Presto Vintage Pressure Cooker recipe booklet (2024)

FAQs

How can I tell what model my Presto pressure cooker is? ›

If you have a Presto® pressure cooker or canner, the model number is found in one of three places: a tag on the cover, stamped on the bottom of the body, or stamped on the side of the body just below the body handle.

For an old-fashion-type pressure cooker, place the cooker on medium-high heat and brown the foods. Then add liquids and remaining ingredients, cover, bring pressure up, and complete the pressure cooking. For newer cookers, most have a brown function—see manufacturer's instructions.

To prevent water stains on jars, add 2 tablespoons white vinegar to water in canner. Always use canning rack as jars may break if set directly on bottom of canner. NOTE: 3 quarts of water are needed regardless of how many jars are being canned.

Modern pressure canners are lightweight, thin walled kettles; most have turn-on lids. The older models are still safe, as long as the dial is accurate, they are just heavier.

Test it by heating some water under pressure before you begin cooking any food. You treat your pressure cooker just as if you're going to cook something, but you add only water to it. Fill the pressure cooker pot with 2 cups of water. For this test run, the water is all you're putting in the cooker.

Look for model numbers stamped on the bottom of the cooker.

It works by expelling air from the vessel and trapping steam produced from the boiling liquid. This is used to raise the internal pressure up to one atmosphere above ambient and gives higher cooking temperatures between 100–121 °C (212–250 °F).

Steam penetrates food easily under pressure. So connective tissues in cubes of beef for soups or stews soften in 15 minutes or less, and a pot roast will be medium-rare in 30 minutes. Be sure to follow instructions carefully; at this speed, it's easy to overcook things in mere minutes.

Overfilling your Instant Pot can affect the pressure that builds up inside, so you might end up with a mushy meal, or one that doesn't cook properly. Also, an overly-full Instant Pot can lead to a clogged pressure release knob, because food and liquid can get sucked up inside.

It is perfectly fine to have your jars completely exposed to air when pressure canning. However, if you find you have too much water in the pressure canner and you see that the water is creeping up toward the neck of the jars, go ahead and remove some of that water before processing your jars.

What happens if I use 15 lbs pressure instead of 10 when canning tomatoes? ›

Part of the problem is when 15 lb. pressure is used and zero or one minute processing, there is not sufficient time for all of the air to vent out of the canner and for the internal canner temperature to raise. Using 15 lb. pressure at zero or one minute processing will increase spoilage.”

Note that pressure canners are generally 12-quart size or larger. Presto currently has 16 and 23 quart canners. Therefore, the 6 quart pressure cooker you have will not be suitable for canning.

But in a standard American pressure cooker, the pressure reaches 1 atm or 15 psi (pounds per square inch) above standard atmospheric pressure*, or 2 atm, which is typically the maximum pressure limit on most cookers.

pressure cooker, hermetically sealed pot which produces steam heat to cook food quickly. The pressure cooker first appeared in 1679 as Papin's Digester, named for its inventor, French-born physicist Denis Papin.