When I was a kid my mum always used one to destroy whatever we were having for tea that night, but it occurred to me the other day that I haven’t seen one on 30 odd years.

Have they vanished like Stickle Bricks and Toffo, or is there still a thriving scene for nuked vegetables?

I’m still carrying the fear from that thing… 😯

Yep. Still got the one we got as a wedding present..
Gets used at least twice a week for making soup.

Never seen one for years! My Mum used ours a fair bit until she tried making marmalade in it & the weights came off.
Marmalade kitchen ceiling. 😯

Yep. Bought one a couple of years ago.

Simmer beans for an hour? No ta, I’ll do it in 7 mins ta. Simmer stock for 2 hours? Nah. Spuds in 3 is quite handy too.

I saw some in a department store a couple of weeks ago and wondered if they were somehow making a comeback.

I refer the op to the recent series of professional masterchef where the pressure cooker was in abundance. They can cook some lovely stuff – blame the workman (mum) not the tools.

Slow cookers on the other hand have a special circle of hell reserved for them and the slop they produce.

Old mate of mine used one to make pease pudding but didn’t fully release the built-up pressure before opening – it was like lava erupting from a volcano 😀

Mother used to make apple dumplings in them….they were a dessert but were like a meal in themselves.

Essentially an apple in the middle of a doughey mixture wrapped up in cloth and tied in top to make a large ball. When cooked you’d open it up spinckle liberally with sugar and dive in,..i really need one right now, but not had one in about 25 years!

Similar to this, but without the browned top, which is suspect was done after cooking.

Slow cookers on the other hand have a special circle of hell reserved for them and the slop they produce

blame the workman (mum) not the tools

Boiling bones for stock (just did a couple of old turkey carcases today in fact) and all sorts of dried beans which take mins rather than hours as a result. Don’t use it for much else – though just cos it’s huge I sometimes use it as a normal saucepan for a big batch of soup.

Yes. Still standard in many French kitchens. We use ours both as a large pan and as a pressure cooker. Brilliant on boats too btw, quick and everything is locked inside in case the boat is rolling around.

They’ve definitely made a comeback – all over Australian Masterchef too.

Mum used to cook rabbits in them for the dogs, it stunk the whole house out so bad that I’d be reluctant to eat rabbit or own a pressure cooker ever, ever, ever

I have an electric one (Instant Pot) which I used almost every day for porridge. You can put it on the night before and it’s done in the morning when you wake up. It’s also excellent for bean/lentil dishes, risotto, stock and joints of meat. Can also cook frozen chicken breasts just by chucking them in, put it on for 19 minutes and walk away. Lovely and moist.

Hardly use the oven now.

Shit, don’t tell me they’re becoming fashionable… been scouting ebay for cheapies, so I can cook at altitude.

Curious about the claims of cooking a whole chicken in 25 minutes… will be conducting various experiments to see what gives.

Ours is in the cupboard next to the Breville.

You have to bear in mind that cooking times don’t include the thing coming up to pressure and the pressure dropping at the end. This usually takes about 10 mins either side, depending on the amount you’re cooking.

It’s still a lot quicker at cooking most things than other methods.

I once saw a documentary about the curry mile in Manchester one of the chefs there used a pressure cooker to part cook full chickens, he could fully strip the chicken flesh from the bones and skin without losing the moisture from the meat, he then went on to marinate meat for the curries, my beloved will not allow me to use one in the house due to the fear instilled into her by her own parents attempts to steam drench the kitchen, dangerous stuff that steam.

the pressure dropping at the end

That still counts to cooking time. Or you could do what I do and run it under the tap.

Have one, great for speeding up the cooking of a stew or similar, but downs get used a huge amount

Mine has a steam release button, I release it all outside and then bring it back inside to open. No need for it to cool down first

There’s an enthusiastic american feller on Dave before 6 in the morning that seems intent on showing a woman how great they are.

You can cook pasta in sauce apparently.

Bitasuite, yours sounds like a slow cooker?

We’ve got a pressure cooker, more often gets used as an extra big saucepan when making batches of bolognese etc, but the few times I’ve remembered to use it for potatoes etc, it seems to make fantastic mash 🙂

It has a slow cooker option but I don’t use that function very often. In fact it’s a “7-in-1 Multi-Functional Cooker,Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Saute/Browning, Yoghurt Maker, Steamer and Warmer” according to the blurb.

