April 23, 2009

Pork Ribs in the Pressure Cooker

I bought a pressure cooker several years ago and I think I've only used it once or twice.  It lives downstairs on the shelf along with the crockpot, canning supplies, Christmas platters and meat slicer, so I don't often think about using it. 

I bought a couple pounds of pork ribs the other day and then hated the thought of having the oven on for 4 hours because the temperature was 81 degrees that day.  (Today it's 29 and snowing.)  So, the pressure cooker came to mind.  I dusted it off (actually, I washed it) and read the owner's manual again.

A pressure cooker cuts the cooking time to a third of what it would take in an oven!  

These are the finished ribs.  They were not falling off the bone but they were very, very tender and tasty!
I started with 2 pounds of pork ribs.
I marinated them in some white wine and bay leaves for about 5 hours.

I dried them off and browned them in a couple tablespoons of olive oil.    The browning was done right in the pressure cooker (with the lid off!).
I browned the ribs in a two batches then removed them from the pan and drained the oil.

I don't much like BBQ sauce... that tomato-y, ketchup-y, sometimes too sweet bottled stuff.  So, I mixed up...  
1/2 cup bourbon
2 T brown sugar
1 T honey
1 T Worcestershire
5 cloves garlic, sliced
I put the ribs back in the pressure cooker and poured the mixture on top of them.

Then I locked the lid on, turned the burner on and let it cook for 23 minutes.  At the end of the cooking time, the pressure must be released before you can open the lid.  This can be done by putting the cooker in the sink and running cold water over it, or by letting it sit until the pressure is gone (15-20 minutes).  I turned off the heat and just let the cooker sit on the stove another 20 minutes.  

I was so hungry and the ribs smelled so good!  My gardener is out of town, so I didn't even bother to make a vegetable or anything to go with these.  I just dug in and boy howdy were they good! 

I'm going to try to remember to use the pressure cooker more often.  It will be good for game that sometimes tends to be tough.  Do you have a pressure cooker?  Do you like using it?  What do you make in it?  

26 comments:

  1. Karen, these sound mind-bendingly delicious, but you'd be happy too if someone gave you a 1/2 cup whiskey :).

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  2. Oh wow, that whiskey sauce sounds awesome! I don't own a pressure cooker myself, but I'll have to try out the flavors.

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  3. I've never used a pressure cooker either, they've always been a littl scary to me. Your ribs turned out perfect!!

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  4. These look delicious! The cooking time is awesome! I have bad memories-and funny ones. My Grandpa used to use one of these all the time, I remember my Grandma always being afraid it was going to blow up. She wouldn't let me anywhere near the kitchen when he was using it-she made me afraid of it.

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  5. These look absolutely delicious. I love how that sauce sounds.

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  6. The sauce sounds terrific with whiskey!

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  7. Do you think they would become fall-off-the-bone tender if you cooked them longer? Or is it the higher temps at which they are cooked that would prevent them from ever becoming fall-off-the-bone tender...

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  8. Whiskey and garlic - delicious!

    I considered buying a pressure cooker but was scared off when I read the user's manual - too many dire warnings! 8-)

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  9. Ooooh Karen!! I would LOVE these; I'm right there with you about the sicky sweet tomato BBQ sauce ~ your version looks divine! xo~m.

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  10. Love the way you made the sauce. :) My mom used to have a pressure cooker, a way long time ago, and it had a metal circular disk (like a hockey puck) on top that would spin around and make steamy, "puffty" noises as it released the steam. "Puffty" isn't a word, but that's what it sounded like. I was always terrified that the disk would come off and go flying around the kitchen. LOL.

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  11. hey....we should have had a bourbon round up. LOL LOL
    I love food made in a pressure cooker. I don't have one, but it's all sooooo tender!

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  12. YOu food looks FAB... I think I must BAN MYSELF from visiting... I'm afraid I may gain just reading... LOL
    ENJOY your weekend!
    Fifi
    PS I shall return!

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  13. I have never used a pressure cooker to cook with. Always a little intimidated with the whole pressure thing. Will have to get over it and give it a try. Great recipe and you made it look so simple to do.

