Preparing with Pressure Cookers

The invention of pressure cookers happened because of a need to speed up the cooking of foods before the invention of the microwave. The way a pressure cooker works is based on the fact that higher pressure areas have a higher boiling point. Higher heats are reached more quickly due to the high amounts of pressure. In the beginning, pressure cooking was pretty dangerous, but there are enough safety features now to make it safe. A pressure cooker is really a great tool to have among your kitchen cookware.

There are many things that can be prepared in a pressure cooker and there are many a cooking book devoted to pressure cooking. In days gone by, pressure cookers were more common and necessary kitchen tools than they are today. This is largely because of the availability of things such as take out and microwaves. In older days when it was always up to the mother to make all the meals, having the speed of a pressure cooker really cut down on her time in the kitchen. You can stil find plenty of great recipes designed specifically to be cooked in a pressure cooker. There are recipes for vegetables, rice, other meats, canning, deserts, fish, beans and many more. Most new pressure cooker models will come will a cheap recipes book, but to really explore the whole realm of pressure cooking, there are Internet sites devoted to them, or you could buy a recipe book from the store that is specifically designed for a pressure cooker.

The design of a pressure cooker is actually quite ingenious. They were supposedly created in 1679. These baking tools were called steam digesters, and were used for recipes for things such as canning. Pressure cookers are made of a thick metal, usually steel or aluminum, sometimes with a copper bottom to conduct heat. A small amount of water is placed inside the pot with the food to be cooked, and a sealed lid is placed on top. This lid becomes pressurized with the rising heat, forcing the boiling point to rise higher and higher. The lid will contain a valve that will eventually let out some steam so that the pressure of the cooker does not become so high that it explodes. This is much less likely to happen with modern cookers, because there are many safety valves added. With older versions, they would explode on a regular basis, because the valve would become clogged with food, blocking the steam from being able to come out.

So, now you have learned a little bit about pressure cookers and how they work. Although they are not used as much today, they are still a wonderful part of a full set of kitchen tools. If you have the room, consider adding a pressure cooker to your kitchenware. You might be surprised at how fast it can cook good foods.