Reader question: I found you through the Indigo site while looking for ways to cook healthy food. just received book yesterday and it seems to fit the bill as far as what I was looking for, will get busy and try foods. Is the method similar to using pressure cooker as it seems infusion would be similar? ~ Barbara M., Grand Bend Ont. Canada
Hi Barbara- Thanks for writing! In some ways the Glorious One-Pot Meal infusion cooking method is similar to using a pressure cooker, and in other ways it is radically different.
Both cooking methods require closed cooking vessels to keep the steam in, and both use the proximity to the hot air/steam to cook the foods, but that’s where the similarities end.
Pressure cookers are made of stainless steel, need liquid to work, and are used on the stovetop with a locking lid to hold in the pressure of the steam inside the pot. The food cooks very quickly from the exposure to the steam, often in 20 minutes or less.
They have a reputation for bursting through improperly locked lids and spraying the area with scalding water and food. Newer ones are safer to use, but there is still this danger. Typically, only one dish at a time is cooked in a pressure cooker.
Glorious One-Pot Meals, on the other hand, cook in a cast iron Dutch oven that is placed inside a hot oven. Adding liquid is not required for Glorious One-Pot Meals, unless you are including a dry good like rice or pasta in the meal, and then only enough liquid to hydrate the grains is used. The foods cook from the proximity to the hot air inside the pot along with the vapors from the ingredients as they release some moisture.
The internal pressure could never build to a point where it could budge the cast iron lid off the pot. A 2-quart Dutch oven will need about 45 minutes to cook a wholesome meal for two people that includes a main dish and side dishes of carbs and veggies.
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