The history of the invention of the pressure cooker

[The history of the invention of the pressure cooker]

The history of the invention of the pressure cooker

People have long sought to find faster ways to prepare food. But this was prevented by the law of physics: water boil at a temperature of 100 degrees C. And no strongest fire will accelerate this process, it can only bring the moment of water boiling a little closer. And then you need to be patient and wait: meat is cooked for an hour and a half or more, beets - almost the same, potatoes - 20-25 minutes, rice - 15-20 minutes, and so on. All this time you need to be in the kitchen and monitor the stove, not being distracted from it for a long time.

This means that the search for a way to accelerate cooking was to be sought in raising the boiling point.

["Papa's" invention]

"Papa's" invention

Finally, such a method was found. And it wasn't the microwave you were thinking. She appeared relatively recently. And the invention, which will now be discussed, was made in 1679. And this was done by a man who was also very concerned about the slowness of cooking. It was the French physicist Denis Papin.

It could not do without physics. By that time, naturalists had already figured out that the boiling point of a liquid depends on atmospheric pressure. For example, when it rises by only 10 mm, the boiling point of water rises by 0.3 degrees. So in clear and sunny weather, when the pressure is higher, your potatoes will cook faster. How perceptible is another question.

To control pressure in more tangible limits, Denis Papin created a hermetically sealed vessel, in which, when heated, the pressure rose, and hence the boiling point. And since the boiling point is higher, it means that cooking is faster.

[What about vitamins?]

What about vitamins?

The invented device was named "Papin's Digester", in translation something like "Papin's cooker". Then it turned out that the miracle cooker not only speeds up cooking, but also better preserves nutrients and vitamins (the truth about vitamins was learned later). The fact is that when cooking in a regular saucepan, oxygen oxidizes nutrients and vitamins, changing the taste and depriving food of a considerable dose of usefulness. And in a sealed vessel there is very little oxygen, and it cannot cause noticeable oxidation.

You might argue that a higher temperature can damage vitamins in a sealed pressure vessel. But vitamins are destructively affected not so much by temperature as by the duration of heating and the presence of oxygen.

When they later learned to measure the content of vitamins in foods, laboratory studies showed that vitamins are preserved much better when cooked in a sealed vessel under pressure.

[Thanks to home appliance enthusiasts]

Thanks to home appliance enthusiasts

Centuries passed and "Papen's cooker", although it did not enjoy widespread success, found individual adherents among lovers of technical improvements and in everyday life.

For a long time, it was just a thick-walled pan with a tightly screwed lid, which threatened to break off under the influence of high pressure and fly away, causing destruction along the way.

But even with a successful end of accelerated cooking, one had to wait a long time until the pressure dropped, otherwise it was impossible to open the lid. Such is the dialectic: the cooking has accelerated - the time for waiting for the result has been added. Nothing is given for free. But the time spent at the stove was reduced, and this was an important achievement.

I happened to see a set of such sealed pots in the English trade catalog of 1912, where this design was presented as a novelty and was called "Vacuum Self Cooker" (translated as vacuum samovar).The attached ad guaranteed that the food would be ready within two hours. The lion's share of this time was spent on cooling and reducing the pressure so that the pan could be opened.

Those pressure cookers had no drain valves, no fuses, no regulators. But a curious part of humanity continued to use this awkward "cooker", making small improvements to it one by one. Until it turned into what we now call a pressure cooker.

Interest in Papen's half-forgotten pressure cooker revived in the twenties of the twentieth century. First, in Germany, this kettle was adapted for quick cooking in restaurants. A little later, the Americans started the serial production of pressure cookers for the home.

[Pressure cooker - what is it today?]

Pressure cooker - what is it today?

The modern pressure cooker no longer poses the same problems in use as its old prototype. All pressure cookers are equipped with an outlet valve that regulates the pressure and keeps it at the correct level. At the end of brewing, the pressure can be relieved relatively quickly to a level that allows the lid to be opened.

Moreover, the device of a modern pressure cooker makes it possible to carry out a slow or fast pressure reduction (decompression) using a regulator. Slow decompression is recommended for broths, pastry dishes using milk, eggs, dried vegetables, puddings and yeast-added muffins.

Rapid decompression is used for meat stews, vegetable and fish dishes.
Quality pressure cookers are equipped with several safety steps: a spare valve and a valve system around the circumference of the lid, a lid locking and unlocking system. Unpleasant surprises are excluded.
In Russia, pressure cookers became widespread in the 70s and 80s of the 20th century. They were supplied by defense enterprises, sometimes products of the so-called countries of people's democracy were sold. The Russians then willingly bought up pressure cookers.

