15 PSI Pressure Cookers

[dogamondo]

Greetings from Australia.

Excuse my first post being a request for recommendations, but I'm struggling to decide on a pressure cooker that's up for the task of safely frying at 15 PSI.

I've thoroughly read the other excellent threads in this sub, but am concerned that no suitable candidate has presented itself as an ideal pressure cooker for home frying at the Colonel's sweet spot of 15 PSI.

I have the means to invest reasonably generous amount in a pressure cooker/fryer but am hoping to get some updated advice on what the best option would be;

I was close to pulling the trigger on a Kumora / Chicken Express as it ticks nearly all boxes (safe, temperature controlled, pressure gauge etc.) but I feel like I'll always be left wanting as the 8 PSI limit puts these home fryers in the same league as a Magefesa style 8 PSI cooker with induction cook top solution (much cheaper).

So the next option was to go with a Magefesa and mod the jiggler weight to get 12psi out of it, like justme has done. But that sets the limit at 12 PSI and to be honest, I'm not really comfortable doing mods especially if there's a workable off the shelf solution for slightly more money.

Then there's the All American pressure cookers which look to be built like tanks, but I've then read that due to their safety valves should not be used for frying. Argh.

So here I am, searching for a cooker before I can start searching for the mystic 11!

Does anyone have any recommendations or further information at hand in 2020 of a safe yet workable solution (that's doesn't necessarily have to be cheap)?

Thanks folks

Doga

[mpmn04]

TPM WHERE ARE U?? He's the guru on this stuff, imo.

Mike

[Ken_Griffiths]

There are a few 15 psi pressure cookers on Amazon .. here is one example:

www.amazon.com/EZLock-Pressure-Cooker-7-4-Quart/dp/B07HJ7SZDZ/ref=sr_1_8

However I’m not sure what it’s like, but worthy of further research perhaps? It has a silicone gasket (& Basket) and comes in a variety of sizes. Here is the user manual:

m.media-amazon.com/images/I/A1EySZEkxFL.pdf

HTH

[dogamondo]

Thanks Ken, the one you've linked looks great and the reviews on Amazon are generally positive too.

Added as a contender.

I've just watched the last video from Glen & Friends, where he puts it straight into oil in a pan and claims that it doesn't make much difference deep frying vs pressure frying.

Am I maybe barking up the wrong tree thinking 15 PSI fryer is going to "get me there", or is Glen barking up the wrong tree thinking his experience with the 8PSI Chicken Express is enough to discount the need for pressure frying whatsoever?

If the 15 PSI mark isn't the holy grail, I've also found a couple 12 PSI cookers on Amazon that look quite solid, such as this one:

www.amazon.com.au/Charterhouse-Stainless-7-Litre-Pressure-Quality/dp/B07MMDRG7B/

And I'm guessing this one will be stuck at 8 PSI even though it looks the safest:

www.amazon.com.au/WXYAN-Stainless-Commercial-Restaurant-Cafeteria/dp/B08FG2WH2W/

Cheers

[Randie]

Dogamondo,

There is a substantial amount of controversy out there about pressure cookers and if you should even put oil in them. Pressure cooker failures seem to only happen to someone's mother's aunt's neighbor back in the 50's when the pressure plug blew out and the kitchen ceiling became a wonderland of spaghetti and sauce. Read the posts on this forum and then make a choice. I accept the risks and I choose to live on the edge of pressure induced poultry madness!

I'm thinking 8lbs of pressure won't do much more than deep frying. 15lbs produces much juicier chicken, but it's not going to change the taste much. I think the key is in the brining and, of course, using Ken's latest recipe.

I have about 10 pressure cookers of various manufacture, composition, size, and lid design. I have the old 70's Wearever Chicken Bucket which fries at 8lbs, but it doesn't seem to make much difference over deep frying (which I always do in a ButterBall XL electric turkey fryer). Yes, we fry a lot in my family!

My small batch pressure cooker I reserve just for cluck cooking is this one: www.amazon.com/Presto-8-Quart-Stainless-Pressure-Cooker/dp/B0000Z6JIW

I do have a giant pressure cooker, but I use it mostly for pressure canning: www.amazon.com/Presto-01781-23-Quart-Pressure-Canner/dp/B0000BYCFU

I bought the small one at a second-hand store for $10 USD. It was virtually unused. I figured if things went bad, I'd only lose a $10 pot (plus hospital costs). I've probably fried 40 batches of chicken in it, 4-5 thighs at a time, or 6-8 legs. It seems to work well and has never given any indication of impending doom. It starts singing at 15lbs. I've made good chicken, undercooked chicken, and burned chicken in it. It's a bit like my wife - it takes a few years of practice to operate it consistently! Still, after all this time, I still mess things up (in both pressure frying and with my wife!). I'm actually in the doghouse at the moment because I bought a new oval shaped, electric pressure cooker. It's not for frying chicken, but for cooking those oval foods we all have. When she asked what oval foods we have, I said...um..., chicken? Maybe an oval meatloaf or perhaps a very large clam? I'm still trying to justify that purchase. But hey, who else has an oval pressure cooker? I wonder if the make a square pressure cooker...

