The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: arobwk on December 12, 2019, 09:02:00 pm
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I'm of mind to NOT replace my gradually failing gas/electric 'range' cooker with another conventional cooker unit (i.e. a single unit with integrated rings, grill & oven/s).
I'm looking at a whole range of modular options instead (electric only).
For now I'm hoping for comments on electric versus hob options for a pressure cooker.
I'm really torn between a do-everything electric pr'/cooker (such as an "Instant Pot", which seems to be popular) and a simpler reliable hob pr'/cooker (which I would obviously need portable worktop rings for which I will almost certainly get anyway).
A. Any experiences/recommends re electric pressure cookers please?
B. Any recommends re hob pressure cookers please?
Not too expensive either way!
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That's an overall big question and depends on many factors - mostly what sort of cooking you tend to do and size of family, whether you do any commercial cooking or cooking for the freezer. And indeed whether you're remodelling the whole kitchen or not.
When you talk about a range cooker you have is this a rayburn type of thing or one of those huge american multi-oven/ring jobbies that actually used to heat up quite quickly.Cookers are usually refurbishable - thermostats and rings and igniters if necessary.
The rayburn we have is bog slow from start-up to use and the oven has horrid hotspots and needs close watching to use successfully - a hangover from the days when fuel was cheap enough to keep it running all the time. For those reasons we have a ceramic hob for general ring cooking + microwave/convection combo for most other small stuff and then suffer the vagaries of the rayburn for baking and roasting for those rare ocassions here.
Yes, a pressure cooker was good when we had the whole family but now with 2 of us cooking often seperately it's not missed and I'd find an all-in-one slow cooker more use.
We've debated losing the rayburn since it's really for c/h and hot water but remodelling the kitchen to install a new oil boiler etc would be a pain.
I'd quite like an eye-level fan assist oven to stop the stooping/bending and miss the one we had in London. What i really miss is an american electric range i once bought second hand that had every extra ya could dream of - rotisserie and built in timers and baking thermostats with cut-offs frm temperature in the middle of roasts/loaves. More ovens and rings then you could count. It was a bargain at the time 'cos we had a huge kitchen and few folk could fit the monster into their house. Sadly it and the kitchen died in one of V's dramatic chip-pan fires (she went through a phase of those and killed everything that time despite the chip-pan being self heating and double safety cut-out 'cos she happened to use it placed on an electric ring she'd left on...and then went to watch telly.!!)
The ceramic hob really is easy to keep clean. I'd go induction but V destroys saucepans and frying pans too.
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pgk' - It's a gas/electric range cooker (5x gas rings & 2x elect' ovens). Almost certainly not a candidate for cost-effective refurb' funded by me. After 25 years use, I'm happy to pass on to others for them to decide whether to scrap or refurb' for resale.
Re alternative cooker types; I have a slow cooker, but I'm not good at planning/prepping for the evening ahead and pressure cooker would offer greater flexibility. Also, I prefer not to leave any electrical equip' on/working when I'm not at home.
I'm inclined towards a simple traditional hob pressure cooker, but hoping to learn whether any members have electric press' cookers and how happy they are.
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I mentioned refurb 'cos a local farmer mate was chatting in't pub and his gas/electric range cooker had been acting up - also of some vintage and an expensve brand (can't remmeber). He told me he rang up to make enquiries re repair or new and got offered a choice of taking out a monthly insurance on it and that it would cover the repair. He went with that and engineer rocked up - new thermostat, rings all cleaned and new igniters etc. He was happy.
For me, here, cooking mostly just for myself ( 'cos V is vegan) I find I can boil spuds just as quick in ordinary saucepan by putting water on while cleaning them and often cooking my veg in same saucepan to save washing up as it would take to bring pressure cooker up to temp etc. And less cleaning up after. But it's horses for courses - big family etc makes a difference. Also less to go wrong if just a pressure cooker on ring rather than a separate.
If I did have a new oven and worked away from home then I'd likely think about casseroles and remote access systems to tell it to start while I was driving home. Not sure I'd trust a straight timer system that much.
