Great post, perfectly pitched. These basics are critical to cooking well and, from a personal viewpoint, I LOVE the science of how cooking works (Maillard reaction- swoon!). Just Good Stuff.
I tend to use a fry pan because, being short, standing over my rather tall pressure cooker when it is on the table/counter is a bit uncomfortable. I can't see into it properly. I tried putting it on the floor but that made me feel like one of Macbeth's witches.
This is excellent - thank you. One thing I’m trying to get my head round is this “Secondly, preheat the pressure cooker. This has the effect of diminishing the natural porosity of stainless steel so when you add oil it will glide over the top and create a seal, rather than sink into it” - how does the small change in the temperature of the steel change to porosity? Isn’t it more the increased temperature of the oil makes it less viscous which leads to a more even spread of oil? Or is there something else going on?
I appreciate this isn’t the *most important* point, but i put your work up there with McGee’s “on Food and Cooking” and Arnold’s “Liquid Intelligence” in terms of rigour...so I felt i needed to ask.
Thank for mentioning the Independents! We really appreciate that.
I bought my copy from my own shop (!) and have been really pleased to put it into the hands of our customers too.
Mine is referred to all the time, since I bought a pressure cooker last year; I am now quite devoted to it. Both the pressure cooker and your book! What a great book it is.
This article is excellent - and I will be using its guidance when I put together a beef short-rib thing based on your recipe on p55.
Great post, thank you. Really well and clearly written, informative.
I use a frying pan to start of the cooking, but shall try to be a bit more confident with stainless steel and follow your advice.
The insert from my InstantPot Pro is essentially a pot (with handles and all) that goes on top of the cooker. I sometimes start the boiling process on the hob when I want to speed things up. I think my induction hob is faster at heating up than IP, though i haven't verified it.
Great post, perfectly pitched. These basics are critical to cooking well and, from a personal viewpoint, I LOVE the science of how cooking works (Maillard reaction- swoon!). Just Good Stuff.
Also, yay, my copy is now ordered from my BS!
I tend to use a fry pan because, being short, standing over my rather tall pressure cooker when it is on the table/counter is a bit uncomfortable. I can't see into it properly. I tried putting it on the floor but that made me feel like one of Macbeth's witches.
This is excellent - thank you. One thing I’m trying to get my head round is this “Secondly, preheat the pressure cooker. This has the effect of diminishing the natural porosity of stainless steel so when you add oil it will glide over the top and create a seal, rather than sink into it” - how does the small change in the temperature of the steel change to porosity? Isn’t it more the increased temperature of the oil makes it less viscous which leads to a more even spread of oil? Or is there something else going on?
I appreciate this isn’t the *most important* point, but i put your work up there with McGee’s “on Food and Cooking” and Arnold’s “Liquid Intelligence” in terms of rigour...so I felt i needed to ask.
Thank for mentioning the Independents! We really appreciate that.
I bought my copy from my own shop (!) and have been really pleased to put it into the hands of our customers too.
Mine is referred to all the time, since I bought a pressure cooker last year; I am now quite devoted to it. Both the pressure cooker and your book! What a great book it is.
This article is excellent - and I will be using its guidance when I put together a beef short-rib thing based on your recipe on p55.
Great post, thank you. Really well and clearly written, informative.
I use a frying pan to start of the cooking, but shall try to be a bit more confident with stainless steel and follow your advice.
The insert from my InstantPot Pro is essentially a pot (with handles and all) that goes on top of the cooker. I sometimes start the boiling process on the hob when I want to speed things up. I think my induction hob is faster at heating up than IP, though i haven't verified it.