Timing Your Pressure Cooker Return to Timing Charts Menu Page Generally speaking, pressure cookers cook foods in about 1/3 the time of conventional cooking methods. If you are an experienced pressure cooker user then you may feel comfortable using the Time Charts instead of a recipe. When cooking a single food item such as a vegetable, when no recipe is needed, just use the Cooking Time Charts. The time tables here are guidelines to help you cook foods without a recipe or adapt some of your own recipes to the pressure cooker. Times will vary depending on YOUR pressure cooker, YOUR heat source and the quality of the foods you are preparing. When cooking multiple foods in the same pot begin timing for the food that takes the longest time to cook. The size of the food will affect the cooking times as well. Foods that take the same amount of cooking times should be cut in the same sizes to cook evenly. To balance out the differences in cooking times of foods with slightly different cooking times cut the foods that require the longest cooking times in smaller pieces, and the shorter cooking foods in larger pieces. Timing is Everything Overcooking is the common mistake of novices and long time pressure cooker users alike. A pressure cooker requires fairly accurate timing to produce high quality results. Even just a minute more than necessary can result in foods that are too soft and mushy, great for baby food but not exactly what you want for supper. While we want a tough roast to be tender and juicy, a minute or two will not affect the end results all that much, but that extra minute could ruin poached salmon or fresh green beans if you delay stopping the cooking process. Use the Timing Charts for the foods you are cooking, and also read about Interrupted Cooking Methods. Not All Pressure Cookers are Created Equal Pay attention to cooking times and the pressure settings specified in the recipes, and take note of the differences in the way your cooker operates and make adjustments accordingly. Do Test Drive your pressure cooker first so you get an idea how it works. Older and vintage cookers, either Stainless steel or aluminum tend to scorch foods on the bottom, these first generation cookers lack the features, like a three ply base, available in the newer, more modern cookers. Hot Stuff Stoves and heat sources can have a big impact on your final results. Electric stoves and electric pc's hold heat and take longer for the heat to reduce so plan accordingly. Propane gas produces a hotter flame than natural gas. If your stove as a large and small hobs, cook on the smaller one and avoid burning your foods. Generally we want to achieve the desired pressure as quickly as possible without burning the food, the immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting that will maintain that pressure and begin the timing. With some foods and some pressure cookers you may find a flame tamer handy. It's Still Cooking Use the correct method of releasing pressure for best results. Your cooker will remain hot for a long time unless you can use the cold water release method. Cooking will continue inside the pot until the heat has diminished enough to finally let the pressure drop. This is excellent for finishing large cuts of meat and soups for example. But with delicate foods like fish or tender-crisp veggies it can make foods too soft. Tarzan Go Home! Never, ever try to force the lid open on your pressure cooker! If you think that you can muscle that stuck lid off you are risking injury because all that boiling food and water that is still under pressure will come out of the cooker in a big blast and you  (and whoever is near by) will be spending some time in the emergency room. Most newer, modern pressure cookers have built-in safety features to prevent the chance of a lid opening all by itself like some of the old, early pressure cooker had a habit of doing. Make sure everyone in your household who may use the pressure cooker (especially those he-man husband types and know-it-all teenagers) understand the basics of using the cooker. Use a Bell Timer It is important to start timing once the desired pressure is reached. Immediately reduce the heat to a level that will just maintain that pressure setting and always use a timer with a bell so you won't forget. Delicate foods like tender crisp veggies will do best when you use the cold water release method to stop the cooking process immediately by cooling the pot and dropping the pressure rapidly so you can open the lid. This is one of the major drawbacks facing owners of electric pressure cooker who have no means of stopping the cooking any faster than the time it takes for the electric heating elements to cool.