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get a pressure king pro. half an hour and pretty much any meat will fall off the bone. although the dish in the middle can be a nightmare to scrub
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[member=155759]sheeponthebrain[/member] - taking a look at the Pressure King Pro, I seem to think it has a coated inner pot, but your comments suggest it might not be a non-stick coating - ???
(Actually, I'm not a fan of non-stick or aluminium cookware. I prefer stainless steel or enameled.)
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ours has a copper pot in the middle. i presume its a copper coating and havent been brave enough to try scrubbing it with anything abrasive
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Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?
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Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?
That's exctly why I never use mine now - got quite a fright and scalded a little
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Twice times "Oops!" then. That could have been serious.
Mind you: simple food blenders can cause some folk problems also (i.e. me)! Hot veg soup in blender & I must have over-filled resulting in hot veggie face-mask and textured wall-paper !! And then, after the clean up, I managed to do it again despite lower volume & holding the lid down as tightly as I could. Luckily the soups were not hot enough to actually scald. (Can't remember this far on whether sick daughter - who'd asked for lump-free soup - was still awake by the time a bowl arrived at her bedside.)
Also; ta for update sheeponthebrain.
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Aldi was offering a Halogen cooker today (up to 17 ltr capacity) @ £30 with 3 year warranty ... so I bought one! (I would have preferred a hinged heating lid, but heh.)
Test run was oven chips: will need some tinkering, but already better result than normal oven attempts.
2nd test was onion bhajis: even-stephens I reckon in this case.
Bit of a learning curve ahead!
Am disappointed to find, having now read user guide, that the cooker's glass bowl is, apparently, not dishwasher proof: what?! in this day and age!
Oh well, I'm not going to take it back just because, but any other TAS members loitering around Aldi's kitchen appliance offerings right now may wish to note this limitation on cleaning options for the halogen cooker.
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Ref the Aldi halogen cooker: very happy with prompt customer response (within an hour) from Eurosonic Group Ltd re enquiry from me regarding steam cooking. (Not much advice on cooking options in the thin user manual.)
As regards washing the glass cooking bowl: despite Manual's advice, I reckon I'm going to risk a quick 35 oC dishwasher cycle very soon !! If it can withstand 250 oC direct heat, surely (?) it can withstand a low temp wash in the d/washer - so be it if the glass goes cloudy!
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Trials and tribulations: the halogen-oven bulb expired yesterday (already! - I'll fit a replacement), BUT this is just a week after my combi-microwave oven, after double-figure years, also decided to stop cooking in all modes. (Latter still manages to make a lot of noise when turned on though ! How is that ??) Plus the old "range" cooker is now down to just the small-oven grill and gas hobs.
Woe, woe and thrice woe.
I would have asked members for recommends on a replacement combi' microwave, but, suddenly, it all got a bit urgent and I've ordered a new Panasonic inverter combi-micro (NN-CT56JBBPQ) for collection on Monday from Argos.
Hopefully I will be happy: any experiences though ?
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We recently bought an Instantpot, and it's great.
I mostly use it for porridge that I can set going the night before, teasmade style. I've settled on the "pot-in-pot" method for this, and it's simple and reliable. I then eat directly out of the cooking pot, so there's only one thing to wash.
The other thing I use it a lot for is homemade yoghurt. For me, it's really convenient to make a couple of pints at a time using the Instantpot.
The only thing I'd add is that you definitely need two sealing rings - one for strong flavours and one for delicate. I made some amazing pulled pork, but then found that pulled pork flavoured yoghurt was not a big hit for some reason.
Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?
I don't know if all electric pressure cookers have this feature, but the Instantpot has an interlock to stop you from doing that.
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Am I the only person to have taken the lid off a pressure cooker without releasing the pressure first?
No.
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(https://i0.wp.com/boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/1440479232-01.jpg)
Indeed!!
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[member=2128]Womble[/member] : thanks for the "what can happen with a pressure cooker" pic - looks like a hob model and "Oh dear!"
Thankfully so many extra safety features built into newer ones, especially the electric cookers.
I was just about to fork-out for an Instant Pot myself (a stainless-steel liner pot is really the best way to go), but, as reported, the old combi' oven decided to give up the ghost. A good new combi' microwave (not exactly cheap) had to be 1st priority.
