When it comes to cooking meat, rice, and other foods, both the pressure cooker and slow cooker are popular appliances to use. However, there are differences between the two, as well as pros and cons for each. Read on to find out which type of cooker is more suitable for your home.
Pressure Cooker: Fast and Efficient
Pressure cookers are made to be fast cooking appliances. As the name suggests, pressure cookers take advantage of pressure and temperature to bring up the heat. Rice and other ingredients can be cooked in less than an hour using pressure cookers as the cooker generates high temperatures to do the job.
Pressure cooking is fast, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best. Cooking fast may not be ideal for certain meats and dishes, and since you’re limited to higher temperatures, you don’t have much control over how you cook, either. It’s convenient, sure, but when it comes to cooking at a slower pace, it’s far from the ideal cooking appliance.
Slow Cooker: Slow and Steady
Slow cookers are essentially the opposite of the pressure cooker. Whilst pressure cookers rely on high temperatures to cook food quickly, slow cookers use low temperatures and take several hours to work their magic. This can be perfect for stubborn meat that’s typically difficult to chew on when cooked using other methods, or for special dishes that need to sit for hours to really bring out the flavor in them.
Of course, with slow cooking comes plenty of time required. This means that slow cooking is often done for lunch or dinner meals, as you really shouldn't leave your slow cooker on as you sleep overnight. Slow cooking also has to be a planned activity; you can’t just spontaneously decide to slow cook for your next meal within the next hour.
The Verdict
So, between the pressure cooker and the slow cooker, which one is ideal? The short answer is both, and we’ll explain why. Pressure cooking and slow cooking are two very different cooking methods, and as such, are typically used for very different dishes. You achieve different flavors, textures, and overall results with either method, so there’s no real use in comparing the two.
You could argue that the pressure cooker is great for speed, sure, but that’s only when it comes to cooking food that’s meant to be cooked in the pressure cooker. Even the best pressure cookers can’t achieve the same effect as slow cookers and vice versa. If you could afford it, getting both would be ideal, as you could open up options to prepare even more types of dishes and meals.
For more general use, however, we’d have to go for the pressure cooker. You can cook plenty of meals with the pressure cooker, and it’s convenient enough for everyday use. Slow cookers can achieve unique dishes, but you don’t always eat slow-cooked food to begin with, and they can be a hassle to plan your meals with. So, unless you really love slow-cooked pot roast, you’ll probably want the pressure cooker, if you had to pick between the two.
