Chapter 29 Further Reading — Pressure, Microwave, and Modern Techniques

This chapter touches four large appliance categories and a handful of modernist methods. The reading list below is split by tool, then by depth, so you can dip into whichever appliance is sitting on your counter.

Beginner

The Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Cookbook — Laurel Randolph (Rockridge Press, 2016)

A straightforward home-cook entry to electric pressure cooking, with explanations of why each recipe works. Not the most rigorous source on this list, but a friendly first-week reference for someone who has just unboxed a pressure cooker. The author is good at calling out common failure modes (overfilled pots, foaming foods, insufficient liquid).

Hip Pressure Cooking — Laura Pazzaglia (online, free; book St. Martin's Griffin, 2014)

Pazzaglia's website is the go-to internet resource for stovetop and electric pressure cooking. Detailed time tables for nearly every food, troubleshooting guides, and clear explanations of natural-vs-quick release. Free, regularly updated. The book version is also excellent.

Microwave Cooking for One — Marie T. Smith (Boyds Mills, 1992; multiple editions)

This is going to sound dated, but it's the most-cited home-cook reference on actually cooking with a microwave (rather than reheating). Out-of-print copies are widely available used. The recipes are simple, the science is correct, and the book treats the microwave as a real cooking tool rather than a leftover-warmer.

Anova and Joule app pages on induction

Anova and Breville (Joule's parent) both publish induction guides as part of their product apps. Free to access without owning their hardware. Useful for the cook just buying their first induction burner who wants a sense of what each power level actually does.

Pat Hammond's classroom recommendation: Alton Brown's "Good Eats" episodes on microwave physics and pressure cookers

Alton Brown's Good Eats (1999–2012, plus reboot) covered the physics of microwaves and pressure cookers in episodes that are still useful 20+ years later. The microwave episode ("Power to the Pith") and the pressure-cooker episode ("Pressure" and the Instant Pot reboot follow-up) are the most-watched introductions to the underlying science. Pat shows clips to her AP Chem class every spring.

Intermediate

Modernist Cuisine at Home — Nathan Myhrvold and Maxime Bilet (The Cooking Lab, 2012)

The home-scale companion to the six-volume Modernist Cuisine. The pressure-cooking sections include detailed time-temperature reasoning, equipment recommendations, and dishes specifically designed for the pressure cooker (24-hour pho stock in 2 hours, deeply caramelized onions in 40 minutes). The microwave sections cover techniques most home cooks have never seen — accelerated infusions, microwave sponge cake, microwave-set custards.

The Food Lab — J. Kenji López-Alt (W. W. Norton, 2015)

Includes detailed treatments of pressure cooking (chili, beef stew, chicken stock), microwaving (defrosting, accelerated stock-making), and induction (boiling speed, temperature responsiveness). Kenji's experimental rigor pairs well with home-cook accessibility.

Cook's Illustrated — equipment reviews and technique articles

Cook's Illustrated (and its sister magazine Cook's Country, plus the America's Test Kitchen TV/online output) systematically tests every category of appliance and publishes the results. Their pressure-cooker, microwave, induction-burner, and air-fryer reviews are the most reliable consumer guidance available. Subscription required for full archive; many libraries provide free online access.

Hervé This — Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor (Columbia University Press, 2006)

This is the founder of "molecular gastronomy" writing at a popular-but-scientific level. The chapters on pressure, vacuum, and electromagnetic-radiation cooking lay foundations for understanding why each technique does what it does. Translated from French; readable for anyone with high-school chemistry.

Advanced

Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking — Myhrvold, Young, Bilet (The Cooking Lab, 2011)

The six-volume reference. Volume 2 covers temperature, safety, and the physics of cooking; the equipment chapters in Volume 3 detail combi ovens, modernist appliances, and industrial techniques you can adapt for home use. Reference-only for most readers; available at most large public libraries.

Food Chemistry — H.-D. Belitz, W. Grosch, P. Schieberle (Springer, 5th ed. 2009)

The graduate-level reference. Chapters on water and on heat-induced changes underlie the pressure-cooking and microwave sections of this book. Reference-only.

The IEEE Transactions on Magnetics — primary literature on induction cooktops

Engineering papers on the design and physics of induction cooktops, including the eddy-current calculations and the skin-depth effects mentioned in the Advanced Sidebar. Useful only for engineers or graduate students who want the math; the typical paper assumes electromagnetic-theory background.

Pasteurization tables for pressure canning — USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning

The free USDA reference for canning. The pressure-canning tables for low-acid foods (vegetables, meats, seafood) are the regulatory baseline in the U.S. and are the foundation of safe home preservation. Available free at the USDA's National Center for Home Food Preservation website (nchfp.uga.edu). A required reference for anyone serious about pressure canning. Chapter 36 returns to this in detail.

On the modernist methods touched briefly

Combi ovens — Combi Steamer (Rational AG technical literature, free online)

Rational, a German manufacturer, makes the leading commercial combi ovens and publishes detailed technical guides on humidity-controlled cooking. Most of their content is for restaurant operators, but the principles transfer to anyone curious about wet+dry combination cooking.

Air fryers — Cooks Illustrated's 2019 and 2023 reviews

The systematic comparison of how air fryers actually perform versus convection ovens, with measurements of fan speed, temperature uniformity, and browning rates. The verdict: air fryers are useful for cooking small portions fast, redundant if you have a good convection oven.

Sous vide bath as a precision tool — Chapter 27 of this book, plus Douglas Baldwin's Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking (free online)

For modernist applications like 30°C koji incubation, 32°C chocolate tempering, and 27°C bread proofing, the sous vide bath is genuinely the right tool. Cross-reference with Chapter 27.

A short closing note

The literature on these tools has matured fast. The Instant Pot has only been a cultural phenomenon since the mid-2010s, and the home-induction market is still growing. Most of what was published before 2010 is now outdated either in equipment recommendations (countertop induction burners are now $80, not $400) or in technique recommendations (modern electric pressure cookers don't behave quite like the 1950s stovetop versions). Prefer recent sources, and don't be surprised when a 2008 cookbook recommends a pressure-cooking time that's 30% off from what your 2024 Instant Pot will need.

For pressure-canning specifically, the USDA Complete Guide is the only source you should trust without independent verification. Botulism risk is real and the chemistry is unforgiving; the home-canning literature outside USDA-validated sources is uneven, and some of it is dangerously wrong.