I was sorely tempted to pay a bit more for a "flatbed" combi' oven model (no turntable), but someone reported their ceramic flatbed cracked after just 3 yrs (as I recall) and was thereby made irreparable/useless. I'll leave that technology aside then until the next microwave oven replacement (if ever).
So my next concoction of chilli beans will be postponed: I love my chilli beans (and can/could eat them over and over), but the last chilli bean cook-up, inc' red kidney beans, that I had was the one that immediately preceded my 1st IBS-like episode almost 2 yrs ago. I haven't been right since!
So, before I next eat any significant amount of pulses, I am going to get a pressure-cooker so that I know nasty bean lectins have been thoroughly cooked/destroyed above 100 degrees C.
I read that red kidney beans are the worst, lectin-wise. (I'm not sure about white kidney beans right now.) I'll go take a look idc to make sure my next chilli bean concoction is as low in lectins as can be with the assistance of a pressure cooker, when the bank balance can, once again, accommodate an Instant Pot purchase.
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Off topic but sprouting is meant to breakdown lectins too.
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Thanks for that thought [member=28951]Steph Hen[/member] : as regards the sprouts that might actually be "bean sprouts", are there any beans that are best avoided for sprouting, assuming they are then eaten raw in a salad? (In particular, are red kidney beans a no-no for salad sprouting?)
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Oh dear, the new combi microwave power is a bit fierce: I ended up frizzling (burning) some rice on microwave only - blimey! (Might have pressed wrong buttons, but I don't think so.)
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I have an old but trustworthy combi, but I haven't ever mastered the buttons so I just use it as an ordinary microwave. Are your instructions easy to understand? I haven't a clue where mine are
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I love my combi microwave, especially the presets for things like baked potatoes which gets used a lot.
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I have an old but trustworthy combi, but I haven't ever mastered the buttons so I just use it as an ordinary microwave. Are your instructions easy to understand? I haven't a clue where mine are
I must get around to reading them soon!! (I expect you could download a manual for your machine or a similar one if you were interested. I seem to think most work roughly the same way.)
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Doubt it, Curry's - no brand name, bought at least 12 years ago
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Was dithering over which Instant Pot pressure cooker model to buy, but have just gone for the newest offering (Duo Evo Plus) with modified/safer pressure-venting design. In the confines of my recently acquired small caravan's cooking area, I thought that would be best.
Out of interest, anyone have one of these Instant Pot models already ?
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I have a question for anyone who is also routinely using a microwave multi-oven (micro/convection/grill oven):
In mine, pastry pies just do not cook well: the top always browns off early and the bottom pastry ends up soggy even when the innards are nice and hot. (They might behave the same way in a conventional oven, but I cannot test that anymore being without a standard cooker/oven.)
I'm now starting to think about ignoring 'standard' cooking instructions for a fan-oven in order to best bake pastry pies in the multi-: e.g. cook upside down and turn over late in the bake; or cover the pastry top with a pan and extend cooking time with a lower cooking temp' (hoping bottom pastry will "catch up"); turn over after top & innards cooked and then apply low-heat grill to the bottom pastry. Etc !
Any experiences and/or tips for the scenario above, please, from any other multi-oven users ??!!
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One way to make the pastry base not - or less - soggy is to bake the pastry "blind", ie., without filling, and then cook the complete pie.
If your combi oven doesn't have a "fan only" setting then I am not sure what you would use to hold the pastry down during cooking.... :thinking:
The other thing about pastry, conventionally cooked, is that tin is better for a crisp base than ceramic or glass. But you can't use tin and microwave...
Sorry, more questions than answers...
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I should have said, SiN, that my pastry pies are invariably from a supermarket freezer ;) so blinding is not an option.
(The latest large chicken and asparagus pie from Tesco was actually quite tasty despite soggy bottom, BUT altogether better when I re-cooked - rather than just re-warmed - the 2nd half up-side down this eve.)
Thanks for the thought though.
These pies come in alu' trays and I would have thought this would transfer good amount of heat to the bottom pastry, but seemingly not!
