Pressure cooker tips to give you less pressure while cooking

“Pressure cooker is a bomb”, some house wives complain so! Is it true? Pressure cooker is the kitchen equipment used to cook food in less time without losing its nutritional value, thus reducing your time and cooking fuel as well. If it’s handled after knowing about its safety valves and precautions, it will surely be called as ‘the best companion of cooking’. Through this article let me give you everything a house wife wants to know about pressure cooker.

This pressure cooking system invented by Dr. Dennis Papin in 1679 was known as steam digester in those days. Pressure cooker is broadly classified into two categories on the basis of its lid. Inner lid of European model and outer lid of French model are those two types.

A pressure cooker has four safety valves

Vent valve – Vent valve is formed by combining vent tube and weight valve. Always keep weight valve clean. Otherwise deposits inside the valve may invite dangers.

Gasket release vent – This safety valve is found in outer lid model.

Gas release system – We can see a rectangular gap near the gasket. It helps to release the pressure while cooking, if needed.

Safety plug – It’s seen above the lid. It’s made of aluminum and alloy. If other valves fail to release pressure, this valve functions avoiding danger. Boiling point of safety plug is 102 degree celsious and it melts if temperature reaches that point.

Gasket – It’s made of pure rubber and should be changed once in every 3-6 months. Kindly note ISI marks (if it’s Indian) or certification mark corresponding to the nation. When it loses its elasticity pressure escapes through sides.

Handle – Its handle is made of Bakelite, a type of plastic. Handle is fixed with cooker using stainless steel screws. So, it never rusts. In between handle and cooker there is flame guard.

Things to be noted while cooking

1. Use only 1/3 water for cooking.

2. Solid food items should never exceed 2/3rd of total capacity of cooker. In the case of grains, it’s 1/3rd.

3. Liquid food items should never exceed ½ of the total capacity of cooker.

4. Use water a little. Otherwise you will lose nutritious value of cooked food.

5. Once you heard the whistle, put it to low flame for slow cooking. Otherwise a taste change occurs.

6. As soon as the cooker cools, open the lid if you don’t want to cook it more. In the case also, a taste change may occur as food cooks even after removing from the flame.

7. Never open the lid till its pressure drops to zero.

Advantages of pressure cooker

1. It’s the easiest way of cooking, saves a lot of time and energy too.

2. Since it uses minimum water, preparation time is less.

3. With the help of steamer baskets, you can cook different types of food items at the same time.

4. Pressure cooker can be used as sterilizer too.

5. It retains nutritional value of food comparing other methods.

Induction based pressure cooker

Now induction cooker is a part of every kitchen. Induction cooker needs specially designed utensils for cooking purposes. As normal pressure cookers are made of aluminum it can’t be used in induction cookers. But now induction based pressure cookers are readily available in market. It’s made of ferromagnetic material with thickness 0.3-0.4 mm. Induction base is fixed with pressure cooker using 600-800 tones pressure. So, it never splits. Magnetic field produced from induction cooker heats the cooker spontaneously and spreads pressure equally in all areas of pressure cooker. It makes cooking easy and saves a lot of energy too. Induction based pressure cooker can be used in normal gas hobs too.

So, we come to an end of this article. Through this article I have given a brief sketch of the safety valves of a pressure cooker, a note on induction based pressure cooker, precautions to be taken while using a pressure cooker and its advantages over normal cooking. It’s true, as fuel price is rising every day it’s a better choice to use pressure cooker in your kitchen at least for cooking a few items, thus saving your energy and valuable time as well. It’s very helpful for a working woman.

Image source: Flipkart

Also read: Vital safety measures inside kitchen

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