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Here are our top three tips for using a pressure cooker. Now you can cook just like the French do!

1) Infuse herbs into vegetables and meat.

When you’re steaming fresh vegetables on a rack, add a sprig or two of fresh herbs to the pot of liquid below. In the 1 to 3 minutes it takes to cook, the herbs permeate the vegetables, adding a complex flavor that pairs beautifully with a sauce or compound butter. Delicious combinations include zucchini and thyme, potatoes and rosemary, or globe artichokes and lemon zest.

“This technique is also wonderful with meat,” says Lucy Vanel, the owner of the Plum Lyon cooking school in Lyon, France. She suggests stuffing a leg of lamb with mint, and pressure-cooking it over a bed of mint leaves.

2) Replace a step in a recipe (rather than adapting the entire recipe).

Obviously, the pressure cooker is great for one-pot meals. But French cooks also use it as a shortcut—to replace or simplify a step in a recipe. For example, you can speedily soften the endives for endives au jambon, the cauliflower for a gratin, or the chickpeas for falafel.

“I cook a batch of whole potatoes in advance,” says my friend, Thomas. “Later on, I fry them with duck fat and herbs and use them for omelettes and cold salads.”

3) Use it to economize.

Roast chicken bones are pressure-cooked for stock—not just once, but often twice, or even three times. Bruised, battered, or tough fruits and vegetables—like quince, beets, or celery root—are transformed into silky compotes and purées; used as baby food; topped with grated cheese and browned as a gratin; or served as a simple side with a drizzle of fine olive oil. French people also love to use the pressure cooker for tough cuts of meat like beef cheeks, pig’s feet, tripe, or rabbit.

And this concept of thrift also extends to the modest amount of energy consumed by the pressure cooker—far less than the stove or oven—which is greatly appreciated by the frugal French cook; they also love the way that steaming in a pressure cooking preserves the nutritional value of fruits and vegetables more so than boiling vegetables in water on the stove. Also: “Things taste better because you haven’t lost any flavor,” says Lucy Vanel.

Have you ever used a pressure cooker? What did you think of it? Which one of these tips is your favorite? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Article Source: Food52