Quick pressure release vs natural pressure release
I have read recipies that suggest letting the pressure naturally release when cooking grains in a pressure cooker. I've always just released the pressure quickly through the pressure relief valve.
What does releasing the pressure quickly do to grains as apposed to letting the pressure dissipate naturally through cooling?
Best Answer
The main reason for using the quick release is to prevent overcooking, think about what would happen to white rice if you left the cooker to de-pressurise naturally: it would be mush. Of course, you could factor the time taken to come back to normal pressure into the original cooking time but that's fraught with difficulty because it's dependent on what temperature it is in your kitchen and probably a multitude of other factors we're not aware of.
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Quick Answer about "Quick pressure release vs natural pressure release"
The natural release function means letting the pressure inside the pot come down gradually on its own. The opposite of natural release is quick release, which is performed by opening the steam release valve to depressurize the pot more quickly.Should you quick release or natural release chicken?
When the 10-minute cook time is up, do a quick release of the pressure. For shredded chicken: Cook the chicken on HIGH pressure for 15 minutes and natural release for 5 minutes. For chicken that shreds easily with a fork, you'll need just a few more minutes of cooking and natural release.What is natural pressure release?
A natural pressure release is when you leave the pressure release switch in the Sealed position when the cook time ends. This lets the pressure release slowly, without you doing anything. When the pressure is fully released, the float valve will drop and the lid will unlock and open.What is a quick pressure release?
Natural release is good for foods that can continue cooking after the cycle is over and the heating element is off, such as a Instant Pot Ribs, chili or pulled pork. The floating valve will start to lower as the pressure decreases letting you know when the lid is ready to open.Instant Pot Natural Pressure Release and Quick Release Explained--Instant Pot Tips
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Answer 2
A quick pressure release will cause the pressurized water inside to boil.
By maintaining higher-than-the-outside pressure Pressure-cookers raise the boiling point of water - meaning you can cook your soup in liquid water at 220f. If you quickly release that pressure, that superheated liquid water will be able to turn to steam - AKA boil - and it will do so rapidly.
However, if there's not a major heat-source running while you do this, the boiling will probably stop fairly quickly. (Boiling is actually a cooling process, much like the evaporation of sweat.)
Depending on how hot it was, it could do some interesting structural damage to the food - if it was a stock, suddenly boiling it might make it cloudy.
That all said, odds are pretty good you're going to be OK with a rapid release.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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