How to Choose a Pressure Cooker

Now that energy costs are spiraling and eating out is getting more expensive, finding ways to save time and money in the kitchen is becoming increasingly more important. There are ways you can cook delicious meals at home very quickly by using pressure cookers.These cooking pots are excellent ways to trim your fuel demand and make wonderful foods. They cook in less time than a microwave does, and the food is absolutely delicious. All the flavor is preserved, nothing gets tough or dried out. You can cook rice or potatoes in 6 minutes, or a tough piece of meat in as little as 30 minutes for a big family. Every time you cook your meals in a pressure cooker, you are saving energy, lowering both your bill and carbon footprint.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. The modern pressure cookers for sale today are very safe to use, and the choice of pressure cooker you will need to make will be based on the price and size. Some of the pressure cookers are made from stainless steel and others from aluminum. The cookers made from stainless steel generally cost more, so if you are on a budget, choose an aluminum cooker. They are heavier, but cook just as dependably and quickly as the stainless steel ones do.

2. Determining the size of pressure cooker you want depends on how much food you want to cook at once. You can cook anything from fish fillets to turkeys in pressure cookers. If you will never put anything larger than a fryer chicken in a pressure cooker, choose one of the smaller ones and save some money.

3. 
   Ellipical Lid on Futura Pressure Cooker

   The shape of the pressure cooker can also be a determinant in your choice. There is a brand called Futura which has an elliptical shape, and while it's a wonderful pressure cooker, you would have difficulty putting a separate, round pan into it for cooking desserts, like cheese cake or a flan.

4. If you decide you want to preserve food by using a pressure cooker, you will need to buy a pressure canner. These are different, because they are larger, and also allow you to set the pressure based on a dial gauge that tells you how many pounds of pressure you have in the cooker. Home canning is fun and is a good way to save money by buying fresh meat on sale, or if you have a really productive vegetable garden and want to preserve your own home grown food. If you decide that you want to get one of these large canners, you can still use it for pressure cooking small amounts of food, but they will take more heat than using a smaller pressure cooker. Preserving food by pressure cooking it is a science, and the details of it are beyond the scope of this article. If you are interested in this way of saving energy and lowering your food budget, the link at the bottom of the page will get you started.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're not sure of the size of pressure cooker that you want, buy an eight quart one first. Since you cannot use all the space in a cooker because of the safety issues, get one that you can put a whole chicken in, or several artichokes. As you get used to pressure cooking, you may find you want more than one in your kitchen to bring a complete meal together quickly. You can go smaller and larger as time goes by.
• Every time you use your pressure cooker, you are saving energy!
• Never leave a pressure cooker unattended. It cooks quickly, unlike a slow cooker that you can leave on all day and night. While very safe, overcooking food in a pressure cooker could alter the flavor and texture to the point where you do not want to eat it.
• Don't buy old pressure cookers from the thrift store. You may have trouble finding replacement parts for it, especially gaskets.

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