And if you shop around you might find a low-pressure chicken fryer. The Presto PF-6 or the WearEver Chicken Bucket were the two examples. They came stovetop or electric. They fry at something like 5 to 8 pounds pressure, well short of the 15lb the Colonel used.

And no, in spite of more fear mongering and unsubstantiated claims by folks like Miss Vicki who wants to sell you a new $350 machine, these were not recalled and there was no incidence of lawsuits or exploding pots. They disappeared from shelves somewhere around the time we all discovered fried foods would plug up our arteries and make our hearts blow up.

Again, if someone has any evidence to the contrary please provide it. Real evidence. Not repeats of anecdotes or unsubstantiated claims.

Here is a link that might be useful: fear and loathing from MissVickie

All the pressure chicken fryers you mentioned are safe because they are specifically designed and made for frying.

None of the others can be used to fry chickens because as far as I know, none of the PC makers advise doing that.

Many of us have had the unpleasant experience, myself included, of the safety valve of a PC blew, and with food all over the ceiling. It is annoying as heck because you will need to refinish the kitchen.

If that happens to a pressure fryer, it will be a very different story. Atomized oil in air is explosive. Also, not many kitchens are equipped to put out an oil fire.

Please don’t suggest people to do that. Death is not reversible.

dcarch

See link, A little oil and a little water

Here is a link that might be useful: Oil fire with water

OK, Mom. That video link is completely irrelevant. Pouring water on a grease fire? Geeze. That's just silly to even try to make a comparison.

Check out YouTube for videos called "KFC Chicken Trials" by FixinThatUp if you want to see 30 videos (as of this date) of a couple guys trying to blow up their house and catch their kitchen on fire and die in a flaming inferno.

Or maybe they're just making chicken, in a 50s era KFC chicken fryer. Which is strikingly similar to the Mirro-Matic M0406 BTW and uses the exact same gasket.

I will say, I just noticed the OP mentioned doing this in a restaurant environment. That would be a stupid thing to do if you have employees and insurance and such. This only because these cookers are not rated for that and the lawyers will eat you up when your young workers do something stupid and burn themselves. In a commercial setting you should use a Broaster or a Henny Penny, or at least a Fagor or Magefesa that is recommended by the manufacturer for frying.

But I still say for personal use it can be safe if common sense is used. Oh, scratch that! Never Never try this at home!

Here is a link that might be useful: proof is in the puddin'

This post was edited by shannos on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 13:18

So, if you can find people doing that on youtube then it proofs that it is very safe? Is that what you are trying to say?

"------But I still say for personal use it can be safe if common sense is used. ----"

I too have a lot of faith in people in using common sense most of the time . But ------

Speaking of youtube videos, here are a few to entertain you, of if a PC erupts, what a mess it can make.

But if a pressure cooker used as a fryer erupts, you will be calling a funeral home, not a cleaning service.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTr5uZDgkGY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_THHP4j0oa0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA369GWrVRo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYFX5c1LA3A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ7ziCN75LQ

dcarch

I would say that a well trained, careful person following a precise and proven process can do things that I wouldn't recommend to some stranger on the internet.

As I understand the original KFC process, he browned the chicken and then placed it in a pressure cooker with only a little oil, sealed the cooker, pressurized it with compressed air, cooked for a specific period of time, and then removed the cooker from the heat. He had carefully worked out the equipment, time, temperature and quantities, and trained his franchisees to follow the same process. As you say, KFCs were not blowing up right and left.

But suppose you fill the cooker full of oil and chicken? Turn the heat on high? Leave the cooker on the high heat, walk away, get distracted by a child or chore?

With a modern pressure cooker using water, nothing unsafe will happen. The water will all be vented out as steam, there will not be an accident due to excess pressure, you will burn your cooker's seal and plastic parts and carbonize the food but that is all. (I know because I have done exactly that.)

