June Food Challenge - Slow/Pressure Cookers

Thats why I bought it :slight_smile:

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14 posts were split to a new topic: The effect of cooking utensils on food

After all this discussionā€¦ Stewā€™s cookinā€™

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Now @SueW, you know that you have to describe what is in that pot. Otherwise, it is just a cooking method. :yum: in anticipation.

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LOL OK, here we go. Diced up the chuck steak, browned it in a frypan. Diced up a carrot, a potato, half an onion (it was a huge one), a zucchini. Dropped the lot in the pot, then the steak. Added a cup of chicken stock (would have been veggie stock but I didnt have any) and a tin of diced tomato. Then that tin was used to add some more water. And I dissolved a tablespoon of cornflour in cold water and dropped that in, too. It may not have been enough to thicken it up, but Iā€™m hopeful. I was wishing I had the doings to make dumplings as well, but I donā€™t, so the stew will be dumplingless. Iā€™m going to throw some cauliflower in as well, shortly, and some mushrooms and peas half an hour before I want to eat :slight_smile: Though not sure about the mushies. Thats about it. It was definitely a make it up as you go kinda thing.

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Thanks for sharing that One Pot Chef (YouTube) recipe @SueW I made it in the Instapot Multicooker using the pressure cooker stew feature. It turned out perfectly in about 1 and 1/2 hours. Used 500 mls stock and 500 mls red wine. It certainly will become a family favourite.

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I love the One Pot Chef, heā€™s a joy.

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Cheap date?

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Whether slow cooking, boiling or raw? One would suggest raw is best, another well cooked. For veges very fresh and raw has a benefit for some vitamins, while cooked can loose/destroy vitamins but release more minerals.

For meat, aside from chewing made easier, I suspect the gastric juices make short work whether slow cooked, finely minced or strips of jerky?

The Web suggestion is to load the slow cooker up with veges and to not waste the cooking liquid as much of the goodness leaches out in the slow cook.

P.S.
Does slow cooking make food easier to digest?
I once thought so, but having chewed or swallowed lumps whole it seems to make little difference at the other end. Corn kernels and beetroot juice colouring might be exceptions.

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If you do not have the sense or the taste to eat the gravy made in your slow cooker or stew pot I think most of this discussion would be quite mysterious to you and conserving nutrients would be the least of your worries. There are obvious exceptions where you donā€™t make gravy like corned beef.

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Have you ever worked in aged care? Many of the old people prefer to eat food which are cooked until soft because it is easier for them to digest and assimilate. Young people have stronger digestive systems that are better able to digest raw foods.

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Mush - and what is the evidence for that?

If you are asking have I first hand experience of living with and cooking for older Australianā€™s? Itā€™s something I do everyday and have done in the past for 80 and 90 year olds.

Many older Aussies still love their fresh salads. Possibly more than the youth of today.

They do prefer their meat tender. This may require careful prep and cooking for some cuts. Fish which is super healthy does not require any different treatment (no bones!), nor mince, nor most sausage meats, or a select cut of beef. If there are grumbles at the dinner table itā€™s due to the loose fitting upper plate making the meat harder to chew. No grumbles from elsewhere over the cooking.

There are special cases where due to illness the body starts shutting down. Nourishment with palliative care requirements Iā€™m not familiar with in any form.

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My mother frequently used a pressure cooker, so when I first set up house I bought my own. That was a long time ago, and now Iā€™m on my second one. I canā€™t imagine not having it in the kitchen, and use it almost daily. I always make sure the pressure goes right down before attempting to open it. If Iā€™m not in a hurry, I just let it sit on the turned-off stove. Otherwise it will go straight in the sink, and I will run cold water on it until ready. I donā€™t own a slow cooker, so canā€™t comment on themā€¦

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We donā€™t cook very much with slow or pressure cookers, but when we do we usually cook stewsā€¦

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I grew up in a house where the pressure cooker was used just about every day ā€“ it was usually brought down to opening temperature by being lifted into the sink and the tap turned on to run cold water over the edge of the lid and down one side until the weight stopped hissing and could be tilted to the side to let out the last of the steam before opening the lid and dishing up the contents.

I only remember one explosive event, when we were living in the guvvie, and an ambitious load of rhubarb from the garden leaked through the ā€œnippleā€ and gummed up the weight, leading to a volcanic eruption that not only decorated the ceiling with red rhubarb juice, but also a fair proportion of the rest of the kitchen. We moved house shortly thereafter! :wink:

Like mark_m, my parents did their slow cooking with the use of a simmer mat, and yes, itā€™s active ingredient was asbestos! I loved the smell of stews, casseroles, and soups spreading through the house on a cold winterā€™s day.

I discovered crockpots when I went to university ā€“ not only were they indispensable in the kitchens of group houses, but they made their way (illegally) into dorm rooms, sometimes accompanied by those other plug-in cooking appliances the electric frypan and the Birko.

When I invented my legendary vegetarian Bolognese sauce to use up the flood of pumpkins, zucchinis, and tomatoes from my garden, the grated-and-braised hard vegies joined the tomatoes with the herbs et cetera in the crockpot.

I have recently been forced to give away my pressure cooker because, despite ostensibly being made of stainless steel, it fails the fridge magnet test and wonā€™t work on my new induction cooktop.

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It reminds me that once permanently moved put of home I relied on a Sunbeam electric frypan. Stainless steel liner bonded to aluminium body. It had a high lid and a ceramic insert that converted it to a slow cooker.

Although not very deep it was great as a slow cooker with thinner secondary cuts of beef, or thick sausages or chicken pieces. With bulk cheap veges in the mix and last nights vegetable water, it produced several filling and relatively nutritious meals in the one cook.

P.S.
There are several innovative ways of creating a reliable metallic bond between aluminium and steel. For another time.

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I have a question for people using pressure cookers. I have a 6l Tefal pressure cooker manual on stove type. The amount of water the cookbook that came with it seems excessive. For example for 100g pearl barley it stipulated 900l water. Iā€™m going to make a recipe in the latest Coles recipe book that specifies only 375 mg water for 150g barley. How do I make this recipe without it either turning into a watery mess or burn? Why the huge disparity?

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We. have an 8L Tefal stovetop pressure cooker and we cooked another batch of ham & pea soup this week.

We used 500gm of split peas soaked for an hour and rinsed, a ham bone and about 500gm of cubed ham from a half leg of ham, a smoked bacon hock with the rind removed, 2 chopped and browned onions, 3 small peeled, sliced and browned carrots, and 2L of reduced salt chicken stock.

After having had some recent meals burn on the bottom, I kept the gas down as low as possible and cooked it for over an hour.

It was perefctly cooked, the consistency was perfect, and no burning.

I would try using the Tefal recipe and if it is too watery, reduce the liquid down at a low simmer.

The Coles recipe might end badly. Is it for a pressure cooker?

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Yes. The recipe is specifically for a pressure cooker

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And thanks for getting back to me. I might have to do some experimenting. I always use a simmer mat as well

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