What's a pressure cooker?

In a pressure cooker, you can quickly cook ingredients under high steam pressure. You fill the pan with the ingredients and a splash of water or broth. Next, you close the pan airtight with the lid. By placing the pan on a heat source, steam is created and the pressure increases. When the dish is ready, first let steam escape through the vent valve. Only then is it safe to remove the lid.

Cooking with a pressure cooker is very fast. Stew doesn't have to be on the stove all morning long before it's properly cooked. In a pressure cooker, this is done within 50 minutes. You can boil potatoes in about 6 minutes. This is very useful if you want to quickly bring a meal to the table during the week. The vitamines are better retained too, because you close the pan airtight while cooking. That way, you prevent the vitamins from being broken down due to oxygen.

There are many ingredients that can be cooked in a pressure cooker. Consider, for example, potatoes, meat, soup, and rice. Keep in mind that you always have to add moisture to the pan, otherwise there will be no steam. It's not possible to get a crispy bite with this cooking technique. You can easily make one-pan dishes in a pressure cooker because you cook several ingredients together at once.

The difference between a pressure cooker and a regular cooking pot is the cooking process. You fill a traditional cooking pot with water, which you'll bring to a boil. You can cook the ingredients in the water. Even when you put the lid on the cooking pot, steam and flavors will always slip out. In a pressure cooker, the boiling is being done under high pressure. And thanks to the pressure regulator, the steam escapes in a controlled manner. As a result, you can prepare your ingredients faster and vitamins and flavor are being retained better.