Pressure Cooker

What is a good brand of pressure cooker to buy?

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@Steven - I've used the Kuhn-Rikon 7L for years and have been extremely happy with it. That said, the Fagor Duo set is a very attractive option at a good price. If you have more questions, pease ask ... Also check out, 'www.hippressurecooking.com"

tshewman

@Steven, I have/use an 8qt Kuhn-Rikon and love it. Have a pan-style on my list of must-buys. Dave Arnold did some testing (if I recall correctly) and foud some to be off-tasting (he used stocks) and if memory serves it was an aluminum issue (at least that was the assertion). FWIW.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Dave Anrold's line is that Kuhn Rikon pressure cookers are the best because they don't vent and thus don't release aromatics during cooking, thus producing a more flavorful stock. I don't know how much I buy this claim, but there does seem to be a consensus (or close to it) that if you've got the money, Kuhn Rikon are the way to go. I have an 8 quart venting Presto stainless PC and I love it, especially for stocks and braised items (shanks, shoulders, short ribs). Once it's at pressure, you can adjust the heat so that it barely releases any steam and the results are extremely flavorful. My stocks set up like jello... it's badass. That said, I'd love to have a 12 quart Kuhn Rikon to cook even larger batches. But I'm extremely happy with my $65 Presto unit. I can't imagine that a Kuhn Rikon performs that much better to justify spending four or five times times the price.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Another quick tip is that if you're making stock in a PC, cook the meat and bones first under pressure and then let the pressure come down naturally. Then add your aromatics and herbs for 30-45 minutes of stovetop simmering. You get all the deep flavor extraction and gelatin advantages from pressure cooking combined with fresh flavors from only simmering the herbs and mirepoix. Pressure cooking really dulls the flavor of onions (and garlic) so you need to add more if you're going to cook under pressure. They tend to develop a sweet but muted flavor that's nice, but doesn't have the standard oniony flavor you want in a broth. If you're a fan of onions, you can put in a fair amount of onion to cook with the meat and bones under pressure and then add even more fresh ones later once you're simmering at the end.

lfmichaud

That's Dave Arnold article about pressure cooked stock.

http://www.cookingissues.com/2009/11/22/pressure-cooked-stocks-we-got-schooled/

It's the reason why I bought a Kuhn-Rikon and I still love it!

tshewman

As a heads up, once you see what you can do with one, you may find yourself wanting a second (like the pan-style for risotos and such). :-)

David_G_64142

I have a Fagor Duo 8L and it's a great entry level pc for a decent price.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I have a Fagor, the reasoning in that article makes me want a KR....

Rich_McDonough_67546

I have an 8 quart KR. It's not my mother's pressure cooker, that's for sure. There's a famous family story about the time the weight from that PC got embedded in the kitchen ceiling and a coating of marmalade was being wiped off everything in the near vicinity for several months afterwards... I was kinda terrified about getting a PC for years as a result but since have the KR, I'm kicking myself that I didn't take the plunge earlier.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

If you reread the article carefully you'll notice that they RE-COOKED pre-made stock to make the comparison.....why they would do that, I have NO idea....it doesn't make any sense!!!!

"I took 4 liters of conventional chicken stock from the restaurant and pressure-cooked half while the other half simmered on the stove. This time, I didn’t use the school’s pressure cooker, I used my own. When I compared the two stocks side by side the pressure cooked one was far browner. I hadn’t thought the pressure cooker would change the color of a pre-made stock. When we tasted them the pressure-cooker won! Finally.

I then ran the same test with the school’s pressure cooker and the pressure cooker lost. WTF?"

I've compared the stock produced by a "non-venting" and a venting pressure cooker operated just below the point of venting...there's no appreciable difference in the two...they're the same.

If you really want to capture ALL the flavor, make the stock in sealed canning jars inside a pressure cooker/canner.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

@DDF: They did a lot of tests to make the comparison. They began with tests comparing scratch-made conventional/PC stocks and then compared conventional/PC stock with chicken only, celery only, and onions only. Finally they experimented with modifying pre-made stocks via pressure cooking and simmering and found that you can indeed change the flavor and color of a premade stock by pressure cooking (an interesting result).

Though I've never done the "Pepsi challenge" comparing a venting versus non-venting pressure cooker, I suspect that you're right that there's not a huge difference if you're using them properly. Many people run their venting pressure cookers way too hot so that they're always spewing out some steam, and that's obviously a bad move. The right way is to do as you suggest, and just operate the venting cookers to the point were they barely vent anything at all (or go just below).

Andrew_Magerman_19465

I have a wmf perfect ultra. It has a cool timer which starts counting at the moment the correct pressure has been attained. nice.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Yep, but where they compare the KR to the other PC, it's only re-cooking pre-made stock...not a great way to compare the two.

It's not clear exactly what they did in the final test as all he mentions is time.....I assume they repeated the re-cooking of pre-made stock.

Anyway, I do know one thing for sure, that article gets referenced a lot and a lot of people have paid the extra money for the KR because of it....that's sure been a good deal for KR!!! LOL!