Recently, with many new appliances for cooking food, interest in pressure cookers has dropped. And in vain: today's pressure cookers are small masterpieces. Their cases are made of polished high-quality steel, and a thick layered bottom made of stainless steel and more heat-conducting aluminum has thermal storage properties. All the heat from the burner goes to accelerated cooking. The cooking is monitored by thermal sensors; sometimes you can see a whole push-button control panel on the massive handle.
Pressure cookers can rival microwaves in cooking speed, and they cook some foods even faster. Food cooked in a pressure cooker tastes differently than microwaves. It is worth starting both at home in order to have a wide selection of quick-cooked meals.

[What a pressure cooker can do]

What a pressure cooker can do

The cooking process of any dish takes place in a pressure cooker about three to five times faster than in a conventional saucepan.

In a pressure cooker, you can cook, stew, steam any food (a special grid is attached for this, you can separately purchase a basket for steam cooking). The favorite dish of Russians, jellied meat in a pressure cooker, takes no more than an hour, while cooking in the usual way takes 3-4 hours.

Any, the toughest meat will be cooked in no more than an hour, and chicken, for example, can be cooked in a pressure cooker in just 15 minutes instead of 45 minutes in a regular saucepan.

Almost all foods can be cooked in the pressure cooker. You can cook soup, cook meat, fish, vegetables and dessert in it.

If you are using a pressure cooker to cook frozen food, you do not need to defrost it first. The pressure cooker cooks and defrosts at the same time.

In a word, the list of products that can be prepared in a pressure cooker is very long. It is easier to list a few products that, according to manufacturers, cannot be cooked in a pressure cooker.They name in this list apple, lingonberry compotes, pearl barley, oatmeal and other cereals, crushed peas, pasta, noodles, spaghetti, rhubarb. These products have the ability to cook foam and splatter which can contaminate and clog the inside of the service valve.

[How else can you use a pressure cooker]

How else can you use a pressure cooker

The capacity of the appliance can be used as a regular large saucepan. Tefal manufactures glass pot lids in the required size especially for this purpose. In addition, baskets for steam cooking are available.

Steam cooking in a pressure cooker gives excellent results. Vegetables, for example, are produced very well and quickly, and the vitamins and nutrients they contain are almost completely preserved.

[What pressure cookers don't like]

What pressure cookers don't like

DO NOT put the pressure cooker on fire without water or any other liquid, as this can seriously damage it. The volume of liquid should be at least 250 ml (2 cups).

DO NOT use your pressure cooker to pressurize food in oil. It is designed exclusively for cooking. True, you can sauté chopped onions, carrots and other vegetables in a small amount of oil or in broth at the bottom of the pressure cooker without a lid, then add the rest of the food, add liquid, close it and continue cooking under pressure.

DO NOT fill the pressure cooker container more than 2/3 full. When cooking foods that swell in hot water (rice, dry vegetables) or produce foam, do not fill the saucepan more than half its volume.

DO NOT put the pressure cooker inside preheated ovens, electric ovens. Using a microwave oven and a pressure cooker together is out of the question.

DO NOT leave food in the cooker either before or after cooking. Otherwise, stubborn grease stains or stubborn stains from acids and salt will remain on the inner walls of the pan. Transfer the finished meal to a plastic container and refrigerate.

[Questions and answers]

Questions and answers

How can I get steam out of my pressure cooker faster?
Modern pressure cookers have a pressure regulator. To let off steam after cooking has finished, turn the knob to the fast or slow decompression position.
To speed up the release of steam, place the pressure cooker under cold running water (make sure that no water gets into the automatic regulator valve).

Is it always necessary to take care of venting steam from the pressure cooker?
If you do not take care of the release of steam, the cooking process will continue as long as all food is under pressure. This can be quite a long time after you have turned off the heating. And it's not just that all this time you won't be able to open the lid. Except for the cases specified in the recipe, steam must be released, otherwise the food may become very soft.

[The pressure cooker has many advantages over conventional cooking methods.]

The pressure cooker has many advantages over conventional cooking methods.
• The cooking process takes place at increased pressure and temperature, due to which the cooking time is reduced by several times. (Peas are cooked in 10-15 minutes instead of 60-90 minutes).

• When cooking meat, soup or other hot dishes, there is practically no need to add water, as it does not evaporate. Which makes the cooking process much easier.

• When cooking pungent food (for example, some types of fish), the smell is almost not spread.

• Meat cooked in the pressure cooker becomes softer. (Rustic chicken or shank for jellied meat can be cooked in 25-30 minutes instead of the usual 2-3 hours)

• Vegetables and fruits retain an order of magnitude more vitamins and other nutrients, as well as natural color.

• The most important thing is that food cooked in a pressure cooker, especially steamed, is the most useful - it is easily absorbed by the body. The delicious aroma of dishes cooked in a pressure cooker will surely surprise you and your loved ones.