finding the KR cooks differently from my old Fagor,
so I think I'll have to change that: cook the meat for 15 (chicken) or
25 (beef) minutes, depressurize, add the veggies, and cook for an
additional 7-10. Reheat with some lentils and rice cooked separately,
and it's a whole meal in one bowl.


Ah yes, the ever famous "try not to like this dish too much because it's
what was in the fridge and you will never have it again quite the same way"
cooking method. My family seems fairly resigned to that :-)

Why no potatoes? I like potatoes in my soup?

I made the lima bean-barley-mushroom soup last nite. My daughter said "yuck
I don't eat mushrooms", my hubby said "yuck I don't eat limas" ... what a
shame I am going to be forced to eat it all myself. I did also chop up a
potato and throw it in mostly cause I had one potato in the house and it
seemed a shame for it to be sitting there all alone without friends or
companions :-)

I am absolutely floored by how fast this all is vs regular cooking. And it
all seems so natural and normal to be using the pressure cooker as opposed
to the microwave where after 20 years I still can't seem to do anything
other than reheating leftovers ... the most difficult thing has been to
figure out which burner to use for stuff that needs to be pressurized to the
first ring and not the second ring. Since there are all of two burner sizes
on the stove ....


Ellen

As seen from rec.food.equipment, on
Thu, 11 Aug 2005 06:59:22 -0400, "Ellen" wrote:

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Ah yes, the ever famous "try not to like this dish too much because it's
what was in the fridge and you will never have it again quite the same way"
cooking method. My family seems fairly resigned to that :-)

What? With a shelf full of cookbooks? I thought that predictability was
the idea behind cooking by recipe.

Why no potatoes? I like potatoes in my soup?

shrug So put them in, then. To my taste, they're too heavy/starchy
for soup. If you like potatoes, try dicing them up and putting them in
meat loaf in place of rice or bread crumbs. Killer good with the right
spices and such.

I am absolutely floored by how fast this all is vs regular cooking.

I think it's the pressure that does it, as well as the increased
temperature. Cooking in water is, I think, the best method for
delivering the heat to the food, and a pressure cooker delivers it at
higher than boiling temperatures.

And it
all seems so natural and normal to be using the pressure cooker as opposed
to the microwave where after 20 years I still can't seem to do anything
other than reheating leftovers

That's the only thing I ever use a microwave for. I was introduced to
pressure cookers when a friend made a chicken in a microwave pressure
cooker (now how's that for a gizmo?). Of course I had to go out and get
one of my own and try it. I think I used it twice before getting a
stovetop model. I couldn't afford a good one, but fortunately a local
discount chain offered an aluminum 4-qt. model from Brasil that was
within my budget. It worked fine, never blew up, and I've been using
pressure cookers ever since.

the most difficult thing has been to
figure out which burner to use for stuff that needs to be pressurized to the
first ring and not the second ring. Since there are all of two burner sizes
on the stove ....

If the lowest setting on your smallest burner is too hot, I guess
you'll have to turn it off and back on. That's a nuisance, I know, but
this sort of pressure cooker needs to be monitored anyway.

Jeff

"Jeff" wrote in message
news
As seen from rec.food.equipment, on
Thu, 11 Aug 2005 06:59:22 -0400, "Ellen" wrote:

"Jeff" wrote in message
...
Ah yes, the ever famous "try not to like this dish too much because it's
what was in the fridge and you will never have it again quite the same
way"
cooking method. My family seems fairly resigned to that :-)

What? With a shelf full of cookbooks? I thought that predictability was
the idea behind cooking by recipe.

I know it's truly amazing how much dust the shelf full (or multiple shelves
to be more exact) of books collects :-)


shrug So put them in, then. To my taste, they're too heavy/starchy
for soup. If you like potatoes, try dicing them up and putting them in
meat loaf in place of rice or bread crumbs. Killer good with the right
spices and such.

Interesting, I'll have to try that. I did throw in the one lonely potato
because I happened to notice it and it was not much potato for the amt of
soup.


And it
all seems so natural and normal to be using the pressure cooker as
opposed
to the microwave where after 20 years I still can't seem to do anything
other than reheating leftovers

That's the only thing I ever use a microwave for. I was introduced to
pressure cookers when a friend made a chicken in a microwave pressure
cooker (now how's that for a gizmo?).

never heard of that ... and probably just as happy :-)


If the lowest setting on your smallest burner is too hot, I guess
you'll have to turn it off and back on. That's a nuisance, I know, but
this sort of pressure cooker needs to be monitored anyway.

yeah the low on the front/bigger burner was keeping it at the second ring,
so I bopped the value with a wooden spoon a couple of times to release some
pressure and put it in on the back/smaller burner at the lowest setting.
Seemed to be enough difference in heat (altho the flame size for both
burners looked the same to me and the size difference isn't much) to keep it
at the first ring. Unfortunately I have this wretched thermadore stove (talk
about a big mistake in stove purchases) and two of the burners are "normal"
gas burners and the other two have this "turn on/turn off" feature for lower
settings which took me about 2 days to learn to hate.

But the cooking times are short enough that it is not a big problem to hang
around in the vicinity and keep an eye on it.

Ellen

As seen from rec.food.equipment, on
Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:52:41 -0400, "Ellen" wrote:

"Jeff" wrote in message
news

What? With a shelf full of cookbooks? I thought that predictability was
the idea behind cooking by recipe.

