There is a rule that says ‘the right tool for the right job’ and when it comes to cooking, this is especially true.
Well before the advent of microwave cooking came the pressure cooker. The history of the pressure cooker is under some debate, depending on how you define it. One explanation goes as follows:
“In 1679, the French mathematician and physicist Denis Papin invented the first pressure cooker or steam digester as he called it. The story is whilst he was presenting his new steam digester to the Royal Society it exploded, leading him to invent the safety valve. Three years later he represented it to the Royal society and gained positive reviews.
The pressure cooker title was first seen in print in 1915. In 1927, the first pressure cookers were sold in Germany and in 1939 the world’s first commercial pressure cooker made by National Presto Industries was exhibited at the New York World’s Fair.”
However, if you define a pressure cooker as a vessel that is sealed and heated and the trapped steam helps cook the meal, then the pressure cooker has truly ancient roots… some might say, as early as the classical Greeks.
I found this rather inexpensive, but highly useful pressure cooker at the store chain Bed, Bath and Beyond. You can find a lot of opinions ( on-line) on which type of pressure cooker you need for cooking or canning, but this one will suits my immediate purposes.
I suspect we will do more canning down the road and this will be helpful.
Roger Freberg