But fill a pressure cooker with oil and forget it on the stove, and something unsafe is very likely to happen. Vegetable oil has a smoke point around 400F and a flash point around 600F. Somewhere between 400F and 600F, your cooker will start venting vaporized oil, which is a flammable vapor. Add an ignition source and you have a torch, and of course the stove burner is an ignition source. The autoignition point of vegetable oils is around 800F without pressure. At that point the oil in the cooker will spontaneously ignite (aka explode). The cooker is not designed to contain that pressure. The temperature of the flame from your burner is about 3500F, by the way.

That's why everyone says not to pressure fry in oil. If you make a mistake, you can have a real disaster or death. Before you tell someone to do it, think: how sure are you that person won't make a mistake? Are you willing to be responsible for the consequences?

Here is a link that might be useful: Auto ignition of cooking oil

Shannos. I'm not sure why you are so interested in what the Colonel may have done decades ago before a safer and more efficient fryer was developed for his chain.

Is frying chicken in a pressure cooker something you do regularly, or have you ever even tried it - with your own kitchen, safety, not to mention expensive pan in use. If not, Shame on you for suggesting someone else can attempt this just for the sake of arguing.

No johnliu, you don't understand the Colonels process. He used 2:1 ratio shortening to chicken. So in a big pot 5 lbs shortening to 10 lbs chicken.

There is a lot to doing correctly and safely, I'm not going into it all. People can do their own research if they can get past all of the likes of you spreading misinformation. I just said it can be done successfully and has been done successfully. Still waiting for evidence that it has ever caused a problem that wasn't operator error, like every incident pressure canning has been.

Yes dcarch, those videos were entertaining. Complete idiots in the ones I saw. So I guess you don't recommend people can their own food, use cookers and canners in general? Because clearly some people shouldn't use them.

"---Yes dcarch, those videos were entertaining. Complete idiots in the ones I saw. So I guess you don't recommend people can their own food, use cookers and canners in general? Because clearly some people shouldn't use them.---"

If you didn't can correctly, you get sick, and you try to can better the next time.

There may not be the next time if you use a PC to deep fry that is not designed for frying.

As I said, and as John also said we both had been the same idiots as those in the videos.

And by the way, welcome to the Cooking Forum.

dcarch (A.K.A. Chicken Little)

This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 15:46

Are you pressure frying chicken in a conventional pressure cooker in your home, regularly, yourself?

This post was edited by johnliu on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 16:35

Just because I'm new here doesn't mean I'm new. But you are some of the most close-minded folks I've stumbled across. So just stay in your own little world and ignore facts that are presented to you. Goodbye.

Here is a link that might be useful: proof

This post was edited by shannos on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 20:03

"I've never been to the moon either, but I've seen pictures and know it exists and what it looks like when I see it.---"

Exactly. That's why I link you to 5 videos, not just one, showing that all pressure cookers can erupt. When a regular PC erupts, it makes a mess and you can get burned by 212F water. But when a pressure fryer erupts it creates very problematic oil fire and you can be burned by 400F hot oil.

Safety valves on PCs will prevent explosions, but not eruptions. Many people, like me, have had that happened more than once.

Thank you for your posts anyway. I enjoyed your passionate believe that you are right and every single manufacturer of PC are wrong

Oh, BTW, have you considered just go to KFC and get what you want? Cheaper than wasting so much good greasy oil after frying. :-)

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Sep 12, 14 at 20:18

Shannos - Before you leave in a huff, please explain why if pressure frying is safe in a PC, why is it specifically and strongly warned against in the instruction manuals? Barely anyone markets a home pressure frier, so it's not like they've got interest in selling a more expensive product. And since such a product exists, it's obviously not all-out paranoia about having people do it at home. To me it all adds up to manufacturers realizing and acknowledging that pressure frying is not safe in a PC.

I for one am not close-minded, and welcome you to change my opinion. With facts other than nostalgic KFC pics.

Good Lord, does that mean this is finally over?

