Advanced Techniques - Tiered Cooking

In my new cookbook, I use many different kinds of pressure cooking techniques that were well known in our grandma's day when nearly every household used a pressure cooker. Most of today's pressure cooker users don't know about these more advanced techniques, so I'm going to show you how to get the maximum use out of your modern pressure cooker by cooking two separate PIP recipes using the tiered cooking technique.


The first recipe is a full flavored, Savory, Herbed Three Grain Pilaf, a dish that compliments many meat entrees. So for the purposes of demonstrating the tiered cooking technique, I'm also cooking a separate dish of lentils for lunch the next day, to be used in Lentil and Arugula Salad, a very versatile recipe that works well as lunch or a light supper to beat the summertime heat.

What You'll Need
You'll note that I'm using one of the horrid, bent wire 'trivets' supplied by Fagor, a singularly useless item for most purposes, but here's one way where it actually does work well. Lay the wire trivet inside the bottom pan, or place a cooking rack over the top of it, to support the upper pan.

The bottom PIP insert pan is from Kuhn-Rikon, it has a handy wire bail to lift it out of the pressure cooker, and little punched out feet on the bottom so there is no need for a cooking rack. You will need to use a rack beneath your pan if it has a flat bottom. Without a bail, its necessary to utilize a foil Helper Handle to get your pan out of the cooker. For the top pan, any kind of small, inexpensive Stainless Steel bowl will work. The one I use here is available at Wal-Mart, Target and such.

SAVORY, HERBED THREE GRAIN PILAF

This delicious recipe has an irresistible nutty flavor that is great by itself or served as a side dish with poultry, pork, and beef. Even better, there's no tedious chopping, so if you're looking for minimal effort food after a long day, this is it.

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon bouillon powder
2 tablespoons wild rice
1/4 cup long grain brown rice
1/4 cup pearl barley
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup dry white wine

Pour 1 cup water into the pressure cooker. Place all the ingredients in an insert pan. To cook as a combination see the directions below, to proceed as a separate dish: Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 16 minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. Fluff grains with a fork, they should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed.

Cook's Note: I used that Better than Bouillon, a flavor enhancer that comes in several varieties (In my supermarket, I have seen beef, chicken, mushroom, and vegetable varieties.) According to the Superior Touch website there are also turkey, lobster, ham, chili, clam and organic, plus low sodium versions are available. One teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon base mixed with water yields the same as an 8 oz can of broth, but its much more flavorful, and its just as convenient as ordinary bouillon cubes. It is a bit salty, so I suggest holding off adding any additional salt until you've actually tasted the finished dish. This is a very tasty and convenient product that makes for a no-brainer method of preparing quick and easy dishes, so do give it a try.

Lentil and Arugula Salad

This is an easy dish with many possibilities. If you can't find arugula in your supermarket, substitute curly endive, escarole, radicchio, spinach or any combination that appeals to your taste.

1/4 cup lentils
1 1/2 cups water
Place in a small stainless steel bowl. Pour 1 cup water into the pressure cooker. To cook as the featured combination, position a trivet in the bottom pan and stack the bowl of lentils on top. Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 16 minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. Drain the lentils, add the prepared homemade or bottled vinaigrette salad dressing and marinade them in a covered container in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or up to 1 day, ahead of the serving time.

2 cups sliced cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped red onion
2 cups torn Arugula or other salad greens
1/2 cup crumbled Feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Prepared homemade or bottled vinaigrette salad dressing
In a large salad bowl, combine the greens, tomatoes, onions, lentils and cheese. Add the vinaigrette and toss gently. Taste and adjust the seasonings before serving.

Variations:
Add a small amount of leftover cooked meat, ham, poultry or shellfish for a main course.
Add chopped hard salami, pepperoni or prosciutto, some sliced olives and marinated artichoke hearts for an antipasto style salad.

============================

When you think about all the interesting possibilities, I hope you'll try both the PIP (Pan In Pot) and the Tiered Cooking Techniques. You'll find detailed instructions on these, and much, much more in my new cookbook, Miss Vickie's Big Book of Pressure Cooker Recipes. See my website for more information about other cooking methods and all the different techniques used in pressure cookery.

Does this give you ideas about how you can incorporate the Tiered Cooking technique into your own recipes? What combinations can you put together?

I'd like to get your feedback on my new recipes to see if there's anything that I need to adjust. Please, post your comments and let me know if you try these recipes, won't you?

<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Nutritional Egg Custard

Well, if you've missed me, here's the thing... My appendix ruptured, I had some post-op problems and was hospitalized until just a few days ago. I am finally home and slowly recuperating, but still weak as can be, so this is just a short post.



