1) Pressure cookers. 2) Boiling Fowl

[Campo Kenny]

1) We bought a pressure cooker in the sales over the break. As an adult I've never had one (neither has OH) but my childhood memories of home and at my Grans are of the hiss of one of these in the kitchen and lovely traditional contents being served from them.
We do a lot of oxtail, shanks, brisket and other tradtional meals and just thougt we see if this method of cooking will taste better as opposed to 4 or 5 hours simmering........I wonder if my childhood memories are correct?, What do you think?, do you use them still or are they a thing of the past?

2) One of the most common meals we had as a kid was boiled chicken (done in the P/Cooker with tons of veg etc.) It produced a beautiful aroma and a lovely clear broth.

Problem is, I've tried at a few "specialist" and "farm" butchers this week and they look at you as though you've gone mad when you ask for a boiling or stewing bird .............it's as though they've vanished off the face of the Earth.
I just don't fancy using one of those 6 week old sweaty and anaemic things they now pass off as chicken...........an hour in a P/Cooker and it would be tasteless mush............The chickens we buy in Spain are much better but still not what I'm after.

My memory recalls them being small, skinny, tough and yellowy in colour, anyone seen these in recent times or remembers using them............sheesh it's not that long ago.

Thanks Guys,

Kenny

[Kmoppz]

My old gran used one all the time...

We use one from time to time, we make 'Stovies' and a wicked soup with lentals and ham.

Have done a whole chicken, and turned into a soup-broth-stew type thing, really tasty, it's all in the chicken, the best ones are from our local butcher who gets them from a local free range farmer.

Only about 3 times the price mind!

[Don]

I still use mine Kenny. Mostly for dealing with the carcase after a roast chicken, duck or whatever. Produces a good stock and usually enough meat for another dish or a bit of paté. If your not used to one, I find the trick is to allow for some water loss during cooking, then dont put the pressure cap on until you get a good stream jet from the vent, not just hot air. Bring up to pressure quickly but let down slowly after the cook time to avoid a mushy result. Spanish pork could be quickly overdone but good for oxtail.

Cant help you with your search for the perfect bird though.

[palmtrees]

I use the pressure cooker for garbazos and alubias mainly. I don't like doing the veg in with them though - they end up as sloppy mush,

No idea about cooking chicken etc in there. Myself I would not do that, a sealed pan/slow oven would be better IMO.

[costapacket]

What about a corn fed chicken from Tesco's? They are yellowish in colour and might be what you are looking for.

[Campo Kenny]

Thanks for all the replies and tips folks. Out of interest I went to a good tradiditional farm butchers yesterday and picked up a beautiful free range chicken. It was a genuine bird which had roamed outside and you can see the difference in its appearance. As someone stated it was more expensive than a run of the mill chicken but at £6.50 it's hardly breaking the bank ..............the thing smells nice enough to eat raw as opposed to the wishy washy sweaty offerings at the supermarket which make me baulk.

Anyway I asked the butcher about the boiling fowl. He said with the health/safety rules it was now impossible to retail these "old broilers" to the public..........surprise, surprise eh?...........world has gone mad.

Back to the pressure cooker and a quick question.
Browsing through a few recipes one thing stands out.........just how little water you use. If I do a beef stew or a piece of brisket/ox tail etc. traditionally I'd put at least a litre of water in.... with the P/cooker it says a cupfull. It seems a bit tight on the water..............won't it burn on the bottom of pan or is this normal?

Finally any other proven recipes welcome.

Thanks again,

Kenny

PS Costa, those corn fed Tesco offerings look good but I was put off them when somebody told me they were only yellow because of added dye in the food they're forced to eat..............this is to replicate what chicken used to look like.

[jules 2]

Hi Kenny,

I am also 'experimenting' at the moment with a pressure cooker.
The one I'm using was here in the kitchen of my rental house and I decided to start using it for chickpeas, lentils etc in the hope that it would drastically speed up the cooking process.....and it works!
Last night I used it for the first time to speed up a pork casserole........perfecto After half an hour, transferred meat to casserole dish and popped it in the oven for an hour and achieved the same result as if I had slow cooked it for 3 - 31/2 hours.

There are lots of good websites if you google 'pressure cooker recipes'.

You would definitely find a boiling fowl from a kosher butcher and probably halal butcher too.

I don't have any instructions to follow with mine and I do find it a bit scary with all that hissing and steam So far I haven't sprayed the kitchen ceiling with the contents though, so must be doing something right.
Another plus is that obviously there's a big saving on fuel costs, I'm hoping my gas bottles will last a bit longer!

[olive]

If you have access to UK television, Hugh F W is on on Monday night C4 with a programme about rearing chickens intensively etc.

olive

[Campo Kenny]

Hiya Jules,

Thanks for the tip on the Kosher shops. Doing a search on boiling chicken it seems it's a big Jewish favourite, especially the clear broth it produces..................I'm off to the Liverpool Jewish quarter to see if I can get one later.

When you use your chick peas and lentils, I take it you still soak them for ages before using?........or do you lob them in dry?

