SC - Hard as little rocks

[Lee-Gwen Booth]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Ilia
> I have always been pretty leary of pressure cookers. I havent actually
used them, but I have been considering getting one.
>
> However, after reading the stories and warnings about them the last couple
of days, I have to wonder how safe are they to use?
>
> Are they really that dangerous, or are they fairly safe as long as you
follow common sense?
Ilia

I am a great believer in pressure cookers (as people may have worked out by
now!) and thus I would have to say that I think that the disasters are
rather more talked about than their frequency deserves.  My mother has had a
pressure cooker for as long as I can remember, and I honestly do not ever
remember seeing one even blow its aluminium safety valve (which is designed
to melt when the temperature gets too high).  If this does happen a jet of
super heated steam will escape through the resultant hole and it would be a
Very Good Idea (tm) not to be around!

Actually, the worst problem I have ever had with a pressure cooker is that
the stainless steel one I bought new-in-a-box (rather than second hand - I
was getting tired of not being able to replace weights and gaskets!  and
anyway, I kept giving away the ones I bought for $5 at garage sales.  Buying
a new one seemed a fair way to ensure that I would actually keep it!) was
(but seems to have grown out of being) very temperamental.  It would quite
simply refuse to seal and thus it could not come to pressure.  Painful when
I wanted to get dinner on the table in under an hour, but not dangerous.

Yes, use common sense and follow the instructions and things should be just
fine.

Gwynydd of Culloden