I hope not, I actually find it interesting. Still waiting to see solid evidence from either side of the argument.

Safety issues aside, I don't get copycatting KFC, and copycatting KFC with a regular PC.

Taste-wise, KFC has more MSG than most fast foods. So what's the big deal?

I think we all know how chicken meat texture is after cooking at 212F, I also think you know what kind of texture you will get from PC chicken meat at 250F.

dcarch

Oh no, suddenly I'm with angelaid!

I just came back to follow up. After two small batches of pressure fried chicken using my 6qt Presto Meatmaster 40 pressure cooker I can honestly say it makes the best fried chicken I've ever made or eaten. Wonderfully moist on the inside, unbelievably tender and not at all greasy. I also love the texture of the skin, a little bit crispy but just a bit. And it makes no mess and doesn't smell up the house! Also easily repeatable which is more than I can say for my experience on the offset smoker bbq.
I also tried frying some frozen potstickers since the pan was out, I fastened the lid for a few minutes, probably up to 10 lb pressure. They came out plump and moist on the inside, much nicer than deep fried or baked either one. I'm starting to think everything is better fried under pressure.
And I didn't blow up the house and die or anything...haha

Oh, and I'm still waiting for anyone to post any, I mean ANY evidence that shows hot oil causes any problems in a pressure cooker. And I'm not talking about cooking beans, lentils or rice. Every bad thing I've seen is related to overloading a pressure cooker with beans and plugging the vent hole. Oil can't plug a vent hole! Good Lord! If anything you all should be preaching to NEVER EVER COOK BEANS IN A PRESSURE COOKER!

This post was edited by shannos on Wed, Sep 24, 14 at 23:56

In case anyone is so crazy and reckless to actually fry chicken in a pressure cooker like Col Sanders did for 30 years, and lots of crazy people do every day (and live to tell about it, not to mention eat the best fried chicken ever) first I recommend the following:

Use pressure cookers and pressure canners and become familiar with their safe operation. If you have a used pressure cooker make sure it has operational over-pressure safety release (I like the kind with rubber plug), and a weight system is preferable to gauge type IMO. Try out your cooker by bring up to pressure with a pint of water inside to confirm the gasket will seal and become familiar with it. Do it again. If the seal leaks it might seal up in a few minutes, you'll notice steam coming out, not scalding hot water, if the seal leaks. Replace worn parts as needed, which means don't buy some oddball orphan you can't get parts for.

Then cook something in it. Maybe cook a pot roast or something. A 4lb pot roast takes about an hour at 15lbs and will be delicious!

Then if you are ready to blow up your house by recklessly attempting to create a hot oil chicken bomb, it might go something like this:

Send the wife and kids to stay at her parents house.
Make sure your life insurance policy is up to date.

Place oil (or lard) in your pressure cooker, probably about 1/4 of the depth of the pan to maybe 1/3. In my 6qt Presto Meatmaster I use just enough to cover the two legs and two thighs, so about 2" deep. If you cook breast meat cut it in 1/4s so it will cook through as quickly as the dark meat.

Bring oil or lard to 365 degrees or so.

Place your chicken in the hot oil. (I like a milk and egg wash then dipped through seasoned flour a couple times)
Make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom, fry for a minute or two. You might notice the oil will drop to below 350 degrees at this point.
Place the lid on the pot and lock it down. Set timer for about 10 minutes. Within a minute or two your cooker will be at 15lbs. Lower the heat such that you maintain the 15lbs pressure but the weight isn't freaking out over-pressuring. (this is where pressure cooking/canning experience comes in and your comfort level)
When timer goes off release the pressure by venting at the weight. As soon as pressure is released open the cooker and get the chicken out ASAP and place on a rack. The oil in my pot is at about 265 at this point. I understand below 250 the chicken will soak up oil which is bad.

Confirm the bird is cooked to at least 265 degrees. Enjoy!

Oh, call the wife and tell her you are still alive! Haha.

