Under Pressure

Mm ba ba de

Um bum ba de

Um bu bu bum da de

Pressure

Pushing down on me . . .

OK, not quite that kind of pressure. Cooking under pressure! This is very new for me -- in fact, today is the first day that I have ever tried a pressure cooker. And here is why I did . . .

A few months ago, I was reading about re-purposing sweaters and yarn and I posted about another blog called Kayla K's Thrifty Ways and what she did with a sweater. I put her blog on my reading list and have been reading it off and on ever since. Recently married, Kayla received a pressure cooker as a wedding gift and fell in love with the cooker. She decided to use the cooker every day for the next 365 days. If this young woman can see the value in cooking great home-cooked meals in minutes, this old dog can add a new trick to her repertoire. Kayla convinced me!The whole point of a pressure cooker is that you can save energy and cook faster. 

In my research, I found great website that explained how a pressure cooker works -- Hip Pressure Cooking. Pressure cookers have been around a long time. First developed in the 1600's, pressure cookers were not really used in home cooking. But in 1938, Alfred Vischler designed the first one for home use in the United States. National Presto Industries, known as the "National Pressure Cooker Company" at the time, introduced its own pressure cooker a year later at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. 

Pressure cooker made about 1864

Kayla mentioned that the cooker she had was a Presto 6 Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker and that is the one I got for myself. Why try something untested when Kayla has paved the way. So for my first adventure in pressure cooking, I am trying one of the recipes in the instruction booklet that came with the cooker -- Beef Pot Roast.

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Beef Pot Roast 

3 pounds beef roast

1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

2 cups of water

salt and pepper

1 small onion, chopped (I used a large one)

1 bay leaf

Pour oil into cooker. Turn heat selector to medium and brown roast well on all sides; remove roast. Pour water into cooker. Place roast on rack in cooker. Season roast with salt, pepper, onions, and bay leaf. Close cover securely. Place pressure regulator on vent pipe and cook 45 minutes with pressure regulator rocking slowly. Let pressure  drop of its own accord. Thicken gravy, if desired.

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I did make a couple of adjustments. The roast that I had was only 2.5 lbs so I reduced the cooking time by 5 minutes. I cooled the pot immediately by plunging it in a sink with 2 inches of cold water in it, opened the lid and added some fresh broccoli and cauliflower. Following the directions to cook them off of the fresh vegetable grid in the instruction booklet, I brought the cooker back to the point of the regulator rocking slowly and cooked for 1 minute and again cooled immediately.

The recipe was a hit! The roast was really tender. TheDH said the veggies were really great; I thought they were somewhat over-cooked but they had wonderful flavor. I can see where you could make a stew in just a few minutes. But next time, I will stop cooking the veggies as soon as the regulator starts to rock.

In looking at other recipes for pot roast, I saw one which took 3 hours in the oven and one which took 3 hours and fifteen minutes on the stove. I am sure that you could take either one of these and convert it to a pressure cooker recipe.

I have a corned beef in the fridge to try later in the week! Yum!

Happy cooking!