There are thousands of kitchen utensils, for all tastes and needs. Some are very sophisticated and technological like robots, and others are much simpler like iron pans. But perhaps there is one that triggers mixed reactions and even fear in the general population, despite being a cooking method that already has several centuries of history, and that is really efficient. This is the pressure cooker.
Loved by many, but feared by many more, the pressure cooker is one of those utensils that makes life easier when cooking, as it has the ability to cook very hard foods (such as dried legumes) in less than a third of the time. conventional time. But there is something about this device that, by expelling air through its valve, scares away anyone who doesn’t know how to use it, especially when it makes that characteristic thunderous beep when it releases pressure and steam. “The pressure cooker today is seen as just another grandmother’s appliance, since the new generations usually don’t know how to use it,” explains cook Patricia Cantón. This lack of knowledge of how it works is one of the factors that most influences the apparently irrational fear of this utensil.
But this generational rejection of the pressure cooker is not only based on doubts about how to use it, since it has also gained a bad reputation due to the accidents that can occur with it. One of the most frequent incidents is burns when opening it prematurely, since hot food and steam can jump out of the pot. According to Dr. Jordi Serracanta, head of the Burns Unit at the Vall d’Hebron Hospital, these accidents are generally related to “an obstruction of the valve, and when the pot is uncovered, boiling steam comes out that can burn the person.” .
The severity of burns due to mishandling of the pressure cooker varies greatly. Serracanta assures that “many of the patients in these cases only need outpatient care, and the most serious ones are sent directly to the Burn Unit, where they can be admitted for up to three weeks depending on the degree of the burns, whose recovery can then take up to one hour.” anus”. In these cases, the areas of the body that are usually most affected tend to be “the upper extremities, anterior trunk, neckline, neck and face.” Although there is no official record of the frequency of these accidents, Serracanta estimates that the Unit receives about 10 cases annually, of which “the majority tend to be women, since they are domestic accidents and in many cases they are still the ones who suffer They are in charge of cooking at home.
Although scalds are the most frequent incidents due to improper handling of the pressure cooker, in some cases more serious situations can arise, since it can explode in the kitchen when adequate precautions are not taken. This was the case of María Teresa Buján, who died in 2018 in Melide (La Coruña, Galicia) when her pressure cooker exploded while she was preparing a chickpea stew. According to the account of the events reported by La Voz de Galicia, it is most likely that “her cover was thrown upwards and impacted her path with María Teresa”, which caused her death. . This is attributed to a possible plugging of the safety valve of the pot, which prevented it from releasing pressure and caused the explosion.
Pressure cookers can seem like a complicated device to handle, and the risks of using them incorrectly contribute to new generations not wanting to cook with them. This is the case of Cantón, who explains that “as a child I was afraid of it, but once I learned how it works it seemed quite simple to me.” These pots can be a very convenient utensil for those who do not have much time to cook, especially with the hectic pace of contemporary life: “For cheeks that usually take four hours to cook, with a pressure cooker you can have them ready in little more one hour,” he says.
Pressure cooking may seem like a topic that causes fear among the youngest. According to Marc Puig-Pey, kitchen manager at the Alícia Foundation, the pressure cooker generates a certain level of respect since “less has been said about its virtues than about its defects, such as the possibility of it exploding”, as he explains in this report. However, thanks to its cooking speed and good handling, it is a very useful utensil in everyday cooking. According to a study carried out by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), modern models of pressure cookers have better safety systems than the old ones, which reduces the risk of them exploding during use: “All pressure cookers pressure have mechanisms to release excessive pressure that could accumulate. In any case, even if it works poorly, the only risk is that the seals become deformed, not that they burst,” explains the entity.
Despite the bad reputation (justified or not) that the pressure cooker may have, the truth is that if it is used following all its care guidelines, it is a completely safe and very valuable tool for cooking. One of the most important is not to fill it more than the safety line indicates, since otherwise it would not leave room for the steam and the pressure of cooking. Additionally, it is essential to ensure that the valve is clean to prevent blockages so that steam can be released properly. Finally, it should never be opened while it is hot, as it will not have finished depressurizing. It is best to wait about 10 or 15 minutes for it to lose heat, and thus avoid possible burns or accidents.
