Why Pressure Cookers are Awesome!!!

Pressure cookers use high pressure to cook foods faster and more efficiently than other cooking methods and are a great tool to have in the house.

This is how they work. There is a large pot, about 8 quarts, with a lid that locks into place. You add ingredients and a flavored liquid like stock, wine or juice into the pot and start to heat it up. When the liquid in the pot starts to boil, the pressure builds up to 15 psi (pounds per square inch). This causes the liquid to boil at 250 F instead of 212 F. You also have high pressure locked in the pot, forcing the heat and flavor into the food instead of boiling away. With higher temps and pressure your food cooks faster and with more flavor.

1. Quick Cooking – Using high pressure and hotter liquids you can cook meat dishes (beef stew, chili, ribs, pork carnitas, roasts and chickens) and grains and dried beans (wheat berries, chickpeas, navy and black beans) in a fraction of the time. This can reduce cooking times for things like a whole chicken from over and hour to just about 20 minutes.

2. Great Value and Space Saver– Pressure cookers cost between $50 and $100 based on the materials they are made from, generally aluminum or stainless steel. Given the cost, a pressure cooker can take the place of many kitchen tools like a large soup pots, steamers and rice cooker.

3. Safety – Pressure cookers have gotten a bad reputation over the years for safety issues. Apparently back in the day pressure cookers did not fully lock into place. This would cause bad blowouts resulting in huge messes and bad burns. Todays pressure cookers have simple safety features and locking mechanisms that ensure you can cook safely and easily.

Check out this video link below for a great way to cook a chicken in your pressure cooker.

http://www.cookingwithegg.com/blog/index.cfm/2013/4/29/One-Pot-Chicken-In-a-Pressure-Cooker