I've been restricted to a liquid diet for nearly two weeks now -- now there's a boring meal -- but truthfully, I'm not up to anything else. Fortunately the freezer is well supplied with broth and stock, so at least I have a welcomed change from fruit juice and Jello.



In a couple of days I'll move on to "soft foods", so I thought I share my first planned dish, an easily digested, protein rich, Nutritional Egg Custard. This particular recipe was handed down from my grandmother who worked as a practical nurse after WWII, and prepared this simple food for her patients. I remember her feeding this to my ailing grandfather, who was a victim of Mustard Gas in WWI. For any of my readers who are caregivers, you may want to try this dish if the ingredients are suitable for your loved one. Its excellent food for babies, or anyone with a tender mouth following dentistry or braces, and for those with upset tummy.

Nutritional Egg Custard
The silky texture and mild taste of this custard provides a simple, easily digested, eggy lusciousness. With only a trace of vanilla and minimum of sugar, a spoonful will slide easily across the tongue and not disturb a sensitive tummy.

2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt
In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients until smoothly blended. Pour into individual ramekins and cover tightly with foil. Pour 1/2 water in the pressure cooker and place a steamer tray on the bottom. Arrange the filled ramekins in the tray, stacking a second layer as needed. Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 4 minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. Chill the custard to set.

###

If anyone else has had a appendectomy done via a scope, add your comments please. I'd like to know how you fared, or how you recovered.

###

Pork Chops and Baked Potatoes with Salsa Sauce

Costco. I love it... I hate it.

I try not to go too often, and the fact that the huge warehouse store is located w-a-a-a-y over on the other side of town, keeps my trips down to about once a month. All right, truth be told, I'm a Costco addict and when the urge strikes a pack of slavering saber-toothed tigers couldn't keep me away!

There, happy now?

Back to my trek through the hallowed aisles of the mega-giant store where I joined the milling masses of wide-eyed shoppers eager to part with cash, checks and credit cards. There I was, weaving my way past shelves that were just chock full of everything from the mundane and practical, the strange and the wonderfully bizarre. I'm on a mission, so I passed by everything with great determination not the browse... I want FOOD!

My destination is the meat section, where the mad butchers of Costco have gleefully laid out their bloody trays of raw flesh to tempt carnivores and cooks of every sort. Ah-ha! There's what I want... that huge, battalion-sized flat of extra thick, boneless, center loin pork chops. Mine... all mine!

Remembering that many of my readers have been asking for recipes that only serve one or two portions, I decided that would be the goal of today's recipe. You can easily double the quantity, or even substitute another cut of pork chops as long it is similar in thickness, which would be about 1 1/2 inches.

Okay, let's get cookin'! Here's our ingredients, all prepped and pre-measured -- a good thing to do so you don't leave out anything -- now we're ready to go. Oh boy, just look at those thick, yummy pork chops!

/

/

Here's my lovely thick chops, well seasoned and nicely browned. The pile of caramelized onions and herbs that will form the base of the flavorful sauce. Oh, did I mention the flavor!

You can find out more about how to do browning and sauteing on the website.

Here, I've already added the salsa and onion mixture to the pressure cooker and the chops are nestled all comfy like in the flavorful sauce.

This is a good example of the Infusion Cooking method to make a rich braise in the pressure cooker.

This recipe also uses Tiered Cooking technique, stacking foods so they cook separately. I'm placing the cooking rack on TOP of the chops to form a platform for the potatoes because I want them steam roasted, not braised.


What... you thought the rack only works on the bottom?

See how the Tiered Cooking method is used in this recipe to allow me to use two different cooking techniques at the same time and in the same pot:

To braise the chops and create a delicious, flavorful and aromatic sauce using the Infusion Cooking method.

I'm also using Steam Roasting to bake the potatoes.

You can find out more about how to do all the different pressure cooking techniques used in this recipe, as well as other advanced pressure cooking methods on the website.

All right, here's my plate... where's yours?

Hungry?

====================================

Pork Chops and Baked Potatoes with Salsa Sauce

1 T olive oil
salt and coarse ground black pepper
2 extra thick cut boneless pork chops
1/3 c chopped cilantro
1/2 c chopped onions
2 T minced garlic
1 T dried oregano
1 cup chunky salsa
4 potatoes (these were small)
1/2 c water

Heat the oil in the pressure cooker. Rub salt and pepper into the chops and brown them on both sides. Saute the onions and garlic until soft and caramelized to a golden brown. Set aside. Add the water to the not cooker and deglaze, scraping up any stuck-on browned bits. Stir in the salsa, cilantro and oregano, and place the chops in the sauce. Place a rack or steamer tray on top of the chops and arrange the potatoes. Lock the lid in place. Bring to 15psi over high heat, immediately reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting to stabilize and maintain that pressure. Cook 12 minutes. Remove from heat and use the natural release method before opening the lid. Transfer the chops to individual serving plates. Make 2-3 cuts in each potato to open them up and spoon some of that spicy salsa sauce over the top.

