Denis Papin FRS was a French physicist, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the pressure cooker and of the steam engine.

Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food with the use of high pressure steam and water or a water-based liquid, inside a sealed vessel called a pressure cooker; the high pressure limits boiling and creates higher temperatures not possible at lower pressures which allow food to be cooked much faster than at normal pressure.