Any Pressure Cooker Users?

[doodle]

I bought a new Cuisinart pressure cooker to allow me to do larger volumns of meat for stews etc. I have followed the suggested guidelines in the manual. I seared the meat first. I have tried less time and more time. I have tried the quick release and the natural release method but all to no avail.

The beef cubes I did were very tasty but they were not as tender (ie: cut the meat with a fork) result as I would have liked. It was verging on dry but I used the required min. 1 cup of liquid and once cooked I had much more than that. The only thing I can think of is that I should have used even more liquid or I needed to start with drier meat to get an even better sear. Would that have made all the difference in the world?

I have always dredged with flour and seared, and slow roasted but that is not the way I want to go from now on. There has to be something I am not doing correctly but beats me what it is.

I started with a standard time of 10 minutes and high pressure for batch # 1

-when I did only 8 minutes for # 2 it wasn't any better so I added 6 more minutes

-then I tried 6 minutes for # 3 and added 6 more minutes

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why my meat, while it tastes great, is not as tender as it should be and a bit on the dry/chewy side?

thanks, doodle

[ang1e0251]

I will ask my husband for you. He'l Colombian and they use their pressure cookers almost every day. He has much more experience than I. I've never had meat come out the way you've described. Off the top of my head, it sounds like too little moisture and too little time. But I will ask Gamal for the expert advice.

[Generic]

I have an older pressure cooker, so I don't know if that will make a difference or not but this is what I do.

I use a pressure cooker all the time to make stew. I brown the meat. Add the liquid (about 3-4 cups) with the seasonings. I bring it to a rock on high then turn the temp down to medium. I cook it for 20 minutes. I do the quick release of the steam, open it up and add the veggies to the meat. I bring it to a rock again, turn it down, then cook for about 8 minutes. Quick realease again and you're done.

[doodle]

I will ask my husband for you. He'l Colombian and they use their pressure cookers almost every day. He has much more experience than I. I've never had meat come out the way you've described. Off the top of my head, it sounds like too little moisture and too little time. But I will ask Gamal for the expert advice.

Thanks ang1e0251. I never thought of there not being enough liquid but I did not use more than the minimum so that could very well be the problem.

I look forward to your husband's thoughts.

[ang1e0251]

Gamal says the pressure cooker should be about 3/4's full between water and meat for it to cook effectively. Also he says to wait till you hear the cooker reach full pressure then cook for 10 minutes before shutting off.

Hope that helps.