Lagostina Pronto question...

Amazinggrace will hopefully be along shortly with all the links and information you need.

Thanks for the vote of confidence,  phatch.  Hi Helen,  I'll be happy to try to help you figure this out.  First thing I need to know is the make, model and size of the pressure cooker.  Once I know this information,  we can talk about cooking the ribs.   Grace

Make and Model sound like Langostina and Pronto respectively. A little googling makes it look like the Pronto is only available in a 6 liter size.

http://www.lagostina.ca/html/productDetail.asp?idstore=&idpro=351&idcat=23&idsubcat=45

More reading it only hits 8 and 12 pounds pressure with the valve system they use.  Should be close enough to figure an extra time percentage for most recipes I think.  They have a good pdf file with recipes and instructions. 

http://www.lagostina.ca/images/booklet-english1.pdf

Thanks for all the info, phatch.  By this time of night I get medicine brain,  so I need all the help I can get.  I found the Pronto at the Lagostina site,  and it's sure a pretty thing! 

Yes, you will want to place the ribs in the steaming rack,  above the liquid.  Use between 1 and 1 1/2 cups water.  You may brush the ribs with sauce and whatever seasoning you like, but do not try to use sauce as your only liquid.  It will not produce enough steam,  and it will burn.  Do not fill the cooker more than 2/3 full.  The space above the food is required head room for steam.  Use natural pressure release. 

Here is a website where you can find the conversion for cooking with less than 15psi.  

www.missvickie.com

Off the top of my head,  I think you would increase the cooking time by 20%.  At 15psi,  ribs need 10 minutes of pressure,  so for 12psi,  add 2 more minutes.  The ribs should be done so that the bone can easily be pulled out,  but not so much that the meat literally falls off the bone.  Layer the ribs in such a way that they are not closely packed in.  You want the steam to circulate.  If you are doing a large amount of ribs,  you will need to do them in several batches.  It will not be necessary to change the cooking liquid,  just be sure you have at least 1 cup.  

I'm going to do a little more research to make sure I gave you the correct conversion.  Grace

I was correct about the adjustment.  When you get to the website,  click on "cook 101",  then when the menu appears on the left side of the screen,  scroll down to Pressure cooker conversion chart.  That will give you the information you need. 

Helen, yes,  "natural pressure release" is allowing the pressure to drop on it's own.   This allows for 2 things.  One is additional cooking time.  The other reason is that some foods foam (in particular, meats, grains and beans, but there are others as well).  With these foods, fill the cooker no more than half full,  and use natural pressure release to prevent food particles from being carried via steam into the operating valve.  If you are "pressure steaming" above the cooking liquid,  you an cheat with the fill rule.  Quick release of pressured meats can force the juices out of meats, resulting in a dry and tougher product. 

I hope your ribs were a success.  Please let us know how they turned out.  G. 

Hi Helen.  It was a pleasure helping you,  and I'm glad the ribs were successful.  Pressure cooking is such a pleasant and easy way to prepare any variety of foods.  I'm passionate about it...can you guess?

Chicken breasts are quite simple.  Either remove the skin or leave it on...your choice. 

Brown them.  Actually,  I do the browning right in the cooker,  then deglaze the pan with the cooking liquid,  which I make into a sauce when the meat is done.  Once browned,  place the meat in the basket over the cooking liquid and season with your lemon-pepper mixture and don't forget the salt if there is none in the lemon mix.  Lock on the lid, bring to pressure for 8 min @ psi,  or 9.6 min @ 12 psi.  Let pressure drop naturally. 

You will need only 1 cup of liquid.  Trust  me, it won't boil dry unless you fall asleep for 30 minutes (don't do that!).  I suggest using white wine, or chicken broth and infuse the liquid with lemon zest.  When done,  you can thicken this with a little corn starch or arrowroot,  or just stir in a pat or two of (real) butter.  Mmm...making me want to make some right now!

Grace

I typically suspend meat above the liquid, unless a recipe specifically says otherwise.  With the instructions for the chicken breast,  the flavor of the broth or wine will not influence the chicken much because it's really the steam that's doing the cooking.  But there will be flavorful drippings into the liquid from the chicken, that will enhance the wine and/or broth when you make the sauce.  The same with the lemon zest.  Now,  if you plan to brown the chicken with the skin on,  you might put some seasonings and lemon zest under the skin before beginning the browning.    Even if you skin the chicken,  you can make a pocket in the chicken for some of the seasoning and/or zest and/or herbs (I like fresh rosemary).  You certainly may cover the chicken with the liquid instead.  However this results in chicken that has essentially been boiled.  And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think pressure-steaming produces a better finished product.  I hope this helps. 

