Pressure cookers and multi-cookers have completely invaded the modern kitchen and it is easy to see why. These appliances allow home cooks to prepare delicious and healthy meals in a mere matter of minutes and in a relatively hands-off manner, which is everything if you have a range of tasks to handle. Because you can simply set and forget your meals and wait for them to prepare, it gives you a lot more time to concentrate on other more important activities such as catch up on work or handle the house cleaning.
Pressure Cooker vs Multicooker
The differences between a pressure cooker and multicooker
Pressure cookers
Pressure cookers are valued for their ability to prepare a broad range of food items and dishes, quickly. Pressure cookers work using a simple mechanism: a sealed pot containing liquid allows steam and pressure to build inside, which causes temperatures to rise that then allow for faster cooking. The high pressure and high heat environment inside the pot also force food to become tender while maintaining moisture.
Some pressure cookers are electric while others can only be used on the stovetop. Because pressure cookers must maintain a sealed high-pressure atmosphere for food to cook through evenly and efficiently, they cannot be opened midway through the cooking process.
Multicookers
Pressure cookers have been used by home cooks for years. However, multicookers have only been around for a while. A multi-cooker is exactly as it sounds- it is an appliance that can offer cooks a range of cooking options that allow food preparation in various ways.
Instead of having different appliances for different functions such as pressure cooking, steaming, searing or simmering, a multi-cooker is designed to handle all these functions and more. Multicookers can accommodate a range of culinary jobs and can do anything from dessert prep to frying and smoking. Some of the functions contained in a multi-cooker include:
Pressure cooking: Most multi-cookers are enabled with pressure cooking as the main function.
Electric pot: When you remove the lid, a multi-cooker loses the ability to pressure cook. This means that the multi-cooker can also be used like any other stovetop pot for purposes of searing, steaming and even braising.
Slow cooker: Most multi-cooker can also double up as slow cookers.
Yogurt-maker: slow cookers have the ability to hold low temperatures, which makes them the perfect devices for incubating yogurt.
Which one performs better? Pressure cooker vs multicooker
Pressure cookers are designed specifically for pressure cooking different types of food quickly and efficiently. Pressure cookers can only be used for pressure cooking and nothing else. This means that you cannot utilize your pressure cooker for frying or making yogurt unless the setting is featured on the cooker.
Multi-cookers, alternatively workhorses of the kitchen that can accommodate a variety of functions. However, because they are enabled with so many features, some multicooker functions tend to work better than others. For instance, a multi-cooker may be excellent when it comes to pressure frying but it may not be as effective when it comes to slow cooking.