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  14. Oh my goodness - I need a pressure cooker. These ribs look so tasty!!!

    Thanks for your help on my blog in finding copyscape and I really, really appreciate you leaving that comment on the scraper's site. It made my day.

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  15. No pressure cooker. I use the crock pot often. Your meal looks delicious!

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  16. Mmmmm... that sauce must have been finger lickin' good.

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  17. This recipe couldn't get any more perfect! I'm always looking for ways to use my pressure cooker, LOVE ribs, and my hubz absolute favorite is Jim Beam. I'm definitely going to have to give this one a try. Thanks!

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  18. I've never used a pressure cooker before, now you have my attention!

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  19. Nice dispatch and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you on your information.

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  20. I'm a few months late coming across this. I'm a 62 year old grandma who raised my kids on pressure-cooked food. Learned how from my mom. I am sorry that more people don't try cooking under pressure. The warnings are there for a reasons, but we put warnings on bike riding, car driving and such, as well. When you follow the rules, you do mighty well.
    If you had cooked your ribs a few minutes longer, they would have been more tender, yes. Also, allowing the meat to sit and cool down normally (rather than releasing the steam valve or putting the cooker uinder cool water) lets the meat cook more and be more tender.
    I never found a need to marinate before cooking. As you said, the pressure infuses the flavors into the meat as it cooks.
    My husband was a hunter, and we ate many meals of wild game cooked just this way. Never a complaint about flavor or stringy meat.
    I haven't cooed for "a crowd" for 20 years, so the pressure cooker went to one of my daughters. I'm at her house now, and was looking for a time estimate for cooking ribs for dinner. Now I know, and I'm off to tempt more tastebuds. It's 102 outside right now. Even the BBQ master owned as to how he'd rather I do the cooking indoors today!!!

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  21. I've been using a pressure cooker for almost 20 years...I can't live without it. The absolute best recipe for beef stroganoff is made in the pressure cooker - it's an old recipe from my mother's original Mirro crockpot from the 50's...it's simple because you only need simple things from your house - and it's great! I've made Lamb stew and pork chops in the pressure cooker. If you have one of the old ones with a weight that sits on the top, the secret is to make sure the steam vents are clean and not clogged when you start - the disc won't blow up if the steam is allowed to escape. If you don't have steam, turn it off because the pressure will quickly build. The new crock pots have an automatic steam "escape" valve that will activate if the pressure inside becomes too great. I'll be doing ribs tonight...can't wait!

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  22. Hi there - thanks for giving me the courage to try ribs in the pressure cooker. I have a Kuhn Rikon which I purchased recently and am experimenting.

    I didn't have bourbon, but I did have rum so I just used rum, some Davinci's butter rum flavoring, and some worchestershire (maybe 1.5 T). I used garlic powder, salt and paprika on the meat before browning. I pressure cooked for 30 minutes, and then used the natural release method like you did,
    AWESOME! Meat was buttery-soft and simply fell of the clean, bleached bones. Lovely. So great to know that I can enjoy ribs in 45 minutes (15 for browning).

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  23. Okay - so I went out and bought the bourbon and tried the ribs again....Yup - it's better than the rum.

    Also I cooked for 35 minutes this time, and used natural release method. Slightly more 'fall of the bone' than doing it at 30 minutes, but in my view not a significant difference. Hubby, tho' - always thinks more is better so I agreed to try it for the extra 5 minutes. I would not do 40 minutes - no need. 30 or 35 is just fine in our books.

    Again, thanks for posting this and showing me it can be done!

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  24. Great, twokiwi... I'm glad you tried them again with the bourbon. I haven't made ribs in the pressure cooker in so long; I'm going to have to give them another try and shoot for the 35 minutes.

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  25. I'm a horrible cook, but I can make anything taste good in a pressure cooker. I had to overcome my phobia about it first. Check out some You Tube videos and buy one. I love mine! Really easy to use.

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  26. Just found this recipe as I was looking for a time for pressure cooking ribs. Will be trying this tonight. Don't have any bourbon, but will use 12 year old scotch instead. Looking forward to it. To those who have a fear of pressure cookers the new models are extremely safe as long as you follow the basic warnings. I have been using one for several years and love it.

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