The Science Behind Pressure Cookers

Dan explains how pressure cookers quickly work to produce delicious results.

ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America's Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.

If you like us, follow us:

[enduril]

Thanks for the explanation. I think besides just cooking at a higher temperature inside the cooker, the pressure itself transfers thermal energy deeply beneath the food surface rather than just being hotter. Frying in oil is hotter at the food surface but will only burn and dry out the food if its too hot. Pressure cooking inhibits the water inside the food itself from evaporating (boiling) out during the cooking process. Instead, the inside and outside are cooked more evenly together which makes everything cook faster without fear of burning. The steam pressure also has the added effect of loosening and tenderizing the food which speeds up the process as well. All this is especially more true for dense, high volume, low surface foods such as large chunks of meat compared to regular cooking

[sylviahacker]

I love my pressure cooker, especially in the summer. Less heat buildup in the kitchen plus it's fast.

[janepoultney]

Yes, I was hoping they'd do this. Lots of people don't understand pressure cookers that well, including me.

[lindabeard]

I have been using a pressure cooker for 50+ years, as my Mother did before me. I've never had a bad cut of meat come out of it yet. I have a new one pot cooker but can't seem to leave my trusty pressure cooker just yet . Maybe one day. Have been watching America's Test Kitchen for at least 20+ years and I learn something new all the time (and here I thought I knew everything...lol).

[dadoscriticos]

Every kitchen has one of those here in Brazil. Thanks for the clear explanation!

[wotan]

I bought a pressure cooker last year on ATK’s recommendation. Very pleased with the results. I haven’t tried pot roast yet, but I’ve successfully made hummus, chicken soup, and (for my dogs) bone broth and chicken feet collagen.

[sidd]

​1:46 oops. Didn't see that coming😂

[JaveriaKhan]

AMAZING DUDE, I'm so relieved that I could understand it well

[kevinaptowicz]

I'm a Dan Souza super fan. Love your stuff Dan. Keep up the excellent work.

[abdulrani]

Tq for the brief, yet easy to understand explanation ! TQVM ! ...

[MetaView]

I have a question: What are the differences in results if I submerge the roast in liquid vs cooking it on a trivet above the liquid? What is the science behind it?

[DramaisFunny]

This posted right when i was going to pressure cook for the first time

[jaeo]

thanks for explaining it.. I had a clue that pressure cooking is the way to go.. I'm cooking a steak here and My goal here is to be able to shredd the meat in about a few hrs for the toco.. butbmy brother said that it would be best to slow cook it.. soo I did.. 4 hours later the meat does not shred and on the tough side.. now where behind on our dinner.. so I switched It up to a pressurized cook for one hour. . and checked it after the time is up.. now we were able to shredd up the beef steak what we were aiming for.. I ended up here to learn how to pressurized cooking work.. thanks for the explanation. 🤙🏼

[danielherrera]

Informative with a very nice presentation

[klatte]

Please do a vid comparing stovetop pressure cooker vs the instantpot

[anshulkarnik]

superb explanation and very informative

[rebeccacherry-healingcarer]

Hi wondering if you can help me I need a new top handle for my 6L Fagor Duo do you know where I can get one?

[melissaroscher]

I still have Mom's 1970 Mirro PC hopefully they still make the seals.

[AdamasFR]

Thanks a lot for this video, it's really clear.

[piratapan]

I bought mine at IKEA for $50, boils my beans every week and it saves me tons of time and money, used it more than 200 times now and still going s if it were brand new.