What happens if you get distracted, walk away, don't hear the timer, and leave the sealed pressure cooker on high heat for an hour or two?

The current KFC is corporate garbage and nothing like the stuff produced by the Col. Harland D Sanders, by all accounts an honorable man with a wonderful method. They've prostituted his name, image and forgotten his recipe and quality in the quest for higher profits.

MSG makes everything taste better, so buy some Accent and put it to good use! (and don't worry about the crackpots that say MSG is evil, but that's another fight for another day!)

More crazy people talking about pressure frying chicken at the link provided.

Here is a link that might be useful: here:

Like a high wire walker says, "look, I have been doing it for my entire life without a safety net, I am still alive. Don't you think that is proof that anyone can do it?? So every one, it is perfectly safe, go ahead and enjoy yourself. I know everyone tells you that you can kill yourself doing it, Don't listen to them."

dcarch

more proof

Here is a link that might be useful: here:

dcarch - I almost posted about how I'm deaf to the ding-ding-ding of the seat belt chimes in my cars, and how multiple tickets haven't changed my unconscious decision to forget buckling up. But similar to your high wire example, it's not hard to find evidence of deaths as a result. As such, I think shannos asks a valid question because I for one have not been able to find any examples of accidents by PCs used for pressure frying.

But while he or she waits for evidence, I'll repeat my question posted above, in case it was missed. I think it's an equally valid question which I hope shannos will address:

Please explain why if pressure frying is safe in a PC, why is it specifically and strongly warned against in the instruction manuals? Barely anyone markets a home pressure fryer, so it's not like they've got interest in selling a more expensive product. And since such a product exists, it's obviously not all-out paranoia about having people do it at home. To me it all adds up to manufacturers realizing and acknowledging that pressure frying is not safe in a PC.

Why don't you all explain to me how it is unsafe? When you have invested as much time to determine how it is unsafe as I have invested to determine how it is done safely, I'll consider your input. It is easy to parrot a myth. Just because it is oft repeated does not make it true.

There are a few companies that make home pressure fryers. The fact there are not many probably has as much to do with the notion that fried foods will kill you as much or more than the cookers themselves will kill you. And then there are the lawyers and liability laws. But frankly I have heard of much more injury from open deep fryers that ever from pressure fryers.

I have looked at the modern home pressure fryers and I don't see much difference between them (I referenced above, not the commercial Henny Penn or Broaster brands) and the old pressure cookers, functionally. About all I can see is the rubber gaskets may not hold up to frequent exposure to heat of 350 degrees. These old cookers were sometimes marketed as pressure fryers back in the pre-lawyer days. I heard anecdotally that the gaskets needed to be changed somewhat often in a commercial setting. That is not so much the case in a home setting. As I said above, it would be nice to have silicone gaskets instead of rubber. These would hold up to the boiling point of oil at 750! degrees. But instead, keep an eye on the gaskets. Keep in mind they do not contact oil directly, just steam. Also, the solid rubber gaskets will not fail catastrophically and immediately, as I'm sure you know. A little familiarity with leaking pressure canner gaskets will show they just spit and sputter a bit of steam, and perhaps drip a little water that condenses. This will be no different in a cooker with oil in it if filled to an appropriate (low) level. Steam is what will come out the vent or over pressure plug, or leaking gasket. NOT spewing hot oil! This is more made up hyperbole from people that are not familiar with using pressure cookers. If the pressure fryer over pressures it will vent steam! Not hot oil, and certainly NOT bean soup! It should also be noted that some of the very old pressure cookers do not have gaskets at all and might be excellent candidates for frying. (see some of the pre-war kook-kwik canners for example. Though they should be converted from gauge to weight)

Lots of people refuse to use these tools for fear of the unknown or second hand tales of 'exploding' pressure cookers. (again, BEANS!) And people are staying away from home canning and pressure cooking in droves, due largely to ignorance and misunderstanding. This web forum has information about home canning and cooking, that is what drew me here. Misinformation and perpetuation of myth is what led me to this post.

