Number one: There are no mysteries, just simple physics. But as we in the Gun Community know, most accidental discharges are negligent ones and the same applies to cooking with pressure. Almost all my experience is with old school Presto pressure cookers and I am not addressing any other brand
The designers of pressure cookers are not that dumb. They have designed the pot with several safeties and it is only when you don’t do the basic maintenance that people get hurt.
This is going to be lunch today. A simple Cocido Gallego” which is chickpeas with a Spanish chorizo and other goodies later to be added.
Almost all the safety features will be in the cover of the cooker. Those with artillery backgrounds should immediately notice the cover and the pot itself are like a breach to hold the pressure inside and that is safety measure one.
Now, the cover:
Rule #1 of safely using a pressure cooker is to KEEP THE VENT PIPE CLEAN! Just like you would to a safety check on a firearm to see if there is a round in chamber every time you pick it up. If you are Colonel Cooper-religious about this, you are pretty much safe. Keep it clean and make sure before cooking that steam has a way to get out. If you don’t have a brush small enough, a length of solid copper wire can be used to clean the inside. Blow on it but remember it is not a straw but a precisely designed tool to release a specific amount of pressure that will be controlled by the pressure regulator (AKA bell or maraca), something like this:
You may have noticed a black nipple looking thing near the vent pipe. That would be the overpressure plug and it is designed to save the lives and the kitchen of the idiots who did not check the vent pipe for obstructions and cooked anyway. Its mission is to fail first and dramatically, releasing the inside pressure. It will leave a mess behind, but liquid can be cleaned while shrapnel is a bit more long-lasting and very harmful.
This is the result of a working overpressure plug looks like and no, it is not a pressure cooking exploding like the title says but what a safety device looks when it does its job. Mop beats tourniquet.
It is a different make and model, but the principle is the same.
And last but not least, specially after seeing the first video, is the cover lock. It is also pressure activated and it locks the cover against the pot so morons do not go on and try to unlock the cooker while it is still under pressure. It is the equivalent of pin that holds the grenade’s spoon. Also always make sure it moves freely and that it locks in position when pressure starts to build.
I promised a post with my recipe for black beans and since I will have to use the pressure cooker, I will make a video or two on a couple of other things so you can remove most of the fear that comes with pressure cookers or at least the irrational ones. I know people freak out at the constant noise of the steam being released and it is why they don’t cook with a pressure cooker, but you need to treat pressure cookers like a toddler: If you don’t hear a thing, trouble is about to happen.
Black beans. Pressure cooker. D’OH!
Well, there’s the solution to the old problem of “Oh, crud! I wanted black beans for part of tonight’s dinner, but forgot to start cooking them several hours ago, and we don’t have any canned black beans because the last time I checked they were totally sold out.”
We no longer have my mother’s old Presto, but we do have one of the newfangled multifunctional electrical pot / pressure cooker / air fryer things. I’ll have to start using it.
And if you soak them for a couple of hours before cooking, you have perfect beans in 15-20 minutes.
Ref “pre range safety prep” (DYSWIDT?): TDW-Mark II and I can food several times a year. Confirming patency of the vent nipple visually is indeed one part of the prep. So far, no “BOOM!”
Now, if you would like to discuss the folly of cooking chocolate in a erzatz, cobbled together, faux double boiler, and why that has “FAIL!” written all over it….
https://wordpress.com/post/musingsofastretcherape.wordpress.com/260
A report I read on a group having to do with prepping told the story of a woman cooking a chicken that was a little too big for the pot.
At some point the chicken blocked the vent hole and pressure started to build. And then the failure took place. The chicken flesh was the point of failure and left the pot at high speed through the vent hole.
Most of the chicken painted the ceiling and surrounding area. We got images of the aftermath.
A pressure cooker is a type of boiler. Boilers have explosive potential measured in tons of TNT.
I could not get a page with that link, but found the post!
https://musingsofastretcherape.wordpress.com/2019/04/13/the-great-chocolate-explosion-of-2018/
[hides pressure cooker from certain blog readers that should remain unnamed]
As a nuclear engineer, I am more than a bit paranoid about pressure vessels and safety devices. My pre-use checklist for a pressure cooker always includes verifying the lid seal is intact and pliable (remember the shuttle “Challenger”), verifying vent plug is seated and pliable, visual check that the pressure regulating vent tube is clear, physically verifying that the lid locking device is free to do it’s thing. Note, never, ever try to force the lid locking device to open the lid before the pressure has dropped to a safe level. Our heroes in the above clip are lucky they didn’t get major burns when they forced open the lid.
Supposedly my grandfather managed to open a pressure cooker full of beans while it was under pressure. He was a steel worker, so I think its plausible he was strong enough. Anyway, beans coated the kitchen ceiling, and he was lucky to not get burnt.
Steam boilers can run at very high pressure. Steam engines run at anything from 60psi to near 200psi.
Doing the math on that scares me.
There are different boiler designs, one type, commonly used is the fire tube design. Hot gases from the fire are sent through a tank holding water. The water heats up until it changes state to a gas at the current pressure inside the tank. The gas rises and is collected from the top of the tank to provide power.
The explosive potential is huge because of the size of the tank and the amount of space above the water line.
I’m looking at a water tube design where a much smaller tank still holds water but that water feeds tubes from the bottom. The entire tank with its external tubes are placed in the hot gases above a burner.
The tubes are designed to be the failure point and if they fall they dump water into the fire cooling or extinguishing the fire.
It seems safer but still scary.