Nutrition

Under Pressure

An ace chef's secret kitchen appliance will have you cooking hundreds of meals faster

By: Nils Noren, as told to Joel Weber; Photograph: David Yellen
Published: April 2009   [ Updated: Mar 9, 2009 - 5:03:10 PM ]

QUICK CUISINE Pressure cookers help you do more with less. Enter the kitchen of one of the world's best restaurants—Ferran Adria's El Bulli in Spain, say, or Thomas Keller's French Laundry in Napa Valley—and you might wonder if some of the equipment came from a laboratory. Chefs are using tools and techniques such as liquid nitrogen and sous vide, popularizing what I call high-tech cooking. I teach many of these methods at the prestigious French Culinary Institute, but very few home kitchens (mine included) are equipped for this kind of exploratory cuisine. After all, who has the money or space for a refrigerator-size $1,000 vacuum sealer, an essential device for sous vide? But one high-tech tool I do use at home several times a week is a pressure cooker. These appliances cost about $100 and are now equipped with safety features that prevent them from exploding like those from the '50s were prone to do. In a regular pot or pan, food can get only as hot as the boiling point for water: 212°F. But in a pressure cooker, water boils at closer to 250°F, and that temperature increase neutralizes the side effects of certain foods without disturbing their flavors. You'd never eat a whole head of garlic, for instance, because it causes terrible breath. But a pressure cooker's high temperature breaks down the sulfur compounds that are the culprit. Now you can use heaps of garlic to whip up the best mashed potatoes your family will have ever tasted. Another favorite dish of mine is horseradish-and-salmon soup, minus the horseradish's heat. Not only will a pressure cooker help you achieve results that are otherwise impossible, but it can also be used to cook food much faster, saving you hours in the kitchen when preparing your favorite stew or brisket. Here's a simple recipe to get you started.

Pommes Puree
1 cup peeled garlic cloves
3 1/2 cups milk (divided)
1/2 cup mustard seed
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 lb. Yukon Gold potatoes
2 oz. butter
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Fresh chives, finely minced

1. Put the peeled garlic cloves and 3 cups of milk into a pressure cooker. Cook under full pressure for 20 minutes, strain off the milk, and puree the garlic until smooth. Set aside.

2. Add the mustard seed and apple cider vinegar to the pressure cooker. Cook under full pressure for 20 minutes. Add the sugar while the mixture is hot. Strain and set aside.

3. Peel, wash, and cut the potatoes into large, even pieces. Place them in a pot, cover with water, add salt, and cook until tender. Drain well and pass through a food mill or mash with a whisk.

4. Bring 1/2 cup milk to a simmer in a saucepan. Stir the hot milk into the pureed potatoes, then beat in the butter. Season with salt and pepper (to taste). Add 2 Tbsp. pressure-cooked garlic puree and 1/2 cup pressure-cooked mustard seed. Top potatoes with finely minced chives before serving. Serves four.

Cook Better Meals Quicker!