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The unique straight walled design, the design of the lid, the nature and purity of the raw material are just some of the features that work together to lock steam naturally and let it circulate inside the pot. This lets food cook with its own steam just like in a pressure cooker but unlike a conventional metal pressure cooker, steam is not force-locked inside and thus does not need a release before the pot can be opened. Here steam stays inside naturally by a condensing process so your pot can be opened anytime. There are many valuable benefits to using MEC pots for pressure cooking and you can read more about it when you click on the link.

Here, let’s look at how to use your MEC pot for Pressure Cooking:
1) Add ingredients to the pot (lentils, beans, meat or vegetables)
2) Add enough water (1/2 cup less than what you might add in a metal pressure cooker). Close lid.
3) start the stove on Low and in 5-7 minutes increase to medium heat or heat setting ‘5’ on a scale of 1-9. You can go past 5, to 6 or 7, however we recommend that you do that only if need be and after the pot is used at least a couple of times (3-4 times).

Periodically check the pot to see the progress of food being cooked. Steam will escape from the pot only if there is an excessive amount already built inside and that’s a good indicator to reduce the flame/heat. The pressure built up from the steam locked inside is enough to finish cooking your food, so bringing the heat back to low will stop steam from escaping and continue to lock steam inside.

When your MEC cooker is new, it might take about 15-20 minutes more for any given recipe. Once ‘fully seasoned’ i.e. used 5-7 times, it should take about the same time as a metal pressure cooker. Meats and tougher beans may take a few extra minutes. Vegetables and lentils may take less time. Nonetheless, they are nutrient rich and delicious and that is the real and more important difference!