How Do Pressure Cookers Cook Food?
Pressure cookers use the pressure of water vapor or steam trapped inside of a closed container to cook food like rice. As the water inside of the cooker starts to boil, it turns from liquid to a gas. This gas is called water vapor. As the water vapor rises, the cap of the pressure cooker prevents the gas from leaving the container. Since gases rise, the gas tries to push out of container. When the pressure becomes extremely high, the top cap of the cooker loosens and the gas come out as a big puff of steam. Pressure also creates heat. That heat cooks the food with a rising temperature. Also, foods like rice need to get soggy so they can get cooked. The steam makes the rice wet and the heat helps cook it.
Why Do Pressure Cooker Cook Food Faster Than a Saucepan or a Skillet?
The answer is.. the pressure! Whenever there is high pressure, heat forms. This only happens if the pressure is contained in a single container, like in a pressure cooker. Since there is a lot of pressure in the cooker because of the water vapor, the food gets heated up faster and gets heated up more. The temperature is a saucepan or skillet takes time to rise from room temperature to 212° F or 100° C. I chose this temperature because that is the boiling point of water, when the water turns from a liquid to a gas. The cookers heat up faster and have a more powerful heat to cook the food faster!