I can remember my dad using the pressure cooker in the kitchen in the 70’s. I was always so scared of that thing! He warned me that it flipped its lid a few times when he used it. As a young girl, I always looked at it as I passed the kitchen from the hallway and wondered if it would blow hearing that high pitch whistle sound getting louder and louder. I think I wanted to see it fly but was scared to death that it just might. But that feeling of anticipation and a little fear was always subdued by the smell that came from that cooker.
I would sit on that old green bar stool with the metal legs in the corner of our small kitchen next to the washing machine while my dad cooked. I loved just listening to his stories and watching him make his amazing recipes. He was an amazing cook. He worked as a busboy when he first came to America from Mexico and helped in the kitchen at the Brown Derby in Los Angeles. I’m sure he first learned about the pressure cooker while working in the restaurant business.
I don’t know about you but the pressure cooker spiked my interest. Mainly because I always wanted to buy one when I became a mom, but my dad’s warnings about that steam valve stopped me every time. After all, corned beef, cabbage and potatoes for St. Patrick’s Day was to die for. My father loved to cook this dish for us, so when I heard about the Pressure Cooker and the Instant Pot that everyone on FB was talking about, I just had to get one of each.
Before I retired from being a teacher, I would forget to take out the chicken from the freezer for dinner. Inadvertently, we would either get Panda or pizza or have leftovers if they were still good. I now no longer have to care if I don’t take out the meat to thaw! I have a pressure cooker! It’s a Christmas miracle!
The name itself “pressure cooker” is scary to me. Any appliance that has the word “pressure” in front of it seems a bit concerning to me. My dad’s pressure cooker was from the 60’s so it was one of those old timer ones like this one! If you lose that middle stopper, forget it, game over! Without that piece, you will have a mess on the ceiling!
I purchased an Instant Pot and the Power Pressure Cooker XL and have used them both. I love the Instant Pot for rice, quinoa and steaming vegetables but I haven’t tried cooking much else. The pressure cooker is a completely different story. I have cooked frozen meat and it does cook it very quickly. Have you ever seasoned a piece of frozen meat? Its not possible! So, you have to add sauce and seasonings to the cooker instead after you cook it. You can also cook frozen meat in the Instant Pot.
My dad would have loved these 2 appliances. But knowing him, he would have gone back to using his old pressure cooker. After all, it was reliable and it worked the same every time. But it was a science to use. He would cook the meat and then release the pressure, then add the potatoes and corn on the cob, then release the pressure again and then add the cabbage at the end. It was a science for him! A science I wanted to learn. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to use his pressure cooker. After he passed in 2004, I have no idea what happened to it. I hope and pray my sister took it and kept it.
If you enjoying cooking like I do, I really think you should try an Instant Pot and a pressure cooker. It will make your cooking much easier and quicker. But please read the instructions that come with both. They are pretty full proof and you really can’t mess anything up but the pressure cooker is a bit more cumbersome.
Just follow the directions and everything should turn out fine. You can also check out YouTube for a step by step video on how to use it.
Good luck! Happy pressure cooking!