It does rice in 1 minute. Again, you have to wait for the pressure to get it up and drop though.

Like Harry the Spider I had bad memories of vegetables cooked in a pressure cooker as a kid – uniform grey/green with the texture of …there was no texture.

Now at altitude and the tiny kitchen has a pressure cooker, so far it has made great soups and cooked the veg in no time (but still with flavour and texture). Overall it’s a winner,I just don’t think my Mam knew how to use it.

bitasuite how do you make porridge, milk water mix, how long for? and which oats do you use. Got an Instant Pot for christmas! Cheers

We’ve just got one of these buggers..

Its bloody brilliant! When Mrs Binners said she’d bought a pressure cooker I thought “:eh? is it 1970?”, but now use this all the time. You can programme it so it knocks itself on before you get in from work, and when you get in you’ve basically got meals that taste like they’ve been in the slow cooker all day, but have actually taken an hour! Whats not to like? 😀

I thought they were making some sort of a comeback.

Saw an episode of the Hairy Bikers’ latest vehicle and they made a recipe in one – poached pears? – and seemed to be suggesting that the technology and knowhow had improved since the dark old days of the ’70s when yer maw used one to cook stuff to death.

So what are the advantages? Just reduced cooking times? Better, more tenderer meat for pulled pork etc? Do they let t’flavour flood awt in a way that other cooking methods don’t?

@binners, that’s the one the enthusiastic American is pushing.

Is this your wife?

how do you make porridge, milk water mix, how long for? and which oats do you use. Got an Instant Pot for christmas! Cheers

I use steel cut oats, buy them in bulk online as they’re hard to get hold of. I put in one cup of oats and 3.5 cups of water. A bit more if you’re adding dried fruit. Then 9 minutes on porridge function. I do this the night before and get it to start at about 5.30 so by 6am they’re ready. You can add a bit of milk or yogurt after to make it creamier but I don’t generally bother.

This is a good site for recipes

Very popular in India – I used one quite a bit when I was living there – rice and pulses cook much quicker, although I didn’t get hugely adventurous as I only had a little one. Might look to get another here.

Cheers, Rich

I’m Indian and my mum uses it almost daily. Real Indian food doesn’t consist of rich creamy oily sauces like I see in a lot of takeaways and “Indian” restaurants. It’s mostly quite dry cooked meat or vegetables. So to add moisture to the dish we usually have some sort of dhal on the side. So to speed up cooking lentils everyday for the dhal she uses the pressure cooker. Also uses it for other things but mostly to cook lentils.

My mum’s never stopped using her old Prestige.
Having seen Binbins one, I’m tempted, must look into this.. hmm, 70s style liver and bacon..

Indian family here too. Always using one for dhal/kitchori and yes to altitude, when I spent a few months at 4000mtrs it’s all we used!

Use ours probably at least 3-4 times a week. Great for soup. Also use it for lentils etc and for steaming vegetables.

I bought one a few years back and used it at least once a week over winter for stews, probably shaved off an hour of cooking time vs conventional pot in oven/on hob. Only thing I didn’t like was you can’t stir stuff once the lid is on and on the cheap thin-bottomed aluminium one I have I often got a burnt layer on the bottom so had to be careful when ladling the stew out. Not sure if the more expensive ones are any better in this regard?

I’ve seen a pressure cooker blow it’s safety valve – immensely scary, the whole kitchen ceiling dripping hot juices. As a result there’s no way that I’d have one in my house.

Sounds like a woman I once knew

Part-Indian (via Mauritius) origin family here too and yes, was and still used by mum, a lot for lentils and also biriyani.

I remember these, but I’m not convinced about cooking rice lentils etc quicker, basmati rice is done in about 10mins, I can cook a dhal on a low hob in about 30 to 40mins, soups in about 20mins, surely it’s not that much quicker in a pressure cooker when you take in the time to heat up etc … BUT that pressure king thing I’m liking, set the timer so foods ready when I get in, great, this will stop me snacking while I’m waiting for food to cook 🙂