Recipe Book

Stocks
& Soups
Stock is the foundation of so many dishes, so it’s vital
to extract the maximum amount of flavour from its
ingredients. While simmering stock on the stove fills your
kitchen with wonderful cooking aromas, these aromas are
actually components of flavour escaping from the broth.
The fully sealed environment of a pressure cooker traps
escaping aromas and steam. As they condense onto the
lid they drip back into the pot, infusing the stock with
flavour. The built up steam then creates a pressure system
on the liquid that allows temperatures to exceed 100°C
without coming to a boil.
Allowing liquids to exceed 100°C not only speeds up
the cooking process but creates deeper, more complex
flavours through the Maillard reaction which typically
begins around temperatures of 120°C.
But all this hard work can quite literally be blown apart
when releasing the pressure. As pressure is released,
the water molecules need less energy to escape into
the surrounding atmosphere, resulting in a rapid boil.
This turbulence not only emulsifies oils and small
food particles into the stock, making it cloudy, but
causes flavour and aroma to be lost to the surrounding
environment as steam is forced through the valve.
Tip:
When making stocks, use the Natural steam release
setting to allow pressure to naturally subside in the
cooker. This allows the volatile aromas in the vapour
to condense back into the liquid, rather than escaping
through the valve into your kitchen. For fast cooking
soups, select Auto Quick steam release to quickly relieve
the pressure and prevent the overcooking of ingredients.
Pressure cooking intensifies the flavour of stocks Gently releasing the pressure keeps in all the flavour
Souped up with a soft landing.
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