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Egg flans though (shallow or deep) are always 'built' from the ground up because I find that off-the-shelf egg flans are just soft, mushy things (aerated to the nth degree). I haven't tried cooking a home-made egg flan in a multi-cooker yet though: I shall be extremely happy if I can somehow, idc, replicate one of my ex's miracles (a perfectly oven-cooked 3-4" deep veg flan - sometimes with a few bacon bits!) in a multi-oven.
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I have a new fully modern infrared stove, and I loathe it. Everybody I know who has had one has sold theirs to buy an old electric stove at a second hand store.
Old ones have consistent heat, are fast, are reliable, are easy to control, are intuitive to use, are easy to repair...
Infrared cooktops are slow, inconsistent, hard to control, unreliable, not repairable except by a company man with a fancy diagnostic computer program, and the one good thing is that they are easy to keep clean.
As for pressure cookers, we have two. Mirro makes a good one, but Ball is good too. We have a smaller aluminum one for potroast and a larger more powerful one for canning. They just go on the stove.
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I should have said, SiN, that my pastry pies are invariably from a supermarket freezer ;) so blinding is not an option. .
These pies come in alu' trays and I would have thought this would transfer good amount of heat to the bottom pastry, but seemingly not!
Question
Are you putting in micro in aluminium tray (which seems to be implied ) ....whilst using the microwave? .. aluminium will ruin your microwave in that quantity. Can be used in small quantities to say cover the wings of chicken to slow down the cooking here whilst rest cooks...... so aluminium acts as a barrier to microwave cooking.
If just using as conventional oven .... then to be honest .... most commercial pies will have soggy bottom on reheating
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Yes I am (or did) throw some microwaves into the mix [member=26580]Backinwellies[/member] - I won't do it again. Haven't re-tested w/o alu' tray for a while though as I'm avoiding pastry right now due to the covid waist-line expansion syndrome !
[member=212379]naturelovingfarmer[/member] - Thanks kindly for your thoughts. I'm not sure what you mean by an infra-red stove and equally I'm not sure what sort of heating element is in my multi-oven for convection or grill modes. However, in passing: I did try a halogen air-fryer-type cooker with glass bowl for a while until the bulb died - turned out that the bulb was not a 'plug-and-play' type: I didn't bother replacing it, despite some good cooking results, because I was getting fed up with awkward hand-washing of a 17 ltr bowl that could not be put in the dish-washer apparently. Also, I did once cook a whole Xmas turkey dinner, for my 2 kids and me, using just my original micro-wave multi-cooker !! In retrospect, if I'd had any sense I could have used a camping stove for boiling the veg, but it didn't occur to me at the time. Never-the-less, the dinner was, I have to say, a juggled success - even the gravy !! So, junking a conventional oven/cooker is not something that fazes me: it's just a matter of getting used to routinely doing all things differently (compared to conventional cooker) as my new standard. I'm not interested in going back to a standard cooker/oven and my old micro-multi lasted almost 20 years (albeit along-side a traditional gas/electric range cooker) - fingers-crossed/touch wood for the longevity of its replacement supported by the Instant Pot.
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Just one other thought re junking the traditional oven/cooker: we all know, surely, that the long-term future is probably 'just electric' for cooking and domestic heating (excluding the odd BBQ or the unavoidable cow-dung fuelled fire in some very remote lands) - and we all know that we must try and reduce our carbon footprints: microwave-aided and pressure cooking are just 2 more-efficient ways of doing the latter compared to using traditional (gas or electric) cooker/oven-type appliances.
Of course, if one has a family of, say, 11 mortals to cook food for (many UK members will know who I mean) then a large traditional cooker/oven (range-type perhaps) might be the more energy-efficient answer !?
[Given the apparently ever-endless series of 'Our Yorkshire Farm' - which I rather like - I wonder if we will one-day get a good peek at the Owen's kitchen set-up, including, perhaps, insight into Owen easy menus to cater for all those hungry mouths! ]
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Hah - I learn today that my ex' and her housemate have just bought a multi-cooker (sounds like its the same one as mine). Reckon I will set her the challenge of trying to reproduce one of those deep-pan veggie flans in her multi- rather than me faff around ! ;) :) :)