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pressure cooker

Cherry_PieCherry_Pie
... should I buy one?

Comments

  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    I make boiled peanuts and pulled pork with mine sometimes.
  • Cherry_PieCherry_Pie
    I don't eat meat. Is it worth it if you don't cook meat?
  • DeathDeath
    edited June 2016
    They are pretty great for potatoes, soups, and stew.
  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    I feel like I'd rather have a crock pot tbh.
  • Cherry_PieCherry_Pie
    Yeah but crock pot is SLOW and pressure cooker is FAST. Why would I want my soup to take LONGER??
  • freddyfreddy
    I love my pressure cooker. Love it. Great for beans, great for soup, great for making veggie stock, great for whole grains. (Also great for meat but that's not of interest for you.) Here are a bunch of fantastic pressure cooker recipes, many of them veggie/vegan. I have the Hawkins Futura, which is a former Cook's Illustrated testing winner, but I think they have a new highest-rated one. Let me know if you want me to look it up.
  • freddyfreddy
    And IMHO, crock pots are overrated. All the recipes are for 6-8 hours, and that's too short of an amount of time for my entire work day plus commute. And it's not even really ideal for overnight. Plus a lot of the recipes turn out blown out or muddled in flavor. Newer crock pots run hotter for food safety reasons but that may be part of why the results are less satisfactory than they used to be.

    I do like my crock pot for cooking down fruit butter, for making syrups, and for mulled wine. But those are pretty limited uses to justify an entire device.
  • freddyfreddy
    Cherry, if you do get one, I encourage you to get Lorna Sass' Great Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. I don't have that cookbook myself, but I do have another Lorna Sass pressure cooker book and it's been very useful.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    Is there a difference between a pressure cooker and a pressure canner? I can't tell if this is a dumb question.
  • freddyfreddy
    Not a dumb question, and yes, there is. Pressure canners operate at a higher pressure; you cannot use a pressure cooker to safely can low-acid/low-sugar foods. And I think pressure canners would destroy food you want to cook. Too bad you're not local - I just sold my pressure canner cheap to a dude off Craigslist. A bit more on this subject if you're interested.
  • Cherry_PieCherry_Pie
    THANK YOU FREDDY!!
    I will buy a pressure cooker and a pressure cooker cookbook!
  • MirandaJulyMirandaJuly
    Ok, I will give up my slow cooker dreams. I mostly just have fond memories of a dish my mom used to make.
  • YoursTrulyYoursTruly
    We use our slow cooker when Gary makes this great pot pie in it but I do agree with Freddy's criticisms for the most part
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