The Reasons I Love My Pressure Cooker

It would be hard to list all of the reasons I love my pressure cooker. It is an amazing piece of cookware that can dramatically reduce the time you spend in the kitchen. It can also boost the quality of what you put on your table. Imagine being able to assemble a tasty stew in about 30-40 minutes. You can put any meat that requires a long cooking time in the pressure cooker and reduce it by at least one-half the time. In addition, many dishes can literally be prepared right in the pressure cooker pot, eliminating the need for a lot of additional sautéing pots and pans.

Pressure cookers have a bad reputation for being dangerous and cumbersome. I have been hearing for some time about the '50s housewife whose cooked spinach ended up on her kitchen ceiling. And it is true that if handled incorrectly, this kitchen aid can be very dangerous. There is a learning curve involved in working with a pressure cooker but it is not substantial. After you purchase your pressure cooker, please read the manual and observe all of the safety precautions involved, particularly those involved in locking and unlocking the lid. This is the most challenging part of the learning curve - although my husband mastered this right away (of course), it took me more than a few tries to accomplish it on my own.

I own a Fagor Pressure Cooker, and I swear by it. I had my initial tussles with it - within my first few days of owning it, I put the lid with the plastic pressure-regulating gizmo on it face-down on a lit electric burner. (This was my strictly my error. I am not blaming this on Fagor.) The dial and handle were ruined and I had to mail the lid back to Fagor, who graciously repaired it for about $20. And I slightly burned a few dishes before I got the hang of how it works. By the way, if you cook on an electric stove, Fagor recommends you keep two burners going while you cook - one set on high heat to bring the unit to pressure, and another set on medium heat to finish cooking the dish. If you don't do this, you will end up with an unpleasant surprise when you unlock the lid.

Another one of the reasons I love my pressure cooker is that it cooks foods evenly and nicely, diffusing the different flavors throughout the dish. If you are working with meat or fish, it will be cooked perfectly and evenly. Be sure to include at least a half-cup of liquid with any food you cook in the pressure cooker, not only for reasons of safety but also to improve the flavor of the dish.

Even if you buy the Fagor Pressure Cooker and decide not to use it as a pressure cooker, you will still end up with a fabulous pot (or two - depending on which product you buy). I just love these pots - they heat quickly and evenly. I often use them as cooking pots alone. Yet another of the reasons I love my pressure cooker!

If you want some great recipes to use with your pressure cooker, just go to your favorite recipe site - if you don't have one, try www.recipezaar.com - and type in "pressure cooker" in the search field. Your search will yield a wide range of recipes to try. And Fagor offers up quite a few recipes of its own in its cute little booklet, although I have mainly used them as templates up to this point.

And the last of the reasons I love my pressure-cooker - it's eco-friendly! Due to the extraordinarily high temperatures created within pressure cookers, food can be cooked more quickly, requiring less energy to prepare. Here are two articles on the green advantages of pressure cooking: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/pressure_cooker.php (incidentally, I couldn't help noticing this Treehugger writer prefers Fagor pressure cookers as well), and check out this one, too -- http://greencooking.wikidot.com/pressure-cookers.

Once you wrap your mind around the idea of using this item and actually begin using it, you will be glad you did. I am typically intimidated by any kitchen cookware that involves more than two components - i.e., a pot and a lid - but this one is truly different. And if you live with discriminating diners - as I do - it is a necessity. Happy cooking!