Yuku free message boards

magefesa makes several different models, and without knowing which one you have, here's some general comments.

It does indeed appear that you are missing something, and from what you describe it sounds like the pressure regulator. If I'm correct, without a this key component part the unit will not pressurize and that rather makes it useless as a pressure cooker. I should think that your first point of contact would be the seller, if you've lost the info and you bought this at a fair then contact them for the name of the vendor.

I'm completely at a loss as to why any merchant would refuse to sell their products based on what you say, that's sure to hurtstheir future business and do far more damage in alienating potential customers. Business for Fun and Profit 101... oh well, it's their loss not yours.

Unfortunately, magefesa is available in far fewer retail outlets than many other brands of good-quality pressure cookers (in one of the main reasons why I can't recommend them), which makes finding parts a challenge even without the obstructionist tactics of some retailers.

Try looking for parts at Amazon.com, and Eurostoves:
www.eurostoves.com/search...ry&cat=229

If this is your first go-round at pressure cooking it would be helpful to have the owner's manual so you can check the spec list or diagram to be sure your not missing any other pieces and parts. If you can correctly identify the model you have, then also post a request for an owner's manual under that topic as well.


Good luck in your search.

Rod, I hate to add more bad news, but I think you've got a bigger problem that you first suspected. The magefesa supercooker is a pressure fryer, not a standard pressure cooker.

For safety purposes as a pressure fryer, it operates at a much lower pressure setting than a pressure cooker. If memory serves, I believe the supercooker uses 10psi rather than the standard 15psi.

While you can use this model for pressure cooking, you will need to modify every recipe to fit the limitations of this special purpose unit. This will work better for some foods than others, although the results may be somewhat disappointing when compared to the same recipe finished in a standard pressure cooker.

Since most pressure cooker recipes are designed for the standard pressure setting of 15psi, you must increase the cooking time by 33% to make up for the difference in the lower pressure setting. In my opinion that defeats the whole purpose of pressure cooking.


ADDED:
Additional information is on the web site which you may find helpful:
Pressure Settings

How to Choose the Best Pressure Cooker

Pressure Frying Facts

Unfortunately, I have some bad news: you have purchased a non-standard pressure cooker (more below), but its not a pressure canner and it cannot be substituted for one. I've seen a disturbing trend with some manufacturers trying to claim that their pressure cookers serve a dual purpose as a canner to uncrease sales, but this is not supported by the facts. Perhaps the pitchman did a bit of embellishing to increase his sales, because even the owner's manual clearly labels this item as a pressure cooker and there is no reference to canning.

Pressure cookers have not been recommended for canning purposes since the 40's, and this hasn't changed. You cannot use a pressure cooker, or a pressure saucepan as they are sometimes called, in place of a real pressure canner for food safety reasons. Due to their smaller size, they simply cannot maintain adequate pressure with their much shorter heat-up and cool-down period, to adequately process food safely.

The USDA identifies a pressure canner having a minimum capacity of at least four (4) quart-size jars and a removable wire canning rack to lift and separate jars... so that eliminates pressure cookers. Prossessing times are specific to your altitude (among other things), so 10psi setting in a pressure canner is only useful to safely process foods if you live at or below sea level, which applies to only a few areas in the US... like Death Valley.

If you want to start canning you'll need a real pressure canner for low acid foods, and a wayer bath canner for high acid foods. If you want to cook your meals faster, safe time mony and fuel costs, plus preserve more of the critical nutrients in you food, get a standard pressure cooker.



Now, here's the rest of the bad news: even as a pressure cooker, your state fair purchase is only rated at 10psi (0,55 kgs/cms2) which is a non-standard pressure setting, falling far short of the 15psi standard that has been the accepted norm since 1917. Of course, ever since then praticaly all pressure cooker recipes followed suit -- including those on my website and in my cookbook -- and require a pressure setting of 15psi.

That means you will need to first convert recipes, adding about 4 minutes to every 10 minutes of cooking time to compensate for the lower psi. Then, be prepared for unpredictable results in the finished dish. All of which defeats the primarily reasons of using a pressure cooker in the first place, which is speed and economy of fuel use.

In addition, this model lacks many of the new features commonly found in today's new pressure cookers with a more modern design. Still using the old style vent pipe and jiggling pressure regulator rather that the quiet, spring valves that allow modern cookers to operate with just 1/2 cup of liquid... a n engineering improvement that means a much shorter time is needed to pressurize and depressurize the cooker, and that also helps to avoid the risk of scorching your food.

Your new cooker also falls short on the safety systems, only providing 3, compared to the normal 5-6 found in modern cookers. I can't see where there is any Quick Release mechanism either, and again this eliminates a large number of recipes that use this handy feature to interrupt or stop the cooking process at any time and add additional ingredients so both long cooking foods and those with shorter cooking times can be combined.


Well, I hopw this gives you something to think about, but I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. Please let me know what you decide to do. In the meantime -- better late than never, I always say -- you might find some useful pointers in this article on How to Buy a New Pressure Cooker.

Glad to help... happy shopping, you'll really like all the new features that make modern pressure cookers such a joy to use.

No, Magefesa makes several different models, but the Magefesa Star R model is a standard pressure cooker with 3 pressure settings: 6 psi, 9 psi, and 15 psi.

Many people see the locking bar on the Magefesa and a few other pressure cooker brands and associate that feature with pressure fryers which also use that same safety design. Magefesa only has one model that is labeled for use as a pressure fryer, the Super Cooker, and there is only one US distributor. The same is true of Fagor's one model that is a pressure fryer, the Pressure Magic.