I will say, some people have no business using pressure cookers or canners. Or gas stoves. Or barbeques. Or gas powered engines. Or power saws. Or automobiles. The list goes on. You can file that under "you can't fix stupid". Many people have great success pressure frying chicken and enjoy it very much. That is FACT. I'm here to support that effort.

Here's another such individual at this link:

Here is a link that might be useful: more real experience here, not made up stuff

FWIW, I cook pre-soaked dried beans in my PC all the time with good results and no clogging of the vent pipe. I add about 1 TB vegetable oil to the beans and water in the pot and cook according to the time in my user's manual that came with my 4 qt. Presto pressure cooker. The added oil helps to disperse the foam from the bean cooking and prevents the foam from creeping up the sides of the cooker.

Most pressure cookers, no matter what brand, have fill lines inside the pan. My cooker has a 2/3 mark for bulk items such as roasts, whole chickens, etc. There is a second fill line for soups and stews a little higher than the first fill line. I often re-read my manual to be sure I'm using the cooker correctly, something I recommend all PC users do often!

Teresa, who prefers oven fried chicken anyway.....

Folks, there is no need for extensive proof why you should never use a regular PC to fry food. It is actually not difficult to understand why. Do a search on turkey fryer dangers. How stupid you need to be to fry turkeys indoors. Even Home Land Security warms against that.

PC frying chicken is not the same as turkey frying, it can be more dangerous.

1. PC will not explode, but many of us, myself included, have had the nasty experience of PC erupting and have the whole kitchen in a mess. That, as shown by the videos I linked above, is not a fact that can be ignored. You can call me an idiot, but it happens often to many people.

2. When a PC erupts, a few things can happen. You or someone else in your family can be fatally burned. Water boils at 212F, oil boils at over 400F and you cannot shake off oil like water on your skin.

Just like the explosions inside the cylinders of a car engine, oil vapor and atomized oil droplet in air are explosive.

Just like many many many warning videos you can find on the internet, you cannot easily put out an oil fire.

Accidents happens more often to idiots like me, it, by definition, happens to all. Some accident do not give you a second change to be smarter.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 9:23

This thread reminds me of my karate instructor's advice when I was practicing.

The best self defense technique is to avoid a situation that puts you in jeopardy.

Warnings in the manual would lead me to put the notion aside and get the proper equipment. The advice from the majority is just reassurance that it's wise to heed the warning.
Others would choose to take the risk. They are also responsible for the, seemingly, common sense warnings on various appliances! LOL!

•Posted by johnliu (My Page) on
Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 0:01

What happens if you get distracted, walk away, don't hear the timer, and leave the sealed pressure cooker on high heat for an hour or two?

Pressure cookers aren't sealed. They have vents and overpressure safety devises. Seems clear you don't really understand how these work.

Oil can't plug a vent like beans do.

And dcarch. oil boils at 750 degrees, for your info. Maybe higher at pressure. Good luck getting it to that temp on your stove.

"---Pressure cookers aren't sealed. They have vents and overpressure safety devises. Seems clear you don't really understand how these work.---"

I am glad that you do understand how a PC works. That is exactly why I linked you to all the videos. The vent is what the danger is, when it goes off, it will spraying all over the kitchen and on you with burning oil and explosive fire.

"---Oil can't plug a vent like beans do.---"

Again, you are correct oil can't plug a vent. Unfortunately all kinds of loose parts of a chicken and the batter on the chicken are also in the PC.

"---And dcarch. oil boils at 750 degrees, for your info.---"

And 750 degree oil boiling point will make it safer on you skin?

KFC must have some secrete oil that boils at 750 F. Boiling point of some common cooking oils.

