Book cover of 80 Recipes for your Pressure Cooker by Richard Ehrlich. Photo / Supplied
In these days of trying to eat healthily without having to spend hours in the kitchen, doesn't it make sense to bring back the pressure cooker?
There's a degree of irony in the name pressure cooker, because, in fact, they take all the pressure off the cook.
Whereas slowcookers have had a huge revival in modern kitchens in recent years, the pressure cooker has remained devoutly retro uncool, perceived by many as something used only in
the olden days by your nana.
The use of pressure cookers fell of the boil about the same time that microwaves snuck their way into the corners of every kitchen boasting giddily-fast cooking times, provided you didn't mind rubbery meat and instant noodles.
Now, with most foodies donating the microwave to their kids' student flat or possibly the inorganic recycling pile, it's time for the good old pressure cooker to step back into the kitchen limelight.
Leading the charge is British food writer Richard Ehrlich with his new book 80 Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker (New Holland, $39.99, out now).
In it he makes the point that pressure cookers are among the greenest, easiest and fastest cooking methods around. They use little energy, and preserve the nutrients, aroma and flavour of your food.
So, how do they work? Put basically, cooking under pressure means you can cook at much higher temperatures.
Without pressure, water will boil at 100C and stay there no matter how high you turn up the element.
But under pressure water heats well past the 100C boiling point. Higher temperatures mean faster cooking.
In the old days that meant there was the occasional disaster when seals failed, or a burst valve sent a geyser of steam gushing towards the ceiling. But modern pressure-cookers have very efficient safety valves and other methods of preventing excessive pressure build-up.
Ehrlich says you should always follow the operating instructions so you don't over-fill or under-fill the cooker - particularly when you're cooking things which expand, such as rice.
He has plenty of other tips and tricks to offer.
As well as meat and poultry recipes, Ehrlich's big collection includes sauces, soups and relishes, vegetables and even puddings. With winter on its way, it's not a bad idea to start practising his chocolate steamed pudding.
