By far, my Cuisinart electric pressure cooker gets used much more than any other appliance in my kitchen, other than my coffee pot. My pressure cooker is so convenient, and I make such wonderful meals in it, I at times question why I didn’t buy one sooner than I did.
Thinking about why I didn’t purchase a pressure cooker sooner, I understand that I was never exposed to them, nor did I know how convenient they were for cooking meals.
With that realization in mind, I asked about, and to my incredulity not a single person I knew owned a pressure cooker. They had crock pots, mixers, blenders and food processors, but not a pressure cooker.
Next I began looking for pressure cookers in department stores and specialty stores. I couldn’t find any.
I next targeted thrift stores and sometimes I discovered an old pressure cooker/canner for sale, but no modern pressure cooker such as I own.
This put me in a quandary. Why were pressure cookers so uncommon? Did people today not understand what fantastic appliances they were?
Originally pressure cookers were mainly used for canning, and in their infant years they had been fairly primitive appliances — hissing, fearsome things that looked as if they may explode any minute. I feel this stigma has remained with them to this day.
One of my friends informed me that she didn’t use a pressure cooker mainly because she didn’t know how to can. She thought that was all they were good for, and didn’t understand that they were every bit as convenient as cooking with a crock pot.
I must mention that the original pressure cooker, and today’s contemporary version, have very little in common other than their fundamental structure of cooking under pressure. Cuisinart has solved many of the old cooker issues. For instance, pressure can’t even build until the lid is sealed. Likewise the lid can’t be removed till all pressure is released. What’s more, there are valves and seals that prevent steam from escaping.
If you wanted to can, you certainly could buy a pressure cooker/canner; but many modern pressure cookers are utilized strictly for cooking food, not for canning. Also I might point out that today’s models are considerably more attractive than their predecessors.
Maybe you should take into consideration buying a pressure cooker, if you haven’t already. Here are some of its many positive aspects:
- You can saute, gentle simmer and brown food in one pot
- Power is saved when you don’t operate your stove or oven, as the one-pot cooker cooks so quickly
- Clean up is a breeze as you only use one pot
- As the pot is pressurized, steam does not escape and as a result neither do the nutrients in the food
- Meat and veggies can cook in the very same pot, but separately
- Food is cooked 70% quicker than when cooked on the stove or in an oven.
- A pressure cooker is easy and handy to use
I really feel that the lowly pressure cooker is suffering from a poor reputation, due to its earlier models. Todays designs, such as the Cuisinart electric pressure cooker, are truly great appliances; appealing and handy in any kitchen.
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