Safflower - 510 F (266 C)
Soybean - 495 F (257 C)
Corn - 475 F (246 C)
Peanut - 440 F (227 C)
Sesame - 420 F (216 C)
Olive - 375 F (191 C)

dcarch

FOAS posted:

“---- As such, I think shannos asks a valid question---“

The question is very valid, but the recommendation that everyone should do it, against all manufacturers’ warnings is highly irresponsible and alarming.

“--- I for one have not been able to find any examples of accidents by PCs used for pressure frying.---“

Because so few people are doing it. Those few who have done it and caused a disaster will never admit or report what they have done, for reasons of liability and insurance coverage. (or survived to make a youtube video. LOL!)

You know, it is perfectly safe to work with 100,000 volts of electricity, as I have work with it so many times, but I would be crazy to tell everyone that they should and can do it too.

Just to be clear, many people do fry chickens using a PC, and it is not bad, I have done that, but that is not pressure frying a chicken with pressure.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 11:38

3 gallons of hot oil in a pot on a crab cooker in your kitchen is NOT the same as a liter of oil in a covered pan on your stove.

Open deep frying spattering all over your kitchen is not the same as frying in a pressure cooker.

Cooking beans in a pressure cooker is not the same as heating oil in pressure cooker. Heating oil in a pressure cooker is amazingly just like heating oil in a small open pan. Honest to god, it's nothing scary.

There is absolutely no reason anyone has provided that would cause the pressure cooker to lose pressure. If it were to blow the over pressure plug it will vent steam. Just steam. Not oil. The pot would have to be full of something solid like BEANS to cause that to happen.

There is nothing to plug the vent when frying chicken. A little crumb of breading is not going to do it. It's just not.

None of these examples given to avoid pressure frying are real, they are all imagined. None have ever been documented to have happened, they are all imagined. There seems to be not one, NOT ONE! example of anything going wrong while doing this. Doesn't that seem odd?

Did anyone ever even look at the videos I linked to showing it being done? It's not scary. The only thing scary is getting past the misinformation.

So every person who foolishly over-fills their cooker with beans and plugs up the vent will proudly post a video on the internet. But every person who fries chicken in a pressure cooker is "too embarrassed" to do the same?

Seriously? Where's the logic in that?

I will only address a couple of points. I have shown enough reasoning why this idea of using a PC is dangerous.

1. PC cooking beans, everyone knows, is not the only thing that can block the safety vent and resulting in a mess eruption.

2. "----If it were to blow the over pressure plug it will vent steam. Just steam. Not oil.--"

Not true at all. It is not difficult to understand why this is wrong thinking. When the safety vent is blocked, pressure inside the PC starts to build up and the temperature starts to rise. The pressure will prevent the oil and water from boiling, until the pressure builds up high enough to overcome the blockage. When that happens, the sudden drop of pressure will instantly cause the boiling to happen violently. That is a classic case of a PC erupting.

But if you are frying chicken in oil, and the safety vent blows, any water, which is heavier than oil and will be under the oil and at extreme hot oil temperature, will boil explosively from under the hot oil, bring with it lots of oil and spray out all over the area. And oil mist near a fire is extremely dangerous.

In one of the videos I linked above, you can see what a fire from small cup of hot oil boiling a small amount of water can create.

I apologize to all other members for beating a dead horse. This concerns life safety.

dcarch

This post was edited by dcarch on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 15:15

I have never owned a pressure cooker and have never had any compelling reason to make fried chicken, but I do have something to contribute to the discussion.

Shannos, if you're intent on recreating the early days of Colonel Sanders's fried chicken, make sure to cut your chicken breasts the way he did. The whole chicken breast was cut into three pieces. There was a vertical cut made down through both halves about a third of the way from the front. This piece was called the "keel" in the early restaurants.

The remaining piece was split along the backbone into two "breasts". Each of those three pieces contained about the same amount of meat as a thigh so there was not a price differential for white meat until they switched to the whole breast being cut into halves instead of thirds.

