Cooking with Pressure Cookers

Cooking with pressure cookers has so many benefits and can ease your family meals, it is worth looking into buying one and how to use it. If you spent your childhood enjoying home cooked meals that came hot out of a pressure cooker, you probably know that your mom was using a very healthy way of cooking. You can use a pressure cooker to make just about any dish and cook any food item to perfection; from succulent morsels of meat to Christmas pudding and from traditional beans to fish. You will discover that cooking with pressure cookers is a truly healthy and versatile way of cooking.



If you have not yet tried your hand at cooking with a pressure cooker you are not only missing out on some mouth watering delicacies that can be whipped up in a matter of minutes but also on some serious energy savings. If this information has got you excited about using a pressure cooker in your kitchen, here is some vital information on how it works, what pressure cooking is all about, some tips on how you can use a pressure cooker to make lip smacking delicacies, the benefits of using a pressure cooker and of course some pressure cooking recipes to try at home.

What is Cooking with Pressure Cookers all About?

Pressure cooking is a cooking method that uses accumulated steam from the liquids and juices used in the cooking process to increase the temperature and pressure; this in turn leads to faster cooking time. Typically a pressure cooker is used for pressure cooking; the utensil is simply a pan or a deep dish with an air tight lid that has a nozzle to let the steam out. Any liquid can be used in the cooking process, broth, brandy, wine, water, stock or even the natural juices from food items.

These liquids get converted to vapor due to the heat but instead of being released out like in an open pan; this steam is sealed inside and help to significantly increase the temperature inside the pan. This in turn means that even hard to cook food items like red meat get tender and succulent in a few minutes flat. As a matter of fact, pressure cooking is a whopping ten times faster than the other methods of cooking.

Pressure cooked food tastes far better than dishes made in a microwave or conventional oven and the food gets cooked significantly faster than if you were to use a slow cooker. If you are an environmentally conscious person, pressure cooking will be the ideal option for you. Not only can you make great tasting culinary delights in a pressure cooker but also because the food gets cooked faster, you will end up using less energy and water as compared to stove top cooking or even baking.

How does a Pressure Cooker Work?

A pressure cooker looks like an ordinary deep pan or cooking pot with a handle that has an airtight lid; both the pot and lid are usually made from steel or less frequently aluminum. The lid has a rubber gasket to seal the vapor inside and a nozzle on top which not only help to release the steam and lower the temperature in the pan but also makes a whistling sound that helps to time the cooking process.

Depending on what you are cooking with pressure cookers; you can add the appropriate amount of water. For instance, to cook rice, you will need to add twice the amount of water as the rice. Cover the pan with the lid and let the rice cook until you hear 2 distinct whistles. With the help of cooking tongs, lift the whistle/nozzle gently to let out some steam and lower the heat cooking for a few minutes to get perfectly made, healthy rice.

Pressure Cooking Tips

• When pressure cooking meat, always use at least ½ cup of liquid such as broth or water, add it to the meat after the seasoning or you could add it to the bottom of the pan if you would just like to cook the meat to add to a dish. Some cookers may need more than ½ cup; the manufacturer instructions will include details on the amount of liquid needed to cook certain food items.



• The amount of liquid needed in the when cooking with pressure cookers will also depend on the cooking time; for instance, if you intend to cook a particular food item for 5 to 10 minutes, you can suffice with 1 cup of water or stock while for 10 to 15 minutes of cooking time, you will need 2 cups of liquid.



• If you are cooking salted or preserved food items such as meat, ensure that they are completely immersed in the liquid.
  



• The cooking time required for non vegetarian food items will depend on the type of meat, the size of the cut; the amount of meat to be cooked and quality of the meat. As a general rule, the denser the cut the longer it will take to cook it.
  



• If you are using meat while cooking with pressure cookers, brown the meat pieces on all sides by using ordinary cooking oil such as olive oil or canola; add the spices and brown the meat so that the flavors are infused in the meat; then add the liquid and put the lid on. Cook as desired until the meat is tender. Browning the meat will not only accentuate the flavor but will also prevent it from burning and sticking to the pan.

The Benefits of Cooking with Pressure Cookers

1. One of the primary benefits of pressure cooking is that you can cook up a storm of delicious and mouth watering dishes with relative ease and in record time. So, whatever time you generally spend slow cooking or baking your food items will be cut down to less than half when you are cooking with pressure cookers.



2. Another benefit of pressure cooking is healthy food; unlike traditional methods of cooking which strip the food items of their natural vitamins and nutrients, pressure cooking used steam and high heat to cook food items. Since the cooking can be done ten times faster when cooking with pressure cookers, this method of cooking leaves the nutrients in the food intact, so your food is delicious as well as nutritious.
   



3. Because food is cooked so fast in a pressure cooker, people tend to cook at home more often using natural ingredients, reducing their dependency on preserved and packaged food items that are often laced with preservatives. When you cook at home, you can keep a tab on the amount of salt used in the food as opposed to the calorific packaged food items that have too much salt for your own good.
   



4. Food cooked in a pressure cooker is more delicious than dishes made through stove top cooking, baking or even frying. As a matter of fact, if you don't particularly enjoy veggies; you may just develop a penchant for them after you try cooking them with some butter, a dash of pepper and some stock in your pressure cooker.
   



5. And the icing on the cake is the fact that you can even use your pressure cooker to make lip smacking desserts. Yes, everything from pumpkin pie to a sponge cake and even apple flan can be made in your trusty pressure cooker.

Pressure Cooking Recipes

Pressure cooking beans
Pressure cooking times chart
Pressure cooking chicken
Pressure cooking recipes- desserts and side dishes
Pressure cooking beef







Receive all of our pressure cooking information and recipes plus more, compiled in one easy downloadable ebook.
Cooking with a Pressure Cooker Ebook

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