Saturday, December 13, 2008

Pressure Cooker

Join in my first adventure in Pressure Cooker cookery. I must apologize for a number of slightly out of focus pictures as the camera or my hand did not want to cooperate. The dish is Pork Chops with sweet potatoes, apples and onions. First of all pork chops being seasoned with Emeril's Rib Rub

Being browned off in olive oil in the bottom half of the pressure cooker

The load of chopped onions, sliced sweet potatoes, and sliced Fuji apple going in over the chops
A mixture of apple cider, spicy whole grain mustard, brown sugar and cinnamon to be put over everything

Everyone in the pot for a nice steam bath

The pressure cooker locked tight. I have a Spanish made model with a stem that pops up when pressure is achieved. I also have a choice of low or high pressure. It also has a knob that I can release pressure after cooking if I am in a hurry.


The results of 8 minutes at 15 lbs.


My platter of goodness.

Ok it was delicious but I learned a few things. When they say on commercials and ads about how much time you save there is a certain falsehood. They cite the time spent at pressure but neglect to mention the time required to get up to pressure and time waiting for the pressure to go away. That almost doubles the advertised time but is still a lot less than a normal braise operation. Secondly I must be aware of the thickness of the protein. At 8 minutes these came out tender enough but not falling off the bone. I then noticed the recipe called for 1/2 inch chops and I had 1 inch or more chops. Looking through the cookbook I found a recipe for 1 inch or greater that said 15 minutes at pressure. I suspect I will learn lots more as I go through other recipes. I hope to record them here. Below is reduced pot juices.











2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wait until you try a round steak! I season mine and dust with flour. Brown well in the pressure cooker. Remove and add 1-2 onions. Saute' to remove the brown bits off the bottom of the cooker. Return the meat and add a can of beef broth and water to cover the meat completely. Lock the cooker down, bring pressure up and cook for 20-30 minutes, at pressure. Reduce pressure, remove lid and adjust seasonings. You can eat it with a spoon!

Arthur "The Bear" Hebert said...

Sounds good. Bet it does a job on 7 steaks.