Under Pressure

My mother had no microwave, no toaster oven; and although she was not the best cook in the world, she did attempt to make well-rounded, nutritious meals for us in short time.  One of the only tools of convenience she used was her pressure cooker.  Many a meal was cooked quickly (and often ended up in a colorless mush, frankly) in that rather frightening-looking contraption.  Her aluminum version looked like it had been through several wars, and the disk on top had holes of different sizes which determined the amount of pressure; it sort of looked like an instrument of torture.  When it was cooking, it made an irritating rattling sound that could be heard throughout the house. She removed it with the tines of a serving fork, and the steam eruption threatened to blow off the ceiling of our kitchen. 

The concept of a pressure cooker is rather simple:  foods are prepped, meat is browned, then all is added with water or broth in a pot with a seal and interlocking lid.  When heated, the valve on the lid closes, and pressure builds up inside the pot.  I vaguely remember a pressure/temperature equation from high school physics (and something about water boiling at room temperature under a bell jar), but all I can tell you now is that food in that pot under 10 or 15 pounds of pressure cooks quickly.  I’ve heard it also retains the nutrients of the food better, since it is time, as well as temperature, that break down nutrients in food.  Think of it as a slow-cooker meal, but in 1/20^th of the time.

My husband bought me a pressure cooker for Christmas a couple of years ago, and, oh, boy! have they improved the technology.  Mine is an electric Cuisinart with a non-stick surface and settings for browning, simmering, low and high pressure, and keeping warm.  It came with an easy-to-understand booklet of charts and recipes.  The steam emitting from the pressure valve, when opened for quick-release, is still an impressive sight, but the loudest sound it makes is from the beeping of the electronic timer.  Quiet and safe, a far cry from my mother’s version.

I often forget about the pressure cooker, tucked away in my cabinet next to the ice cream maker and the blender.  But tonight I had thawed a pound of stew beef (from Triple S, of course!), and needed to make something quickly for dinner.  Cooking stew beef quickly can end in an unchewable disaster, but the pressure cooker can do the job while tenderizing the meat in a matter of minutes.  I peeled a bunch of carrots (about 7 or 8, I think) and cut them into coin slices.  I washed and cut the bad parts out of a couple of pounds of potatoes, then quartered them.  I chopped a half of a gigantic onion and two cloves of garlic.  I also chopped up a huge bunch of fresh thyme (probably a couple of tablespoons after being chopped).  With my pressure cooker setting on “brown” I added a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, got it hot, and then browned the meat.  I added the onion and garlic, and finished the browning.  I then added three tablespoons of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard, stirred it in, then added ¼ cup of flour to coat the meat.  After the flour had disappeared, I added 1 ¾ cup of beef broth (from bouillon) and made the thing come to a boil.  I popped on the pressure cooker lid and set it for high pressure for five minutes.  (That’s right, five [5] minutes!)  After a quick pressure release (which always thrills my nine-year-old), I opened the pot and added the carrots, potatoes, and thyme, and about ½ cup of water.  I closed the lid again, and set it for another six minutes (yup, six [6] minutes!). This time I did a natural pressure release (allowing the pressure to escape the valve slowly while the food is still cooking), which adds another 10 minutes or so.  Once the indicator shows the pressure has released, the lid opens, and, voilà! dinner is ready!  This meal could even sit a while in the pressure cooker on the warm setting for a few minutes while you toss a salad or warm some bread.

Including prep time (15 minutes), browning time (10 minutes), pressure-cooking time (11 minutes, plus heat up and natural pressure release), I had a delicious stew with tender pieces of beef ready in about 40 minutes. And leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch!