The Five Hundred Dollar Pot

fx

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 11:55:32 GMT

Sara I have also caught the Modernist bus and taken out my Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker for the same uses!

Sara

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:08:37 GMT

I’ve been using a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooekr in my Modernist take on a domestic kitchen since Heston Blumenthal started promoting the technology for making stocks, a task for which it excels as underscored in MC.Having tried all the other purported uses for pressure cooking I’ve come to the conclusion that a major reason they fell out of favour in the 70’s and 80’s is the PR used by retailers which all centred around “4 hour beef stew in 20 minutes” and the like. I’m afraid the results are disappointing! A fact I’m sure contributed to the fall off of demand for the pressure cooekr. Now if the manufacturers hadn’t tried to promote the pressure cooking as the cooking equivalent of snake oil but had instead concentrated on it’s true strengths, stock, steaming tender meats etc, I’m sure things would be different.Cheers!Chris

fx

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:19:38 GMT

Thanks Jaunty, glad you liked it!

Jaunty

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:13:24 GMT

I just got a Duromatic Hotel pressure cooker off my wife for Christmas and found this massively interesting story. Thanks so much for posting. Now to try some super fast curry making!

fx

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:23:02 GMT

Bento thanks for visiting, cooking bento boxes on Kuhn Rikon pots seems like the best of both world!

Bento Pet

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:58:53 GMT

Wow! �I"ve got a whole set of these babies and I didn"t know they were that amazing. �They are great pots to use I know but the technology just blew me �away! �Very informative!

fx

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 15:55:45 GMT

Cynthia, in the long run cookware takes more space in the pantry than in the budget, so I recommend you invest in good quality pots that will last you a lifetime rather than stuff your kitchen cupboards with low quality pots you are bound to have to replace before long.

fx

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 15:31:02 GMT

Vaio, I wish you fun with your Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker!

fx

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:45:10 GMT

Susan thanks for visiting and trying the lengthy but delicious Pierre Herm� chestnut tart - I saw your article on Chowhound. Well done!

fx

Wed, 4 Jun 2008 13:28:55 GMT

TZ, have you thought about buying some pressure cooker books?

Cynthia

Tue, 3 Jun 2008 19:29:57 GMT

I am soon going to be investing in cookware so I think you most sincerely for this tour and info.

vaio

Fri, 30 May 2008 17:23:45 GMT

Hello FX! Thanks for the advice, but Amazon doesn"t ship anything to Romania except books, but furtunatly I sent an e-mail directly to Kuhn Rikon and now my pressure cooker is on the road to Romania.

Susan Marm�

Thu, 29 May 2008 10:29:26 GMT

Your website is excellent - this was a particularly interesting entry, I have loved factory tours since I was a child. Want...to...go...to...factory outlet!
Have made your chestnut tart to great accliam and posted on it - and the website - on Chowhound.com (under my screen name, buttertart). Cheers and thanks, Susan

TZ

Mon, 26 May 2008 06:19:07 GMT

Francois, Thanks for another look inside a Swiss factory. I am the proud owner of a KR pressure cooker for about a year now but I"ve only used it to cook dry beans and artichokes so far. I have several Madhur Jaffrey books and have learned a bit about using a pressure cooker from her, but I won"t be able to properly imitate a Swiss housewife without being able to prepare more dishes "� la marmite � pression."

I can perhaps make a trip to Rikon but have to figure out how to get all that cookware into the car without my husband noticing! Wish me luck ;-)

Gfron1

Sun, 25 May 2008 13:57:22 GMT

My shop is in Silver City, New Mexico, USA. We selected KR pots (and gadgets) after looking at all of the known brands in the US, and also reading a lot of reviews. What we found is that while you pay just a little more, the benefits far outweigh that small price increase. Specifically, we found that their pots are extremely safe versus most of the other pressure cookers, and we use many of their items in our commercial kitchen and none have given us any trouble. Its simply a quality product.

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 13:13:48 GMT

Paul, I"ll go buy a saucepan factory and hire some people in need! My first recipe in the pressure cooker are roesti, not fancy but very much in character with the cooker.

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 13:12:50 GMT

Cheese puff, thanks for the visit, I"ve seen the post in Chinese about my article from my logs, what do you friends say? Industrial facilities are common in China, is there much difference? Did they say anything about the Tibetan angle?

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:59:39 GMT

Mike, if you drive down make sure to take a minivan so you can stock up on Kuhn Rikon!

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:59:02 GMT

Rick, I think Jacques Kuhn is still around, of course very decent people, and they sure look after their Tibetan staff. But at the end of the day both the factory and the Tibetans made a good deal!

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:58:11 GMT

Rob, thanks for visiting, where is your shop? How do you rate Kuhn Rikon"s pots compared to other brands?

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:57:02 GMT

Thanks Gayle, look carefully when you buy, some of these pressure cookers come with two lids, one pressure lid and another heat-preserving insulating lid that will keep your beans hot for 2 hours. Great stuff!

fx

Sun, 25 May 2008 12:55:36 GMT

Vaio, thanks for visiting! You can buy this from Amazon.com, if they ship to Romania.

Paul Mckenna

Sat, 24 May 2008 03:53:46 GMT

Francois. Have you ever made a pressure cooker recipe...

The products do look good and the intake of of dispossessed Tibetans does raise your hope in human nature.
I wish we all could achieve what the brothers did.

Paul

cheese_puff

Fri, 23 May 2008 21:51:18 GMT

Very informative!! I just shared this with all my chinese friends--they are very impressed and will buy those pots for sure!

Mike

Fri, 23 May 2008 01:40:29 GMT

Hm...I think that I"m in for a drive this summer. I could make it down from Stockholm in a couple of days. Totally worth it.

Rick

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:24:39 GMT

The Kuhn Brothers must have been (are still? Are either alive?) very great men. Their compassion and sympathy stand as an example that is rare in this world. Belief, backed up by action. It makes me want to learn more about them. Brilliant!

Nice pots too.

Gfron1

Thu, 22 May 2008 23:28:46 GMT

Thanks for the tour. I sell Kuhn Rikon in my store and all of their products are great. Its nice to get to see the people making the pots I sell.

Gayle

Thu, 22 May 2008 20:24:10 GMT

Thanks for the tour. I do need a pressure cooker and this could be the one. Glad to see behind the scenes.
My bean-rice vegeterian meat recipe is on my blog now.
Gayle

vaio

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:26:11 GMT

Better then "How It"s Made" on Discovery Channel.

Can you advice on an english language on-line shop that can ship this in Romania? I found some swiss websites but with no english translation unfortunately. And there is no trip on site to Switzerland.

Thank you!

fx

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:07:26 GMT

Octavian, perhaps you can find a local pot factory that offers similar deals. It was a very long drive for me if it"s any consolation, I could almost not close the doors because of the bulk!

fx

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:06:18 GMT

Ben, make sure you buy one of their really heavy pans and not one of Kuhn Rikon"s cast aluminium range, these are more like regular pans. But the big, anvil-heavy Duroply or Multiply pans are just amazing!

fx

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:02:59 GMT

Dana, thanks for your visit! Yes, copper has better heat conductivity than aluminium in the Kuhn Rikon pots, but their thermal insulation system is really unique. You can turn off the pot and leave the pot to simmer for a couple hours. I"m going to make some comparative tests of copper-steel, cast iron, steel-aluminium and cast aluminium pans. Do you have any suggestions?
Hope to see you back on FXcuisine!

fx

Thu, 22 May 2008 15:57:19 GMT

Manda, thanks for visiting and hold to your Kuhn Rikon cooker, that"s one hell of a serious kitchen appliance! It won"t let you down and the people at the factory will even try to find you spare parts if you come with it in 20 years time!

Octavian

Thu, 22 May 2008 09:31:10 GMT

That is fascinating. Too bad I don"t live in Switzerland or I"d fill my car with their stuff too.

Ben

Thu, 22 May 2008 09:13:42 GMT

Wow, I"ve seen these all over and almost bought a frying pan the other day but wasn"t sure of the quality. Now you have convinced me to perhaps slowly phase out my (new) WMF set and start over with Kuhn Rikon, albeit slowly!

Dana McCauley

Thu, 22 May 2008 08:55:56 GMT

Very cool photos! I am a big mauviel copper fan and use mostly copper in my own kitchen. At work I use Canadian pans made by Paderno which I love. That said, a pan that is energy efficient and thermal for 2 hours would beat either of these two lines in a performance test.

Manda

Thu, 22 May 2008 08:04:12 GMT

Thank you, thank you, that was a wonderful tour. I always knew my new Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker was special but it"s great to see where it came from.