I know it's truly amazing how much dust the shelf full (or multiple shelves
to be more exact) of books collects :-)

Now, how do you expect to look professional and impress your friends if
you're going to let your cookbooks get dusty? You've never seen a
lawyer let those (fake) law books that are always on floor-to-ceiling
shelves right behind the big desk get dusty, have you? You can't afford
to, either!

for soup. If you like potatoes, try dicing them up and putting them in
meat loaf in place of rice or bread crumbs. Killer good with the right
spices and such.

Interesting, I'll have to try that.

Sauces (tomato or -?) and/or broth (chicken is nice) mixed in with the
ground meat give it flavor and keep it from drying out in the oven.
Eggs mixed in serve as a binder and produce a smoother texture, but
they won't absorb all the moisture from the sauces. The usual trick is
to put in rice or bread crumbs. On one occasion I was feeling
experimental, and put in some diced potatoes instead. They came out
light and fluffy, the meat kept them from drying out, and they absorbed
all that flavor. Mmmmmmmmmmm...

Unfortunately I have this wretched thermadore stove (talk
about a big mistake in stove purchases) and two of the burners are "normal"
gas burners and the other two have this "turn on/turn off" feature for lower
settings which took me about 2 days to learn to hate.

Is it one of those "burner with a brain" thingies that supposedly
senses the temperature of your cookware and adjusts itself accordingly?
I miss the old stoves (now sold as collectibles or antiques at premium
prices) that had a little burner in the center, with the main burner in
a ring around it. It heated more evenly when turned up, and could be
turned down to a very slow simmer with only the center burner going.

Sorry to hear about your disappointing stove. Along with a good set of
cookware, I think it's the most important appliance in the home. I had
better fortune with my Whirlpool. I had heard that KitchenAid/Whirlpool
(same company-- KitchenAid is the premium line) was the best, and was
fortunate enough to find a company "scratch and ding" outlet store. I
spent half a day there looking at stoves, but it was time well spent.
The one I got has a high output "power" burner, two regular ones, and a
small simmer burner. It turned out to be the right choice.

Jeff

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:07:16 GMT, Jeff

Sorry to hear about your disappointing stove. Along with a good set of
cookware, I think it's the most important appliance in the home. I had
better fortune with my Whirlpool. I had heard that KitchenAid/Whirlpool
(same company-- KitchenAid is the premium line) was the best, and was
fortunate enough to find a company "scratch and ding" outlet store. I
spent half a day there looking at stoves, but it was time well spent.
The one I got has a high output "power" burner, two regular ones, and a
small simmer burner. It turned out to be the right choice.

I have a similar stove, a GE, that I just love. At the time I was
shopping (in 2003), I was mentally open to the idea of forking over
big bux for a Profile or something similarly high end (no, not enough
for a Viking or anything THAT expensive), but after investigating and
considering all the options, I bought the JGBP33BEH2BB (black) because
it had the 5,000 btu simmer burner, the two regular 9,500 btu burners,
and the 13,000 btu high output burner, meeting my needs perfectly,
plus I didn't spend extra for the unwanted/unneeded warming drawer,
using that space instead for my pot lids. The GE website price for
this stand-alone stove/oven unit was something like $849, and I was
able to purchase it for $629, money very well spent. This appliance
also has a broiler with a high and a low setting, extremely useful, in
addition to the cool computer system that starts and shuts off the
oven, etc., etc.

As seen from rec.food.equipment, on
Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:39:41 GMT, KLS wrote:

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:07:16 GMT, Jeff

Sorry to hear about your disappointing stove. Along with a good set of
cookware, I think it's the most important appliance in the home. I had
better fortune with my Whirlpool. I had heard that KitchenAid/Whirlpool
(same company-- KitchenAid is the premium line) was the best, and was
fortunate enough to find a company "scratch and ding" outlet store. I
spent half a day there looking at stoves, but it was time well spent.
The one I got has a high output "power" burner, two regular ones, and a
small simmer burner. It turned out to be the right choice.

I have a similar stove, a GE, that I just love. At the time I was
shopping (in 2003), I was mentally open to the idea of forking over
big bux for a Profile or something similarly high end (no, not enough
for a Viking or anything THAT expensive), but after investigating and
considering all the options, I bought the JGBP33BEH2BB (black) because
it had the 5,000 btu simmer burner, the two regular 9,500 btu burners,
and the 13,000 btu high output burner, meeting my needs perfectly,
plus I didn't spend extra for the unwanted/unneeded warming drawer,
using that space instead for my pot lids. The GE website price for
this stand-alone stove/oven unit was something like $849, and I was
able to purchase it for $629, money very well spent. This appliance
also has a broiler with a high and a low setting, extremely useful, in
addition to the cool computer system that starts and shuts off the
oven, etc., etc.

That sounds very similar, and in the same price range. I was much
tempted to get a KitchenAid I saw there for around $900, but then good
sense prevailed. I got my stove for around $600, and was told that
it retailed for around $800. I like to show people the small chip in
the enamel off in one corner that is not even visible unless one is
looking for it (they did a good job with the touchup paint), and say
"See that? It's worth $200."

This stove also has a storage drawer. The broiler is in the oven cavity
(at the top of it). Like the oven, the broiler temperature is computer
controlled, and the burner cycles on and off. The stovetop burners are
what are called "sealed," which means that there's nowhere for food and
such to drop through to the inside under the top, so cleanup is quick
and easy. I remember occasionally having to poke out burner holes with
a paperclip, but not on this stove-- the burners have caps that, when
removed, reveal the burner holes as grooves that can easily be cleaned
out with a brush. I've had this stove for nearly seven years without
any need of repairs or replacement parts, though I use it nearly every
day. Money well spent, indeed.

Jeff