Shannos - I'm kind of in the middle here, but for all your posting you haven't answered my question satisfactorily. Let me rephrase, in case it helps:

If there are companies selling stove-top pressure fryers without fear of lawsuits, then why do pressure cooker manufacturers specifically and emphatically warn against using their products for pressure frying? Do they perhaps know something that makes THEIR PRODUCTS not safe for this purpose?

Please try to respond respectfully so that half your posts don't get deleted like they did this morning. :)

You know, I don't have to ride in the back of a cement mixer myself to know that its dangerous and inadvisable.

Similarly, I don't need evidence of people dying from exploded pressure cookers improperly used to deep fry chicken to know that that is dangerous and inadvisable.

Smart people don't misuse their pressure cookers. All it takes is a moment's inattention. I wasn't quick enough turning down the burner on a pressure cooker of turkey barley soup over 40 years ago, and it didn't blow the plug out - it blew the weight off the valve and shot hotter than boiling hot turkey-barley soup out in a screaming stream all the way up to the 10' ceiling and all over the walls, stove, fridge, sink - the whole room.

I was burned getting to the oven to turn it off. Had that been hot oil, if it didn't kill me, it certainly would have left me in a state of longing for death. 3rd degree burns from hot oil (or anything else actually) are no laughing matter.

It took literally weeks to get it all cleaned up. I'm just glad we didn't follow the Colonel's method of making fried chicken back then - or ever.

We have done this for many years. My mother started pressure frying chicken back in the 40s. Any time you are cooking anything, there is a risk if you are not paying attention, just like everything else you do in life.

Also, Ruthanna is correct about cutting the breast into 3 pieces.

"--Any time you are cooking anything, there is a risk if you are not paying attention, just like everything else you do in life."

No disagreement from me. I don't disagree with the fact that frying chicken in a regular PC can be done safely. I am only pointing out what consequence can happen if accidents happen.

High wire walking, sky diving can be done very safely, but what if ------

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFRz5-U9FN0

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful: All for fried chicken?

This post was edited by dcarch on Sat, Oct 4, 14 at 12:25

Just back to let you know I've not blown up, but still make the best pressure cooker fried chicken. If you have genuine interest in how this works, and the truth about pressures and temps (and not hysterics and misinformation) check out the "FixinThatUp" channel on YouTube. They just posted KFC Trials #49. You can see the TRUTH.

LOL I was just thinking about this thread yesterday, while reading the current KFC thread! Glad you're still with us!

I've owned a Wearever Chicken Bucket for about 10 yrs, and have not had any issues with it. Best damn way to fry chicken, IMO. Of course, the user must always be aware of what is happening around them and concentrate on the task at hand. That said, I think all the fears of frying in a PC is due to negligence and not paying attention to what was going on. It's due to that negligence that companies have to slap on warnings not to fry in their PC, not because it will damage the structural integrity of the PC.

"------That said, I think all the fears of frying in a PC is due to negligence and not paying attention to what was going on.---"

I think you basically just defined all accidents ever happened, i.e. Negligence.

Accidents will always happen, not matter how careful you are. Some accidents cause minor discomfort, some can cause death. Frying in a pressure cooker can burn down your house and kill.

dcarch

Oh, I don't know. I am a very careful cook and I got hot grease splattered on my face last Saturday. An inch or so from my eyeball. I am beside myself wondering how I could've known this one time it would've come off of my fingers (or would a fork have been better? Or would tongs have worked better?), and landed in the oil, splattering it? And that it would've splashed on my face. So high?! Not in decades of cooking has anything like this happened. I don't think I was negligent? I rather thought I was setting it down gently.

Had it to do over, I probably would change something. But, I'm still left with wondering what I could've done differently. With the exception of going back in time, I don't think I could've avoided it.

How is that negligence??? My point is, there really is such a thing as an accident. I think. Some things could be avoided, but not all.

"Accidents will always happen, not matter how careful you are. Some accidents cause minor discomfort, some can cause death."

It took me years, no, actually, decades, to get over my fear that some small accidentally overlooked step in canning would result in my death from botulism.

