Customer Reviews

Presto 8-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this pressure-cooker three years ago on the recommendation of another person who has used hers for ten years. This pot cooks tomato sauce that tastes as if it were cooked on the stovetop all day, and makes stews in a third of the time. I LOVE this appliance for homey winter comfort foods! It's not scary to use and very easy to clean up. I also recommend buying Lorna Sass's pressure-cooking books for really tasty recipes that are easy to prepare.

Does not can quart jars, only pints. This model allowed me to try out canning at a low entry cost. Have successfully canned cabbage and sausage, tomato sauce, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, and apple butter in this interesting device. Also have cooked whole chickens and other foods. Canning meats requires an hour under pressure, and the Presto takes it all in stride. Being a pressure cooker/canning novice, it was a little unnerving getting it hot enough to get that top valve rocking. Apparently idiot proof, the cooker does not blow up, is easy to use and clean. Just turn down the burner to medium once the valve starts rocking. The aluminum does discolor inside during some pressure cooking and canning, although putting a little vinegar in the water keeps this to a minimum. I have found that five pints is perfectly adequate for canning projects so far. For example, six pounds of homegrown apples turned into 5.5 pints of apple butter. And it's not like you can't load it up again. At first I didn't tighten lids enough -- the canning jars boiled over a little. Finger tight means just that and the glass can handle it. You can can with an eight quart Presto!

I purchased a bunch of canning gear and as a result was entitled to an additional promotional claim, so I threw this pressure cooker in with it. What a great deal. I was impressed with the solid construction of this cooker, easy to use, nice features. Presto makes a newer one without the handle, but personally I think the handle is far more useful, especially for browning meat prior to pressure cooking, and the new one is priced at twice this one. I just made a batch of rice pudding in this thing, works great. I am looking forward to long years of service with this thing.

My Presto pressure cooker is about 40 years old, and I love it. It seems that they never wear out, except for the rubber seal in the cover. I recently had to buy a new one, and it cost about $12.

I think I have bought 3 seals over the years. I don't use the cooker very often though, maybe twice a month, only because I use other methods of cooking for a change.

Presto says that one should remove and clean the seal after each use, but each time you do this, it stretches a little, and fits less, and less into the lid. My seal doesn't wear out, it stretches out.

Now I just leave it in the lid, and wash it like that.

I do spread some cooking oil around the contact points on the seal, and the pot each time I use it, so the cover can be removed easily after cooking. If the seal sticks when you remove it after cooking, that also stretches the seal somewhat.

Again, I wouldn't be without a pressure cooker, it's great to have, and Presto is a top brand.

Bighunk

I absolutely love how food turns out in the pressure cooker. I made the best pot roast I have ever had in my life in this cooker. The only drawback is that aluminum leaves a bad aftertaste in acidy foods such as tomato sauces. If I had realized this before, I would have paid the extra money to get the stainless steel one.

I like the pressure cooker, it does in minutes what a slowcooker can do in many hours. I would suggest you get a cookbook to go with it. The main reason I chose this brand is because it can be used on a flat top range. There are other brands out there that cannot be used on a flat top.

Love my pressure cooker. Had another Presto for 30 years. Bought an electric one last year, & promptly threw it in the garbage when this one arrived! Can't beat them!

I bought this pressure cooker after much thought and research as I had just gone through a very bad experience of investing on an expensive pressure cooker [Manttra 5-pc. Stainless Steel Multi-Cooker 8-qt] and then it just stopped working at all because its whistle went bad after just 3 months!! It was heavy bulky and complicated unlike Presto!

So I was simply looking for a light hassle free cooker and which also didn't cost as much. I finally found it in Presto!

Its light weight, very roomy. I'm a small sized girl [5'2] and I personally needed something which was not high and narrow for me to comfortably cook in it. Presto is not high or narrow at all, its roomy giving me plenty of comfort in cooking!

Its totally hassle free. I wash it in the dishwasher and comes out just fine and clean.

Don't over fill the cooker i.e more than half of the cooker with water which goes with all the pressure cookers otherwise it will burst. Also don't leave it unattended on very high heat. Instead try to cook on medium heat always.

Overall I love the Presto pressure cooker that I bought and I would recommend this to others too. If you are looking for a tension free light weight cooker, which also is a great bargain for the price, there it is. Its definitely worth more than the money it costs!

Item is well worth the purchase price. ONLY thing that should be changed in the advertizement on Amazons web site is to ADD or NOTE conspicuously that this item can ONLY can PINT bottles not quarts It is not mentioned on the page of the items description.

I'm a complete pressure-cooking novice, never owned one or cooked with one until I bought this. First day I had it I decided to make the pot roast per the instructions in the booklet. Browned it in the pot, added the liquid, some onion and one of those pot roast seasoning packets from the store, brought it up to pressure, and 45 minutes later it was done. I have made roasts in the slow-cooker and my oven before, and never ever have they been as good as the one from the pressure cooker. Fall-apart tender, absolutely perfect. I'll sheepishly admit it was even better than my grandma used to make and she made a roast every Sunday for 40+ years. Once the meat was done I removed it and added some cut up carrots and potatoes and they cooked in less than five minutes. You'd never know they weren't cooked all day in a slow-cooker. I told myself that if I really liked pressure-cooking that I'd eventually upgrade to a more expensive one but I like this one so much I don't see that happening any time soon.