Waypoints Tips

Although you can allow your varnish and hull paint to fade, crack, or peel with no more penalty than the disdain of those who...

Excerpted from Seamanship Secrets When the two charted objects line up as viewed from your boat – say a church spire behind a tank – you...

Part of our interest in acrylic hull restorers is due to the wide range of opinions on these products. Marketing materials often position these...

Despite the fact that modern forecasting methods are far from perfect, a large storm almost always is tracked with enough precision to let you...

When people are hurt and homes and precious possessions are destroyed or lost forever, a wrecked recreational sailboat seems wholly unimportant. But for many...

Several sailboat equipment makers have introduced gear to cope with unusual mooring needs, but there is still a lot of improvising. In any ‘extreme’...

Brush choice depends on what the brush’s job will be (transferring paint, smoothing paint, etc.), the user’s preferences, and the project budget. The best...

Sandblasting has been around for decades and is part of the infernal thrum of every commercial shipyard. At the heart of the process is...

If youre getting ready for sailing this summer and feel like you are still losing the battle against mildew, then youll probably be interested in some of the cheap and easy mildew "cures" we've come upon in our testing. PS tester Drew Frye made a pleasant little discovery when he was researching and testing various anti-mildew protectants. Two inexpensive homemade concoctions did as well as or better than retail formulas that are 20 to 100 times more expensive.

Pressure Cookers

No kitchen pot fights a bad reputation the way a pressure cooker does-one pot of lentils exploding in someones face can quickly wipe out 20 years of good memories. While todays triple safety valves and stainless-steel construction have taken the trial-and-error out of pressure cooking and nearly eliminated accidents, theres still something about boiling water under pressure that sets the butterflies free in a cooks belly.

Despite the belly-flies, most galley cooks argue that the pressure cooker is the most versatile, most valuable pot on a boat. Pressure cooking is faster than regular cooking; it better preserves flavors and nutrients and can tenderize lean meats. If the user follows the instructions, it can be a sailors best friend, saving cooking fuel, water, and time-and having a lid that is locked on is a bonus.

PRESSURE COOKING 101

There are four basic types of pressure cookers: jiggle-top/weighted valve, fixed weight, spring valve, and electric. The jiggle-top is a decades-old pressure cooker design. A weight on the steam vent pipe begins gently rocking, spinning, or swinging when pressure is reached, indicating that it is time to turn down the heat under the pot. If the jiggler is bouncing rapidly, theres too much pressure in the cooker and the heat should be further reduced to keep from losing too much cooking liquid.

Fixed weight cookers use a weight valve that is either fixed on the vent pipe or locked into place by the user. When pressure is reached in the pot, the valve raises up slightly, emitting wisps of steam and a slight hissing to indicate it is time to the lower the heat.

Spring valve cookers are the most-advanced of the non-electric cookers. When pressure is achieved, a spring-loaded valve raises an indicator. These designs tend to vent the least amount of steam.

Electric pressure cookers reach and maintain pressure automatically.

To learn more about cooking aboard and see the pressure cookers Practical Sailor likes best, purchase the ebook Galley Accessories and Cookbooks from Practical Sailor.