Pressure Cooker

One of the most commonly seen appliance seen in the Indian kitchen is the pressure cooker.It has brought about a radical change in the lives of homemakers and chefs since its introduction.The higher temperature causes the food to cook faster; e.g., cooking times can be reduced by 70 percent.Since pressure cooking depends on the production of steam, the process cannot easily be used for methods of cooking that produce little steam, such as roasting pan frying and deep frying. People claim that the pressure cooker is easy to cook with in comparison to other modern gadgets - it is certainly versatile. Pressure cookers can be used to prepare a wide variety of different recipes, covering most cooking styles and foods. Also more than one preparation can be done in it simultaneously. It is truly a boon in the kitchen.

Pressure cooking is a method of cooking in a sealed vessel that does not permit air or liquids to escape below a preset pressure. Because water's boiling point increases as the pressure increases, the pressure built up inside the cooker allows the liquid in the pot to rise to a higher temperature before boiling

DESIGN AND STRUCTURE
Pressure cookers are generally made from aluminium or stainless steel. A gasket forms an airtight seal which does not allow air or steam to escape between the pan and the lid; the only way the steam can escape is through a regulator on the lid when the pressure has built up
To seal the gasket, some pressure cookers have a breach lock with flanges that interlock when you turn and tighten the lid on the pot.Others, like Hawkins have slightly oval lids and openings. With these, you insert the lid at an angle, then turn the lid to fit the pot. A spring arrangement, in Hawkins' case the lid arm with a hook to the pot arm, holds the lid in the right place. When cooking, the pressurized steam inside keeps lids tightly on.
The food to be made is placed in the pressure cooker, along with some amount of water. The vessel is then sealed and placed on a heat source.When the water reaches boiling point at atmospheric pressure it begins to boil, but since the steam produced in the pressure cooker cannot escape the pressure rises, consequently raising the internal boiling point. Once the pressure increases to the designed amount above air pressure a relief valve opens , releasing steam and preventing the pressure from rising any further.
ADVANTAGES
Foods are cooked much faster than other methods,and with much less water than boiling, so dishes can be ready sooner. Less energy is required than when boiling, steaming or oven cooking, particularly if multiple foods are cooked at once. Since less water is necessary, the foods come to cooking temperature faster.The food is cooked above the boiling point of water, killing all germs and viruses.The pressure cooker can also be used as an effective sterilizer, for jam pots and glass baby bottles for example, or for water while camping.

With pressure cooking, heat is very evenly, deeply, and quickly distributed. Many pounds of vegetables or meat can be quickly cooked with just a cup of water - immersion of the food in boiling water is not necessary.

Since foods need not be immersed, vitamins and minerals are not leached(dissolved) away by water. Since steam surrounds the food, foods are not oxidised by air exposure at heat,so vegetables do not lose their colour and vitamins on heat.

IMPORTANCE ON HIGH ALTITUDES
The pressure cooker speeds cooking considerably at high altitudes, where the low atmospheric pressure otherwise reduces the boiling point of water and hence reduces water's effectiveness for cooking or preparing hot beverages. This is especially useful for mountain climbers at very high altitudes, reducing cooking time and fuel requirements.
Mountaineers and winter campers find the pressure cooker a very valuable tool for melting snow and ice. In an ordinary pot, melting snow is very slow because the water evaporates more than it melts. In a pressure cooker, not only is the steam kept in, it transfers heat to the rest of the snow and water very effectively.

DETOXIFICATION OF FOOD
Some food toxins can be reduced by pressure cooking. A Korean study of aflatoxins in rice showed that pressure cooking was capable of reducing aflatoxin concentrations to 12% to 22% of the level in the uncooked rice.

GROUP MEMBERS
Devika Singh
Deepti Khosla
Gaurang Nagre

Kitchen Knife

History of Knife

Knives are one of the oldest and most useful human tools. Our ancestors used sharp stones or wood pieces to do what knives today do. They were used to cut, prick and carve and stood as a symbol of bravery. With the invention of metal, there was an evolution of the most used human tool, knife. As civilization advanced, various types of metals used in making knives (through the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age) emerged.

With the advancement of the technology and the discovery of guns, however, the knife lost its place in battle fields. As time evolved, knives are adopted to be used in the kitchen.


