Pressure cookers are almost archaic.
Except.
Even though no one I know owns and uses one, new models are developed all the time, and they are better and better. So SOMEONE is using them.
If you can afford to buy new, do it. This is a case of do as I say, not as I do, because my pressure cooker is older than I am. I am not exaggerating. It's from the 50s. (I am from the 60s.) My mother gave it to me, and it is the pressure cooker that inhabits all my memories of delicious dinners. (It is also gigantic. I have not seen a new one as big.)
The reason I'm urging you to get a new one, rather than something you find at a garage sale or church rummage sale or out of Grandma's basement is because of metal fatigue. Pressure cookers build up a lot of pressure, and metal can only handle so much of that before it fractures. If the metal fractures at full pressure, it results in an explosion. This shrapnel damages your stove and kitchen in profound and expensive ways, and if you are in the room at the time it can kill you. Literally. No joking around.
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| This is the meat after cooking but before the vegetables are added |
The reasons I have not replaced my pressure cooker are manifold. I can't afford it. I can't find one as big that costs less than a used car. I am sentimentally attached to everything my mother gave me. So I carefully inspect my p.c. every time I use it for signs of stress.
A friend gave me a new electric p.c. that is about half the size of the old one, has a non-stick interior, an attached pressure weight, and a steamer insert. After using it once, I approved it, and I told Libby she could have it when she gets married and moves out. (It isn't that I don't like it. I do. If it turns out that she doesn't want it, I will use it. But my history with electric cookers is... well, they just seem to have a short life for the money. I have worn out three electric skillets and two electric woks, a rice cooker, a kettle, a mini-crock pot and a regular crock pot. This is not counting the hot-pot contraptions I had at college--four of them, in succession. They just don't last as long as a traditional pot, obviously. HOWEVER, if you need to cook and you don't actually have a stove, you should by all means get electric cookers.)
On to the recipe.
Pot Roast in the Pressure Cooker
- a piece of meat (I prefer beef, and pot roast is always beef unless otherwise stated. However, you can cook pork or poultry in a p.c. as well. I have never personally done a bone-in roast, but I remember my mother doing bone-in pork this way. I am writing this for beef, but everything applies to whatever meat you're cooking. FISH PROBABLY WON'T DO WELL HERE.) Get whatever size will feed you and yours. I tend to try to find something around five pounds, at least over 4, even if I have to buy two pieces. There are wonderful leftover recipes for pot roast, so it never goes to waste.
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2-3 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup Crisco vegetable shortening (I have never used any other kind, so I can't advise you. Butter-flavor or regular, doesn't matter. If you have confidence in the store brand, feel free to save a buck.)
- Lipton Onion Soup mix. I use 2 envelopes, the whole box, because I like a lot of gravy, but I have been told that one is enough, and my mother always used only one.
- water
- 2-3 large onions, peeled
- potatoes, peeled and halved, 1 potato per person PLUS at least 1 extra.
- a scant 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
- flour and water to make gravy at the end (I save the leftover seasoned flour from the beginning and use it here)
Trim excess fat from your roast, but it tastes better if you leave some on. Mix the flour, salt, and pepper on a piece of waxed paper (or in a shallow dish, if you have a dish washer). Roll your roast in the flour mixture. Cover all sides.
Melt the shortening in the pan of the cooker. When it's hot, put your meat in and sear it on all sides, or as many sides as you can reasonably do. Some of those irregularly cut roasts are challenging. To sear it, the shortening has to be pretty hot, almost smoking. Flop your beef in there and let it fry for about two minutes. Then change sides. Putting a cold piece of meat lowers the temperature of the shortening, and searing requires the high temperature. You aren't trying to cook more than an eighth of an inch on the surface, but it does take some patience to get a good crust. (That being said, the meat is perfectly tasty without searing it, but it's riskier. It can lose a lot of flavor.)
After searing, sprinkle on the onion soup mix, and add water (carefully! Hot oil + water = steam and splattering). Each packet of soup mix should get two cups of water, but a word of caution: tender cuts of meat become oddly tough when pressure-cooked with too much water. So if you have a rump roast, you're good with 4 cups of water, because a rump roast is tough, and more water will make it more tender. So if you have a really good cut of beef, feel free to short the water here.
Close and lock the pressure cooker, and if it has a valve weight, put it on 10 or 15. (The electric model I have doesn't have adjustable pressure.) Turn the heat up to high until pressure builds and begins to release, and then lower the temperature to a simmer, so that the pressure releases only a few times a minute.
Cook time depends on the size of the roast. If it's between 4-5 lbs, and if the cut is flatter (more like a steak than a chunk) I usually cook it for an hour and a half, and two hours for a large lump. It's getting hard to find roast-shaped roasts at my grocery. Usually I have to settle for a slab cut.
After cooking, turn off the heat and let the pressure release. You can hurry this along a little by removing the weight from the vent, and sometimes when I'm really impatient I put the cooker in the sink and run warm water over the outside, turning it gradually cooler. Modern p.c.s will not open without the pressure being completely vented. This saves you from serious burns caused by escaping steam. Use caution.
Add your vegetables to the liquid. It's pretty critical that the vegetables are in the liquid, even if you have to lift the meat up and lay it on top of them. If you have to add more, you can use a beef bouillon cube per cup of water. You need enough liquid to cover all of the vegetables at least part-way. If you want additional flavoring, like red pepper flakes or Montreal Steak Seasoning, this is the place to add it. Close and lock your cooker again, and return it to the heat. Once pressure builds and rattles the valve, cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and release the pressure.
Remove the meat and vegetables to a platter and bring the remaining liquid to a boil. Mix flour and water (I go for a consistency like cream, pourable and not too thick), and whisk into the boiling liquid slowly (stir fast, pour slow), until the gravy is almost as thick as you want it. The let it cook another minute to thicken completely.
I cannot stress how important it is to make the gravy, here. Like the roasted chicken, it's worth the trouble, but it's more than that. Pot roast without gravy is just...not right.
Single folks, if you master this dish it can win you a spouse. It will ensure your place in the hearts of your children as a great cook. It will wow even the most jaded palate.
