A pressure cooker is a sealed cooking pot designed to cook food at high pressure. In fact, this cookware has been around for over three centuries. However, it is until recently; they become quite popular. In the last few years, a lot of companies started making faulty pressure cookers to fulfill the high demand. Unfortunately, exploding incidents happened multiple times. This made most homemakers scared to use them. Fortunately, the new models on the market are safer to use.
What is Pressure Cooking?
This is a process of using pressurized steam for cooking food in a sealed pot. When the pot is heated, the liquid inside (mostly water) boils and turns into steam. Since the steam cannot escape from the pot, pressure starts to build. It works by transferring energy from the steam to the food. You can learn more about pressure cooking at https://www.corriecooks.com/instant-pot-recipe-index/. This method of cooking is quite faster because of the following.
Increases Boiling Point of Liquid
When the liquid boils and changes into steam, the liquid will be at room temperature no matter how long it continues to boil. By adding pressure, you get to increase the temperature higher than the boiling point. Therefore, food will cook faster under pressure, thanks to the additional hot steam.
Forces the Hot Liquid into Food
You should note that steam is very efficient when it comes to heat transfer. Moreover, with the pressure cooker, there is an additional force that pushes the heat energy into food. That explains why the food cooks faster as compared to the usual cookware.
Cooking with Pressure Cooker
Pressure cooking provides a new method of cooking. However, there is a bit of learning involved. These are the steps to follow when cooking with a pressure cooker:
- Add liquid and food to the pot
- Close lid and have a valve at the right position
- Choose pressure setting
- Wait for pressure buildup
- Start cooking under pressure
- Release pressure
The truth is that you can cook a wide range of foods in a pressure cooker. However, most people use it for cooking foods that take a lot of time to cook with conventional methods. For instance, foods such as stews, beans, lentils, mashed potatoes, and whole chicken can easily be cooked in a pressure cooker.
When it comes to cooking methods, the pressure cooker can be used to boil, brown, steam, roast, and stew food. In fact, you can even bake with a pressure cooker. Most people purchase Instant Pot pressure cookers as they provide endless possibilities. Moreover, they can be used to make homemade yogurt and cheesecakes.