Friday Fun: Under Pressure (Cooker)

Cool Dads love nothing more than a new kitchen gadget to play with. A few months back, the Wisconsin Test Kitchen was gifted with a pressure cooker to try making homemade chicken stock. Seriously: the amount of money we spend on chicken stock every two weeks at the grocery store is ridiculous. It's time to learn to make our own. 

But, the poor pressure cooker has sat in the basement unused for months. Until last week! Kevin came home from work with five pounds of beautiful beef short ribs, and we needed to find a way to cook them quickly. Pressure cooker to the rescue! It just so happened our pressure cooker cookbook had a recipe for short ribs, and we had all the ingredients. That almost never happens. It was obviously meant to be. 

If you haven't cooked with a pressure cooker before, make sure to read the instruction manual and do your homework: you don't want to blow up your kitchen. But once you determine if you're cooking on high or low pressure, you're good to. Once you get the hang of it, your pressure cooker can be the most versatile tool in your kitchen: we mentioned making stock, but you can use it for canning and preserving, and to cook thick cuts of meat quickly. Our short ribs were done in 35 minutes and were incredibly tender and juicy. We're already trying to figure out the next thing we can cook with it! Bonus points- pressure cookers are fairly inexpensive, depending on the size you want. This is the model we have:
Granite Ware Pressure Cooker

We also received a cookbook with a ton of different recipes in it:
Great Food Fast; which is where the short rib recipe came from! 

Bacon & Red Wine Braised Short Ribs

5 strips bacon
3-4lbs. bone-in short ribs, trimmed of excess fat
salt and pepper
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup red wine
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons cornstarch, whisked into 1 tablespoon water
3 tablespoons butter or margarine

With the cooker's lid off, heat bacon on high, until nearly crisp. Remove bacon, coarsely chop, and set aside.

Sprinkle short ribs with a generous amount of salt and pepper, and add to the bacon grease in the cooker to brown on both sides. 

Add chopped bacon and remaining ingredients (except for cornstarch and butter), and securely lock the pressure cooker's lid. Set the cooker for 35 minutes on high. 

Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes before performing a quick-release for any remaining pressure.

Transfer the cooked short ribs to a serving platter and set the cooker to high until the cooking liquid is simmering. Whisk the cornstarch and water mixture into the liquid and cook 2 minutes, until thickened. Stir in butter and a pinch of salt and pepper before ladling the sauce over the short ribs to serve. 

So, what say you, loyal readers? Have you cooked with pressure cookers in the past? What are some of your favorite recipes? Or, do you have a new kitchen gadget you're loving? Leave us a note in the comments section!

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew