With today’s fast moving lifestyle, pressure cookers are becoming popular and popular. If you are planning to join the pressure cooking fad, then it’s just time to learn the types of pressure cookers before you go shopping.
There are two types of pressure cookers, the old-style, or the “first generation” models, and the new-style, or the “modern generation” models. Older models use a moving “jigger valve” that makes its hissing and earsplitting sound. New models has pressure selector dial which eliminates the “noisy” jiggling valve that rocks back and forth on top of old-style pressure cookers. These two types of cookers have different styles of valves, and if your pressure cooker is the hissing type, it means the pressure has to be checked.
As a child, my mother had a pressure cooker that I found noisy and scary with its wobbling cap on top. While Mom’s first generation cooker gave us wonderful Sunday lunches every time, generally, there were fewer features and less safety measures in the one-pressure setting of the old-style cooker we used. We always have to adjust recipes to fit and the moment her pressure cooker starts to hiss, we were never allowed to come near the stove.
When cooking’s done, she would either leave the cooker until pressure drops on its own, or place the pressure pot in the sink and run cold water over it to bring down the temperature and pressure. Today, although some older domestic models are still manufactured and sold, they still do not have safeguards and some can even explode, but thanks to the new generation models, cooking with pressure has been improved with safety.
Modern cookers are designed with several pressure settings and multiple pressure safety release systems making them 100% safe. It uses the new technology combination of stainless steel with aluminum core for effective and even heating. They are made of sure durability with easy-to-clean pressure release valve and a no hassle self-locking handle. There is no jiggling and no hissing which means it is quiet and does not release excess heat which can in turn heat up the whole kitchen.
Modern pressure cookers are built with quick release option into the pressure regulator to quickly lower the pressure inside the pot without losing the heat. With optical and acoustical signals, modern models show the cooking time which notifies when the right cooking temperature has been reached. This feature allows you to add other ingredients then simply resume pressure cooking. Even if overpressure occurs, modern type cookers push out excess steam from a valve stem with a perceptible “hiss”, and no matter pressure continues to rise, the sealing gasket would be ejected through the cooker’s built-in safety notch in the lid, and safely vent the pressure.
With the added features of a weight release valve, gasket release system, metallic safety valve, and double locking system that won’t allow the pressure lid to be removed until it’s safe to do so, we could say no more noisy, hissing, rattling, and spitting pressure regulators to scare our children, and absolutely no more dangerous and unpredictable over-pressure plug that can accidentally blow the lid and scatter your food all over the kitchen!
Now let’s face it, which type do you think is better worth buying no matter the cost?