Want To Spice Up Your Pressure Cooker? Check Out These Accessories To Enhance Dishes

If you’re already using a pressure cooker at home, then you know the benefits: food cooked faster regardless of what it is. From refreshing vegetable options to hearty meat and potatoes, a pressure cooker is a more than capable of creating some of your favorite dishes in far less time than you’re accustomed to through traditional stoves.

Pressure cookers, which are turning into a kitchen staple as more people realize the benefits, work like this: A lot of steam is created due to pressure building inside the locked pot after heat is applied.

It’s that steam from water which speeds the cooking process and a valve controls the pressure inside the pot. For those seeking more of a good thing, a variety of pressure cooker accessories are already on the market and can further enhance your dishes. Below, we break down a few such accessories that are among our favorite add-ons.

Steamer baskets: Not content with simply tossing a variety of vegetables -- that required different amounts of cooking -- into your pressure cooker? Steamer baskets are the answer for you. These multi-level baskets and racks will allow you to compartmentalize what’s going on inside your pressure cooker. As a tip from experienced pressure cookers, the items that require the longest cooking time should be placed at the bottom of the basket.

Condensation collector: Pressure cookers are a water-centric affair. After all, it’s the steam from high pressure inside the appliance that speeds up the cooking process. These typically plastic collectors will connect to the appliance and help alleviate the extra condensation created during the cooking process. The items are available according to the size of your pressure cooker so purchase accordingly.

Canning rack: For those with an interest in or experience with canning, pressure cookers can assist with that, too. Of course, you’ll need a canning rack to keep the jars off the bottom of the cooker as the water heats up to the required temperature to preserve the food.

Plating: No, not the act of putting food on a ceramic surface for serving. While pressure cookers are known for their safety -- especially compared to the versions for decades past -- it’s always a good practice put something heat-resistant underneath the appliance. A ceramic disc slightly larger than the appliance itself will help protect the surface underneath your pressure cooker.

For more information pressure cooker accessories, call 973-287-5159.