Pressure Cooker, Sigg

Often called a Cocotte-Minute®, this pot is made of thick metal and has a valve so that food may be cooked under pressure. The concept is simple: when the pressure inside the pot rises, so does the water temperature, and the food cooks at about 120°C instead of 100°C, the temperature of boiling water. Foods may thus be cooked rapidly in very little water and fewer nutrients are lost.

In 1679 French inventor Denis Papin (1647-1712) created the first version of a pressure cooker called a steam digester. But it was not until around 1900 that the first pressure cookers came on the market; it took until the 1950s for a real boom to begin.
This pressure cooker from the museum is made of aluminium, an ideal material as it is light and resistant. Developed successfully by Sigg, a Swiss company, in the 1930s, this model, called Arta-Pot, set the standard for all others for years to come.