Advice is what you pay for it, so here's my free opinion: Buy something relatively new or modern, made from stainless steel, with a silicone seal. Replacement seals are available in many places online and in stores here in the USA. Walmart even sells these models. I wouldn't go any bigger than 8-10 quart, as it just takes more oil. And if you are cooling it in the sink, you need something easy to handle.

Just follow Ken's frying instructions to the letter and NEVER, EVER leave the room while the pot is on the heat! It probably won't blow up, but you may burn your chicken (or as they say in your neck-of-the-woods, "chook"). No one likes burnt chook.

Once you embark on this noble quest, you'll be hooked on mastering the art of pressure frying and duplicating that Original Recipe. You'll know you are smitten when you dream of dancing fried chickens and your family asks if they can have something else for dinner!

Good Luck and Happy Cooking!

[dogamondo]

Haha thanks Randie, great advice. I'll probably go with the one Ken linked as it looks solid and goes up to 15 PSI.

Hopefully it'll handle better than my wife as she has a tendency to explode at about 2PSI.

Good luck getting out of the dog house and back into the hen house mate!

Cheers

[dogamondo]

Me again!

Was just about to pull the trigger then saw this, which is kinda begging to be pressure fried in

www.fissler.com/us/products/product-detail/vitaquick-pressure-skillet-10-2-in-4-2-qt-with-glass-lid-plus-insert/

Ot would it be a bit short for deep frying chicken?

Cheers

[btb]

Pressure Frying at less than 15 PSI for me has been most often very successful with not without some "flops."  Many think that with the insane rushing and dancing around of kitchen personnel in the sometimes chaotic frying/cooking process at the early Sanders stores, that the alleged 15 PSI in their roughly modified, early day pressure cookers rarely achieved 15 PSI.

I've had many successes, and many failures, in my pressure frying chicken over the years, starting with my 6 quart Chicken Bucket and up to my Magefesa stainless steel 10 quart unit that I use today.  Use of any of these pressure fryers takes a good amount of learning and out of the first 10 times that I "experimented" with each of them, I would estimate that one third time the chicken was undercooked, one third time the chicken was burnt, and one third time the chicken was wonderful.  Getting to that "sweet spot" take time and effort (not to mention some extra chicken pieces in the refrigerator).

For everyone involved in or thinking of getting involved in the delicious art of pressure fried foods, remember your equipment, stove top, oil and other things may be very, very different, and each and every one of you must go thru the necessary trial and error.  I live at a winter location and a summer location, and I have different pressure fryers and stove top systems at each and I have to remember each time how to approach the pressure frying technique at each differently.

Here is a Point of View on the Internet about why modern day pressure fryers best fry chicken at less than 15 PSI:

WHY MODERN PRESSURE FRYERS COOK AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE

"If you read through Colonel Sanders' original US patent filing, he explains that after his chicken was browned (30 to 120 seconds), it would be cooked at 15 PSI, or 250F/121C (the boiling temperature of water under fifteen pounds of pressure per square inch at sea level).

"But with modern pressure fryers, chicken is usually cooked at around 5 PSI, or only 223F/106C.

"This is because in 1966 when Colonel Sanders developed his pressure frying technique, the chickens were much tougher; they were butchered 10 weeks older than the chickens we consume today.

"Older chickens means more collagen (chewy connective tissues), which means a longer cook time and/or a higher temperature is necessary to make the chicken tender."

I recall other opinions similarly expressed on the internet and will update this posting when I find links to the sources. But this is for the FWIW column.

[willy]

"This is because in 1966 when Colonel Sanders developed his pressure frying technique". Is this a scriveners error?

[btb]

Oct 25, 2020 17:43:08 GMT willy said:

"This is because in 1966 when Colonel Sanders developed his pressure frying technique". Is this a scriveners error?

Not well written.  I think the intent was to describe that in the early days of CHS' development of his pressure frying technique, the chickens were . . . .