Why Every Modern Kitchen Needs a Pressure Cooker

A pressure cooker is a modern kitchen's best-kept secret. Want to know why we love them? America's Test Kitchen testing senior editor Lisa McManus lets you in on the details.

America's Test Kitchen is a real 2,500 square foot test kitchen located just outside of Boston that is home to more than three dozen full-time cooks and product testers. Our mission is simple: to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods. To do this, we test each recipe 30, 40, sometimes as many as 70 times, until we arrive at the combination of ingredients, technique, temperature, cooking time, and equipment that yields the best, most-foolproof recipe.

Each week, the cast of America's Test Kitchen brings the recipes, testings, and tastings from Cook's Illustrated magazine to life on our public television series. With more than 2 million viewers per episode, we are the most-watched cooking show on public television.

More than 1.3 million home cooks rely on Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines to provide trusted recipes that work, honest ratings of equipment and supermarket ingredients, and kitchen tips.

Follow us:

[ibdavidc]

My first pressure cooker WAS my grandmother's, and it worked fine. I'm now on my third one, moving on to update technology (the last move) or because I couldn't find replacement seals. The pot used to terrify my wife, especially when releasing the pressure, but she never complains about the food. Especially pot roast.

[Noormajeed]

Please review electric pressure cookers. I've been meaning to get one

[PastorJack]

I just made corned beef and cabbage in my pressure cooker for St Patrick's day today. It was freaking amazing! The flavors and the tenderness made this the best corned beef be cabbage that any of the three of us had ever had.

[helpfulnatural]

My new stainless steel Presto pressure cooker works great! It's very dependable and everything comes out tender and delicious. As long as the cooker is well built, made of quality stainless steel with a decent disc on the bottom, there is no reason you have to spend $$hundreds of dollars on one of these. I've read more customer service complaints from reviewers that bought Fissler models and a few from Fagor as well.

[chefalbino]

i love the Lagostina 26cm pressure-cooker, it has all what i need. and even for my grandmother's 40 years old cooker, i can still find new sealing-rubber and valves.

[wnickelson]

Thumbs down for the Iron Chef reference.

[unclerat]

America is coming to understand what Europe has known for generations. The pressure cooker is the most economic way to cook there is, both in the cost of fuel and in time.

[BlueJazzBoyNZ]

A vid that show which pressure cooker can also do deep frying would be a winner

[shashibala]

Pressure cooker is the most useful necessity in the kitchen
Even my maid uses it to make daal or boil potatoes etc

[fiverareblanks]

Already done that, they only carried one food-network model that was fully aluminum. Im now looking online, but most of them don't say... T_T oh well.

[vlxxx]

Pressure cookers suck on an electric stove - the pressure doesn't seem to build up fast enough to make the seal expand in it's channel very well.

[runegalar]

Most newer models should work with an induction cooktop. If you're unsure, or if it doesn't say on the box, ask in the store.

[runegalar]

You could check Amazon. Did a quick search for "pressure cooker induction" and found a ton of induction friendly pressure cookers.

[thihal]

For a vegetarian household, do you think a pressure cooker is that useful?

[fiverareblanks]

thats the thing...ive never come across a pressure cooker in the store that passes the magnet test.

[radioboys]

still have and use a 50 year old Presto 60, every 15 years or so get new gasket

[fiverareblanks]

I use an induction cooktop, any recommendations that will work on an induction top?

[lewiskelly]

Countries that use Celsius are watching this too!!

[sandraong]

what to you guys think about thermomix cooker?

[ibdavidc]

All should, if the magnet test works.