I have learned that it is an oddity for me to think that you can own a pressure cooker and not think of it as the absolute best appliance in the kitchen. That makes me divide the world of cooks into two groups: those that cannot live without their pressure cookware and those others that do not own one!
That may seem a little outlandish but all kidding aside, I consider my pressure cooker to be one of my most useful and oft used tools in my kitchen.
When I in a discussion among my fellow cooking companions and other amateur "Food Network" want-to-be celebs, invariably I will make a reference to pressure cooking and to the benefits I derive from its use. Those like me trip over themselves in joining the praise while those unlearned among us (non-pressure advocates) just roll their eyes in a 'there she goes again' gesture. "It's the best thing ever" one will state and "Why would anyone go through life without one" another will pronounce. (best lawn mower)
Those that are not pressure cooker enthusiasts just don't get it and offer little more to the conversation than a vague reference to an archaic 'urban legend' of kitchen and staff 'blown to bits' in a pressure cooker detonation...but more on that in a moment.
When most people think of a pressure cooker, two things usually are the first to come to mind, and not necessarily in this order:
Speed
Explosion
Let's take the latter on first. Conventional wisdom has it that a pressure cooker is no more than ill-behaved explosive just waiting to blow. There is a number of stories from the past, all with a central theme about pressure cooker meltdowns, the roast beast hanging precariously from the ceiling after being launched cannon-like from the stove or the chili that 'ate the kitchen ceiling' by peeling the paint and plaster by the velocity and violence they were expelled.
Now I am not here to say these stories are not in some sense of the imagination true and that pressure cooker models from before the mid-sixties lacked safety features that come standard on today's pressure cookware. But in most examples, it can easily be assumed that cooker carelessness played a vital role into the actual reason for these few but graphic stories.
Alternatively, speed is a primary reason people first consider pressure cooking. In today's hectic lifestyle, saving time during any part of the day is important. And meal preparation is one area that family seems to sacrifice first.
But fast meal preparation is just a feature of cooking under pressure. In the next article, I will delve into the actual benefits of pressure cookers. In addition to saving up to 70% of the cooking time, did you know that pressure cooking is one of the healthiest cooking methods available?