Spaghetti Sauce in PC - what happened?

Teresa, I agree with Nina. I like to saute my onions, carrots, and celery --- BUT these should be *finely chopped* and should have melted into the sauce anyway after 10 minutes of cooking (even without sauteing).

What is the psi value for the high-pressure setting on your cooker (check your manual)? On mine, high pressure = 15 psi (the common high pressure value). That value can effect the cooking time for your meats and veggies. When I want 1-inch slices of celery in a stew to be almost crisp-tender (a bit softer), I cook them for 5 minutes at high pressure, with a quick-release.

Steve, your comment about acids toughening vegetables is very interesting and I'd like to know more about that. I know that too many acids will toughen dried beans to some extent when cooking them. That could be very useful in working with the timing of a recipe, don't you think? Do you have any resources for that issue and would you please share them? My curiosity would love to do some research on that.

One last thing: Tomato products (including tomato paste) should be poured on *top* of the rest of the ingredients and *not stirred in* before cooking. This will reduce or eliminate the scorching problem and might help a little with the acid reaction that Steve mentioned.

A heat diffuser under the cooker will help a scorching problem too.

Rita

Steve Brettell wrote: > Acids, like the tomato sauce, toughens vegetables, and require longer > cooking times. I find it works best in a pot in a pot situation, so that it > doesn't scorch. The tomatoes also have a lot of sugar, so it will burn > easilly. > > On 1/21/07, tcrouzer  wrote: >>  So today I thought I would try a spaghetti sauce recipe in my 4 qt. >> Presto. I followed a recipe that I either got here or on the web. I >> checked my manual to be sure I didn't go past the 2/3 fill line, >> brought the pot up to pressure and cooked for 10 minutes, quick >> release under cold running water. Opened the pot - and the celery and >> onions weren't even cooked enough. >> >> I used crushed tomatoes (28oz.) instead of the stewed tomatoes called >> for in the recipe, but I added extra water - about a cup - to be sure >> enough steam would be generated. Recipe also had a small (6oz) can of >> tomato paste which I added. >> >> The pot sealed normally, but the sauce really didn't cook. >> >> Anyone have any clues as to what happened? I'm now simmering the pot >> on the stove with the lid just laid on top to contain the splatters. >> >> Thanks for any insight. >> Teresa >> >> >> > > >

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