A Steamy Story

  

One of the comforting sounds at home for me is the whistle of the pressure cooker. Not just for the fact that it is a handy appliance that helps me scoot out of the kitchen at the earliest but also for the reason that it has been my sole companion who still gives out a naughty whistle even as I get older. I take great pleasure in keeping count of the number of whistles that it lets out. 

I don’t think I can ever imagine any Indian home without this ubiquitous vessel occupying its rightful place on the shelf. It came as a surprise to me when I learnt that pressure cookers had invaded the Indian kitchens only as late as 1959 when both Hawkins and TT Private Ltd (now called TTK Prestige) introduced their products into the market.  

The idea of using steam pressure to cook made its first appearance in 1679 in the form of Papin’s Digester, a vessel named after its inventor, Denis Papin, a French-born British physicist. But the concept paved way for greater inventions as the steam engine that played a significant role in the Industrial Revolution era. It was only in 1938, when German inventor Alfred Vischler introduced his Presto brand of “flex-seal speed cooker”, the first saucepan-style pressure cooker, at a New York Trade show, that it went on to become a rage among the American and European housewives. By the 1930s, the new kitchen device had even scaled the peak of Mount Everest as mountaineers found the utensil handy to steam-cook at higher altitudes.

But what is more interesting is a one-pot vessel that slow cooks rice, dal and vegetables at one go on steam, a forerunner to pressure cookers, was an Indian invention. In fact, every region of our country had come up with their version of these crockpots to suit their cuisine as early as the 20^th century. About a century ago, in 1910 to be precise, a Bengali polymath Indumadhab Mallick invented the first steam cooker known as the Icmic cooker, where soaked rice and marinated vegetables were cooked in a tiffin carrier that was steamed inside an elongated metal vessel with the help of burning charcoal underneath. It is rumoured that he coined the name, Icmic, fusing the words hygenIC and econoMIC, the kind of meals that were cooked in the vessel. In Mumbai (then Bombay), these cookers hit the stores under the brand name, Santosh cookers.

However, what happened down South is a lot more interesting. Inspired by the concept, Rukmani Cooker Company of Madras came out with their own version of steam cookers. Marketed under the brand name, Rukmani Cooker, these looked like single-piece carry vessel or canisters (a thooku satti, if you know what I mean). But that inane brass vessel was a marvel of sorts, as it snugly fitted in about 14-19 different cooking utensils, all needed to cook and serve a proper South-Indian meal. The major differentiating factor from Icmic cookers was that Rukmani cookers did not have heating compartments fitted inside. However, they could be placed on any make-shift stoves and used for cooking. The product was marketed more as a travel companion as it was portable and easy to carry in trains and vehicles. They became so popular, mostly among pilgrimage travellers of the time that they were also fondly called the “Rail Adukku”.

I am awestruck by the intricate engineering and intelligent design that has gone into making these utensils. In line with Dr Montessori’s educational approach that says we should not just study the history of human work but also show enough respect and gratitude to the human spirit that made it happen, I salute the artisans and inventors. I bow in reverence to those creative minds, dexterous hands and caring hearts that made such contraptions for the benefit of all. 

And just as that warmth fills my heart, I hear the sound of the soft wolf-whistle coming from the kitchen for the fourth time. Did I not tell you that I keep a count of my cooker whistles!

 

 

  If the pressure is getting to you, whistle. - Fuzzy Zoeller.