COOKING WITH A Pressure Saucepan

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 79, Issue 4, 15 October 1949, Page 403

COOKING WITH A Pressure Saucepan

UNDOUBTEDLY the pressure saucepan has come to stay. Heralded as a great time saver, it has proved its worth in homes where cooking meals in a minimum of time is important, and there are few where such a contingency does not arise occasionallyto feed the unexpected guest or, after a day at the local A. and P. show, when the family is impatiently waiting for the dinner to cook or complaining about the unsatisfactory nature of a meal of cold meat and bread and butter. Directions and recipes for preparing a variety of foods which can be cooked in a pressure saucepan are given in this article by Evelyn E. Moore, Rural Sociologist, Department of Agriculture, Palmerston North.

THE value of a pressure saucepan as a time saver in the cooking of ordinary meals is soon appreciated. Though at first it requires more careful watching than an ordinary saucepan, the time thus spent is normally brief, and such habitual tasks as preparing a sauce for a pudding and setting the table can be carried out while the food is cooking. In addition, it brings about a considerable saving of power in homes with electric stoves, and it may be used to cook a wide variety of foods, often producing a better-flavoured and more consist-ently-good result than can be obtained by ordinary cooking processes.

Now that a greater variety of sizes and shapes of saucepan is available, most housewives should be able to find one suited to their requirements. For example, one manufacturer produces saucepans with capacities of 6, 7 J, and 10 pints, and other brands vary in capacity from 6 pints up to the large size which may be used for bottling fruit, holding four or more quart bottles or sufficient food for a meal for a family of eight or ten. However, many women find two smaller saucepans more useful, as foods requiring different cooking times may be cooked separately, the time spent cooling the saucepan, adding the foods requiring less cooking, and reheating being obviated. Retention of Nutritive Value Recent investigators have given reassuring reports of the nutritive value of pressure-cooked food, for many experiments have. shown that the higher cooking temperature does not cause increased destruction of vitamins B, (thiamine) and C, the two vitamins -most easily destroyed by heat, during the time vegetables are being cooked. In fact, the pressure-cooked vegetables retained more ' of v these vitamins than boiled vegetables, for less was dissolved .in the cooking water. ~ The maximum of other nutrients should also be obtained from pressure-cooked food, as four causes of ■ their : loss during cookery— length of time at the cooking temperature, the use of much water,.slow speed of heating to the cooking temperature, and the presence of air— all greatly reduced. Though all makes of saucepan are sold with booklets showing how to use

them, the recipes and cooking times given are not always suitable for New Zealanders or may contain ingredients which are not obtainable here. On the other hand, many everyday favourites lend themselves well to pressure-saucepan cookery, but are not always to be found in the booklets, nor is it always explained clearly that some foods tend to be more suitable for pressure cooking than others.

• In the “Journal” for March, 1948, the principles of pressure cookery and some of the foods for which it is most suitable were discussed. Its value in the cookery of vegetables and meat, which require a quarter of the usual time or less, is well known, but the slightly greater care required in the cooking of other foods has occasionally led to an expression of the opinion that cooking them in a pressure saucepan is a waste of time. Though it is true that many people prefer to use the pressure saucepan for cooking vegetables rather than joints, steamed puddings, or loaves, there may be occasions when it is a boon to be able to cook a successful nut loaf in the saucepan or to provide the family with the traditional hot Christmas pudding when the weather has proved unkind and the anticipated picnic lunch has lost all its attractions

Following are some suggested recipes for pressure-saucepan cookery and some general directions. which may prove useful. All the recipes and cooking times are intended for use at, 151 b. pressure, as most saucepans are regulated to cook only at this pressure. If the saucepan has a regulator which enables it to be used at other pressures, instructions for altered cooking times and recommended pressures are included in the booklet supplied with it. A / . Vegetables. - Most of the booklets provided with pressure saucepans give adequate instructions for ; : vegetable cookery. Potatoes may require *l5 minutes for complete cooking, and better results are probably obtained by lowering the pressure at room temperature. Potatoes for mashing may be cut in quite small pieces and then cooked for the same time as other vegetables which take from 3 to 6 minutes.

