My Pressure Cooker
My Parents Loved Their Pressure Cooker – I Get It!
My parents had an old-fashioned pressure cooker. They would use it every time I went to visit. Potatoes and soup came out of that thing. They loved it. I thought it was a bit strange and mysterious. I had thought that it was a type of slow cooker, but it made loud noises and you couldn’t test the potatoes to see if they were done. It was hard to wash. But now I get why they loved it!
A few years back, it must be at least five, I had a rare trip out with my husband, without the kids. We went to the Home and Garden Show. You know those places where they show you all kinds of stuff, the latest and greatest, that you just can’t live without? We watched demos. There was someone making deep-fried chicken in a shiny, stainless steel pressure cooker. Now, that caught my attention!
The demo lady had all kinds of little gadgets to show us. There was a thermometer to let you test the oil to make sure your chicken would fry just right. There was a rack to cook meat on. There was a tray with handles for stuff that needs steamed. Everything was shiny and new and enticing. And, of course, she let us taste the food and we were hungry!
She told us how this was one unique pressure cooker. It had a special way to safely release the steam. It came with gadgets. I’d no clue how it compared to other ones I could buy elsewhere, on either price or features, but I was there with my husband and I wanted one!
I came home with my Hamilton Beach Presure Cooker. At first I wasn’t sure how to use it or why I’d been tempted by it. But, slowly and surely, it worked its magic on me. I learned its secrets with just a little trial and error. The book it came with was handy too.
Today it has pride of place on my stove. I use it almost every day. It makes great soup in half the time. I use it for potatoes just like my parents did. It cooks beans amazingly quickly. It’s easy to wash. It can be noisy; I like the noise because it signals mealtime. It saves me electricity and it saves me time; these days they are both precious. Now I know why my parents had one!