I Got Steam Heat!

How many of you own and frequently use pressure cookers? I thought so, not very many. If my grandmother is reading this, she at least would point out that, while she may not use her pressure cooker frequently any more, it certainly saw heavy use in her days manning the kitchen. I remember, as a small child, sitting on a stool as I played with the left over pie dough on the yellowy-green of the counter running the length of her very narrow and long kitchen, and listening to the intermittent hisses and spits and clicks of her large pressure cooker as it did its duty on the scalloped potatoes. The smells of beef or pork or fish escaping the oven, the heat of the steam shooting out the pressure valve on the pressure cooker, and the delicate strawberries embroidered along the scalloped edges on her perfectly white kitchen curtains. I must have asked her what that thing making all the noise was, because she explained to me what that large pot so furiously spounting steam was. And then proceeded to sing it’s praises, how it saves time, money, and made things tender and sweet in the process.

I have learned the art of the kukut (pressure cooker) here in Morocco. And now, I’m following in Grandma’s footsteps: kukuts rule, other pots drool! Well, there are many uses for the typical pot, perhaps I should not belittle them in my quest to praise the almighty kukut. But in all seriousness, it’s AWESOME. It saves time, tenderizes beans, and makes my butagaz tank last a lot longer than it otherwise would. Lentils take a good hour to cook to softness in a pot (or more, depending on how soft you want it), but a kukut does the same job in under 20 minutes (including the time it takes it come to pressure). Less time is less gas burned for the flame, meaning more gas for later, which means fewer trips up and down my steep and uneven stairs lugging a 3 foot tall almost 2 feet in diameter tank. Much appreciated! Less time cooking also means less time between hungry and not-hungry-anymore-thank-you! Plus, no matter how long you soak a bean, it’s hard to get it properly tender without the help of that added pressure inside the kukut.

So, basically, I’m a fan. Keep that steam shooting out of the pressure valve, let the music of the top piece dancing and skittering and spitting announce to my neighbor’s I am cooking, because I’ve got steam heat taking me all the way to the dinner table, and it’s one thing I will definitely be taking back with me to the States. No kitchen should be without a kukut.