Yesterday, I won a gift certificate

[hippywife]

to cooking.com. $100! I'm gonna have some real decisions to make, I think. :D

[Tesha]

1. oh, lucky you!!!

Will it be one large thing or a bunch of small ones?

A great new knife, or an appliance?


oh, you're going to have fun!:hi:

[hippywife]

5. At first I was looking at a bunch

of smallish things but then my old boss at work made a good point. I can buy those smallish things any time I want along the way, but I'm not likely to make a big purchase without the certificate. I hadn't thought about it that way, but she's right.

:hi:

[Callalily]

2. Congrats! And have

fun shopping!

[hippywife]

6. Thanx, Callalily.

So far it's been very frustrating trying to decide. LOL

[yellerpup]

3. Congratulations!

Enjoy dreaming, and shopping, and getting cool stuff for free! Did you win a cooking contest? :hi:

[hippywife]

7. No recipe contest.

I registered and posted on their forums quite a bit for several months. I hadn't posted there for about 3-4 months, tho.

Free is good! Now if I can just decide what I want. :hi:

[beac]

4. *is envious*

Be sure and tell us what you decide on so I can be envious some more! ;)

[hippywife]

8. I don't have a lot of extra money

to spend right now to add to the certificate and it seems everything I want in the area of a new saute pan and other items are out of my reach at the moment, and everything I'm looking at within the $100 among the things I would like to have are made in China...something I do not want. Very frustrating.

:hi:

[hippywife]

9. So this is what I'm leaning towards.

I've spent three days looking and I keep coming back to this. Even though it, too, is made in China, I see no way around it for cookware I can afford.

What do you all think of this pressure cooker set?


http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=130916




Features:

# Impact bonded aluminum diffuser base for even heat distribution and fuel efficiency
# Visual pressure indicator which lets user know when all pressure has been released
# One pressure setting in a spring-valve mechanism operated by a dial format: High (15psi)
# Dual pressure control valve
# Two independent over pressure release valves
# Safety locking handle prevents accidental opening under pressure
# Fagor Pressure Cooker Video Clip


Set Includes:

# 4-Quart pot
# 8-Quart pot
# 1 Tempered glass lid which fits both pots
# 1 Pressure cooker lid which fits both pots
# Stainless steel pasta basket
# Recipe book
# Stainless steel steamer basket and trivet
# Recipe book


Specifications:

# Material: 18/10 stainless steel
# Diameter of 4-Quart Pot: 9”
# Diameter of 8-Quart Pot: 10”
# Cleaning and Care: pot is dishwasher safe
# Warranty: 10-year
# UL approved

[scentopine]

24. Wow - I bought that set years ago, we still have it ...

Congrats on recipe contest!

Our set gets used almost daily - big and small pots. If you eat meats and like soups and home made spaghetti sauce, etc - its a pretty nice set. These days we do mostly veggies.

Corn, broc, beans, carrots, potatoes, artichokes, etc. The recipes are actually really good and helpful, super easy. We are a bit lazy and just do minimal stuff these days.

My mom still makes a killer chicken soup and remember my grandmother using hers almost 50 years ago to make an outrageously delicious pot roast and soups.

Now there is one thing I can advise - we ditched our gas stove (heresy, I know). We ran a special 220V line for a new electric. It finally gets hot enough to really get the pressure up (quick and good head of steam) and no more stink. Our two gas stoves just never seemed to build up enough steam (or heat for a stir fry). Very very very happy with electric stove after years and years with gas. We'll never go back to gas (but I digress...)

You can brown stuff in the pot in olive oil or whatever in pot, and then dump in rest of stuff and cook without fear of burning. We had the cheap wear-ever pot once and stuff would burn. Would not buy that again. This set heats evenly.

Anyway, I don't know what we would do without this pressure cooker at this point! I guess we've had this exact set for at least 10 years.

We replaced gasket once a few years back. Silicon, must have been about $10 from appliance.com or some place like that, it lasts a long time.

Note: Be careful releasing steam as it is done by pushing that purple-ish thing forward on the handle and steam comes out. It can also be heavy to carry from stove to sink if you have it loaded. Clear spot in sink before you carry it over.

BTW- we've never had one explode, or even come close to exploding. Worst thing that happens is you might forget to add water and wonder why its taking so long... :-)

[hippywife]

25. Thank you very much

for letting me know that. It really helps me feel more confident in ordering it. :hi:

[Tesha]

10. Did you see this?

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=221009

Our Price: $149.99
Special: $49.99
You Save: $100.00
and made in the USA

[Tesha]

11. or if you don't like non-stick

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=233224

Our Price: $144.95
Special: $99.99
You Save: $45.01


also USA made

[hippywife]

12. Yeah, I looked at all of them...

over and over and over again. LOL I really don't want non-stick coatings. This is what I really want:

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=206261



I saw this one, too, and it doesn't say where it is made. I looked at other websites and still can't find that information. I'm guessing that it is also China given the price.

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=200345

[Dover]

13. It's so hard to spend free money...

;)

But a fun problem to have. Congrats!
If you don't already have a pressure cooker, that one looks like a keeper and a nice
multi-function set. I'll bet it's one you'd have a loooog loooong time and be very happy with it.
It doesn't have to be top of the line to do a good job and last.

