High-pressure cooking

Pressure-cooking is cooking under high-pressure steam in a sealed vessel, invented by Denis Papin in the 17th century and known as a "pressure cooker" in English, an Olla express in Spanish and, more interestingly, the Cocotte-minute (or less interestingly, an autocuiseur) in French. The high-pressure (1atm higher than ambient) limits boiling and allows to reach high temperatures (100-120°C for the steam), speeding up the cooking process considerably (by about a factor 4).

We use it a lot for the Spanish gastronomy classics (lentejas, cocido, fabada) and for soups.