Electric Pressure Cookers, A review of Sorts...

If you have read any of my articles, then you know I have more than my share of pressure cookers and pressure canners. While my wife has used a few in her lifetime, she is not a big fan of the old style rocker/jiggler weight gauge pressure cookers. About 6 months ago she asked me about what I knew about electric pressure cookers, and I must admit I had to say “nothing”. So after our conversation, I spent the next evening trying to find out all the things I could about electric pressure cookers.

While there is a lot of good information out here on the “wide world web”, as with anything sometimes the information can be quite vague. While there are a lot of videos out there that share a good bit of information regarding specific products, sometimes weeding through them all to find that one specific answer to your question can be quite daunting. My parents already had a 6 quart 'Instant Pot' brand electric pressure cooker that they purchased about 4 months previously and they were very happy with it. Anyway, a couple days after our initial conversation, it was evident that my wife wanted an electric pressure cooker and I admit I was intrigued by the idea. So after looking on-line at prices and reviews, off we went to Walmart to purchase our 8 quart 'Power Pressure Cooker XL' electric pressure cooker.

The Power Cooker XL

Not rated the best in the top ten of electric pressure cookers, the Power Pressure Cooker XL ranked somewhere in the middle (4 or 5), but was definitely the best value for the money. As I mentioned, my parents owned an 'Instant Pot' electric pressure cooker, but it was about $20.00 more for a smaller 6 quart pressure cooker and we wanted an 8 quart model. In addition, the 'Power Pressure Cooker XL' claimed in their infomercials that I had watched on YouTube that you could can in them. My wife was excited about this as she was eager to help with some of the canning I do and she will not use a conventional pressure canner. So off we went an purchased a Power Pressure Cooker XL 8 quart electric pressure cooker. In this article I want to share with you some of our experiences that we have had so far with our electric pressure cooker.

One Pot cooking (Sort Of)

One of creator's or 'pitch man' for the Power Pressure Cooker XL claims you can do all your cooking in their pressure cooker, it fact it is their biggest selling point that he continually repeats in his videos. "No need to sauté your meat in another pan, you can do it in the Power Pressure Cooker XL". Unlike the Instant Pot, the Power Pressure Cooker XL does not have a specific button to sauté foods. On all their infomercials and videos on YouTube, to sauté they tell you to hit the meat button with the lid off to sauté or brown your meats and vegetables. The information on their website states “On the Power Pressure Cooker XL press any preset buttons with the lid off to sauté”.

What I have found is that no matter they type or amount of oil or cooking spray I use in the Power Pressure Cooker XL, the meat sticks and then burns to the bottom of the Teflon coated pot. Chicken, rabbit, and pork would all stick to the bottom of the pan every time I tried to sauté them in the pressure cooker. In addition, onions browned two quickly and would burn using this approach. The bottom line is that sautéing in the Power Pressure Cooker XL is a pain in the backside. This is not a deal breaker for me, but it is one their biggest claims, and in my experience it is an absolute fail. I now sauté my meats and vegetables in a separate pan on the stove and then add them to the pressure cooker. So much for one pot cooking.

My parents had told me that they sauté meats and vegetables all the time in their Instant Pot pressure cooker with no problems. So this weekend while I was there to help my father lay some new flooring, I took the opportunity to try out the Instant Pot. Unlike the Power Pressure Cooker XL, the Instant Pot has a stainless steel cooking pot. It also has a specific saute button you use to sauté meats and vegetables. So I added a little olive oil to the pan, hit the sauté button and browned a 3lb roast with no problems, it did not stick once during the process. Whether it is because of the stainless steel pot, or the fact that maybe the Instant Pot regulated the temperature better using the 'sauté' button I do not know, but it actually performed the way I expected it too when sautéing meats and vegetables and that was nice.

Is Canning In Your Electric Pressure Cooker Safe?

While they initially claimed that you could can using the Power Pressure Cooker XL, the company has backed off somewhat on that claim. However, on their website they still state “the units reach 80-kPa/11.6 psi, which is the required pressure for canning”. So in theory, any foods that only require a minimum of 10psi or less should be able to be canned safely, while any foods that require 15psi could not be canned safely in the Power Pressure Cooker XL. The National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP) does not recommend any electric pressure cookers for canning except the 'Ball Automatic Home Canner' for which they give three specific reasons “(1) is not a "multi-cooker", but a dedicated canner, (2) comes with its own instructions and pre-set canning options for specific food preparations, and (3) has had proper thermal process development done to support the recommendations with it.”

Ok, so I am no thermal engineer, I am only a cook, but personally, I believe any experienced canner should be able to take foods that need only 10psi and should be able to safely can in an electric pressure cooker. I will admit canning is not an exact science, you have to adjust the jiggler (weight gauge) or pressure gauge until you get the right rhythm or sound coming from your pressure canner or until you get to a specific pressure reading. So if you want to can in an electric pressure cooker, use your noggin, look at your recipe, and follow the same process that you would when using a standard pressure canner. I am not endorsing this process, I am simply saying I think that it can be done safely. For those of you who live at high altitudes, I would not attempt to do this as higher altitudes require a higher pressure rating than the Power Pressure Cooker XL can reach (15psi minimum).

