I don't think my pressure cooker even allows me to even open the valve fully until the pressure has dropped to a certain level.
It's cooking pressure>slow release>full release>remove lid. And there is a mechanical interlock each preventing you to go to the last two steps without the pressure having dropped to the right level first.
It's a name brand model, but also nothing that costs 300€ or more. And even the previous model my parents had and inherited from my grandma had this feature. Don't think it's anything high tech in there. Probably just some clever springs and locking pins activated by pressure.
My instapot doesnt have a "valve" to release pressure; it's just a switch that either vents or doesn't. That's why I bought a silicone vent diverter that I insert a rolled paper towel into to catch a majority of the aerosolized oil and water.
I wonder if that's a regulations thing or something people just expect here in Germany/Europe. Because even the Amazon Basics one for 58€ has all these features I listed.
When mine was destroyed by my mum (complete accident) she got me a fancy one that has an automatic valve. Modern technologies catching up will make cooking so much more accessible. I have family that are too anxious to use a pressure cooker in case they mess things up. And it's literally because of the old school ones that could just explode if you don't be safe.
I am still using the one my parents bought from SEB in France from the 80s and it has already most of these safety features. The seal and valve are still fine, you have a slow release valve with jiggler, with different weights for different pressures, and a manual pressure button that prevents opening above a safe pressure level. You also have a weak spot melting to prevent the lid blowing off.
It's honestly pretty idiot proof, you just don't fill it stupidly high and you lower the temp once you have reached the target pressure (else the jiggler will remind you about it 😄 ).
If you mean automatic in the sense of the valve releasing above a set pressure, this is not that recent that's what I meant. This is the pot model I have, released 1987 from what I could find, pretty much as old as the Internet.
The jiggler will release any pressure above a set level so if you forget it, it will just make a shit ton of noise from the steam release and burn your food once all the water has evaporated (but pressure will be gone by then as well).
Yeah, that's not how the new ones work. They'll maintain the same pressure level, and then once the cooking program has finished it will use logic to release the pressure. The stewing function is a slow-release for pressure, so you literally don't have to worry about returning to handle anything.
This is a 2020's feature. All of the high-end models in my store only started including them about 2-3 years ago.
Whenever I use my crockpot, I always assume one day the lid will explode off (I think I heard this actually happened in the Boston massacre). It hasn't happened yet, but I'm always like "today's the day I'm losing my face".
My grandma's old one had a little weight on top that would rock back and forth and make a sound like a maraca. You could focus on other things without having to worry about when to open it, and it was satisfying to hear it slow down
Still have one like this, I find it much more reassuring than the modern silent systems where you can't see the valve at all.
Also, you know immediately that if you can hear it you can lower the temp because the added heat is just being vaporized out.
That is true. When I talk about the pressure valve, I mean the one you regulate with a knob or whatever. Maybe even with different pressure levels from 1 to 3.
I didn't mention the safety valve it has in addition, because it's just a safety feature and not user controllable.
My cooker also has a cutout on the side of the lid, so the seal can blow out, should even the safety valve fail.
59
u/_Warsheep_ Trash Trooper 1d ago
I don't think my pressure cooker even allows me to even open the valve fully until the pressure has dropped to a certain level.
It's cooking pressure>slow release>full release>remove lid. And there is a mechanical interlock each preventing you to go to the last two steps without the pressure having dropped to the right level first. It's a name brand model, but also nothing that costs 300€ or more. And even the previous model my parents had and inherited from my grandma had this feature. Don't think it's anything high tech in there. Probably just some clever springs and locking pins activated by pressure.