Discover the time-saving and convenient features of the Fagor pressure cooker. Quickly and easily make the juiciest, succulent, tender, luscious recipes you have ever eaten.
Are you ready for an appliance that will change your life? I own ten kitchen appliances that I consider essential. My electric pressure cooker is one of the essentials. I reach for the Fagor Lux™ Multi-Cooker (the official name) almost every day.
What is a pressure cooker?
The Fagor pressure cooker is an electric pressure cooker, which means you plug it in and set it on your counter top. Don’t ever use it on your stove top or in your oven.
Fagor Multi-Cooker Functions
The Fagor pressure cooker has 10 cooking functions, making it a multi cooker. The user manual gives specific cook times for vegetables, fruits, beans and meats.
The main cooking functions are:
- Pressure Cook
- Slow Cook
- Rice Cook
- Yogurt
The functions that assist in cooking are:
- Brown
- Steam
- Saute
- Simmer
I have used every single cooking feature available on the Fagor Lux™ Multi-Cooker. Some features are great and some aren’t very good.
The PRESSURE COOK function is its greatest strength. I use this function more than any other feature. It saves time and is incredibly convenient.
Convenience aside, it excels at tasty food. Recipes meant to be soft, succulent, juicy and luscious are perfect in a pressure cooker. Soups, sauces and purees are creamy. Meats turn out juicy and flavorful.
However, not all recipes are meant to be cooked with a pressure cooker. The pressure cooker will never make crispy or crunchy foods and most baked items are a disaster in a pressure cooker. If you avoid these types of foods, you will be pleased with your pressure cooker.
How to Use an Electric Pressure Cooker
STEP 1: Make sure the silicone gasket is on the lid properly and that the pressure regulating valve is clean.
STEP 2: Plug the pressure cooker into an outlet.
STEP 3: Place food into the cooking pot. Do not fill more than ⅔ full.
STEP 4: Place the lid on the cooker and turn the handle to the locked position.
STEP 5: Turn the pressure regulator knob to pressure.
STEP 6: Select the cooking mode.
STEP 7: Adjust the time, if necessary.
STEP 8: Press the START/STOP button.
STEP 9: As the pressure builds, the three circles next to the pressure setting will blink until pressure is reached. Then they will be solid red.
The machine will beep to indicate it has reached pressure. The lid will lock. You won’t be able to open it until the pressure is released. The cook time and the minute countdown begins.
STEP 10: When the food is finished, the unit will beep and it will switch to KEEP WARM. Furthermore, it will keep beeping every 10 seconds for 5 minutes or until pressure is released or the machine is turned off.
STEP 11: Release the pressure either by the quick release method or the natural release method.
- Quick Release Method: Turn the pressure regulator knob to STEAM and pressure will immediately release, letting out hot steam. Be careful not to burn yourself. Keep your hands and fingers away from the steam opening.
- Natural Release Method – the pressure cooker will release pressure on its own. It will take several minutes, depending on the amount of food in the pan. Food inside the pan will continue to cook.
Fagor Lux™ Multi-Cooker Features
PRESSURE COOK:
You can pressure cook on HIGH PRESSURE (10-13 PSI – pounds per square inch) or LOW PRESSURE (4-7 PSI). This feature WILL SAVE YOU TIME, significantly cutting down on the time it takes to cook food.
Compare a chicken breast cooked in a pressure cooker vs. oven. It takes about 10 minutes to cook a chicken breast (after it reaches pressure) in the Fagor pressure cooker vs. about 40 minutes to cook a chicken breast in the oven (after oven is preheated).
Or consider a whole potato: 12 minutes vs. an hour or more in the oven.
I cook chickpeas every week to make hummus and the Fagor pressure cooker saves me so much time.
I pre-soaked the beans overnight (8-10 hours) and then pressure cook the chickpeas in about 15 minutes. They come out very soft. My hummus turns out smooth and creamy every time.
I use the high pressure setting most often. It is great for beans (I’ve made chickpeas, black beans and navy beans) and for soups and stews.
It is great for cooking fruit such as apples for applesauce.
I’ve also cooked a whole chicken and a whole turkey (8 pounds).
We have a lot of homemade smoked chicken breasts individually packaged and frozen in the freezer. We can go from frozen smoked chicken to dinner ready in about 30 minutes.
Low pressure is good for hard boiling eggs or for cooking seafood. This might be a good option if you struggle to get hard boiled eggs right. Use a trivet or steamer basket.
KEEP WARM
The KEEP WARM function automatically switches on after the recipe has finished cooking.
This flexibility allows you to throw ingredients in the pot in the morning, cook it on high pressure for 30 minutes, and have dinner on the table 5 minutes after you walk in the door after work.
Your Fagor will cook the food and then keep it warm (just like a slow cooker) so it is ready for you to eat when you need it.
You can also warm up food, such as leftovers. It will heat up to 165° Fahrenheit.
However, be aware that the KEEP WARM feature will shut off after it reaches the time you have set.
This can be a problem if it takes you longer to get ready to eat than you thought it would. This is one flaw I hope Fagor will fix in future models.
TIME DELAY
Delay the cooking time by up to 6 hours by setting the TIME DELAY button.
Be aware of the ingredients you put in the pot before you hit Time Delay. Never delay cooking meat or other perishable items that should remain refrigerated until ready to cook.
I have used this feature to cook beans and raw vegetables and it has been fine. However, it isn’t a feature I use often.
