Pressure cooking
Long gone are the days of the pressure cooker dangerously clanking away on the hob – it’s safe as well as time-saving, if you know how to use one
WHY USE ONE
For the busy cook, the benefits of owning a pressure cooker are huge. They cut down the cooking times of lots of recipes by two thirds and mean that cheaper, slow-cooked recipes or ingredients like dried pulses become a viable weeknight option.
HOW IT WORKS
Whatever the make or model, they work by the same principle. The lid locks in the steam so the pressure builds up and raises the temperature past boiling point, so things cook faster and tough cuts of meat become tender a lot quicker. There are two levels of pressure, low and high, which determine how quickly things cook. The rest is down to you and the recipe you’re using.
GREAT FOR
Stews and braises Pulled meats Cooking dried pulses Soups and stocks Slow-cooked curries and ragouts Boiling ham Batch cooking Steaming puddings Poaching chicken Quick risottos Preserving
NOT SO GOOD AT Cooking fish Cooking green vegetables Cooking meat to anything other than well done
BROWN IT Pressure-cooked food doesn’t brown, so it’s worth doing this at the start of cooking before adding liquid and putting the lid on. Meat looks nicer and gains depth of flavour from browning. Onions, garlic, spices and the base vegetables to soups and stews all benefit from being gently fried before the lid goes on.
LIQUID MATTERS Pressure cookers work by using steam. No liquid means no steam. You can’t and shouldn’t put the lid on your pressure cooker unless you’ve added sufficient liquid. Instructions will let you know the minimum amount and some even tell you how much to use for different types of food.
DON’T OVERFILL IT Most, if not all, pressure cookers have a minimum and maximum fill mark on the inside of the pot. Do not exceed it. A pressure cooker should never be over two-thirds full. With liquids, avoid filling more than halfway. Overfilling leads to food being ejected from the pressure release valve.