Anatomy of Knife

A	Point:	The very end of the knife, which is used for piercing
B	Tip:	The first third of the blade (approximately), which is used for small or delicate work
C	Edge:	The cutting surface of the knife, which extends from the point to the heel
D	Heel:	The rear part of the blade, used for cutting activities that require more force
E	Spine:	The top, thicker portion of the blade, which adds weight and strength
F	Bolster:	The thick metal portion joining the handle and the blade, which adds weight and balance and keeps the cook's hand from slipping
G	Finger Guard:	The portion of the bolster that keeps the cook's hand from slipping onto the blade
H	Return:	The point where the heel meets the bolster
J	Tang:	The portion of the metal blade that extends into the handle, giving the knife stability and extra weight
K	Scales:	The two portions of handle material (wood, plastic, composite, etc) that are attached to either side of the tang
L	Rivets:	The metal pins (usually 3) that hold the scales to the tang
M	Handle Guard:	The lip below the butt of the handle, which gives the knife a better grip and prevents slipping
N	Butt:	The terminal end of the handle

Types of Knives

1. General knives
2. Meat knives
3. Small knives
4. Cheese knives
5. Japanese knives
6. Chines cleavers
7. Specialty knives

Group members:

Biswa Bikash Singh
Subash Chellamuthu
Tejesh Goregaonkar

Orange Juicer

Appliance: Orange juicer

Today, orange juicer is one of the most common forms of juicers found in every other Indian household. Citrus juice is easiest to extract even without the help of manual equipment. For example, lemon juice can be extracted just by squeezing it with fingers. But then, over the centuries technology has been improving every day and now, hundreds of different citrus juice extractors or simply, juicers are available in the market. Ranging from manual lemon squeezer to electrical orange juicers, orange juice is now so easy to extract with great efficiency of extracting juice out of up to 70 oranges in a minute.

Above: you can see the photo of the orange juicer toy we got from Suchitra as a start up to be looked more into this product

I have still not been able to find when exactly was a real orange extractor invented, but i have come across a patented design of an orange juicer dated 1944 in America (http://www.google.co.in/patents?id=GQ9kAAAAEBAJ&pg=PA1&dq=citrus+juicers+commercial&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1#PPA2,M1)

It has details of the product, supplemented with drawings. It would be nice to have a look at it as it is a real bulky design as compared to the sleek designs of modern world, for example one designed by Philip Starck (can be seen in the photo below).

My next post would be about the information we gather at the Vessels Museum, Ahmedabad. I hope to get some information about a orange juice extractor there.

Following areas shall be looked into for our research:

1. · Product function
2. · Product history: invention and evolution of the product through ages
3. · Product form in today’s kitchens
4. · Fads
5. · Designer products

For this assignment we’ll be following the methodologies mentioned below:

1. · Data collection through web search
2. · Data collection from books, journals, etc.
3. · Vessel museum at Vishala, Ahmedabad
4. · Interviewing the kitchen appliances shopkeepers
5. · Interviewing orange juice vendors about their experience with the juicer.
6. · Interviewing old grannies about their experience with orange extraction during earlier times.
7. · Interviewing professional juice makers such as in restaurants, hotels, and other food outlets.
8. · Photographic analysis of the various forms of the juicer.

Group members:

Gunveen Kaur

Manjari Chaudhary

Swetal Khaire

Microwave Oven

Appliance:- Microwave Oven.

Group Members:

Animesh Shrivastava

Rohan Jadhav

Gopal K Pai

Darshan Patil

Write Up:

"Microwave Oven " ,a new innovation in the field of cooking .In hindi what you call it as " TANDOOR".Its an appliances that can be found in most of the modern day kitchen.Another alternate that existed before was a "simple oven" that was either kept on LPG gas stove for heating ex Dal Batti oven and or one was an Electric one,which works on electricity ex cake oven.Microwave oven is a fast,reliable,power saving device that has a tendency to cook variety of cusines via different methods.One can use it for Boiling or Baking or Tandoor or cooking daily vegetable.

In my home I remember when microwave came my mother started using it more then the conventional LPG stove.The reason i asked her why? she told me its fast and better and its easy to use and helpful.She even uses it to boil milk.

When you go to some Desi Dhabba along side the high way you find there a big hollow struture made of mud or clay.They call it as Tandoor used for either preparing Tandoori Roti or Tandoori Chicken.So the name Tandoor itself has given birth to a special class of food.

Submitted by:

Animesh Shrivastava

TAD

Chakla Baran - Notes and references so far

'Chakla' is a small round platform usually made of marble or wood, the 'belan' is a wooden rolling pin; the two are used to roll out the dough to make various Indian breads such as chapattis, paratha, bhatura, poori and roti.
The above dough based staples make the chakla belan indispensible in an Indian kitchen. Modern electronic versions are available, one known as a Roti Maker, which combine the chakla, belan and tava (used to cook the breads). However most households still use the traditional utensils of chakla and baran.

When doing this research (so far) the lack of information is rather strange. Past a basic definition there is hardly any publicly accessible information on the origins of these kitchen utensils. So below is a compilation of notes and further references to continue with.

