[jyotirmoy]

While researching medieval recipes & cooking styles I stumbled up on some translation of ancient scriptures belonging to the nomadic & warring tribes of the central Asia. This could be the earliest approach to pressure-cooking. Containers similar to the ones used by milkmen to carry milk was used i.e. a large metal can with a narrow neck & tight fitting cap. Chunks of meat, salt, water & other herbs would be put in the container & it would be placed in a hole dug out on the riverbank. Smooth round stones usually found along the riverbed would then be super heated in fire & then shoveled in to the container & the lid would be closed tight. The idea of placing the thing in a hole could be that the heat doesn’t radiate out & since no fusible safety valve was then available the “chef” would be safe if the damn thing blew off.

[captmahajan]

Off topic, but I thought pressure cooking was being in Hyderabad at 42C till I discovered Smirnoff.  

[tstan]

In most places, during the 1940s, there were desperate energy shortages - most economic activity, after all, was directed towards military purposes - and the pressure cooker was widely used as a result. In a sense, it was the equivalent of the microwave oven with convenience and energy conservation being more important than flavour.

I feel that when Western style food is cooked under pressure, the flavours of the individual ingredients - each item has its own little cage - merge too much, and as a result, the food is rather bland. In India, however, people use the same basic piece of apparatus in a much more sophisticated way - rather in the same way that  Chinese cooks are masters at steaming food.

[priya]

Also off topic (well, sort of)

I have a conventional pressure cooker but would love an Indian one - everything is made so much easier when you just have to wait for #whistles and you know your meal is ready.  What a pleasure!!!

[neeleem]

We have 2 proper Indian pressure cookers (Hawkins). Feels very much like being home in India when it is used and the whistle goes off. It's quite useful to boil potatoes (takes ages in a saucepan), cook some types of dal, quick khichuri etc.

[vinayverma]

I use pressure cookers cautiously.
no they are safe.
Sometimes when I want something quick and ready to compromise on taste and texture/presentation, I go to my fav old cooker. Otherwise I like slow cooking.

[H.Nick]

There is no reason that pressure cooking should adversely affect flavour, particularly in cooking vegetables.

The food is steamed and cooked faster than normal cooking whcih should be better for flavour.

Because of the higher temperatures, one has to be careful about timing: overcooking is easy. But not as easy as it is in a microwave.

Another advantage of pressure cookers is that they minimise the smell. Some foods, like meat stews or fish can smell badly enough to put one off the meal!

The Indian whistling pressure cooker took me by surprise! Without Mrs N here, I think it would have baffled me: I wonder how long I would have spent trying to adjust the gas to get a constant slight emission of steam!!!!

[vinayverma]

Nck, I use whistling pressure cooker which my son hates, and if you speak to real cookers(Chefs ), pressure cooking evaporates much which you'd want to stay (aroma and taste I mean).

Edited by vinayverma, 27 October 2006 - 12:01 AM.

[kavindra]

Jyoti da,

Quite fascinated to learn of your 'discovery.' I don't know how many are aware, but the first steam engine (Thomas Savery) was inspired by Denis Papin's pressure cooker. So, perhaps you should read on...

And Nick - there is definitely a difference of opinion about whether pressure cooking destroys anything worthwhile in the food or preserves the nutrients. Growing up in India, I heard from my mother as to how great an invention it was - and how much better (for you) the pressure-cooked food was. But I have since heard several dissenting views. As for whistling (idly) cooker - my parents gifted us this device. We tolerated it while they were around but would not come near it since as we find the whistling part too unbearable.

As a self-taught (or say book-taught) cook, I found it pressure cooking to be an acquired taste. I finally got into it and now use it often enough (though not as often as my mother uses it). In fact, your post gave me impetus to go ahead and acquire one of the high-end (WMF) cooker that I have been coveting for a bit. I've yet to use it, but it makes no noise and has a pressure gauge that tells you the pressure reached medium, high etc. That's the easy part - not overcooking food in these things is the hard part...

Now, I could use some pressure cooker receipes...

Edited by kavindra, 27 October 2006 - 06:32 AM.

[Jock & Di]

priya, on Oct 27 2006, 12:00 AM, said:

Also off topic (well, sort of)

I have a conventional pressure cooker but would love an Indian one - everything is made so much easier when you just have to wait for #whistles and you know your meal is ready.  What a pleasure!!!

We have had an old Namco pressure cooker from Papua New Guinea days in the 70's. Used it a lot then but only occasionally now, especially for soups and stews.  The pressure gauge hasn't worked for years so it is all about guesswork.

The Indian whistler intrigues me. Ours simply makes a hissing noise as the safety valve cap jiggles on top.

[priya]

Jock & Di, on Oct 27 2006, 10:43 AM, said:

The Indian whistler intrigues me. Ours simply makes a hissing noise as the safety valve cap jiggles on top.

Oh, the Indian pressure cooker also has a hiss + a whistle.  What's great about the Indian one tho, following an Indian recipe, it'll tell you how many whistles to count before your meal is ready.  Now that really is an innovation

I was always curious when reading Indian pressure cooker recipes that it stated "cook for #whistles" ..... until I actually saw one in use.  I was amazed at how much easier it was than the conventional ones that are used in the west.

[juneaily]

I think the antural taste evaporates when using a pressure cooker.
Give me a steamer or a slow cooker any day!!!

