Pressure Cooker Cooking

[peanut]

How's it going, Peanut? Did you manage to get a manual and a gasket?

Hi Snoop , thanks for your offer of help, you hereby my Pressure Cooker Mentor!

I've got the instruction booklet just need to have a good read through and work it all out. The cooker has never been used so I'm assuming the gasket is fine, it seems to close properly.
I am looking forward to stew and lentils at the moment, but would be great if I could really get to grips with it and use it more.

[Snoop Puss]

Good to hear from you, Peanut. If the gasket is very old, it may have suffered some deterioration just through age. One way to start before wasting any food, just in case, would be to bring the minimum amount of water required for your model (the book will say, usually 250 ml) to pressure and then release. This will give you a bit of experience what to expect in the way of steam and noise (shouldn't be much of either, honest) and will also show if the gasket is still up to doing the job.

[peanut]

Good to hear from you, Peanut. If the gasket is very old, it may have suffered some deterioration just through age. One way to start before wasting any food, just in case, would be to bring the minimum amount of water required for your model (the book will say, usually 250 ml) to pressure and then release. This will give you a bit of experience what to expect in the way of steam and noise (shouldn't be much of either, honest) and will also show if the gasket is still up to doing the job.

Good tip Snoop, I shall give that ago first.

[Containergardener]

I really need to dust ours off and use it.

[DannyK]

I used to have a Prestige one with weights on the lid. Don't try releasing the pressure by lifting the weights as you can end up spraying your ceiling.
I have a Tefal one now which is much easier. It's good for stews as it cuts down the cooking time.
I find it handy for parboiling potatoes as if I do them in water I often get a sludge.
There are loads of recipes on the web.