Pressure Cookers

A digester available in America was depicted in the 1854 edition of the American Home Cook Book. It shows a squat cast-iron kettle, bowed out at its center, with a swinging handle, and a clamp-on lid. Sizes ranged from one quart to eight gallons. Bones and gristle softened for soup gave thrifty cooks full value for any cut of meat. Almost identical was one manufactured in 1909 for hotels and restaurants, with sealing gaskets and lid clamps.