[jyotirmoy]

If used properly pressure cooked food taste alright. Steamers & slow cookers are good for stews but you have to have time. In India at home we cook Dal, rice & meat in pressure cookers most of the time. Cooking Rajma with out pressure cooker will be a big task at home.

[gautam]

Priyaji,

I believe many have discussed this on another website, Another Subcontinent, but contrary to what people might choose to believe, any large egress of steam from the pressure cooker dramatically decreaes the energy efficiency of the device. THat is what whistling accomplishes. Remember steam engines?

Well, steam engines work precisely because the phase change from water to steam carries with it so much energy. [This has a bit to do with the hydrogen bonds in water, a polar molecule. You can see the same thing if you try to dry a wet skillet on the fire and water beads up and sizzles for a long time--very wasteful of energy. For the same physics and chemistry]. And steam whistles let loose some of that steam!

Western pressure cookers work on a sensible principle: Bring up pressure to 250 Kilopascals or whatever pressure you are using, and keep the superheated steam and liquid under pressure, reducing the heat just to the point necessary to maintain this level. This is the effect that accomplishes the cooking. In fact, you undercook, adjusting for the time you allow for the steam to lose pressure. That way you have tenderness and the highest energy efficiency. There is careful timing and some thought involved.

It may be that in India, many people have not been taught these principles, and have learnt things empirically, and then those empirical principles have become proud traditions to be defended as a point of family honor, no matter how wrong-headed or counterproductive in terms of energy efficiency [read gas usage]. There is something to be said for human contrariness.

Mind you, there cannot be any cooker designed that can circumvent basic laws of physics: phase change, specific heat of water, etc. India does not exist in some elevated metaphysical plane, in spite of wishful thinking. Some years ago, a foolish minister was persuaded by some tricksters in Tamil Nadu that by mixing some herbs in water, petrol would form. He even got some Chennai, IIT professors to go along with his folly. We know that is complete nonsense, and it was shown to such later. Yet, not a single Indian, let alone the public had the courage or the sense to stand up and shout, BULL...., and fire the minister from any position of responsibility.

Just because Indians are doing something does not make it wise, clever or efficient. Sometimes it should be a warning signal, indicating the exact opposite!

[ Those who know me, know that I am fiercely defensive of India when the need arises. At the same time, there are many things grossly wrong with our culture and collective mentality.  I find it curious that there is no criticism of these aspects that strike me so forcefully all the time, by some of the Western members at Indiatree, and yet they are all over  the place with petty and ill-informed absurd beliefs that belong in the Victorian nursery school. I am amazed and absolutely unsympathetic to any omnibus Indophilia. You know my views on havan, for example. And I am a pancasandhi shikhapathi and disciple of a true somayaji, a heart disciple, steeped in the Agnicayana.]

[jyotirmoy]

Many of us have learnt to play with the knob of the gas burner to adjust the flame in such a way that the super hot steam is maintaiened and doesn't whistle out too much. Of course with a pressure guage transducer and a lill bit of electronics near perfect/optimum energy conservation can be achieved. But these type of gadgets are not yet available. When these will be available at an affordable price we will surely switch over till then we wait for the steam pressure to build up... a loud whistle and immediately turn down the flame.

[gautam]

jyotirmoy, on Dec 26 2007, 05:08 AM, said:

Many of us have learnt to play with the knob of the gas burner to adjust the flame in such a way that the super hot steam is maintaiened and doesn't whistle out too much. Of course with a pressure guage transducer and a lill bit of electronics near perfect/optimum energy conservation can be achieved. But these type of gadgets are not yet available. When these will be available at an affordable price we will surely switch over till then we wait for the steam pressure to build up... a loud whistle and immediately turn down the flame.

Jyotida,

I would have thought that  the great popularity and high sales volume of pressure cookers in India would lead to the prevalence of all cutting edge pressure cooker design and technologies in that market, above any in the world perhaps. In the US, pressure cookers for the past 30 years at least have been a drug on the market, little used except for pressure canners. A cheap aluminum, and nowadays stainless steel, 6 quart [approx. 6 liter] cooker can be had for $20 at seasonal sales. These are very durable, and their design has not changed over at least 30 years, as far as the pressure transduce, or "weight" goes. It merely hisses and jiggles when reaching full pressure, the sign to turn down the heat when it will continue to jiggle and rock gently for the prescribed time. One has to do someting extreme for the steam to vent! There is also a rubber safety plug in the lid, a second opening in addition to the steam vent (perhaps missing in Indian cookers of yore [Hawkins type]), but mandatory in the US. This will blow in the case of over-pressure.

As you can see, this technology is very cheap, simple, conducive to safety and has been around for a very long time. It is nowhere as sophisticated or as expensive as the European systems incorporated in say, Sitram or Kuhn-Rikon. Therefore I remain mystified as to why Indian cookers avoid the simple safety expedient  of the second opening in the lid. Maybe avoiding an additional manufacturing procedure adds to the manufacturer's profit margin! Especially where dals and starches are so commonly cooked, with their attendant foaming and blockaging hazards, I don't know what safety features are mandated in Indian cookers?

Edited by gautam, 26 December 2007 - 07:14 PM.

[jyotirmoy]

The pressure cookers sold in India is the same you have described. They all have fusible safety vents.