I have never done it. However, I suspect the loin, being very lean, would be easily overcooked in the pressure cooker. You could try with a single pork chop, just to see and figure out how much cooking time, before doing a whole loin.

"---Or would it be moist and tender?---"

No meat can stay moist after it has been cooked at 250F. However, it will be tender. Depending on how you make it, it can be very delicious.

Just don't put the vegetable in first, Pressure cooker can turn them into mush.

dcarch

I did it, and yes it was tender but dry inside. I made gravy and poured over the slices, and no one complained. I cooked it 45 minutes. Could probably have been somewhat less. Thanks for your replies.

I know pork shoulder works so much better in the pressure cooker, but I try to stay away from those fatty cuts of meat,

Good chart, John. Thank you. Some items like chicken have a recommended time of 3 minutes. If one waits until the cooker comes up to pressure, the chicken would be in there a lot longer than 3 minutes. Does this sound like the correct way to do it--in other words, they mean 3 minutes at pressure?

I've had my cooker a year or two but still learning.

Socks, don't go by those chart too precisely. They are rough estimates because there are many variables.

For instance, there can be more than 40F difference of temperature between a piece of chicken from the refrigerator and one at room temperature. Aluminum pressure cooker get up to pressure much quicker then stainless steel.

You can get better timing if you always let the water start to boil first.

Also, keeping in mind that once the pressure has built up, it make no difference how hot you have the fire. It will always be around 250F inside.

dcarch

dcarch, I understand what you are saying and like the idea of getting the liquid hot/boiling before putting in the meat and the lid on.

I have a stainless steel, and when I first got it I thought it didn't work because it takes soooo long to build up pressure. And for chicken tenders, they would be cooking all that time even tho' it's not up to pressure.

I'm learning!

They mean 3 minutes after the cooker gets to pressure. But for stuff that needs just a few minutes at pressure, I personally find the timing too hard to get right and prefer to just cook in a normal pot. 3 min with pressure vs 9 minutes without, I'm fine with the 9 minutes and being able to check, taste, and not turn it into mush.

I tell you, that's probably the biggest reason I've been putting off buying a pressure cooker. (That, a d the $300 price tag on the one I've convinced myself I "need."). How do you know when your food is optimally cooked?

I use mine for stuff that normally needs hours of cooking, so that exact timing isn't needed. For example, if I'm making oxtail or beef shank, it doesn't make a difference if I pressure cook it for 1 h or 1 h 15 m, because normally it doesn't make a difference if you cook it (w/o pressure cooker) for 3 h or 3 h 45 m.

There is occasionally stuff that can be cooked in a shorter time, but where the exact time still doesn't matter. An example is making a quickie chicken stock, brown the carcass and add water + veg, then high pressure for 20 m (1 h w/o pressure) - but if I get distracted so it turns out to be 30 m (1 h 30 m w/o pressure), it doesn't matter.

I recall once investigating the feasibility of a temperature probe that could be placed into meat inside the PC, and transmit a reading to a gauge outside the PC. I didn't find anything.

FOAS, I agree with John. Timing is not that critical with most PC recipes. Everything is cooked beyond well done anyway.

John, you can't transmit inside a PC, because electrically speaking that is similar to what's known as Faraday Cage.

dcarch

I was looking for pressure fittings that would allow a probe wire to penetrate the pressure vessel. Didn't find one, but I imagine they exist.