InstantPot / Pressure Cookers

[dgaddis]

Anyone have one? Care to share some thoughts, tips, recipes, resources, etc? Got the wife one for Christmas, she's been wanting one.

[guido]

I have one and it has absolutely revolutionized my work week dinners. 15-20 min prep, 25-35 min cook time (walk away do something else). Eat great food you would have to cook 4-6 hours on the stove top or in the oven. I tend to be an improv kind of cook rather than a strict recipe guy, and it works great for that. Less liquid than you would expect in braises with onions and other vegies. It's fantastic for "cheap" flavor cuts like chuck, chicken thighs or pork butt. Cut into 1-2 inch chunks. It can be a bit of a mind set change to put it all in and turn it on...

This is a good intro:
To Transform Your Weeknight Cooking, Turn On the Instant Pot - The New York Times

Melissa Clark's book is good but a bit too fussy-detaily for my taste. For someone who likes recipes it could be a win:
https://www.amazon.com/Dinner-Instan...lark+cook+book

HTH

[David Tollefson]

Just don't expect things like regular semolina noodles or rice to come out like a regular cook.

[guido]

I've never done rice in it (low carb thing) but folks claim decent results with rice too...

But you bring up the important point that it isn't the right tool for fast cooking ingredients... noodles, seafood... there are better approaches for these.

[big boom]

Rice is very finicky in one of these. My rice cooker crapped out on me so I'm forcing myself to figure it out with the instant pot, I've found that if you use a little less water and then vent it once the 12 minutes are up and let it sit for an extra 10 minutes the results are a lot better.

[Greg Costello]

Any recommended brands?

[maunahaole]

I’m on my second one. I have a Cuisinart that is going to be rehomed. It works fine, but I had a warranty issue that they handled poorly. I got the 10 in 1 instant pot. Lots of bells and whistles and programmability. I have yet to figure a lot of that out. Seems to be a nicer bit than the Cuisinart and some of the design features just work better. Nicer pot as well. A big plus with the IP is that there’s a good supply of stuff (steamer baskets, etc) accessory wise that you know is going to work for it.

[guido]

I have the one of the older model InstantPot brand units. Still many bells and whistles to be sure but i just use saute/manual settings. Getting a previous generation version saves a few bucks for options that would only go unused for me. I'm not going to use it as a yogurt maker for example...

[pdxmech13]

Any recommended brands?

Amazon.com: Instant Pot DUO6 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Saute, Yogurt Maker and Warmer: Kitchen & Dining

We bought one about 3 weeks ago when amazon had them at $25 off. We ended up with a 8 qt as we do lots of soups in the slow cooker during the summer and have a family of 4.

I'd get a 6qt if you don't do a lot of soups and are looking to make 4 person "meals"

So far we've done rice, cheesecake, yogurt, indian simmer sauces, pho a few choice cuts of meat for tacos.

There is a little learning curve and to be honest almost every recipe we've used has been in the manual setting so don't worry about one with all the buttons on the preset stuff.

Right now my wife is documenting our work so that we can have 10-14 go to recipes that can be made in under 1 hour.

The thing cooks fast compared to other methods, just don't forget there is still the prep time, some sauteing if your into that type of thing, the cooking and letting out the steam either naturally or manually.

Cool gadget all the way around. Just keep away from the release valve when it's cooling.

[maunahaole]

Also, if you’re on Facebook, there are several pressure cooker groups that regularly post recipes. I’ve found several over time that are in our regular rotation as they are simple and good. Most have instructions that are geared to the IP functions, but it’s easy enough to make them work for another type.

[pdxmech13]

+1 on the bookface.

[maunahaole]

We recently made this. A lot of prep and stirring, but pretty tasty result.

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/...er-pork-roast/

[guido]

Like the Melissa Clark book, that recipe has lots of fiddly steps and sauteing of individual ingredients. I'll buy the saute the pork step but the other individual bits are over the top for a week night. I've been tending to more and more minimalism in the prep stages. Great high flavor ingredients, absolutely. But for me the magic is how little effort gets killer results in much shorter times...

[maunahaole]

Let me know on results if you try that without the mushroom stir step. If that one step could be reduced, this would be a lot easier.

[dgaddis]

Like the Melissa Clark book, that recipe has lots of fiddly steps and sauteing of individual ingredients. I'll buy the saute the pork step but the other individual bits are over the top for a week night. I've been tending to more and more minimalism in the prep stages. Great high flavor ingredients, absolutely. But for me the magic is how little effort gets killer results in much shorter times...

I tend to agree with that last bit.

But, Sunday night we made sloppy joes. Probably would have been faster to make them in a skillet, but, the pressure in the IP made a big difference in the texture and how much the veggies cooked down. It was really good. Recipe from here: The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook: Fresh and Foolproof Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker: Coco Morante: 97839958888: Amazon.com: Books

[Pinned]

The InstantPot is one of my favorite kitchen appliances - it's great for making cooking quick and simple when I'm lazy but equally as good at allowing me to time things well while making more complex meals. Polenta in the InstantPot is one of my go to's at the moment.

[yashkatsumi]

Have any of you tried to roast coffee beans with it?

[dgaddis]

We did a sweet and sour red cabbage last night, recipe in the book I linked to earlier. Flavor was good, but the 3min cook time was too much, it was mushier than I like. I think next time we'll do 1 minute, see how that does.

[dgaddis]

Alright. Lend me some help here folks. Tried to make meatloaf in the IP last night. Found two recipes, each said to put the meatloaf into a pan and set it on the steamer rack inside the pot, set it Steam, high pressure, and cook for about 10mins.

So we did that...and it never reached pressure, the little pop-up valve never popped up. I thought maybe it needs water to work (neither recipe called for water), so I added 3/4 cup of water to the pot. It boiled when I poured it in, so the pot was hot, but the meatloaf was still cool.

With water in the pot, it sealed and reached pressure. But when it was done the meatloaf was all wet and soggy.

So....can it reach pressure without boiling water?

[guido]

I haven't tried that sort of recipe with it, but I would assume it does need steam to bring it up to pressure. Folks do all sorts of things in an IP but having steam around seems like the common denominator. But lets see what our more creative brothers of the kitchen have come up with...