Patent ID: 7451692

Claim:
An appliance for cooking food under pressure, the appliance comprising: a bowl and a lid ( 2 ) designed to be mounted on the bowl to form a leaktight cooking enclosure; a temperature sensor ( 10 ); and a pressure-regulating valve ( 3 ) that is sensitive to the pressure prevailing inside the cooking enclosure and that is mounted to move between two stable abutment positions, namely a first position in which it shuts off communication from the enclosure to the outside so long as the internal pressure is lower than a predetermined pressure P 0 , and a second position in which it puts the inside of the enclosure into communication with the outside via a steam outlet ( 7 ) once the internal pressure reaches substantially the predetermined pressure P 0 ; wherein the temperature sensor ( 10 ) is disposed in the vicinity of the outlet ( 7 ) so as to make it possible to sense the increase in temperature resulting from the steam passing through the steam outlet ( 7 ), and is connected functionally to a timer ( 11 ) so as to trigger it once the increase in temperature is sensed for beginning a countdown of the cooking time.