seems that a pressure cooker would cook the food faster since they get higher temps,any problems cooking rice and beans?

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 08, 1999

Answers

zoobie,

I've never had any problems with a pressure cooker IF USED CORRECTLY. I once was cooking some ham and beans and got the pot a little too full. I plugged the pressure regulator, but the safety valve let me know about my mistake right quick! Tough meats cooked in the pressure cooker will be much more tender. Cooking times are drastically reduced, and the amount of heat input is about the same as just "boiling" an open (unpressurized) pot. Just a little more trouble, but not much. What I don't like is not being able to uncover it half way through to see how its doing or adjust the amount of spices, salt, etc. With pressure cooking, you put everything in the pot and don't mess with it till it's done and the pressure has reduced.

Gerald

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), August 08, 1999.

Zoobie:

I haven't done it but the normal warnings are that cooking things that will shed a large excess of free starch or seed protein [e.g., beans and rice] may plug the safety releases. I don't know if that is true and, so far, I haven't tested the theory.

best wishes,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), August 08, 1999.

Beans will taste better if you soak them and then cook slowly. However, you can cook them in the pressure canner with very little heat. Put in dry beans, water and put on the lid. Bring it up to full pressure and then take it off the stove. Place the canner in a large box after wraping it in an old blanket to help hold the heat. Open the lid in 3 hours and the beans are ready to eat.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), August 09, 1999.

I cooked beans (for a mexican restaurant) in a giant pressure canner. Rice should NOT be cooked in a pressure canner. Rice will clog up the steam vent every time. Beans aren't too bad, but make sure you have plenty of water in there and also that the water level isn't all the way to the top. Make sure you clean the vents very well each time you cook beans. We brought them up to 15 pounds pressure and held them there 30 minutes, then waited until the pressure went back down to zero on its own. That took an hour to an hour and a half (I think, it's been years).

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), August 09, 1999.

About ten or twelve years ago I forgot that the instructions said not to cook beans in a pressure cooker. Mine blew up and sprayed bean juice all over the clean dishes, and made a permanent brown stain on the ceiling. Then I had to buy another release valve. Pressure cooking beans is just not a good idea. You may get by with it, but "it's not the odds, it's the stakes." (Now where have I heard THAT before?)

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), August 09, 1999.

An alternative to a pressure cooker: I bought one of these from:

http://www.thermos.com/products/products.cfm?grpID=39&famID=4&facID=4 Thermal Cookware - RPA4500 Unique two-piece cookware lets you do preliminary cooking in the inner pot; then walk away while the outer vacuum insulated container finishes the job! Inner cooking pot is clad in stainless steel Patented outer vacuum insulated container for maximum thermal retention Maintains temperature for up to 8 hours Outer lid is also insulated and locks down for more control Swing up handle for easy carrying from kitchen to serving station or catering location Choose Brushed Stainless or Hammertone finish Full five-year warranty 4.76 qt./4.5 L capacity

I bought a Sierra Stove from Real Goods (plus a solar battery charger) from Real Goods. It heats food REAL fast with just a few twigs due to the little fan that makes it work like a blast furnace.

-- Dennis Law (PaulLaw@aol.com), August 13, 1999.