A Cook’s Secret Weapon
by: Mike Braam

If your schedule is anything like mine then free time is a limited commodity. With work, family and social engagements piling up, finding time to make dinner every night can be a challenge. And, in the August heat, the last thing I want to do is heat up my kitchen or even the grill. Luckily, I have discovered the secret weapon that gives me my precious time back and also can turn out delicious fare - a pressure cooker, which really should be called a pressure reliever. And don’t worry. These are not your Grandmother’s cookers, which threatened to erupt like Mount St. Helen’s whenever put to use. These days, they are safe and reliable, and even a bit sophisticated.

Pressure cookers have the ability to cook food up to 75% faster than conventional cooking methods, retaining nutrition, taste and color. They work by trapping steam, which builds pressure and raises the boiling point of water, thus, increasing the temperature and decreasing your cooking time. Generally, due to the shortened cooking time, foods are more flavorful, distinctive, and vibrant. Pressure cookers also have a tremendous ability to break down tough food fibers, which translates to remarkable tenderness. This makes them ideal for braising or stewing meats or cooking beans.

Pressure cookers have a tremendous range of use. Most notably, they have received a lot of praise for their ability to produce outstanding results with grains. You can produce exceptional risotto in about 8 minutes; delicious, firm black beans in 20 minutes; or tender lentils in less than 5 minutes. You can turn out an exceptional brown rice salad or refreshing black bean salsa in no time. One of the least noted uses, but one of my personal favorites, is pressure steaming. Pressure steaming produces exceptionally flavorful and crisp vegetables. Green beans can be steamed in 2-3 minutes, corn on the cob in 3 minutes, and whole potatoes in 15 minutes. The shortened cooking times are perfect for steaming vegetables because it allows them to retain there color. Also less time cooking and less evaporation mean more nutrients in your food. This method is perfect for all those farmer’s market vegetables that you’ve been having problems deciding what to do with because really, you can’t be expected to grill every veggie in the house!

A pressure cooker is also convenient for those times you seriously crave homemade soup but really don’t have the time or energy to simmer stock all day. You can produce rich flavorful stock in one-third of the time it takes to make them traditionally. The pressure cooker produces a full-bodied stock because it quickly draws out the gelatin from the bones. There is no substitute for homemade stock, no matter what the season. And once you have great stock (which freezes beautifully, by the way), all you need for a remarkable soup is a few vegetables, perhaps some small-cut pasta and a handful of fresh herbs.

The results of your pressure cooker experience will vary based on the quality and brand of pressure cooker you choose. Ideally a pressure cooker should be made of stainless steel so it doesn't react with the acids in the food. It should also have an aluminum disk sandwiched between the steel on the bottom which helps with even heat conduction and spreads the heat across the entire bottom of the vessel. Since your food is not actively stirred during the cooking process, the disk is also critical in preventing food from burning to the bottom. There are two basic types of pressure mechanism, jigglers and spring-loaded valves. Jigglers continually vent steam, thus allowing more flavor and nutrients to escape, whereas, spring-valve systems retain the most steam during the cooking process.

Kuhn Rikon pressure cookers are known as the “Mercedes Benz” of pressure cookers. Not only do they have all of the characteristics you should look for in a pressure cooker but they are responsible for inventing many of the recent pressure cooker innovations, such as the spring-loaded valve system. With every pressure cooker from Kuhn Rikon you will also receive a comprehensive and in-depth recipe book.

The next time you’re in a rush for dinner, think about my secret weapon. In less time than it takes to order take-out, you can create delicious, nutritious homemade meals, all thanks to your new pressure cooker.