| Stovetop pressure
cookers use heat from your stove to generate
pressure and the heat must be properly
adjusted and maintained. This means
that the pot is brought to pressure with
high heat, and once pressure is achieved
you must immediately and lower of the heat
to the lowest possible setting that will
just maintain that pressure.
Use the Test Drive
method two determined which setting
on your still produces the best results.
This may
take several trials to
find just the right
heat setting on
your stove.
Mark the setting
on your stove with
a piece of tape
or one of those
little sticky colored
dots from the office
supply store.
The first step in pressure cookery
is to bring the pot to pressure. To
do this,lock the lid in place
and place the cooker
on a normal hob that fits the size
of your cooker. Do not use any oversized
hob or superheat setting for pressure cooking.
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First-generation Pressure Cookers
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If you have a jiggle top cooker
you need to expel the air
from the inside
BEFORE
placing the weight
on the vent pipe.
Set your heat at
high and wait until
you see steam flowing
from the vent pipe.
Now place the pressure
regulator weight
on top. Continue
cooking at high
heat until the regulator
weight begins to
rock* rapidly
and lots of steam
is escaping. You
may see some water
droplets, escaping
from under the weight,
all this hissing
and spitting is
normal for this
type of pressure
cooker. Now is the
time to immediately lower the heat on your stove
to the setting you determined by using the
Test Drive. At this point the pressure
regulator should be rocking about three
to five times per minute and there
will be a slight
hissing of escaping
steam during cooking.
If the regulator is rocking continuously
the heat setting is too high and must
be lowered. Once pressure as been achieved
and you have lowered the heat, use
a bell timer set for the length of
time indicated in your recipe.
It is somewhat more difficult to maintain
pressure using the older styles in comparison
to the new, second-generation pressure cookers because
there is no sure way of telling exactly
what the pressure is. It may be necessary
to make several small adjustments to the
heat setting over the length of the cooking
time to maintain the desired pressure.
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Second-generation Pressure Cookers
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If you are using a second-generation pressure cooker it
is much easier to maintain an even pressure.
Lock the lid in place and place the
cooker on the stove using high heat to achieve
pressure. A pressure indicator will pop
up pop
up that shows the different pressure settings
available. Depending on your brand, there may be
more than one pressure setting marked
on the pop up stem. The first mark
will be the lower setting, generally this
is 10 psi, and the next mark will be the
15 psi setting. If the pressure cooker
has three marks it will be 5 psi, 10
psi, and 15 psi. When the pressure indicator
reaches the desired pressure setting, now is the time to immediately
lower the
heat on your stove to the setting you determined
by using the Test Drive. A second-generation
pressure cooker uses a 3 ply base
for even heat distribution and this will
minimize or even eliminate further
heat adjustments, it also makes it
possible to use a much lower heat setting
to maintain pressure. Once pressure as been
achieved and you have lowered the heat, use
a bell timer set for the length of
time indicated in your recipe.
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Using Electric Or Glass Top Stoves
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If you
are using an electric
or glass top stove it will be
more difficult to
adjust pressure
on any kind of pressure cooker because the
burners hold in heat and take longer
to adjust to a lower heat setting. it may
be necessary to use a flame tamer or he
diffuser, a metal plate that sits between
the burner and the bottom of the pressure
cooker. These are available in some kitchen
specialty stores or stores that offer
barbecue or camping supplies.
Glass tops stoves tend to cook at
a very high heat so be sure to read the
owner's manual or contact the manufacturer
about which types of metal can be safely
used.
Find more tips here.
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