Use a Pressure Cooker?

[Ridgerunner]

I meant that as a joke. I hope that was clean by the icon I used.

Red, my guess is that they are as safe as they ever were. Criteria has probably changed though, I'd bet they now require an additional safety device, probably some pressure release if the pressure gets too high. It's not that the older stuff is any less safe, it just doesn't have all the newly required bells and whistles.

 

[journey11]

somewhere i read that most pressure cookers/canners before the 70's are not considered safe to use. it might have been because of what happened at the Boston Marathon a few years ago.

but this is where i read that i just need to use caution.
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/uga/using_press_canners.html
the one that worries me is not the Presto since i know it isn't that old. it is the Maid of Honor that i can't figure out how old it is. both cookers have their weighted gauge & gasket but i haven't used them since we got them.

the pressure canner is brand new so i have no fear of using that when i need to.

My Old National #7 was made in the 1950's. That thing is built like a tank! They are built better than the new ones which have thinner aluminum walls. You can get replacement parts that make them safer. I had to replace the lead heat sink with a self-sealing rubber automatic air vent plug (plug on top of lid will pop out if over-pressured, instead of waiting for lead to melt). I still use the old petcock that came with mine, but they also have a new pressure regulator kit you can swap it out with.

@so lucky , I go annually and have my gauge tested at the ag. extension.

There have been years where I'll go back and I will have been the last person prior on their log of who has had theirs tested. Most of your modern pressure canners have a weighted guage. Those don't need tested, so I figure that is why.

I never cook things (not in a jar) in my pressure canner, although I could. Any kind of oil or grease causes the gasket to swell and warp and I don't want to risk getting anything in the dial guage, which would ruin it. My Mirro pressure cooker is small, 2.5 quarts. I'd like to have something big enough to do a whole chicken. Like this one... (link)

 

[so lucky]

I have been known to cram a whole chicken into mine. (a smallish chicken, to be sure)

 

[thistlebloom]

That's a nice one! I see it has a stainless steel cook pot, that's far better IMO than the aluminum ones.

 

[jackb]

In addition to the microwave cooker we have three electric pressure cookers, one small, one medium and a canner.

 

[Sam BigDeer]

Try this;
one head of cabbage very coarsely chopped,
1/4 to 1/2 pound of smoked ham (more ham if you like and your pressure cooker will hold it), chop the ham into bite-size pieces...
Cook that in your pressure cooker for eight (8) minutes at 10 lbs pressure (10psi)..
You need a sizable chunk of warm buttered cornbread to go with the cabbage..
Once you try that dish I'm betting you'll cook it often.. Fifteen minutes, start to finish, for the pressure cooked cabbage!!!
Sam, drooling on my keyboard...

 

[Nyboy]

Sam I love cornbeef and cabbage will it work for that?

 

[Carol Dee]

I just asked my DW why we don't use ours very often and she said "I don't know, I just never think about it".

We do use our pressure caners (as well as water bath caners) all the time during harvest times.

There must be a psychological reason for not using the pressure cooker.

YEP, it may not be logical but it still scares me!

 

[journey11]

Sam I love cornbeef and cabbage will it work for that?

I put potatoes in with my corned beef and cabbage and then a big dollop of sour cream when ready to eat. One of my favorite meals. I've done potatoes in my little Mirro pressure cooker. They only take about 12 minutes and it makes them taste so good. I don't see why you couldn't put all of it in together.

 

[Sam BigDeer]

Sam I love cornbeef and cabbage will it work for that?

Absolutely, NYBoy, I intended to mention that in the post but forgot..
Sam

 

[majorcatfish]

I put potatoes in with my corned beef and cabbage and then a big dollop of sour cream when ready to eat. One of my favorite meals. I've done potatoes in my little Mirro pressure cooker. They only take about 12 minutes and it makes them taste so good. I don't see why you couldn't put all of it in together.

see now girl...you have me hungry for corn beef..
personally i like my veggies al dente... and grey poupon mustard on the side...