Pressure Cooking (2008-01-16)
So far I've been really happy with my new T-fal pressure cooker. Although it is not as powerful as the other brands (such as Kuhn Rikon) whose 15psi capability can cook food in 1/4 of the time of conventional method, but after using mine for many dishes, I find that T-fal cooks in 1/3 of the usual time, thus still saving 66% of the energy.
There were some failures, but mostly successes, when I tried
different recipes. The biggest foundering was the curry chicken
which turned to mush after 25 minutes, and the oxtails that were still
too tough to chew after just 30 minutes.
The lesson learned was that the pressure cooker is not a magic
pot. However energy-saving it is supposed to be, it still
requires one third of the cooking time of conventional method.
Thinking I could make oxtails fall-off-the-bone tender just after half
an hour when I used to simmer them for three hours is
impractical. I put the pot back on for another 30 minutes and
this time, they were truly tender.
Now that I've tried cooking soups and stews and steaming in a pressure cooker, I can never do without one.
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