I too have heard of the horror stories about the contents ending up on the kitchen ceiling, but reading the instructions on this Prestige cooker it says it only cooks at 12lb pressure........doesn't sound that bad (he says tempting fate once more )

There does seem to be loads of built in safety valves as well.
Keep us posted on your experiments.

All the best,

Kenny.

PS Thanks Olive

[jules 2]

Hi Kenny,

Don't forget it's Saturday and the Kosher butchers, deli's etc will be shut!

Try tomorrow morning, they usually open on Sundays 'til lunchtime.

So far I haven't tried cooking the chickpeas & pulses from dry. Soak them overnight first, although I'm pretty sure that some of the red lentils will be ok without the soaking method. Will give it a try next time I do my curries, daals etc.

Forgot to mention I tried rice pudding the other night, which was also very successful. Obviously you are not going to get the skin on top with the pressure cooker method but you could always finish it off under the grill or with a blowtorch The recipe I tried was very simple :

Boil together milk, caster sugar & vanilla extract, add the pudding rice and bring back to boil, then reduce heat with PC lid on for approx 20 mins.
I checked it a couple of times to make sure it didn't go dry.

Let me know how you get on with the 'chuck', I'd like to give that a go myself.

Good luck!

Jules

[peteroldracer]

with PC lid on

Does this stop you cooking spotted *beep* or *beep* pheasant?

[palmtrees]

When you use your chick peas and lentils, I take it you still soak them for ages before using?........or do you lob them in dry?

I too have heard of the horror stories about the contents ending up on the kitchen ceiling, but reading the instructions on this Prestige cooker it says it only cooks at 12lb pressure........doesn't sound that bad (he says tempting fate once more )

You do NOT need to cook red (ie split) lentils in a pressure cooker nor do you need to soak them. They do not take long at all to make a dal - on the lowest possible heat with a constant eye on them. I would not put them in a pressure cooker. Vile washing up.

The other greenish ones, which are used by most Andalucians, you can pressure cook (but not for long), or casserole for a while. You can also do the soak thing, ie overnight OR an hour in boiling hot water before you use. Do not use chick peas (or alubias) from dry. If you want fast food buy the stuff in the jars.

When I use dried legumes, method of choice (except for red lentils), is to soak overnight, cook in pressure cooker, and then combine with other yummy stuff in casserole pan, using the legume cooking water from the pressure cooker.

[safeashouses]

I too have heard of the horror stories about the contents ending up on the kitchen ceiling, but reading the instructions on this Prestige cooker it says it only cooks at 12lb pressure........doesn't sound that bad (he says tempting fate once more )

There does seem to be loads of built in safety valves as well.

I fell off to sleep and had stewing steak on the ceiling in the early days the valve blew out and up followed by the contents. What a mess. Bought and fitted a new valve though and the pressure cooker continued to work for many more years and without any further accidents. I now have a state of the art Tefal Sensor which doesn't have a loose weight to spin and hiss, it's much less frightening.

Tip: If you need to get into the 'pan' quickly you can release the pressure lock by placing the pan under cold running water for about a minute.

A pressure cooker is brilliant for soups but I prefer stews and casseroles done in my Prestige slow cooker which continues to work after more than 30 years.

[peteroldracer]

I prefer stews and casseroles done in my Prestige slow cooker

Don't forget about the slow cooker if you are doing a dinner party - it will keep a soup just right for ages, leaving you free to get on with the other courses! I do a tasty (IISSM) leek and potato soup, using sweet potato instead of common spuds - with a pinch of chilli powder it warms the cockles of your heart on a winter's evening.

[bunty]

It's true that the modern type of pressure cookers ,without the valve hissing etc ,are much quicker and safer than the old ones.They are good as well because you end up with the same quantity of liquid at the end of cooking time as when you started ,so you don't have to worry about this.

[Don]

Just to answer your question directly Kenny, never only one cupful of water. Maybe allow for loss of one cupful during the cook so in my opinion put as much liquid as you want in the final result plus one cupful for loss. But never fill pressure cooker physically more than 2/3 full of liquid, it needs a liquid-vapour balance space.

[MANDERS]

I use my pressure cooker mainly for soups and can make 2 litres of good old mixed veg soup in the same time it would take for a 2 cup packet of soup - and I know what's in it. 10 mins at pressure and then a whizz with a hand blender and you have a wholesome meal for the whole family. Just right at this time of year. I have been asked for my Boxing Day soup recipe and the answer is always the same - whatever is left over, bung into the pressure cooker (including all roasties) then whizz up.

I have used it for a quick tenderising of "running beef" - 5 mins at pressure and then adding to the slow cooker with veg for 2 hours. It cuts down on the cooking time - good results.

I haven't tried chicken except for souping but would only try for a couple of minutes at pressure then check. Personally I prefer the slow cooker.

Good luck with whichever method you choose.

[Mariposa]

Much as I love my small flock of hens , I expect there will come a time when they will need to be dispatched. I won't be able to do it ,so when the time comes, I would give them to anyone prepared to do so humanely, as I would really like it if they made a good soup for non-vegetarians, so I will contact you CK in the future o see if you are still interested. In the meantime talk to any Spanish neighbours in the campo who keep hens, and I´m sure you will be given suitable ex layers.