[hippywife]

14. You wouldn't think it would be so tuff, would you? LOL

I talked it over with Bill and we think that is what we are going to do. I also found out there's a 50/50 chance that it was made is Spain. I emailed for clarification.

It was your pressure cooker discussion here that got me seriously thinking about getting one. :hi:

[Dover]

15. Yea! If you've never cooked with a pressure cooker you're also

purchasing a new experience in cooking! That's a big plus. I can't wait to hear what your experience is. Let us know. And that 4 qt. pot with the option of being used as a smaller pressure cooker or regular cooking pot looks very handy too. Have fun! :hi:

[hippywife]

16. I never have used one.

My mom did occasionally and was always afraid of the thing because her grandmother had one explode on her, which is probably why I've never owned one.

I've mentioned this here before but I still have memories of my mom's mom being at our house when I was just a teenager. She seasoned some type of roast, cut small holes in it and inserted garlic cloves in each one. She browned it in suet and then cooked it in the pressure cooker. Never had a better tasting roast before or even since.

Last night I was still hedging on what I wanted to order and had myself talked back into a bunch of smaller items, but I'll probably go ahead and order the pressure cooker set.

Will probably need lots of cooking advice once I get it. :hi:

[Warpy]

17. Offhand, I'd say the pressure cooker is a very wise choice

because we all know the cost of energy is going nowhere but up into the stratosphere as the years crawl on. Pressure cooking is a way to maximize it, as is the extensive prep done for flash cooking in a wok.

You're going to love doing things like throwing a dry cup of soybeans into a pot with some water and ending up with fully cooked soybeans an hour and a half later, a process that takes 4-6 hours after soaking at sea level. You're also going to love the flavor of meats done in that cooker, since the aroma--and the flavor--is kept inside the pot instead of being released into the air by slower, open cooking methods. The texture of the toughest shoe leather meats will be fall apart tender.

That it doubles as a pasta pot is really nice. It looks like a well thought out cooker.

[hippywife]

18. That's what I was thinking.

It's a really good price for the set, but the one thing I don't like is that it only has one setting which is High (15 psi). I'm just going to be learning how to use one, so hopefully that won't limit too much what I can cook in it or turn things to mush.

[Warpy]

19. You can do everything but sterilize medical gear at 15 psi

Medical gear takes about half an hour at 20 psi to kill off all the hep B viri. Cooking and canning are both done at 15 psi.

[hippywife]

20. I have a very large

old pressure cooker that I picked up at the Salvation Army store a few years back. The interior isn't suitable any longer for cooking, but canning should be fine. So far, we've not gotten enough and have eaten anything out of the garden that would require pressure canning. The tomatoes I've canned only required hot water processing so I haven't gotten to test it out yet.

[Warpy]

23. My pressure canner is aluminum

and if I'm cooking something in it, I put it in a stainless steel bowl inside it.

The aluminum is safe but I'm a fussbudget, especially if there's any acid in the food.

[Dover]

21. hehehe....my pressure cooker (a gift from my father upon college graduation)

is hardly top of the line and has NO type of settings whatsoever. You just twist on the lid, turn on the heat and wait until steam starts to shoot out the top and then pop on the pressure cap. I don't even know what I'd DO with a choice of settings...lol! Anyway, it's been working for me all these years and the only thing that's needed replacing are the rubber parts (rings and pressure plug on the lid).

I think problems with safety issues comes about from a lack of understanding about pressure and metals, expansion and contraction. You don't take a hot pressurized pot and suddenly put it under cold running water in order to hurry the 'cool down' phase, for instance. I rarely am in such a hurry that I would even be tempted to do something like that, but if I was I just know to remove the pressure cap instead which releases the steam from the pot without shocking it. Of course the kitchen then fills with steam and becomes a tropical 'paradise', lol. Just read the directions carefully and heed the rules of safety. That said, I can recall my mother breaking the rules often and her cast aluminum cooker was apparently very forgiving.

If you do choose to purchase this set (and no 'pressure' to do so...lol), then I can just imagine you'll try to make the roast just like your grandmother, and I can't wait to hear about the results.
:9

Whatever you choose will undoubtedly be just great. Looking at all the wonderful items offered on that website I can only think, "how could you go wrong?".

[Warpy]

22. My pressure canner has a dial

that goes from 0 to 22 psi. Anything over that blows the relief valve.

It's a good way to be able to time things when it gets up to pressure.

[hippywife]

26. Okay! I just spent this baby!

I had forgotten all about it for the last week or so...and I'm glad I did! I went back and looked at their saute pans and they had a tri-ply 5.5 qt. stainless saute pan marked half off! I got that and a set of 11 nested cookie/biscuit cutters and a pie crust shield!

I got stuff I will get much more use out of than the pressure cooker, although that would have been nice, too. :D

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! :woohoo:

[yellerpup]

30. Congratulations!

Enjoy it in good health! Glad you got a pie crust shield, too. Now that I have them (2) I don't know how I got along without them for so long. :applause:

[hippywife]

27. My stuff came today! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

The saute pan is just beautiful! It's what I've been wanting for so very long. :bounce:

[Stinky The Clown]

28. Use it with gusto!

:hug:

[hippywife]

29. Thank you, Stinky

for all the advice you gave me last year when I was deciding I needed one. :hug: