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Pressure cooker

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gracesmum Sat 07-Sept-13 13:28:40

I am making chicken soup (Jewish penicillin) for poorly DH and am using my pressure cooker - for the third time in its life. I am terrified of it!! The instruction booklet is USELESS plus it is printed in the tiniest font you could imagine and has words like Operating Valve when what I want to know is: why is steam coming out of the bit near the handle, should the red dot be up or down, is that the "right" steam and hissing coming out of the other bit now, so do I set the timer. I am circling it from a bit of a distance in case it explodes and the bomb squad come out . I think I need to use it at least once a month to conquer my fear. Can anybody recommend a really good pressure cooker cookery book as it is, at present, an expensive way to make chicken soup!!

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hummingbird Sun 10-Nov-13 20:29:02

My auntie bought us a pressure cooker as a wedding present 40 years ago! I've replaced the rubber seal once or twice, but otherwise it's needed no special treatment. I use it fairly regularly, and love its simplicity. I make scouse - 750g stewing beef and kidney, carrots, onions, potatoes and beef stock, cook for 20 mins on full steam - to great acclaim! Served with pickled beetroot, obviously! Must try the Jewish penicillin soup!

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gracesmum Sun 10-Nov-13 20:56:22

I got an excellent book from that supplier with a name like a South American river called "80 recipes for your pressure cooker" recommended by Nigel Slater and have had some success with 2 of them in the first week! smile
(It was chicken *soup *hummingbird - known jokingly as Jewish penicillin)

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annodomini Sun 10-Nov-13 21:05:23

My mum taught me to use a pressure cooker in my teens, so I have never had any fear of them. I have a small one now, having previously had a Prestige Hi-dome.

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janerowena Mon 11-Nov-13 10:49:43

I use mine all the time, it's wonderful for making cheap tough cuts of meat nice and tender. I love doing potroasts in it, the meat doesn't shrink the way it does when you do a roast and the flavour is more intense. I also use it for precooking cheap tough stewing steak and kidney filling for pies, and I buy lots of things like dried beans, soak them overnight and cook them the next day in the pressure cooker, then freeze them to be added to soups. As it only takes a third of the time I save a lot of the bottled gas that our cooker uses.

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