SLOW COOKER
The SLOW COOKER function can be set to high (up to 212º F) or low (up to 190º F) and can cook up to 10 hours.
Split Pea Soup cooked on the slow cooker setting worked just as well as a stand-alone slow cooker.
BROWN
Use this feature to brown and seal in flavor of meats.
The cooking pot heats up quickly. The meat sizzles as you put it in the hot oil. It browns in 15 to 20 seconds.
The browning feature is very effective. Brown and then pressure cook and you have a winning combination.
SAUTE
Use this function when cooking small amounts of food in oil before using the pressure cooking or slow cooking function.
The Fagor Lux™ Multi-Cooker does a poor job at sautéing. Because the bottom of the cooking pot is slightly raised in the middle, the butter or oil slides down to the rounded edges. Therefore, it is difficult to get a good surface area to sauté garlic or onions.
SIMMER
Use the SIMMER function for soups and sauces that need to be cooked at a lower temperature.
The Fagor Lux™ Multi-Cooker does a mediocre simmer job. I tried to make a roux in the cooking pot before adding the rest of my soup ingredients.
It was only slightly effective as I constantly stirred it, but it never thickened as much as I hoped it would. Use the brown function or a regular stove top pan for a roux.
WHITE RICE
This function cooks white rice at a low pressure.
I used Jasmine rice from Trader Joes'. It cooked beautifully in 9 minutes. The rice was slightly sticky, but the grains were separate. I've cooked rice on the PRESSURE COOK setting before with similar results.
BROWN RICE
The BROWN RICE feature cooks brown rice at a high pressure.
I used brown Basmati rice from Trader Joes'. It cooked in 20 minutes. The rice was moist and tender, yet the grains did not stick together.
RISOTTO
The RISOTTO feature cooks at high pressure to deliver creamy risotto.
To test the RISOTTO feature, I used Rice Select Arborio rice. The risotto came out creamy and fragrant.
Tips for Risotto
- Use the SAUTE function to toast the Arborio rice and soften the onions in some olive oil.
- After the rice has cooked, let the pressure cooker release pressure naturally.
- When it is finished, stir the risotto and it will thicken and be creamy.
YOGURT
Make homemade yogurt with this function. You can make it directly in the cooking pot or you can make it in glass jars on a trivet in the pot.
Always use the steamer insert and trivet when making yogurt in glass jars. Place the steamer into the cooking pot. Next add the glass jars with milk and yogurt culture.
You can heat the milk in the Fagor, but I found it easier and quicker to use a regular stove top pan to heat the milk.
Follow your recipe to cool the milk to the right temperature before adding the yogurt culture.
Note that the Fagor will shut off after the the cooking time is over on the Yogurt setting. It does not switch to the KEEP WARM Function.
The Fagor pressure cooker did an inconsistent job making yogurt. I made yogurt twice. The yogurt wasn't as smooth as I hoped, but it tasted good.
STEAM
The STEAM function cooks food with steam. Place the food in a steamer basket and the raised trivet. The food will cook over the water.
The Fagor Multi-Cooker does an adequate job with the STEAM function. I steamed a potato and a sweet potato. When they were finished, they were soft and steamed just right. However, I did run into some problems as I steamed them.
Be aware of the following:
- You must use a trivet and some sort of steam basket or tray. These items are not included with the Fagor Lux™ Multi-Cooker.
- There are no directions for steaming specific foods and just general guidelines for how much water to add to the bottom of the pot. I had to add more water halfway through the steaming cycle. I recommend at least 2 cups of water if you will be steaming longer than 30 minutes.
- The Fagor Multi-Cooker doesn't make steaming quicker. It is just a regular steam cycle.
CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE
The removable cooking pot is the only part on the pressure cooker that can be washed in the dishwasher. However, it is quick and easy to hand wash. I always hand wash mine.
- Cool all parts of the electric pressure cooker before cleaning it.
- Wash the cooking pot with warm soapy water. Then dry thoroughly.
- Wipe the outside of the pressure cooker with a damp e-cloth. E-cloths are amazing! They trap dirt and bacteria in the fibers of the cloth, removing them from your pressure cooker.
- Never submerge the Multi-Cooker or lid in water. Always use a damp e-cloth or regular cloth to clean.
- Wipe the inside of the pressure cooker with a damp cloth, if needed.
- Remove the gasket from the lid and clean with warm soapy water.
- Clean the lid with a warm soapy damp cloth.
- Dry the lid and gasket thoroughly and replace the gasket on the lid. The groove in the center of the gasket should be around the metal ring on the inside of the lid.
How to Remove Odor
After cleaning the multi-cooker, if there is still odor, clean again with one part vinegar to one part water. Dry thoroughly. Keep the lid off and allow all parts to air out.
This is only partially effective in removing odor. The odor does remain.
Fagor Pressure Cooker Accessories
- Fagor sells replacement gaskets. Gaskets will wear out and must be replaced. The multi-cooker will not work with a broken or missing gasket.
- Fagor stainless steel steamer basket – although any steamer basket that is the right size will work in the Fagor pressure cooker.
- Expansion kit that includes a stainless steel rack with handles, an 8” silicone baking dish with lid and 4 individual silicone cups with spatula and recipe booklet.
The Fagor pressure cooker is on my list of time saving kitchen appliances. I use mine every week. It saves me more time than any single appliance I own. And that is The Tasty Tip of the day!
Do you own an electric pressure cooker? Comment below and let me know how you use yours.
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