I have a stovetop PC. Don't want an electric one (more stuff to go wrong). Stovetop PC is easy to store; isn't a space hog like the insta pots are.

Beef stew and pot roast are better, much better, cooked in a pressure cooker. Meat is fall apart tender; the pressure cooker does an excellent job of melding the flavors.

Sail_away, there is a recent thread on electric pressure cookers.

You can read it here.

I love my Breville and I know many love their Instant Pot.

A pressure cooker makes clear soups and stocks better than anything in the world! ALL the flavors from the ingredients go into the liquid, and soups that take hours to cook by traditional methods is done in 20 minutes.

I agree with ci_lantro and would add pork shoulder roast to the list.

I have a Power XL electric pressure cooker and love it. Pressure cookers tend to create more tender meats. I can cook a whole frozen chicken to falling off the bone, flavorous in 25 minutes. Building up pressure takes about 10 minutes and manual release takes a few minutes. And You don't have to baby sit it. Everyone has their own opinion of them, but most of the people I know who have them, love them. I will not pressure can in one.

Madonna

My mother used her pressure cooker for all sorts of things, so I followed her tradition. About four years ago, my husband bought an "As seen on TV" electric pressure cooker for me. At first, I was sure I wouldn't like it. But after making some short ribs and pork shoulder, I was sold. The only downside was that it had a non-stick pot that stuck. And there wasn't any true "saute" feature. So a few weeks after Christmas, I bought myself an Instant Pot. I've used it about once a week since then.

I've made the usual stuff -- short ribs, pot roast, whole beets, etc. And a couple of days ago, I gathered together all the carcass bits & pieces from a recently roasted chicken to make chicken broth. Actually, I made something more like chicken jello.

To tell the truth, I wouldn't be without it. I like it a whole lot better than my stovetop versions. It's much easier to deal with. I must say that I'm not interested in cooking most vegetables or cakes or noodles or rice or things like that. I use it mainly for tougher cuts of meat, super dense vegetables like beets or potatoes, and beans. It's got its strengths but is not an all-purpose appliance.

I used a stovetop PC for 30 years until one day . . . yes, it blew. Black beans, all over my white kitchen ceiling. Something to do with the gasket getting hung and I didn’t notice it, as best I can recall. It made such a mess, we didn’t just have to scrub, we had to paint. Anyway, I’m not afraid of a stovetop PC but afterwards, my sis bought me a new Cuisinart electric model and it is a bit easier to use. I can’t make beans without a PC. As others have said, pot roast, and making stock. I have also had good luck with risotto. Even though I don’t can, I’ve never not owned a pressure cooker. It is bulky to store, however.

I don't know if it is better- but everything is as good a oven or stove-top cooked but in 1/3 the time. Plus I believe the clean-up is so much easier. The downside (maybe because I use my PC so much) is that mine rarely last more than a year before they just stop working.

May not be important to many of you, but for me it is.

You can run a non-electric PC under water to immediately release the pressure. No waiting.

dcarch

There is a manual release option on electrics. One feature of the electric pressure cooker that does not work for stovetop and stovetop pressure cookers is that you can set it and walk away. Washington Post has an article today that prepared a number of recipes in a pressure cooker and compared to same recipes prepared in a Dutch oven, interesting read.

" There is a manual release option on electrics.----"

You cannot use the manual release for many foods. Food will bubble up and block the vent.

dcarch

You can run a non-electric PC under water to immediately release the pressure.

Like when you make a multi-ingredient dish like stew and pot roast. I like to pressure cook the meat, do a quick release under running water and then add the other ingredients and continue pressure cooking. After cooking the vegetables, I want to do another quick release so the vegetables don't turn to mush.

Another instance where I use quick release is if I'm unsure of how much time to pressure cook and then see that I need to add some additional time & pressure cook some more. Quick releases allow you to quickly check the progress and add more time.

If you're just making something like chicken broth, then it's not important to be able to do quick releases.

dcarch, I've never had a problem using quick release on my Fagor multi-cooker when pressure cooking. It has a fill line in it, I've never over filled it. They cool down so quickly though compared to my heavy stove top types that I can in. I think I sat in my office maybe 15 minutes at very most after the 'finished' beep sounded on mine tonight (it resets to hold warm automatically), then went in to add the spinach to my dish and get dinner on the table...no prolonged hiss when I turned the valve.

I used it tonight on a dinner I'd planned to oven or slow cook and never did get into the kitchen...one of those kind of days. Chicken + chicken broth, sausage, butter beans, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, onion, white wine, into the pressure cooker while I folded last load of laundry. (I short cutted the beans and used canned, added those at the end just to heat at the same time I put in a pile of fresh spinach leaves).

If my vent were to ever plug and it has not in the years I've had the electric pressure cooker (kind of forgotten, something like 7+?), it would be easy enough to clean. I run water through it when I'm washing up each time anyway, make sure it is free and open.

I don't see the quick release as a problem with electric pressure cookers. if you want quick release, you can put a cool, damp wash cloth over the cover for a bit or hold a towel to protect your hand while you release manually.

I've gotten to the point that handling a hot & heavy stovetop pressure cooker is too much for my wrists. Getting it under the facet to run cold water is beyond my abilities now, so I like the electric pressure cookers release mechanisms.

"---I've gotten to the point that handling a hot & heavy stovetop pressure cooker is too much for my wrists. ---"

Stove top is much lighter and smaller. Many have slow release also.

Sunbeam - non-electric. The dimensions are 15.9-inches tall x
9.6-inches in diameter weighing about 5.2 pounds.

Instant Pot - The outside dimensions are 13-inches tall x
12.6-inches in diameter and weighs about 14 pounds.

Electric PC is great that it frees up a burner on the stove.

dcarch