Good news! The publisher has approved the new cover for the cookbook. Its dramatically different for the first cover design, and I think it looks spectacular! A larger view is available in PDF format.

I'm happy! Of the half dozen or so different designs presented, I liked this one the best from the first time I saw it. Lucky for me, the publisher and their focus group were in agreement, so this should be the final version... barring any last minute resersal, of course

Follow this link to see the original cover concept art, and you'll see just how dramatically the design has changed and morphed into the end product. Take a look and then post your comments here, I want to know what you think.

I'm extremely happy with my editor -- yes, shameless pandering on my part! -- but he really listened to my concerns and then worked hard to accomodate my suggestions in the finished design.

As for what's happening with the cookbook now; a "professional indexer" is putting together the index. Did you know there was such a job? I didn't, but I'm extremely grateful that I don't have to do that work myself. Been there! Done that! Never want to do it again!

Also, it looks like the publishing date is holding for early February, so keep that in mind. Preliminary placeholders (still showing an earlier cover art) are now up at Amazon US ($15.61) and the Amazon UK (£10.09), and soon on other online book sellers too.



UPDATE

The book is moving along very well, and the publisher has decided to release it to bookstores a little earlier than first planned. The official release date will now be January 21, 2008, so it will be available to consumers on Amazon shortly there after, and in stores throughout the country and overseas within 3 weeks after that.

I Get Mail...

To help canners get up to date, I thought I'd sum up some of the most frequently asked email questions about canning:


1. Can I use either my stovetop or electric pressure cooker for canning if it reaches 15PSI?

2. The house gets so hot when I'm canning. Can I use my canner on a propane camp stove outside?

3. Why do I have to vent the canner?

4. Does a pressure canner have to be a certain size?

5. Can I use my pressure cooker or pressure canner as a regular waterbath canner?

6. Is it safe to process low acid foods in a waterbath kettle if I let it boil for several hours?

7. What's the best way to store my canner?


Want the answers? Read the rest of this article.

Several email questions tcame in this week about faulty information found on other websites. So let me send out a word of caution to everyone to be very cautious about accepting canning advice from self-styled Internet "experts".

Yes, I know there are many websites that give incorrect -- if not down right dangerous -- canning info, but that's the nature of the Internet. Just be safe and be aware that a wealth of fact-based and up-to-date articles are available FREE through online state extension services. That's why the only canning directions I link to are from USDA, scientifically tested extension websites.

My advice is to play it safe and not risk the potential of foodborne illnesses. Pass up any online canning info that is not based on the current USDA guidelines. This will also include all those well-meaning friends who want to loan you canning books from the 70s, and the elderly relatives who want to tell you how they canned a 100 quarts of green beans in a number 10 wash tub over a wood fire back in the 30s.

Some of my readers are asking about pressure cooker manufacturers who advertise that their cooker can be substituted for a pressure canner. The latest USDA recommendations DOES NOT support their claim, so let the buyer beware. Remember, your family's health and safety always comes first so lets err on the side of caution and follow the scientific guidelines when it comes to canning.

Canning Season

About this time of year, I start getting lots of emails about canning, so its time for a little trip down memory lane. When I was a girl, we canned about 200 quarts of peaches and pears and snap beans, corn and tomatoes during the late Indian summers.

As I sit in my kitchen today, listening to the summer breeze rustling through the leaves outside my window, I recall the memories of fifty years ago... I can almost smell the pungent aroma of vinegar and spices from the pickling crocks under the back stairs at grandma's old farm house. Memory stirs and I am reminded of far removed apple trees south of the hay barn, and the tangled blackberry brambles racing up the hillside.

We kids would sit on the old back porch with grandma and peel, and pare, and pit until our hands were stained with a rainbow of pinks, yellows, greens and reds from a bountiful harvest. All through those crisp fall days of long ago, the canners bubbled and hissed on the stove, churning out jar after jar of jar of garden produce.

It was a lot of work, but eating grandma's peach cobbler on a cold and blustery winter day made it all worth while. Well that's my blast from the past... do you all have similar stories from years gone by?

Update on the Book Cover

My editor is a doll! He really listened to my concerns, as well as all the feedback you provided here on the blog. That was very important, and thanks to everyone who took the time to add a comment.

I have seen the first draft of a totally new cover design, and its a winner! I can't share it with anyone just yet -- hopefully I'll get the OK soon -- but I will say that the PHOTO is yummy!

Oh, and as long as you're here... take the little poll over there