Why Food Cooks Faster In Pressure Cooker?
Denis Bapin invented the pressure cooker and it is an amazing fact that the pressure cooker cooks food at a faster rate. The article includes all possible explanation of the mechanism of pressure cooker. Tips to handling the pressure cooker also added with this article.
First time in my life, I was totally astonished when I saw the pressure cooker used for cooking around in 1987. It was totally amazing to see all those cooking activities whistling of the pressure cooker. The pressure cooker was invented by Denis Papin in 1679. Before going to the mechanism and parts of cooker, let us see the physical phenomena hidden behind this cooker.
The boiling point and the atmospheric pressure are interlinked. The boiling point of water on the earth at the sea level is 100 degree Celsius. The water gets boiling when the vapour pressure equals the atmospheric pressure. In the higher altitude the atmospheric pressure is low so the water starts boiling in between 70 degree to 80 degrees. At this temperature, cooking is not possible because we need lot of heat for cooking our food items. Due to low atmospheric pressure cooking is not so popular in those places of higher altitudes. Taking this concept of inter-relation between the boiling temperature and the atmospheric pressure, Denis papin dedicated his invention to the people of the world community in the form of pressure cooker. He noted by increasing the pressure inside the cooker, the temperature can also be increased to maximum extent and that gave the idea of designing pressure cooker.Parts and the mechanism of pressure cooker.
Let us see the parts of pressure cooker.
1. Lid and the base made of alloys of aluminum called Duralumin (Al, Mg, Mn, Cu)
2. Gasket made up of synthetic rubber avoid leaking of steam.
3. Safety valve.
4. Handle made of thermosetting plastic.
5. vent with whistle.
When we add the cooking material with sufficient amount of water within a short time the water gets heated to more than the boiling point of 100 degree Celsius but still the water inside the pressure remain unboiled. So under the extreme temperature the food particle gets cooked quickly. The accumulating steam inside the pressure cooker increases the vapour pressure which finally pushes the whistle to inform the person who are cooking to indicate the food particles get cooked. This is really a fantastic technology invented in the sixteenth century.Tips for handling pressure cooker:
Benefits of Pressure cooker
Krishnamurthy sir, we are using the pressure cooker in the houses as a modernised vision of cooking but many elderely people are not of good opinion on the cooking rice in Pressure cooker alternatively they advised us to cook in the method of old type that removing the porridge after well cooking the rice. They are telling that because of using many chemicals in the farms during the production of rice/grains,the chemicals might have formed in the grain itself and while boiling well openly and by removing the porridge out, we would have good cooked rice/grains for our good health. What is your opinion?