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I am a goddess. Last night, with the help of some folks on the SDMB, I made a big pot of onion soup. It was pretty good, even if I didn't have any sherry and used wine instead. And a little Jack Daniels.

And then I broke out my new pressure cooker and canned it. Well, all except what I ate last night. So I've got five pint jars of onion soup, and two of leftover home made chicken stock. The whole thing was kind of scary--pressure cookers are scary anyway, which is why I've waited so long to actually try using one. So the whole time I was kind of nervous. You're supposed to start counting the time from when the thingy on the top starts rocking--slowly and gently, it says, but it never rocked slowly. I tried turning the heat down, as the instructions said, but there was no "slow" point--just what it was doing, and nothing. Right--relative terms aren't helpful. I figured the point just above "nothing" was what I was supposed to go for.

It was very noisy, which I didn't expect but I should have, since that steam has to go somewhere. And it was also very hot--I opened a window, and then once the pressure went down and I took the jars out, the soup was still boiling inside them, nearly an hour after I turned the heat off. An hour later, as they sat on the counter, the stuff was still boiling. It's all nice and cold this morning, though, and the seals are all fine. Which is cool--I'm pretty much the only person in the house who eats soup, so when I make a pot it's just me eating it. And while I've done jams and such, I've never done low-acid canning (of course--I didn't have a pressure cooker) and now I can--stocks, and veggies, and...

Well, I probably won't become a canning queen. But I probably will make a lot more stock, since I'll be able to preserve it pretty easily. And now I'm eyeing the recipes that came with the pressure cooker. It says it can cook a whole chicken in twenty minutes--I think I'm going to have to try that.

(no subject)

( My desktop )

I am a goddess. Last night, with the help of some folks on the SDMB, I made a big pot of onion soup. It was pretty good, even if I didn't have any sherry and used wine instead. And a little Jack Daniels.

And then I broke out my new pressure cooker and canned it. Well, all except what I ate last night. So I've got five pint jars of onion soup, and two of leftover home made chicken stock. The whole thing was kind of scary--pressure cookers are scary anyway, which is why I've waited so long to actually try using one. So the whole time I was kind of nervous. You're supposed to start counting the time from when the thingy on the top starts rocking--slowly and gently, it says, but it never rocked slowly. I tried turning the heat down, as the instructions said, but there was no "slow" point--just what it was doing, and nothing. Right--relative terms aren't helpful. I figured the point just above "nothing" was what I was supposed to go for.

It was very noisy, which I didn't expect but I should have, since that steam has to go somewhere. And it was also very hot--I opened a window, and then once the pressure went down and I took the jars out, the soup was still boiling inside them, nearly an hour after I turned the heat off. An hour later, as they sat on the counter, the stuff was still boiling. It's all nice and cold this morning, though, and the seals are all fine. Which is cool--I'm pretty much the only person in the house who eats soup, so when I make a pot it's just me eating it. And while I've done jams and such, I've never done low-acid canning (of course--I didn't have a pressure cooker) and now I can--stocks, and veggies, and...

Well, I probably won't become a canning queen. But I probably will make a lot more stock, since I'll be able to preserve it pretty easily. And now I'm eyeing the recipes that came with the pressure cooker. It says it can cook a whole chicken in twenty minutes--I think I'm going to have to try that.