Soups Like vegetables and meat, soups are very well suited to pressure cookery. Bone stock can be made in 20 minutes, and barley or pea soup will cook as quickly, the full flavour being retained or even enhanced. It is important that the saucepan be not more than half filled and that care be taken in cooling the saucepan, for soup takes longer than other foods to cool, and if the weight or lever is released too quickly, soup may spurt through the opening and be wasted and possibly cause burns. Less liquid is-used in pressurecooked soups, as there is less evaporation. Vegetable Soup £lb. of mixed diced Seasoning vegetables I tablespoon of I pint of water or • dripping if desired stock • ■ ■ Melt the fat in the saucepan and fry the vegetables for 5 minutes without browning them. Add the liquid and seasoning and cook the soup at pressure for 3 minutes. Alternatively, cook vegetables : and stock . for 5 minutes - at pressure and reduce' pressure quickly by putting the saucepan under the cold tap. -. If soup is required quickly, vegetables may be placed in the cooker with soup bones and all cooked for 25 minutes. Soup Stock Break 21b. of stock bones, place them in the saucepan with 2 pints of water and seasoning, bring the saucepan to pressure, and cook the stock for 30 minutes. Cool it slowly. . Meat The pressure saucepan is at its best for stews and other meat which normally requires very long slow cooking Cooking time for stews is reduced to about 15 minutes, and delicious ox tail or stewed fowl can be prepared in 25 minutes. ;

Mutton Stew with Parsley Dumplings 1 lib. of neck mutton 3 carrots, quartered chops ' 3 or 4 onions - 2 tablespoons of fat 3 stalks of celery, 2 teaspoons of salt r chopped : Pepper to taste J

Trim off excess fat and brown the meat in the fat in.the saucepan with salt and pepper; this gives a richer, browner gravy, but the process may be omitted if desired. Add lj cups of water, carrots, onions, and celery. Cover them, bring the saucepan to pressure, and cook the stew for 15 minutes.

Dumplings

4oz. of flour loz. of butter or 2 level teaspoons of dripping baking powder About j cup of milk i level teaspoon of 2 tablespoons of . salt ’• chopped parsley

Rub the fat into the sifted dry ingredients and mix them to a slightly sticky consistency. Drop the mixture in teaspoonfuls or rolled into small balls into the boiling stew, put on the lid, but do not raise the pressure. Cook the dumplings rapidly for 7 to 10 minutes. They are better cooked without pressure,, as they take only 10 minutes or less and are much lighter. Thicken the stew if desired.

Beef Stew and Vegetables

Cut stewing beef into cubes, melt a little fat in the saucepan, and brown the meat and sliced onions without putting on the lid. Add the desired amount of sliced or diced carrots and | to 1 cup of water depending on the amount of meat, raise the pressure, and cook them for 19 minutes. Cool the saucepan under the tap, release the pressure, and add potatoes (cut so that only 5 to 6 minutes’ pressure cooking is required) and quartered cabbage. Cook the stew for 5 minutes more at pressure, then lower the pressure with cold water again. Remove the potatoes and cabbage and thicken the stew.

If desired, whole potatoes may be put in with the meat and all cooked for 15 minutes at pressure.

Ox-tail Stew

1 ox tail loz. of dripping 2 onions loz. of flour 2 carrots Seasoning I stick of celery

Prepare the ox tail in the usual way, brown it if desired,, and add f pint of water, vegetables, and seasoning. Seal them in the saucepan, bring it to pressure, and cook them for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool the saucepan with water, remove the lid, add the thickening, and boil until the stew is thickened.

Stewed Fowl

Fowl cut into serving I chopped onion pieces I stalk of chopped Il teaspoons of salt celery Pepper I or 2 rashers of I diced carrot bacon, chopped

Place the fowl on a rack in the cooker, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and add the other ingredients with 2| cups of water Cook them at pressure for 20 minutes, or 25 to 30 minutes for an old fowl. Allow pressure to drop at room temperature and thicken the stew if desired.

Rabbit can be cooked in the same way. It requires 10 to 20 minutes according to age.

Braised Poultry

A fairly-small fowl 2 tablespoons of . fat or chicken (for a Stuffing as desired 3-quart saucepan) Seasoning

Prepare the bird in the usual way, removing the legs if necessary to fit it in the saucepan. Brown it with the

fat in the pan. Add i cup of water and cook the bird on the rack for 20 to 25 minutes.

