Pressure Cooker

Pressure cooking is a technique which sometimes come in for bad press, due to the high pressure involved in the method and the risk of the pressure cooker exploding.

A pressure cooker is a fully sealed pot of differing dimension, which as any sealed pot would suggest, will not allow any water, oils or air to escape.

The pressure inside a pressure cooker is measured in 'psi'. Psi stands for 'pound-force per square inch' and measures pressure per every unit of avoirdupois.

The psi force most pressure cookers operate at is between five and fifteen psi. The materials used in the construction of the pot is either aluminum or stainless steel.

A quality steam cooker will be made from thick metal, the more metal and weight of the pot, the higher pressure it will be capable of handling.

Likewise the dimension of the pot will dictate the pressure it can handle, the larger the pot the higher the pressure it can take.

Once the pressure cooker is operated, pressure will slowly build within the sealed pot, and once the pressure has built to the desired temperature steam will be released.

A regulator is used to allow steam to escape, an additional value to release steam in an emergency is usually also included.

The advantage of pressure cookers is the speed of which they cook, and the high temperature they cook at kills bacteria and is even effective as a sterilizer.

The primary downside is the danger of the pressure cooker exploding, they deal in pressure above water's boiling point, so the risk or fear is not unwarranted.

Pressure fryers are used by KFC to fry their chicken pieces quickly and retain moisture within the chicken.