Test your pressure cooker if you haven't used it in a while or if it's brand new. Putting your pressure cooker through a test run ensures reliable cooking. Test it by heating some water under pressure before you begin cooking any food. You treat your pressure cooker just as if you’re going to cook something, but you add only water to it.
Fill the pressure cooker pot with 2 cups of water.
For this test run, the water is all you’re putting in the cooker.
Cover the pot.
Look for the two arrows or triangles that are engraved in the top of the cover. Place the cover on the pot, matching the arrows with the long pot handle. Turn clockwise until the cover and long pot handles line up together and you hear a click.
For a jiggler-valve or a developed weight-valve pressure cooker, place the weighted valve on the vent pipe.
If you have a spring-valve pressure cooker and it has a pressure selector, set the regulator for the level of pressure, set it to high.
Place the pressure cooker on the stove and bring the water to a boil over high heat.
As the water boils, steam is produced.
Lower the burner heat to simmer.
The pressure cooker is now cooking under pressure, which is when you start to clock the cooking time.