I just purchased an Elite 8qt pressure cooker. (http://kitchen-dining.hsn.com/elite-13-function-8qt-electronic-pressure-cooker_p-6287011_xp.aspx?web_id=6287014&ocm=sekw)
Can I brown ground beef in it?
How do I drain the grease?
What setting do I put it on if I want to cook more than one kind of food? For example say I want to make chicken and rice: Do I use the rice setting or the poultry setting? Do I have to cook both foods separate?
Any other tips you have for me?
Best answer:
Answer by Mello Troy d
1. Evaporated and the rice: Wash rice and put into pressure cooker, add water (rice and water ratio is around 4:6 compared such a soft steamed rice, and vice versa put less of water.) Cover Gail boil, pressure valve , bared Gaixiao fire 5 minutes after gas, turn off the heat. Open the lid to the can until the nausea.
2 boiled rice: Wash rice and put into pressure cooker, add water (rice and water ratio is about 1:10) to build Gail, pressurized gas valve ci bored 10 minutes after a small fire can turn off the heat. Open the lid to the can until the nausea.
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You can buy some recipes, oneself according to menu formula bought materials, time grew, I think your cooking technology will improve, actually cooking is easy.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing you need to know about a pressure cooker are the safety precautions: read your manual! Otherwise, you will end up with beans splattered all over the ceiling of the kitchen. . . or much worse.
ReplyDeleteOnce the pressure gets up, turn the flame down. Use enough water so that it doesn't evaporate--if the cooker it overheats, try to turn off the gas from a remote point: turn of the bottled gas, or shut the valve in the basement.
You can brown beef and spoon off the excess grease or put the meat in a strainer. If you get grease on the outside of the pot, wipe it off before it gets burned on. The hard thing about a pressure cooker is that everything inside needs to have a more or less long cooking time. If you are very, very careful though, you can even make rice in about 5 minutes without it turning to mush. (But if you put the rice on first in a regular pan, you've still got 15 minutes to do something else in the kitchen--and most pans are easier to clean that pressure cookers because of their weight.
What will happen if you cook the rice and the chicken together? You guessed it: in order for the chicken to get thoroughly cooked, you need a cooking time that is going to produce over-cooked rice. (Some people think the rice looks cute when it splits in half and curls up. You decide.)
Is your cooker aluminum? I don't like to cook with metal, so I have a big pyrex bowl that I sit on top of a tamale rack inside the cooker. It works like a double boiler. I usually cook beans (which have been soaked over night) or hard veggies, such as sweet potatoes and string beans. A pressure cooker is wonderful for pork. You can cook it very thoroughly in a short time and don't need to run health risks. And it is wonderful for a beef roast; even the toughest meat gets tender with pressure cooking. Hope that helps--and please, do follow the instructions for use for safety's sake!
Bean Basics
ReplyDeleteCanned beans offer the convenience of being fully cooked and ready to add to any recipe--perfect for the busy home cook. And you can modify your recipe to account for any seasonings canned beans may contain (check the labels to see what's been added).
When you scoop beans in bulk, you'll often have more choices than the canned offerings. You'll also have control over how your beans are cooked: Canned beans usually contain salt and other spices or seasonings.
Store dry beans in airtight containers in a cool, dry place.
Soaking Beans
For the best results, soak your beans overnight.
Full Soak
Rinse beans in cold water, picking out any shrunken ones as well as pebbles or grass (beans are very much a product of the earth and even the highest-quality brands may have dust and little rocks in them).
Place in a pot with at least three cups of water for every cup of beans--refrigerate overnight.
Discard any beans that float to the top--these are most likely hollow or in some way sullied.
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In a time pinch? Do a quick-soak about an hour beforehand.
Quick Soak:
Rinse and pick through beans, then place them in a pot with enough cold water to cover them by two inches.
Bring to a boil, cap the pot with a snug-fitting lid, remove from the heat and let sit for one hour.
You can either keep the cooking water and proceed with your recipe, or you can drain the beans and start again with fresh water.
Note: The exception to the soaking rule is lentils. These are so small that they don't need to be soaked at all. Just rinse and cover with plenty of water, then simmer for about half and hour.
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Cooking Beans
When you're ready to cook the soaked beans, drain them, and cover them with fresh water.
Bring the beans to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
Check periodically and keep enough water in the pot so beans are always under at least ¼ inch of liquid.
Once soaked, beans will take between one and two hours to cook, depending on their size.
The problem is that you made a rather poor choice of which kind of pressure cooker to learn. You bought an 8 qt. electric model. That's huge, way too big for most families. That large size means that it takes longer to come up to pressure. It's also enormous to move around the kitchen, like the issue of draining grease that you mentioned. You'll probably need to spoon or ladle it out, because it's too big to be flipping on its side. The fact that it's electric is a problem because it controls the cooking process, not you. So you better read that manual very carefully to find out how all those modes work. In a regular stovetop pressure cooker, you don't have rice or poultry "settings". Who knows what those settings do? You'll have to read the manual to find out. I know that you can do chicken an rice (arroz con pollo) in 6 minutes. No you don't have to cook them separately. The item that cooks the longest is what you use for timing, in this case the rice, so long as the chicken has been deboned and cut up. Can you brown meat in it? You'll have to look up in the manual if the cooker can be turned on without the lid. In a regular stovetop cooker, it can be used as a normal pot, so browning and draining the fat is no problem. If you can return it, I suggest you do so. It's better to have a 4qt. and 6qt. stainless steel stovetop pressure cooker (with aluminum/copper base or core) and a lid with a spring valve. An example is the Fagor Splendid 2-in-1.
ReplyDeleteI have now since a pressure cooker for 35 years. I don´t believe, it is no good idea to cook all in one. For chicken with rice it is best to use a grill and the stove or the micro for the rice.
ReplyDeleteBut for a chicken soup --- you can buy the cheapest old hen - it will become tender within one hour.
Have you ever tried ox tongue in Madeira? Normally you need at least 4 hours to cook -- with the pressure cooker you.
The pressure cooker is very good for pea soup, bean soup, lentil soup.
Also for braised meat it is good you brown it in the pot, add a cup of water and the spices and in half an hour to 40 min it is ok.
Brown your ground beef as normal and use a laddle to drain the fat.
Congratulations on your new pressure cooker! First thing's first, read the instruction manual (it's pretty brief!) then, pop over and try my instructional recipe series (with special directions for electric pressure cookers):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hippressurecooking.com/2010/12/beginner-basics-learn-to-pressure-cook.html
> Can I brown ground beef in it?
Yes. Some Elites will start warming the pans so you can brown and Sautee' when you hit "start" with the top off.
> How do I drain the grease?
With pot holders, carefully lift the insert out and tip to drain some fat. Otherwise, you can do the whole browning and draining operation in a separate pan, prior to pressure cooking.
>What setting do I put it on if I want to cook more than one kind of food? For example say I want to make chicken and rice: Do I use the rice setting or the poultry setting? Do I have to cook both foods separate?
You should only cook foods with similar cooking times together. Here is a list of cooking times:
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/p/cooking-times.html
You can do this by using the "select time" function on your pressure cooker. However, there is a little trick! It's called "Phased Cooking":
- Start cooking the longest cooking item first. For example, Chicken for 15 minutes, set the time only to 8 minutes.
- Open the pressure cooker, and add the next item with less cooking time. In this case, the rice for 7 minutes cooking time. Then, interrupt the cooking by pressing cancel and releasing the vapor.
Here is more information on phased cooking, and a few other tricks:
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/2010/12/5-amazing-pressure-cooker-soup-tips.html
Happy Pressure Cooking!
L