dee dee

I've been reading the reviews on electric pressure cookers. I guess
the best one is
http://missvickie.com/library/electric.html

After reading this, I decided to get my old stove top pressure cooker
out of storage and try it again. After reading the MissVickie site,
I'm wondering if my Presto would be large enough to cook dried beans.
I filled it with water and the first mark is 3 qts.; the second mark
is 4 qts. and full to the brim is 5 qts. 2 cups. I'm not sure whether
this is a 4 or 5 qt. cooker.

I'm only going to be using it for dried beans, and I seem to remember
a caveat about the foam, so I'm concerned about the size.

Any comments would help.
Thanks.
Dee Dee

billy

Don't try it....beans produce "foam" and that will clog your pressure
valves. You are looking for a disaster on your ceiling.
But....who knows. <vbg>

sky

Alas, I cannot answer the question and have another one myself about
pressure cookers. What's the advantage/disadvantage of an electric
pressure cooker vs. a stove-top model (of comparable size)? It's been
many years since I've cooked with an ancient stove-top pressure cooker
(Presto?, at my grandmother's house), and I remember little of it at
that (menu was unordinary pot roast).

Sky

--
Ultra Ultimate Kitchen Rule - Use the Timer!
Ultimate Kitchen Rule -- Cook's Choice

janet wilder

As others have told you, don't cook beans in a pressure cooker. The foam
is a problem. Never fill a pressure cooker more than 2/3 full. The food
*is* under pressure and needs to expand.

You might want to go to Presto's web site and find a manual for your
pressure cooker.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

kenneth

Hi Janet,

There are good reasons to avoid filling a pressure cooker,
but it would seem to me that your comment above has
something "reversed."

Would not food that is under pressure actually "contract?"

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

dee dee

Thanks.
No manual for mine -- too old, I guess.
I went to the Presto site and looked at a 4 and 6 cup pressure cooker
info on beans.
They recommend soaking 4-8 hours, 3 cups of wter to 1 cups of kidney
beans 1-3 minutes.
Pinto beans 3-6 minutes. This seems to me like really too small
amount of water.

I have two fill lines; one at 3 qts.; one at 4 qts. Since they say
don't fill over 2/3 and mine is 5 qt. 2 cups, guess I'll have to do a
little revision math.

DH reminds me that cooking beans in this pressure cooker was not fun
at all.

Dee Dee

dee dee

The only thing I can see that makes it more advantageous is that one
doesn't have to sit/stand and wait for that rocker to start rocking.
(A watched pot never boils.) And then maneuvering the controls or
moving it back and forth from burner to burner to keep it steadily
rocking. What a PITA!

I can't tell if they all have some sort of non-stick coating on them,
or just some of them. For my use, I wouldn't buy a pan with a coating
on it. As for cooking beans in a non-stick pan, I see no value to
that, and that's the only usage I have in mind, as I wouldn't be
preparing meat in it.

Dee Dee