Advantages of Pressure
Cooker:
Pressure
cooking is the
process of cooking food, using water or other cooking
liquid, in a sealed vessel, known as a pressure
cooker. Pressure is created initially by boiling a liquid such as water
or broth inside the closed pressure cooker. The trapped steam increases the
internal pressure and temperature. After use, the pressure is slowly released
so that the vessel can be safely opened.
Pressure cooking can be used
for quick simulation of the effects of long braising or simmering.
Almost any food which can be cooked in steam or water-based liquids can be
cooked in a pressure cooker. Pressure
cookers help make foods taste better. Many foods flavors benefit from slow
cooking and stewing, which is essentially what you achieve in a pressure cooker
in much less time.
Pressure cookers have been around for a long time, but the thought of using one still does not appeal to some.
Pressure cookers have been around for a long time, but the thought of using one still does not appeal to some.
Cooking with a pressure cooker results in
healthier and better tasting food prepared in less time and with less
energy by utilizing an efficient, versatile, safe, and
easy-to-use kitchen accessory.
It’s not the
temperature that matters, but the cooking time.
By cooking foods for shorter lengths of time, pressure cookers preserve
the nutrients better, despite cooking at higher temperatures. Pressure-cooking arguably increases the digestibility of protein. When used appropriately, pressure
cookers deliver better flavor and texture in a fraction of the time. Pressure
cooking uses very little water compared to many other cooking methods,
essentially acting like a steam cooker where the steam is not allowed to escape
easily thereby building the air pressure. Less water comes into contact with
your food to leach away vitamins and minerals. Let your pressure cooker cool
naturally before removing the lid so that the steam condenses back into the small
amount of liquid in the pot, you can consume all the liquid with your meal and
limit the loss of nutrients to water even further.
Most pressure cookers have a cooking or
operating pressure setting between 0.8 - 1 bar.
Having a pressure cooker as a part of your food preparation equipment
offers several advantages such as:
Foods cook much faster with
pressure cooking than with other methods. Pressure cooking requires much less
water than conventional boiling,
so food can be ready sooner. Less energy is required than that of boiling, steaming, or oven cooking. Since less
water or liquid has to be heated, the food reaches its cooking temperature
faster. Using more liquid than necessary wastes energy because it takes longer
to heat up. Pressure cookers can use much less liquid than the amount required
for boiling or steaming in an ordinary vessel.
It is not necessary to immerse food in water. The minimum quantity of water or
liquid used in the recipe to keep the pressure cooker filled with steam is
sufficient. Because of this, vitamins and
minerals are not dissolved away by water, as they would be if food were
boiled in large amounts of water. Due to the shorter cooking time, vitamins are
preserved relatively well during pressure cooking.
Several foods can be cooked
together in the pressure cooker, either for the same amount of time or added
later for different time. Manufacturers provide steamer baskets to allow more
foods to be cooked together inside the pressure cooker.
Food is cooked at a temperature
above the normal boiling point of water, killing most
micro-organisms. A pressure cooker can be used as an effective sterilizer.
The pressure cooker speeds
cooking considerably at high altitudes, where the lower atmospheric pressure
reduces the boiling point of water. Lower water temperature reduces water's
effectiveness for cooking or preparing hot drinks. The increased temperatures
due to pressure cooking are also used to develop more desirable flavor profiles
that would not be obtainable using temperatures typical of boiling. The flavors
are more concentrated in the higher temperature and sealed environment of the
pressure cooker, so less seasoning is
required.
Modern-day pressure
cookers, have taken the risk out of pressure cooking. Pressure cookers today do
not emit that high-pitched screeching sound and they have safety features which
prevent excess pressure build up, and locking lid handles which will not open
until the pressure is released. They are a huge improvement on the noisy, steam
spitting, rattling pots that many people were familiar with in years past.
