How Hot Does a Pressure Cooker Get?
A pressure cooker can become extremely hot! However, this does not mean that the pressure cooker is dangerous to use or that it is any hotter to the touch than an ordinary saucepan. On the contrary, the heat of the pressure cooker is maintained within the sealed pot, and it is this heat that makes cooking in this way so fast and effective and the pressure cooker so safe to use.
You can cook most types of food in a pressure cooker – anything that you can usually cook in water or steam. For it to work, you need to add the correct quantity of liquid along with the food. You also need to ensure that the unit is sealed properly.
All pressure cookers have tightly fitting lids with seals that trap everything inside. The pressure release valve releases any excess pressure safely. Once the heat rises and creates steam, this is trapped inside the vacuum-sealed pot, and the hot steam cooks the food.
A pressure cooker works essentially by steam power. The high-temperature steam forces liquid into the food, meaning that food is kept moistened and tender. The higher temperatures ensure that the food cooks faster than with conventional methods. You need a minimum of a cupful of liquid when cooking this way.
Because the pressure cooker is a sealed unit, the heat within quickly increases. The high pressure raises the boiling point within the pot to a far higher level than you could achieve by simply boiling food in a conventional saucepan.
Pressure cooker temperatures can reach a whopping 250° Fahrenheit, whereas the boiling point of water is 212° Fahrenheit. This added temperature coupled with steam results in super-fast cooking times.
Although the pressure cooker uses extremely high temperatures and intense steam power to cook, you don’t have to worry about safety. A modern electric pressure cooker is highly safe and convenient to use. Millions of people use pressure cookers throughout the world, and because they cook everything so perfectly, you know that pressure cooking will kill any bacteria in the food, and the food is cooked safely.
Using a pressure cooker lets you cook dried pulses and beans without the need for soaking, and you can buy economical cuts of meat without spending hours tenderizing them by cooking long and slowly.
Because the pressure cooker reaches such high temperatures, all modern pressure cookers come with built-in safety features, and you have a few different ways to release pressure once you have finished cooking your food.
- Turn off the pressure cooker and allow it to cool down.
This can be good for dishes such as casseroles where precise cooking time is not crucial because even once you turn off the heat supply, the food will continue to cook for a while. You can try running the cold tap over the pot to speed this up.
- Release the steam pressure quickly and stop the cooking process immediately by using the release valve.
In that case, it is important to ensure that you have positioned the pressure cooker in a safe place where the high-temperature steam can dissipate safely. For instance, do not position it directly under a kitchen cupboard that’s on the wall. In addition, you may need to wear gloves to avoid scalding.
All pressure cookers have a safety lock in place to not open the lid until it is safe to do so. The pressure cooker indicator will tell you when the appliance is cooled down sufficiently to be opened safely.
We hope this has answered your question about how hot a pressure cooker gets. Please use the comment section below if you have any further questions.