- . . Tongues Cover a 3 to 41b. tongue with cold water and soak it for an hour to remove the. salt. Set it in the saucepan on the rack with 3 cups of water and cover it. Allow steam to flow from the vent in a steady stream for about a minute. Raise the pressure and cook the tongue for 1| hours after pressure has been reached. Cool the saucepan at room temperature. Pot roasts, chops, and other cuts of meat may also be cooked successfully in a pressure saucepan.. Browning the meat in the saucepan before cooking it improves the flavour and appearance. Desserts Baked Custard 1 pint of milk Sugar and flavouring I egg j to taste Butter a basin that will fit easily into the saucepan. Make the custard, pour it into the' basin, and set in on the rack in the saucepan with i cup of water around it. ■ Raise the pressure and cook the custard for 4 minutes. Cool the saucepan quickly with water, open' it, and leave the custard for 1 to 2 minutes to set before removing it. A double quantity takes 6 minutes to cook. . Baked Apples and Custard Baked apples and. custard may be cooked together in a pressure saucepan. Prepare medium-sized apples for baking and stuff them with raisins or, dates if desired. Arrange them on the

rack in the saucepan around the edges. Seal them, raise the pressure, and cook them for 2 minutes. Cool the saucepan, add the custard in the basin, reseal, raise the pressure, and cook apples and custard for another 4 minutes. If a pint of custard is made, all can be cooked together for 6 minutes. The apples are not browned, but in other ways they are like baked apples. Stewed Fruits Though soft and ripe fruits do not require the rapid cooking of a pressure cooker, there are others for which it can be used with a saving of time and often with better results. For

example, dried fruits, or very hard pears or peaches which normally require long cooking, can be stewed in 5 or 6 minutes in a pressure saucepan. All booklets do not give cooking times for fruits, and the following times are suggested:

■ Dried Fruits = Soaking for an-hour in warm water before they are cooked makes dried fruits plumper and juicier. . Then they require the following cooking times at pressure: r ■

Steamed Puddings, Breads, and Suet Puddings For cooking in a pressure saucepan, steamed puddings, breads, and. suet puddings are improved by being steamed for 10 to 20 minutes before

the pressure is raised. Though all steam puddings can be made successfully in a pressure saucepan, often they are not quite as light as ordinary steamed puddings, and ones in which breadcrumbs are substituted for part of the flour usually are lighter than those containing flour only. Rich fruit puddings and suet puddings cook comparatively' quickly and turn out better than sponge puddings, in the cooking of which little time is saved. The pudding should be well covered and the cloth or two layers of greased paper tied down firmly.

Steamed Fruit Pudding

3/8 cup of finely- J. teaspoon of baking chopped suet soda 1 cup of treacle •" 11 teaspoons of ’ 1 cup of raisins baking powder I cup of currants . I teaspoon of salt 1 cup of candied peel 1 teaspoon’ of nutmeg I cup of milk , i teaspoon of II cups of flour cinnamon

Sift the dry ingredients twice. Mix in the other ingredients, pour the mixture into buttered moulds, and cover it tightly. Place the moulds on the rack in the cooker with 3 cups of boiling water. Steam the pudding without pressure for 10 minutes and with pressure for 20 minutes.

Coffee Pudding 2oz. of breadcrumbs 4oz. of flour 2oz. of fat 2 teaspoons of baking j. pint of strong powder coffee, or 2 tea- 2oz. of sugar ■ spoons of coffee A few drops of essence and 1 cup vanilla essence of water or milk Rub the fat into the flour and add the baking powder, crumbs, and sugar. Mix them with the coffee and vanilla essence and put the mixture into a greased basin. Stand' the basin on the rack in the cooker in 2 pints of boiling water and cover it well. Secure the lid and steam the pudding with the

pressure valve up or the weight off for 20 minutes and at pressure for 20 min- x utes. Reduce pressure at once under the cold tap. ■' > ' < Spice Pudding 4oz. of raisins I teaspoon of baking 4oz. of sultanas powder I teaspoon of mixed 3oz. of breadcrumbs » teaspoon of cinna- tripling* " mon 3oz. of flour •J teaspoon of nutmeg 2oz. of sugar I egg Milk to mix

■ Rub the fat into the sifted dry ingredients, or add the suet. Add the breadcrumbs, egg, and sufficient milk to make a sticky mixture. Put it in a greased basin and cover it well. Cook it for 20 minutes without pressure and 30 minutes with pressure. : ,-IJ f ' 3■'» : < Nut Loaf t - ; 2 cups of sifted flour About 1 f cup of milk 1 level teaspoon of. , 5 level teaspoons of baking soda > , ' baking'powder 1 I cup of raisins - ,J ' 1 teaspoon of salt 1 cup of golden 2 cup of chopped syrup nuts I cup of bran or 1 cup of sugar rolled oats