The NCHP's biggest concerns regarding electric pressure cookers appears to be as follows “low-acid pressure process times rely on a combination of heat from the time the canner is coming to pressure, during the actual process time, and then during the early stages of cooling the canner and jars. Even after the heat is turned off under the canner, at the end of the recommended process time, the food remains at high enough temperatures for another period of time that can still contribute to killing of bacteria. This retained heat while the canner has to cool naturally to 0 pounds pressure before opening is used to advantage in calculating the total sterilizing value of the process to preserve some food quality. If anything is done to shorten the cooling period, including using a very small cooker, then the food could cool down more quickly, and be under-processed. (That is why we recommend using only pressure cookers that hold four or more quart-size jars.) Bacteria are not killed in the food only during the process time; the time it takes the canner to come up to pressure, the process time, and the cool-down time all matter. There is no way at this point in time to know exactly the percentage of contribution from cooling for each of the canning recommendations.” If you are concerned about the quicker cool down time when using a electric pressure canner, the simple fix would be to increase the processing time of the recipe for about 10-15 minutes. Again, this is not a recommendation, just a personal observation.

So the big question is have I pressure canned in my Power Pressure Cooker XL? Not yet, I may try a few canning recipes that require only 10psi, but spring is just now here, and I have nothing from the garden that needs to be canned at this time, but I may try a few soups and sauces (spaghetti w/o meat, and barbecue) just to check it out.

Clean Up

I must admit I have also been disappointed with the Power Pressure Cooker XL's ease of cleaning. While one would assume that a non-stick Teflon coated pot would be easier to clean than one that does not have a non-stick coating, I have not found this to be true. For some reason, the cooking pot of the Power Pressure Cooker has a small textured hexagon shaped pattern on the bottom of the cooking pot. I am not sure if this pattern was designed to make foods less likely to stick but it does not work, and it makes it quite a bit harder to clean the inner cooking pot. Honestly, I found the stainless steel cooking pot of the Instant Pot that my parents own quite a bit easier to clean and that was somewhat surprising. As for the lid, it comes apart quite easily and you can throw it in the dishwasher and it is easy to clean, only the pot is cantankerous.

I will be honest, we used stainless steel pots and sauté pans in just about every restaurant in which I worked during my 18 years in the restaurant business and they clean pretty easily, and the coating never comes off. In the long run, I would prefer a stainless steel cooking pot, but the power pressure cooker does not offer one at this time.

Performance

So if you have read this far, you probably think that I hate my Power Pressure Cooker right? Actually, I like it quite a bit, for the most part it performs as advertised, and there are only a few minor inconveniences that bug me (sautéing, and non-stick surface), but nothing is perfect. In fact, I think it cooks quite well, meats come out tender in about a third of the time it would need to cook in a conventional oven. I make beef stroganoff in my electric pressure cooker in 40 minutes that is super tender, and it is about the best tool for boiling a dozen eggs in 6 minutes that peel perfectly and are cooked just right. We have actually began to use our electric pressure cooker quite a bit, because it requires less time and energy to cook the same recipes that we like as opposed to a conventional oven or slow cooker. Btw, it has a slow cooker mode, we have just never used it yet.

The instruction and recipe books that come with the Power Pressure Cooker are a joke, it has a few recipes (maybe 10-15). My parents use a book titled “The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book: 500 Easy Recipes for Every Machine, Both Stovetop And Electric” for use with their Instant Pot. I liked it so much I purchased one off Amazon for $15.09 with free shipping and had it here is two days, and it has some very good recipes in it. In addition, I will be posting some of our favorite recipes that we use in our electric pressure cooker here on the blog.

Pressure Settings (Low and High)

According to the The Power Pressure Cooker XL manual, all cooking modes except canning, use low pressure for cooking (7.2PSI or 50kPa). The canning mode is the only function that uses high pressure (12PSI or 82.7kPa) The only function that the preset buttons perform is giving you a suggested or default starting time for a particular type of food for which the cook time can be increased or decreased. From what I can tell from their website (under the cooking information), all of the Instant Pot default buttons indicate that it cooks at a higher pressure (10-2-11.6PSI or 70-80kPa) than the Power Cooker XL regardless of the cooking mode.

Conclusion

Overall, we are happy with our electric pressure cooker purchase. In hindsight, had I been afforded the opportunity to have tried my parents Instant Pot before purchasing the Power Pressure Cooker XL, I probably would have purchased the Instant Pot brand. However, the canner in me is intrigued at the possibilities of using the Power Pressure Cooker for canning food that require 10psi or less. This was after all my wife's original reason for wanting an electric pressure cooker so that she could attempt to help me can and preserve some of our harvest.

Eventually I am sure I will try and can with my Power Pressure Cooker regardless of the objections of the NCHFP. I have been canning long enough and know how to maintain proper food safety that I believe that I can overcome their concerns and or objections safely. If you wish to do so, it is at your own risk and I am not endorsing the Power Pressure Cooker XL as a safe canning device, I am simply stating my opinion. As always, we ask that if you find this information interesting that you please share it with your friends on Facebook and Google+. Don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook and Google+. You can also subscribe to our blog so that you do not miss any of our new recipes or articles.

Electric Pressure Cooker Recipes On Our Blog:

Pressure Cooker Beef Stroganoff 

Canning Related Articles On Our Blog:

To Pressure Or Not To Pressure, That Is The Question.

Canning Basics: A Step-By-Step Guide.

Yes You Can: Preserving Your Harvest.

References:

Power Pressure Cooker XL Website, www.powerpressurecooker.com

Instant Pot Website, www.instantpot.com

Burning Issue:Canning In Electric Multi-Cookers: Should I can in my electricmulti-cooker appliance?, National Center for Home Food Preservation, February 13, 2015.