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HOMESTEAD KITCHEN

18. PRESSURE CANNER

Except for sour vinegar-pickled vegetables or acidic fruits, you should pressure-can everything you put up - including tomatoes. Retire your grandmother's old "hot water bath" canning books and get yourself a reasonably up-to-date (mid-'80s or later) canning book and a modem pressure canner. MOTHER EARTH NEWS seldom recommends a specific product unless it is truly unique, well-proven and so useful as to be irreplaceable. Along those lines I suggest the really big, metal-on-metal seal canners that are beautifully made by a little-known aluminum foundry and can be found for sale in the catalogs of Real Goods, Cumberland Farms and Lehman's.

As long as you pay attention, these modem pressure canners will not explode - as some early models, back in the 'teens and '20s, were inclined to do. In today's pressure canners, the lid is held down by three or four big clamps, there is no rubber gasket to leak, and the newest models include a pressure gauge in the lid so you will know exactly what's going on inside.

The pressure is maintained by a weight drilled with precision holes for each pressure level (five, ten and 15 pounds). The weight fits over a permanently open vent in the lid. When the desired pressure (high enough to kill off the bugs that cause botulism) is reached in the pot, steam begins to escape, lifting the weight to jiggle audibly. It's your responsibility to turn down the heat so that the weight and causing it just chatters happily for the allotted time. Then, run cold water over the lid or just let it sit to cool until the pressure is down. As the pot cools, the domed lids will vacuum-seal to the jars, locking out dangerous germs.

In the same no-brainer league as the whistling teapot, the pressure canner has no mechanical moving parts and is about as near to foolproof as a cooker can get. Plus, there is a soft metal plug in the lid that will melt away before it gets hot enough to explode. Pressure canners cost about $150 and are available seasonally.

19. KNIVES

A complete knife collection - from a snub-edge paring knife with a blade no longer than your thumb to a heavy butcher knife that will sever flat bones with a single whack - is essential for any serious kitchen. Buy them in a set or one at a time as you need them. Black, plastic-handled stainless steel knives from Solingen, Germany, are classy, costly and sold as much to decorate the upscale kitchen as to perform serious work. On contact with air, the chromium content of stainless steel oxidizes instantly to an almost diamond-hard plate so the iron content can't rust. The surface remains forever shiny, and the blade holds a good edge for a long time. On the down side, the resilience of this blade's composition makes resharpening a task best left to a professional, unless you are skilled at sharpening blades on a Carborundum stone or wheel.

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