Pressure Cooking
- By olbriar
- Food and Beverage
- 14 Replies
Anyone like to cook under pressure? I started pressure cooking twenty five years ago or so. My mother had a pressure cooker and pressure fryer though she never cooked under pressure. A guy that I grew up with shared sysop duties with me on our local U's bbs and he turned me onto cooking under pressure. There are many benefits of cooking under pressure. The pressure increases the temperature in which liquid turns to gas vapor, thus increasing the cook temp beyond just boiling. This decreases the time of the cook and also helps break down fats and connecting tissues of meats. It produces a more tender dish and is healthier in less time. A pressure cooker is a fantastic tool for cooking dried beans. Again, less time for the cook is good but the higher temp released more starch from beans and the end product is tender and healthier. Cooking chicken under pressure not only produce tender and moist chicken cuts but the broth is extra flavorful for the higher temp pulls flavor out of the bones. One of my pressure cookers has a tray that sits above the water for steaming veggies. Steamed vegetables hold their color and texture while becoming tender.
I will admit that I've gotten away from pressure cooking. Ever since I bought my first smoker, it has become my cooking tool of choice. I just love the added smoke flavor I get from using a smoker. Meats are tender for they cook slowly at a low temp. Smoking meats is a great cooking option. However, as I'm smoking a tri-tip as I type, I started thinking about how good that cut of meat might be if I had pressure cooked it. I would have rubbed it with oil, seasoned it, brazed it in the bottom of the pressure cooker, added water and some bay leaves, and then let it cook under pressure.
Anyone into pressure cooking? Any special cooks you want to share?
I will admit that I've gotten away from pressure cooking. Ever since I bought my first smoker, it has become my cooking tool of choice. I just love the added smoke flavor I get from using a smoker. Meats are tender for they cook slowly at a low temp. Smoking meats is a great cooking option. However, as I'm smoking a tri-tip as I type, I started thinking about how good that cut of meat might be if I had pressure cooked it. I would have rubbed it with oil, seasoned it, brazed it in the bottom of the pressure cooker, added water and some bay leaves, and then let it cook under pressure.
Anyone into pressure cooking? Any special cooks you want to share?