Thanks for the gracious invitation.  I would love to spend time introducing you to various pressure cooker techniques,  but I cannot get away from here right now.  Grace

This is a nice site populated by nice people, isn't it! 

Mike

Should be when the steam comes out I would think.

Helen,  you should begin timing the pressure cycle when steam starts coming from the operating valve. At this same time you will also want to reduce the heat to just what is needed to maintain a slight emission of steam during the pressure cycle.  The pressure stem popping up indicates that steam is building inside the pot, but it does not mean that you have reached full pressure.  The pressure stem also activates one of the cooker's integrated safety features, as once that stem pops up, the lid cannot be unlocked.  (It is possible to override this feature to remove the lid, but only an idiot would want to do that!). 

I'm so glad you are enjoying your pressure cooker.  Keep up the good work.  Gracie

BTW, I bought a digital timer.  Wonderful investment...under $15.  I had been using the timer on the microwave,  but one day HubbyDearest reset it by accident...grrrr.  Fortunately, no real harm was done,  but this was my wakeup call none the less.  G

Hi-I hope that reviving this thread doen't break any forum rules, it's just that this thread played a key role in my purchasing a Pronto. While I'm a fairly experienced cook, I never ventured into pressure cooking due to family prejudice.

The discussion here made the pronto seem like a good choice for a starter pressure cooker and it was on sale so I picked one up. Everything seems straightforward but I'm a bit confused about one thing. The cooker comes with a small steam basket, a valve cleaner and a v-shaped piece of metal that seems like it should hang something or prop something up, but I can't figure out what, and the book makes no mention of it.

Can anyone tell me what this item is for? Thanks in advance.

Frank

Hi Helen,

Thanks for the info-I've been travelling, but got home this weekend and was able to try it out. The stand works much better when stretched out as you said-it was so unstable I couldn't imagine how it would work once the cooker was pressurized.I tried some chicken ribs and had lots of success with them, and with following the suggestion for making sauce as well. I think beef ribs will be my next project.

Thanks again for your help I'm glad I bought the Pronto and I'm looking forward to experimenting.

Frank

Great discussion - and great help.  I am like Locomouse - bought the Lagnostina Pronto Pressure cooker - but the manual is pretty limited in help.  I have just cooked up a batch of dry beans to be added to a vegan chilli recipe I'm making up for our Canadian Thanksgiving - and while I was trying to figure out the 15 psi bit on my unit - came across this link!!!  Fantastic links to help me understand how to use this pressure cooker - and hoping to one day try out the ribs that are mentioned above.  Have to admit - this pressure cooker was recommended by a sailor friend of mine - who was canning meats for her sailing adventure for a year to the Caribbean.  She swore that this unit worked for her - but before she had left a year ago - I never got to ask her the nitty gritty questions that were urking me today as I tried to figure out what temperature to turn my ceramic stove top down to (in the end - unit appeared to be happy at setting of 3).  I'll report back if the timing of the beans didn't turn out (was using Miss Vickie's recommendations - but that I now believe was based on a 15 psi pressure cooker - which from what I understand now - this one isn't - so the link for adjusting cooking times will come in handy).  Lots of reading to do - again - merci beaucoup!!!

Hello all,

I've just purchased the Pronto pressure cooker as well, my first pressure cooker, and I'm wondering if it's stopped working properly. The first time I used it, it seemed to work well until I put it in the sink and ran cold water over it. Thankfully I had put it in the sink because the safety window in the lid started spewing stew everywhere! Once it calmed down, I removed the lid, and cleaned everything and the stew was quite good. The issue is that ever since then the red pressure control valve isn't rising or letting out steam. Instead, steam is coming steadily from the pressure indicator on the other handle (#13 on the illustration in the manual) and I'm afraid to keep the heat up to see if the red control valve will rise. I'm able to lift the valve manually, so there doesn't appear to be anything blocking it...

Am I just being a chicken or is it possible I broke it?

Thanks for any insight you might have!

Thanks so much Helen! Your post gave me confidence and, once I relaxed about it, I realized I had locked the steel dowel in the open position the last time I tried the cooker. Uh...duh! Anyway, I'm happy to report I just made a very successful, super quick stew and have now downloaded an e-book full of pressure cooker recipes from my local library. I can't wait to try a whole bunch of new recipes! 

Cheers!

Lianne

p.s. - A friend of mine heard that the newer cookers, like the one we have, doesn't de-pressurize well with cold water being run over the top of it. He suggested I try putting it in a sink of cold water instead. I'm going to stick to letting mine de-pressurize naturally, for now, but thought I'd mention this in case it helps anyone else...