History of related food types:
Chapatti:
Chapatti is so common throughout South Asia and parts of Africa that in first internet searching I can filter very little useful information, except that they are related to many languages (Hindi, local dialects and Urdu; Urdu suggests the ancient origins of the utensils).
Paratha:
"The paratha was conceived in ancient north India but it is unclear which particular north Indian cuisines actually inspired it. Its origin is likely to have been a result of several influences (Sindhi, Punjabi, Garhwali, Bihari, Bengali and so on)." [http://www.answers.com/topic/paratha-1]
Bhatura
Poori
Roti

Origins of Chakla Baran
Within history (www.harrapa.com) state utensils fall into a category of "important and virtually unknown archaeological remains of the Indus Valley civilization (2600-1900 B.C.). The ancient technologies of Harrapan culture are different to other civilisations of the time(Egypt etc). "These differences can be attributed to the fact that each civilization evolved from local cultures which have roots extending back to the earliest Neolithic farming and pastoral communities, dating in Pakistan and India to around 6500B.C." [http://www.harappa.com/indus/industext.html].

According to the Infinity Foundation the chakla belan originated in the Harrapan era, or even before. Harrappa existed around 3300BC lasting until 1600BC within what now is Punjab and was part of the Indus Valley and Cemetery H civilisations [wikipedia]. This civilisations were highly organised and were centred in regional cities and towns around crossroads and rich agricultural areas. Farmers were cultivating wheat and barley as early as 6500BC which suggests that these were staple food items and would have had to be prepared in some manner that may have included early forms of the Chakla Baran. The spread of the technology would have been helped by the large trade networks within the Indus Valley civilisation and later with Aryans (to the rest of India).

Problems of History
The Infitinity Foundation are a group who are looking to create an encyclopedia of Indian Science & Technology in response to a belief that "intellectual repositioning has not yet been achieved for India, which is still depicted based on the “caste, cows and curry” images too often. Indian culture is frequently depicted as being mystical in the sense of being irrational, and in lacking a sense of advancement in the material plane of society." [http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_pr/t_pr_book_projects.htm]
This lack of a formulated history of culture, objects, methods, changes and consistencies really does present a problem within this project. The greater implications are the impact on identity and culture today, particularly in the age of globalisation and a rapidly changing face of India.

Further references to look up are:
Kenoyer, J.M., 1997, Trade and Technology of the Indus Valley: New insights from Harrappa Pakistan, World Archaeology, 29(2), pp. 260-280, High definition archaeology
Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1991). "The Indus Valley tradition of Pakistan and Western India". Journal of World Prehistory 5: 1–64. doi:10.1007/BF00978474.
Library of Congress: Country Studies. 1995. Harrappan Culture. Retrieved 13 January 2006.
Rau, Santha Rama and the Editors of Time-Life Books. 1969. The Cooking of India. Time-Life Books, New York. TIME-LIFE BOOKS, New York.
Barer-Stein, Thelma. 1999. You EatWhat You Are. A FireFly Book, [GT 2850 .B371 1999]

Museum of Everyday Art

It may also be useful for you to look at the collections of the Museum of Everyday Art. The website address is http://www.sanskritifoundation.org/
This museum is in Delhi and was established in 1984. Objects of everyday life connected with the manners and customs, beliefs and practices of the urban and rural populations of India are displayed in the Sanskriti Museum of Everyday Art. There is a catalogue of the collections written by Jyotindra Jain in the library.

INVESTIGATING KITCHEN IMPLEMENTS - GETTING STARTED

Researching Indian products through published material is invariably difficult because Indian products are not documented and written about much. So this is why what this batch of students is attempting is very important. I don't think any of them has realizes this yet! So other methods of collecting information need to be used. Ahmedabad is fortunate to have a museum of vessels (http://www.vechaar.com/metal_utensils.html) and a visit to this museum good could be a good start. The bulk of the information would really come from oral testimonies - from senior product designers, from the older generation, from professional cooks, owners of shops selling kitchen ware, hotel owners and the like. The internet would also throw up something, especially from websites of companies manufacturing kitchen equipment. Also old magazines which product advertisements - the NID library has bound volumes of the Illustrated Weekly of India for instance. Find out what the object you have chosen to study is called in different Indian languages and that might give a clue (for instances see if the word is Arabic, or Persian, or indigenous - that will give you something to follow up). See if the kind of food related to the object is eaten in other cultures - for instance roti, tortilla, pancake - check what implements are used in those cultures.

Record all the information along with all available visuals. MENTION SOURCES FROM WHERE INFORMATION WAS ACCESSED - For oral testimonies mention person, date and time of interview and place of interview. For websites - mention url and date it was accessed. For books - author, title, publisher, date of publishing and place of publishing. Make a start on this and see how it goes.