Make quick-cooked, high flavor dishes: soups, stews, brasatos and stocks in a fraction of the time.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone could cook their way through winter without a pressure cooker. Your gas grill is less efficient and you may not have the patience to tend it in your overcoat and gloves. The comfort foods of winter were based on long, slow cooking on top of a wood stove or in front of a hearth. Modern life denies us the time and the heat source, but fortunately provides us with an easy substitute in the form of the pressure cooker. These devices work by making a pressurized chamber that enables wet food to cook at higher temperatures than are possible at sea level. Food cooks faster and with less loss of flavor.
Before you buy a pressure cooker, there are three things that you need to know.
First, stainless steel is better than aluminum Aluminum cookers are vulnerable to the acids used in cooking so wine , vinegar, lemon and other citrus juices and a whole host of fruits will corrode and aluminum cooker and sometimes impart off-tastes to your food in the process. If you can find a model with a copper bottom or one with a copper-stainless sheathed botton, you’ll get better heat distribution in the bargain. Just be aware that copper cookware needs extra attention in the cleaning process or a very relaxed attitude about what’s clean in your kitchen. (I have to confess that I’ve adopted the latter course),
Second, it's really easy to pay too much for a pressure cooker. Any stainless steel model with a safety locking system will do as good a job as any other. Don't be fooled by devices called 'infusion cookers'. All pressure cookers are infusion cookers. Which leads us to:
Third: Pressure cooking is a way of adding new dimensions to your cooking. If you use liquids like stock and wine, their flavors penetrate the solid ingredients in a way that they wouldn't with simple stewing or braising techniques.(that’s the ‘infusion’ part of the so-called infusion cooker) If you avoid some of your favorite comfort foods: osso buco, pot roast, lamb shanks because you can't budget the three or four hours oven time, you'll now be able to make them easily and quickly on a weekday night. Heart-healthy, slow-cooking foods like dried beans, peas and lentils are within the reach of the after-work, after-school home chef.
Back in the bad old days, pressure cookers were notorious sources of kitchen accidents. If you opened the lid while it was under pressure, the lid could go flying at great speed while discharging a volume of superheated steam and water. Even today, with most pressure cookers equipped with multiple safety locks, many people are fearful about using these handy pots.
So check for an easy-to-use interlocking safety lid with at least two emergency pressure release devices . Buy a model with an additional glass lid that lets you use your pressure cooker as an ordinary pot. Just be prepared for a whole new look at what's possible in a home kitchen.