I recently did start canning and I am very careful, and obviously I am still here, but I guess it is just a chance we all take when we go to can food. Because according to the statistics, every year some people do die of botulism from eating home canned food.

A lot of folks flying around the airport but no one is landing. No dispute on the basic facts of what temperatures certain substances (water, oil) vaporize or explode. But no one is accounting for the dynamics of the process, which are explained in Colonel Sanders patent that he took out on his pressure frying method for cooking chicken (U.S. Patent No. 3,245,800).

What happens when you apply heat to a mixture of liquids having different boiling temperatures in a closed environment with a small orifice vent (i.e., a stovetop pressure cooker)? What happens when you distill a mixture of liquids having different boiling points? Here's what happens.

Assuming you are applying enough heat to the liquid mixture to reach the boiling points, each liquid will boil off in order of their boiling points, lowest first to highest last. More importantly, the temperature of the entire mixture of boiling liquids and vapors within the closed environment will remain at the equilibrium temperature of the lowest boiling liquid until ALL of the lowest boiling liquid is vaporized out of the system. At that point the temperature of the enclosed liquid and vapor system will begin to rise until it reaches the equilibrium boiling point for the next-highest boiling liquid.

In our chicken frying example, the two most important liquids are the water contained in the chicken and its coating, and the frying oil. Water boils at 212 F at atmospheric temperature, and at about 250 F at 15 psi, the pressure used by Colonel Sanders with his old Mirro pressure cookers. Oil boils at some ungodly high temperature, one obviously dangerous, but one that will never be reached in the pressure cooker unless and until ALL of the water in the chicken and its coating are vaporized and vented out the pressure cooker's vent. But in order to vaporize all of the water in the chicken, you will have to cook it for a good bit longer than the eight to ten minutes the Colonel used to cook his chicken. As long as there is any water remaining in the chicken (and with the cooking times involved here, there always will be), that water will continuously vaporize out of the chicken and maintain the pressure cooker at 250 F and 15 PSI.

The danger comes in when the process is neglected. If the heat is left on long enough, and all the water is driven out of the chicken and vented to the atmosphere, the temperature inside the pressure cooker will begin to rise until it reaches the equilibrium boiling point of the next-highest boiling liquid, the oil, at 15 PSI. If that happens, look out. It is because of the possibility of neglect leading to the complete evacuation of water from the cooker that the stovetop pressure cooker manufacturers have uniformly regarded pressure frying in their equipment as unsafe.

Bottom line - it is possible to pressure fry chicken in a stovetop pressure cooker, but the process has to be controlled and monitored carefully so that you never approach the point where all of the water is removed from the chicken (the chicken would be long past ruined by that point anyway). The safety of the process depends entirely on the operator. If there is any question of whether the chef has sufficient skill and attention span to monitor and control the process (and for the pressure cooker manufacturers, they just cannot presume that all their customers do), it's just much safer to use a purpose-made pressure fryer, expensive as they are.

"---- the two most important liquids are the water contained in the chicken and its coating, and the frying oil. Water boils at 212 F at atmospheric temperature, and at about 250 F at 15 psi, the pressure used by Colonel Sanders with his old Mirro pressure cookers. Oil boils at some ungodly high temperature, one obviously dangerous, but one that will never be reached in the pressure cooker unless and until ALL of the water in the chicken and its coating are vaporized and vented out the pressure cooker's vent.----"

The following is basic reality and science, and I can't see how anyone can ignore:

1. There is no upper limit as to water boiling point, it depends on pressure. It can be 1,000 F or higher.

2. Pressure cooker safety vent can be clogged and burst. Many people have had the unpleasant experience of that happening. Myself is one of them.

3. If a PC bursts the remaining water will boil violently , and hot oil will be atomized and become highly explosive, a fatal accident can happen.

dcarch

DC, doesn't this sound like the same person, different name, that posted the same misleading post?