Induction is what I’m working with (which btw I’ve found to be my absolute favorite form of cooking, I’ve used it all except coal). So for some, without getting an additional setup the digital route may make the most sense.
Per quart, the Carey/Nesco is definitely the best value currently.
If you don’t have a big cast iron skillet handy, something like this will do the trick. They’re available in various sizes and at various prices.
I have a Griswold #14, Griswold #12, and If the worst happens, I have a Griswold hotel skillet that is about 2 feet across. Fortunately, I don’t have an inductive stove. My stove is a glass top with resistive elements under the glass. It works fine with my All American canners.
Griswold’s are great iron skillets. Glad you have some of those.
I have about 100 cast iron skillets. About 70 are Griswold.
I think part of it is that All American canners are designed to be a “buy it for life” item. Actually they are so well built, they will last for generations if cared for properly. There are no seals to wear out and have to replace. The only way to really damage them is to warp them by either leaving them on the stove on high with no water in the bottom, or possibly running a hot canner under cold water to try to cool it down faster. The gauge could plug or break, but that’s a replaceable item.
They are also supposed to be one of the safest canners. Any canner could explode if the steam is not allowed to vent, but All American is supposed to be one of the safest because it doesn’t have the rubber seals which could fail. It’s also the most robust built pressure canner available (as far as I know) and so could take more over-pressure before a catastrophic failure.
I bought my All American canner at a garage sale for 30 bucks. It had the original gauge which was supposed to be calibrated every year. I converted it to the little rocker weights which don’t require annual calibration. I left the gauge on there as a reference, but use the rocker weights also to make sure the pressure is correct. All the new ones come with the rocker weights.
You can pressure cook with All American canners, if you want (there are directions included with the canner on how to pressure cook with it) but we just use ours for canning.
An Instant Pot is nice for convenience, especially for pressure cooking, but it doesn’t have the capacity of the large All American canners.
If one wanted a crazy big canner, All American makes a model which will can 19 quart jars at a time.
I have one which cans 7 quart jars at a time. Most of the time, that’s big enough for me.
I HAD one, just one, for about 15 years. It was an 8" skillet. My favorite. A family member had used it and left it on the stove with the stove burner on and warped the skillet. I was so sickened that happened.
They always looked like something that would be in mad scientists labs of those old B&W science fiction movies.
Not on topic… but im not sure there is a thread or talk on this…
The (Amish) 3 hour method seems to work… with no gadgets or electricity or pressure cookers needed… a handy bit of information to have… (if in the future you cant buy a chinese made gadget…or chinese made pressure cooker)… or maybe there is no electric.
Not to mention many countries do not have access to buy pressure canners…and use the water bath method.
My mom and grandma canned everything from vegetables to meat on a stovetop in water baths. We all lived.
Lehmans/Amazon etc. sells this thing but we never needed it.
When in doubt throw it out. YMMV…
Great show. I always looked forward to watching it.
