# Why use a pressure cooker?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 29, 2024, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786 "2024-01-29T01:22:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/81 "2024-01-30T00:56:29Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> That would be me. Nothing cooks a hardboiled egg like an Instant Pot. It is in the peeling of the egg that the Pot excels.
Hard-cooked eggs are the thing we use ours for the most - but we do plenty of other things with it (things like a huge slab of pork). It took me a couple of tries to get the timing right - in my case, 2 minutes at low pressure, 2 minutes natural release, then quick release and plunk them into ice water. I also tend to peel eggs using the “shake a couple in a closed container with some water” approach, where the peel slips off like it’s been greased.
If you have something in the freezer, you can plunk that into the instant pot with a little water, and not have to worry about thawing it beforehand. Big effort-saver.
I’ve never used a traditional (stovetop) pressure cooker. Mom didn’t have one, so I never learned. The IP was a bit of a learning experience.
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### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/82 "2024-01-30T00:59:32Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> So these come out with stiff, thickened, crunchy unto difficult to cut, and oh-so-salty skins? Because that is by far the best part of a baked potato. The white part could be thrown away uneaten for all I care. If the skins are not crisp, it’s merely a tasteless boiled potato by another name.
What you’re looking for then (IMHO) is air fryer baked potatoes. But that’s another thread.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/83 "2024-01-30T01:00:20Z")
What are pressure cookers doing that produce such dramatically faster cooking? Near as I can tell they raise the temperature in the pot about 30F degrees over normal boiling (212F). Why do beans become edible in less than an hour where other cooking methods need to see them soaked and cooked longer?
I get higher temps cook things faster but I am surprised to see 30F make that big of a difference.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/84 "2024-01-30T01:02:40Z")
I’m with you on this.
Baked potatoes should have crispy skin. I get why restaurants wrap their potatoes in foil but I am disappointed every time to see those on my plate since the skin will be soggy.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/85 "2024-01-30T01:03:56Z")
I honestly don’t know what exactly the science is, but it’s basically a reduction of 2.5-3x. An hour in the pressure cooker is about 2 1/2 to 3 hours on the stove.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/86 "2024-01-30T01:13:45Z")
Because water and steam conduct heat much better than air, and at normal pressure in your kitchen there’s a hard limit of 212F. Under pressure, you gain that extra heat, which conveys to the food much more efficiently than it would by sticking it in the oven and turning it up all the way.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/87 "2024-01-30T01:34:40Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#):
>
> What you’re looking for then (IMHO) is air fryer baked potatoes. But that’s another thread.
Nope. What I’m looking for, and long ago found, is how to do them in a conventional oven. 70 minutes, plus preheat time, but totally superb and utterly foolproof.
Separate from the above:
I am totally not getting the raging irrational fear of pressure cookers. They are not explosives; they’re cookpots. Modern safe-by-design cookpots. I’d be far more afraid of some electronic thing that could go stupid than of a mindless-but-reliable lump of metal sitting on a stove.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/88 "2024-01-30T01:48:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> I am totally not getting the raging irrational fear of pressure cookers. They are not explosives; they’re cookpots.
I’m slightly embarrassed to say I own 3 pressure cookers (not instant pots). So many people are afraid of them that I can occasionally pick one up at a yard sale, unused, for less than the cost of a replacement gasket.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/89 "2024-01-30T01:53:05Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> I am totally not getting the raging irrational fear of pressure cookers.
I hope that is hyperbole.
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> So many people are afraid of them that I can occasionally pick one up at a yard sale, unused, for less than the cost of a replacement gasket.
I am not sure you can assume pressure cookers at yard sales are there because of fear. There can be lots of reasons they are at a yard sale. Reasons you will probably never know.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/90 "2024-01-30T01:54:53Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> > [@LSLGuy](#):
> >
> > I am totally not getting the raging irrational fear of pressure cookers.
>
> I hope that is hyperbole.
There are people in the thread saying it’s a good thing you can turn them off using the circuit breaker in the basement so you don’t have to be in the same room with such a deadly device.
Those people’s opinions are wacky and I’m not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/91 "2024-01-30T02:01:50Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> I am not sure you can assume pressure cookers at yard sales are there because of fear. There can be lots of reasons they are at a yard sale.
Because they liked them too much?
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/92 "2024-01-30T02:06:30Z")
> [@needscoffee](#):
>
> Because they liked them too much?
