Pressure Cooker Recipes

Description of Pressure Cooker Recipes

Wouldn’t it be nice if product manuals gave you the inside skinny on using a pressure cooker?!
The next few pages are loaded with information that will give you a great foundation to create fabulous meals in less time than you can imagine. However, if you only take away these three rules of thumb about electric pressure cooking, you will save yourself time, frustration, and messy cabinets!
Pressure Cooking Basics
Always review your manufacturer’s instruction manual prior to using your electric pressure cooker for the first time. It is very important to feel comfortable with your appliance and to be familiar with all of its special features. Each individual cooker will have specific directions for bringing food up to pressure and releasing the pressure after the cooking time has elapsed; it is imperative that you follow the directions to ensure safe cooking.
If you misplace the manual, contact the manufacturer for a replacement. Most manufacturers offer manuals (as well as recipes) in downloadable files on their websites, so take advantage of the service for worry-free cooking. If you are using an older model and are unsure of the safety features, try to contact the manufacturer or ask your local librarian for a pressure cooker cookbook that was published in approximately the same year the cooker was manufactured. If you cannot get a manual or instructions for safe usage, do not use the cooker!
Adapting Your Favorite Recipes
Everyone has their favorite recipes. Luckily, many can be adapted for use in your pressure cooker by following the rules and tips below, along with the time charts, listed within each chapter of this book.
• Recipes developed for slow cookers, rice cookers, and stove-top methods usually work well in a pressure cooker. However, recipes prepared by frying, grilling, or baking do not generally yield positive results.
• Separate foods to be cooked according to size and length of cooking time needed. Many recipes will require that cooking be interrupted and additional fruits and vegetables be added at a later time. Refer to the time charts so that all ingredients are cooked to their perfect level of doneness.
• Allow a minimum of ½ cup of liquid for every 10 minutes of cooking time. If time exceeds 30 minutes, add an additional ½ cup liquid to the recipe. Liquids may be water, juice, stock, broth, tomato sauce, and purees—but notoil.
• Never use less liquid than directed by your cooker’s manual.
• Allow a minimum of 1 cup of liquid per 10 minutes of steaming time for vegetables and seafood.
• Decrease the amount of seasonings by a quarter as pressure cooking retains more of a given food’s natural flavor and seasonings are infused into the foods. Taste the food after cooking and add additional seasoning if needed next time you make the recipe.
• Refer to the chapters in this cookbook for some general rules and tips specific to various foods. These guidelines will help you adapt recipes for meats and poultry, seafood, soups, vegetables, rice, grains, and desserts.
To adapt the cooking time from traditional stove-top or oven methods to pressure cooking, you must be aware of the PSI of your pressure cooker. Consult your manual to find this information and then adjust your cooking times as follows:
• If using low pressure (5–8 PSI), reduce stated cooking time by a quarter.
• If using medium pressure (10–12 PSI), reduce stated cooking time by a third.
• If using high pressure (13–15 PSI), reduce stated cooking time by half.
You can always add cooking time if needed, but you can’t uncook overcooked foods! In general, I suggest you start by reducing the time by a third, checking for doneness, and then cooking longer if needed.
Contents
Beyond the Manual
Tips & Tricks to Master Your Electric Pressure Cooker
Pressure Cooking Basics
Adapting Your Favorite Recipes
Browning and Searing Directions
Steaming and Roasting Directions
How to Load the Ingredients
How to Position the Lid