Last year, Santa (my mother) gave me a fun new kitchen gadget that I didn't quite know what to make of. What the heck is a pressure cooker? I'll tell you what a pressure cooker is! It is one of the best investments a mother who works full time could make. When I began using my pressure cooker, I was working 6 days a week - up to 10 hour days! I had to commute 45 minutes each way, so there were days I would be out of the house up to 12 hours. I have never been one to order take out often. I love to eat and I love to eat home cooked meals! Enter pressure cooker, love of my busy busy life.
So really, what the heck is it? Its basically a crock pot set on fast forward. Like the crock pot, electric pressure cookers generate their own heat based on the setting you input (high, low, brown, warm). Some don't use temperature settings and instead use the term PSI or pounds per square inch. With these cookers, high=12-15psi and low=5-8psi. Basically the inside of this gadget is a chamber. As it generates its own heat none of the steam is released. It builds up in the chamber and pressurizes allowing the cook time to speed up. I am not quite sure what the exact science to all of this is and quite frankly I don't need to know! All I care about is my food is delicious and my meat is safely cooked. Another aspect of the pressure cooker that you need to know is how and when to release all that pressure and steam. Recipes will call for either a "natural release" or a "quick release". Your cooker locks into place as a safety feature until the pressure is safely released. If this lock was not in place, you would quite literally flip your lid. It would shoot right off! A natural release is simple. When the timer is finished, leave it alone. The pressure cooker should switch from cooking to just warming and the pressure will slowly deflate. Think of a balloon with a pinhole in it. At the end of the natural release you may have to perform a quick release to let any remaining pressure escape so you can safely remove the lid. Now to quick release (this is the fun part)....there is a nozzle on top of the lid. You need to turn it to "pressure" to allow said pressure to build up and cook. If you are to perform a quick release, turn this nozzle to "steam". Do not get your hand or arm in the way. I don't know if you will wind up with a steam burn, but I would rather not take the chance! All of the steam with shoot straight up to 4 feet into the air and may make some whistling noises. I seriously get excited when I get to do this! It reminds me of a train! ....hey, its the small things in life, OK?
Well now you know how to work it, but whats the point? Isn't the crock pot a busy mom's best friend? Nope. Lets talk cooking times. Traditional corn beef or ham and cabbage? 65 minutes as opposed to up to 4 hours. Chicken Marsala? 10 minutes. Two can cola pork roast? (deliciousness!) 40 minutes as opposed to up to 4 hours in a crock pot for a 2-3 lb roast. Most soups? under 15 minutes!
So who is hungry now, after 8-12 hours of work all day? And who wants to wait up to 4 hours?
I thought so...
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