Pressure Cooker Cooking

Instead of waiting five hours for braised short ribs, they’re ready in 40 minutes! Photo courtesy MackenzieLtd.com.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ERIC DANTIS is a professional chef in New York City.

July 2010

Appliance Review / Kitchenwares / Appliances

Pressure Cooker Cooking

Page 2: Save Hours & Hours Of Cooking Time

This is Page 2 of a two-page review, plus recipes. Click on the black links below to visit other pages.

Using & Testing The Pressure Cooker: Time Savings Galore

To test Kuhn Rikon’s Ecomatic Pressure Cooker, we decided to make braised short ribs and barbecue-style pork butt. Since these cuts of meat have lots of connective tissue that require many hours of traditional cooking to make tender, this is a true test of a pressure cooker’s time-saving capabilities.

Even though we are one of those stew purists who don’t mind (and even like) that a lovingly prepared, hearty beef stew can take upwards of four hours to cook, we still wanted to find out how much time this pressure cooker could shave off our lunch and dinner preparations.

Short Ribs In The Pressure Cooker

We tried the same recipe for short ribs twice. On the first try, we followed the timing guide outlined for beef in the Kuhn Rikon cookbook, which called for cooking the beef for 15 minutes. Considering that we used bone-in short ribs, we were a little suspicious that 15 minutes—even in a pressure cooker—would be enough time to get the moist results we wanted. We were right.

The result was edible, but not so juicily tender that you could cut the short ribs with a fork. The flavor, however, was perfectly on point: The pressure cooker helps give the meat a taste that seems like it was cooked all day.

In the second test, we did the exact same prep with one major difference: We braised the beef in the pressure cooker for 30 minutes. The result was wonderfully tender braised short ribs in just 30 minutes—it is possible! Including prep time, what could have taken at least 3 ½ hours to accomplish took us less than one hour. Check out the recipe on Page 3.

Pork Butt In The Pressure Cooker

Although we were impressed with the 30-minute short ribs, we were hoping to find some consistency in the time beef should be cooked with our next test: the collagen-rich pork butt.

We broke the pork down into manageable pieces (about 2-inch cubes), and braised them in the pressure cooker with some aromatic vegetables, barbecue sauce and water.

Since the meat was off the bone, we found that the dish could be cooked in even less time: After about 25 minutes, we were able to enjoy scrumptious pulled pork sandwiches.

You can make almost anything in a pressure cooker—from meats to preserves to rice—and save hours in the kitchen. It’s the best $99.00 we’ve spent in a long time!

KUHN RIKON ECOMATIC 6-QUART PRESSURE COOKER

Ecomatic Pressure
Cooker
$129.00 MSRP
$99.00 on Amazon

Purchase online* on Amazon.com

It’s a beauty that will save you hours of time as you
turn out delicious dishes.

*Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional. These items are offered by a third party and THE NIBBLE has no relationship with them. Purchase information is provided as a reader convenience.

Read The Book

Have a pressure cooker, but not sure what to use it for? Check out our recipes for Beef Short Ribs and Barbecue Pork Butt and buy The Everything Pressure Cooker Cookbook for more ideas. Vegetarians can try the Everything Vegetarian Pressure Cooker Cookbook.

With all the time you’ll save in the kitchen, you’ll have more time for reading!

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