Because they didn’t like them is probably the simplest answer. Just because some here like them does not mean everyone will find a need for one. Or, maybe they inherited grandma’s cooker and they already had one and are just getting around to clearing old stuff out. Or, maybe they were gifted one but don’t have room for it and/or already had one they like better.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/93 "2024-01-30T02:08:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> There are people in the thread saying it’s a good thing you can turn them off using the circuit breaker in the basement so you don’t have to be in the same room with such a deadly device.
I’m pretty sure they were making fun of the fear of pressure cookers too and painting the most extreme of responses as a way to make fun of that fear.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/94 "2024-01-30T02:12:26Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> I’m pretty sure they were making fun of the fear of pressure cookers too and painting the most extreme of responses as a way to make fun of that fear.
Pretty much this, except not so much “making fun of” but saying “hey, if you’re that afraid, you can do this…” So, ok, maybe a little “making fun of.” And I think, even though I am a lover of them, that it’s a reasonable apprehension. I’ve heard several tales of old style pressure cookers gone wrong in my family growing up, so you kind of have this idea that they’re time bombs. I mean, you really should respect the things, no? But today’s pressure cookers are a lot less anxiety-inducing.
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### Author:  [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/95 "2024-01-30T02:23:05Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> I am not sure you can assume pressure cookers at yard sales are there because of fear. There can be lots of reasons they are at a yard sale.
IAN needscoffee and can’t speak for them, but I interpreted their statement as meaning that widespread fear of stovetop pressure cookers is a significant contributor to their general unpopularity, and hence their ready availability at yard sales, even when in mint condition.
I didn’t read that as making any claims about the specific reasons why any one particular seller decided to put an unused pressure cooker into their yard-sale inventory.
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/96 "2024-01-30T02:34:38Z")
Maybe don’t have one if you’re afraid of them exploding and don’t see any need for one.
Boiled eggs by pressure cooking are not all that important.
The _why?_ is personal want, need and sense of safety using a perfectly well tested implement.
That has been used for decades.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/97 "2024-01-30T02:37:06Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#):
>
> What are pressure cookers doing that produce such dramatically faster cooking?
As I said, the main things I cook in them are rice and beans. And both of those are dried. The primary goal of cooking seems to be to get them to take on water.
So my theory has always been that the higher pressures force them to take on water much more quickly. It’s being pushed in there more.
This would also explain the huge differences in time based on the food. Rice more readily accepts water than beans, hence why it cooks faster unpressured. So it makes sense that there’s only so much the added pressure can do to make it faster.
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### Author:  [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/98 "2024-01-30T02:47:10Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> > [@Reeses\_Monkey](#):
> >
> > I use my pressure cooker to make the most amazing “baked” potatoes.
>
> So these come out with stiff, thickened, crunchy unto difficult to cut, and oh-so-salty skins? Because that is by far the best part of a baked potato. The white part could be thrown away uneaten for all I care. If the skins are not crisp, it’s merely a tasteless boiled potato by another name.
Alas, no crunchy skin but the inside is fluffy and delicious.
@needscoffee I think they taste more baked than steamed.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/99 "2024-01-30T02:52:39Z")
It seems to me that the only way the pressure cooker can be explode is if it not only has its pressure release valves completely blocked, but then actually builds up enough pressure to overcome the locking mechanism. And, even then, the pressure comes from heat, so any sort of temperature sensor that could cut the power would alleviate that risk. And, yes, even then, you’d have to actually be there when it exploded for it to be a source of injury.
Apparently some even have actual pressure sensors that can shut things off if the pressure gets too high, as well as detect when the lid is too leaky. And if even one safety feature doesn’t work properly, they get recalled.
I suspect that the injuries are primarily due to older models or doing stupid things with them.
I don’t worry about mine, but I also automatically don’t stand watching it or anything. Since I can’t do anything once it actually starts cooking, I have no reason not to just “set it and forget it” until it’s done.
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### Author:  [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)
#### Post date: [January 30, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-use-a-pressure-cooker/996786/100 "2024-01-30T03:19:40Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> As I said, the main things I cook in them are rice and beans. And both of those are dried. The primary goal of cooking seems to be to get them to take on water.
>
> So my theory has always been that the higher pressures force them to take on water much more quickly. It’s being pushed in there more.
Yes, when I’ve had beans that were so old that boiling them for hours didn’t soften them, I switched to the pressure cooker and it worked.
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