Cooking Mince

[retropants]

regarding pressure cookers...the new generation are much safer that the one my mum had in the 70's - which spewed boiling gravy over the entire kitchen once (she never used it again!) I have a swiss modern one, stainless steel and it is fabulous. I am vegetarian, so i can't offer advice on cooking meats, but everything i've cooked in it (7-8 mins at med pressure) comes out like its been casseroled for ages, and tasted delicious. if you are interesed VM, take a look at www.hippressurecooking.com lots of advice, recipes, cooking times and reveiws of all the different cookers available. You can get electric ones now too!

[Westi]

I lost most of the deposit on a flat we were renting when the pressure cooker decided it was a volcano! (I was only in my 20's so a while ago). I'm with your Mum retropants, leave them alone! Scary Monsters! I will take some convincing to try one again!

[jayjaybee]

Hello VM
It has to be a pressure cooker. The old gadgets are still the best.
Cooking times are about 1/3 of normal and flavour is often better.
Our trusty Prestige is still going strong after nearly 40 years and you can still get the spares - amazing!
John

I'm with you there John. My Prestige is also 40 ish and still excellent. I find it useful for softening the vegetables for small batches of chutney, amongst all the other normal uses. It does seem to get heavier each year though, or is it me getting older....

[Rose Sokoloski]

I found this to be very helpful. I'm quite creative in what to add to the overall dish but just needed some basic information on how to get the actual meat to taste better.

[Westi]

Hi Rose!

I actually find the cheaper mince with the higher fat content to be the most tasty. When you cook it though take it out of the pan and drain the fat out in a sieve or something! When drained re-construct the dish with the onions, herbs & spices etc.

[Primrose]

I've never cooked mince in a pressure cooker - almost always done it in the drying pan for a sauce of some kind with onions, tomatoes, etc
Yes, we too have a trusted Prestige Skyline Pressure cooker which is now 50 years old which is mainly used for making stock or cooking beetroot. I doubt whether spares are available now, so as I can,t risk being without it, over the years acquired a couple of identical ones at car boot sales for pence to cannibalise for the spares which are stored in the garage. A casual passer by would wonder if I collect them for some reason!

[John]

Hello P
Prestige seem to be still in business and have a wide range of spares for sale -
http://www.prestige.co.uk/spare-parts/p ... s.html?p=1
My local DIY outfit sells the rings for the lid and safety valves.

John

[Primrose]

Thanks John, I had a quick peek at the site. I think my pressure cooker now falls into the "Antiques and Collectibles" range. I,m sure any young person looking at it would wonder what on earth it was or what it was used for. At one point I used it for cooking all my vegetables in but cleaning all the little triangular containers took longer than cleaning separate saucepans so it has fallen out of use except for boiling bulk items like beetroots, ham hocks, stock making, large amounts of butter beans, etc. for all of which it is still invaluable. I had never used one, or even seen one before it was gifted as a wedding present. The hissing terrified me at first. I thought the whole thing was going to explode at any moment!

[tigerburnie]

We stopped using aluminium pans in the late 1980's and stopped eating beef mince at the same time, Quorn mince has replaced the beef, not a vegetarian, just eating less fat and with all the spices and herbs that go into the meals no-one(including fussy kids) can tell the difference. My daughter uses turkey mince as a healthier option too.

[PLUMPUDDING]

We don't eat much mince but I use the pressure cooker most days for the veg. It's so fast. I treated myself to an electric one that has lots of programmes and you adjust the time to how well done you want things which is usually much less than the programmed time. The best thing about it is that when it reaches pressure it keeps it exactly right with a thermostat so isn't spitting steam out while it's cooking, only when you release the valve when it has finished.

I had one exactly like the one in your picture but never used it again after the valve blew when I was cooking beetroot. It was spraying boiling beetroot juice all over the kitchen and I had to get an umbrella to get near enough to the cooker to turn it off.

[Primrose]

I really laughed at that account Plum Pudding. In a very early use of it, I tried to release the pressure quickly one day , not realising that running the whole thing under a cold tap was the quickest way of cooling it down and doing this safely. I flicked the pressure valve open with the end of a fork and a whole vessel of lentil soup emptied itself out over the kitchen ceiling and walls. It was quite a clean up job!

[PLUMPUDDING]

Yes Primrose it was quite spectacular and horrendous to clean up. I kept discovering beetroot juice for months afterwards and had to redecorate the whole kitchen.

[Primrose]

So did we,because the soup dried on the wall and ceiling like a coating of rough sandpaper!
We still cook beetroot in ours.
We have been warned!
Maybe doing it in a big bowl in the microwave would be a safer option !!!

[IvanMurray]

Creamy, cheesy mashed potatoes swirled on top of a rich, flavorful ground lamb and vegetable stew. Making it in the pressure cooker gets it on the table in half the time. I researched different Pie recipes, combine several of them and then adapted it for the pressure cooker.

[Primrose]

John, I can beat your record. My skyline Prestige cooker is 51 years old and still going strong. And I have an identical spare one in the garage, biught for £2 at a car boot sale as a spare, if that one ever packs up. I's great for cooking things chicken stock and ham hocks, especially when our butcher gives us a big freebie bag of chicken carcasses for stock making.