Electric Pressure Cooker Update

It looks like I am not the only one to "misplace" the instruction booklet that goes with the electric pressure cooker. In the comments section of the device, there are numerous referrences to the same plight. Someone got one for a gift, and alas no instruction booklet was included. Someone moved and it was gone. Several people bought them on QVC and HSN and when they  got their appliance it was gone. 

After reading many of the same tales of woe with no solutions that followed it, I noticed that 35 entries down someone made reference to "manuals online." With that in mind a quick link to that source had all of the Wolfgang Puck manuals categorized by appliances. I found mine and discovered that it had a pdf (acobat file) reference. In seconds I was back in business. 

As mentioned in the previous pressure cooker blog entry, I cooked both the beef chuck and the chicken at 35 minutes.  The proper chart shows whole chicken at 20 minutes and beef chuckroast at 75minutes.

With this new information, the chicken soup was cooked at 25 minutes and included a whole foster farms chicken, and a little less (about a 1/2 cup less of chicken stock.)  I filled the pot up to the capacity line for liquid. Again it made a chick soup that was memorable.

While the chuck roast was certainly good at 35 minutes, the extra time would break it down more and make more of a traditional fall off the bone roast.  I am anxious to try this out soon. it suggests 2-3 cups of liquid to go along with the roast.

The roast that I made ended up in to three meals for us as it was. First it was roast beef and mashed potatoes. Then it was the the meat in a chef salad with lettuce and cheese and fresh tomatoes. The third meal had thinly sliced roast beef with some sauteed mushrooms and some cheddar cheese in a dinner omelet.  There was still a small handful of meat left over.

The second run with the chicken soup was great. I made it with boxed chicken stock. A couple of chopped celery stalks and a diced up onion and some black pepper was all that was needed for this soup.  I was really careful about not including the small bones from the chicken parts in this chicken soup but still ended up with a coupl in the process. Picking the meat of the bone in "pulled" fashion was pretty easy with this method.

I was telling Dad about the adventure. He had a comment.... you need a pressure cooker when you lose your teeth. I reminded him how much he liked my sister Kelly's corned beef. That got him off the idea that the only reason you need a pressure cooker was that it made food easier to chew.  He went on to say that Kelly could have been a chef for one of those boutique restaurants her cooking is so good.  I reminds him of his mother.  She made a living cooking for many people. She would always put it together. 

: ) Pat