’ Mix the dry ingredients and add the raisins, nuts, and sugar. Dissolve the syrup in most of the milk and mix all the ingredients to a soft consistency. Add extra milk if required. Twothirds fill tins with the mixture ■ and steam it in the saucepan with 2 pints of boiling water for 20 minutes without pressure and 25 minutes with the pressure raised. These quantities make two medium-sized loaves. Christmas Pudding 4oz. of breadcrumbs- 1 tablespoon of 2oz. of flour treacle or syrup 3oz. of shredded suet I teaspoon of cinna-Oa-v n-f hrnuin Clinsr mA fl

3oz. of brown sugar ? mon , teaspoo of mixed • Spirits, or 8 table- . spice spoons of ale or I teaspoon of almond wine essence I teaspoon of vanilla I small grated apple essence lib. of mixed dried I teaspoon of lemon fruits essence loz. of peel . Mix all the ingredients together put them into one or two greased basins, and cover them well. > Put the basins on the rack in >the cooker in 2| pints

of boiling water, secure the lid, and steam them for 30 minutes. Raise > the pressure to 151 b., lower the heat, and cook the pudding for 1-1 hours. . Reduce pressure at once under, the cold tap.' ’ Apple Pudding . i ;■> Bdz. of flour 2 teaspoons of baking 1 teaspoon of salt '. l powder ' 2 to 4oz. of suet Sift the dry ingredients, add the finely-chopped suet, and mix them to a stiff dough with' water. Roll out the pastry and line a greased basin with part of it.

Peel, core, and slice the apples and put them into the pastry with a good sprinkling of sugar and enough water to cover half the fruit. Roll out the rest of the dough to form a cover. Damp the edges of the pastry lid and press it on to the pudding. Cover the basin well and stand it on the rack in the cooker in 2 pints of boiling water. Steam the pudding without pressure for 30 minutes, raise the pressure and steam it for a further 30 minutes, and reduce pressure immediately under the cold tap.

Jams and Pickles

A pressure saucepan may be used to reduce the preliminary, time spent cooking fruits for jam and marmalade. Soft fruits such as black currants and gooseberries are cooked in 2 or 3 minutes and other fruits in correspondingly less time. The saucepan should not be more than half full. Black Currant Jam. Put 11b. of black currants and 1 cup of water into the saucepan. Secure the lid, bring the saucepan to pressure, and cook the fruit for 3 minutes. Cool it, remove the lid, add l|lb. of sugar, and when it is dissolved boil the jam rapidly without the lid until it will set when tested. ' Marmalade , Slice 6 grapefruit or marmalade oranges (about 21b.) and cook them in 2 cups of water at pressure for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the age of the fruit. Cool the saucepan at room temperature and add another 4 pints of water. Add 1 cup of sugar for each cup of fruit and liquid. Boil the marmalade in a preserving pan, or in the pressure saucepan .without the lid, until it will set when tested. Green Tomato Pickles 41b. of thinly-sliced I tablespoon of cloves green tomatoes I tablespoon of Jib.- of thinly-sliced ' pickling spice onions I cup of vinegar 1 cup of salt 1 cup of firmly1 tablespoon of packed brown mustard sugar ■ i . Place alternate layers of tomatoes, onions, and salt in a bowl and stand them over night. Drain them, add the remaining ingredients, and cook the pickle for 20 minutes at pressure. Pour it into hot sterilised jars and seal them. These quantities make 2J pints. Preserving Vegetables . Peas or beans may be preserved successfully in a pressure saucepan in lib. jam jars with sealing skin or in pint preserving jars. Pack peas or beans in hot jars, fill' them to within in. of the top with boiling salted water (about | .teaspoon of salt to a lib. jar), and place them in the saucepan. Most makes of saucepan : will hold three lib. jam jars. Cook beans for 25 minutes,at pressure and peas for 35 minutes. '

Raising and lowering the pressure gradually is advisable to prevent the jars cracking and to ensure that when the skin balloons up during cooking it will not block the control valve.

Sliced apples • . 2 minutes Apple puree .. .. . 5 minutes Stewed pears 5 to 6 minutes to 6 minutes (8 if hard) Stewed peaches 5 to 6 minutes to 6 minutes Stewed apricots 2 to 3 minutes to 3 minutes Stewed gooseberries 2 minutes Gooseberry puree . 4 minutes Rhubarb' 2 minutes

Pears, apples, and peaches 5 to 6 minutes Apricots 1 to 2 minutes Figs 12 to 15 minutes Prunes 8 to 10 minutes