Luddite skirmishes with Instantpot

[yakima]

So I bought a 6 qt 2 or 3 years ago. Used it couple times, don't remember what. Not impressed. Warm up time + cooking time + cool down time = not so great.
But culinary consort raves about hard boiled eggs. And here fzxdoc et al are very enthusiastic. So, using a Father's Day certificate from my bride of 38 years, bought an IP oriented cookbook. Today, made a chicken liver pate. It is very good, coming from a guy who knows nothing re pate, and has rarely liked liver (tends to be overcooked). Later today, looked around on net for more info. Stumbled on this channel. Tons of info. Am not sure a grilling website should accommodate this, but look forward to further exploration.

Happy Father's Day.

[mrteddyprincess]

I'm not opposed to having an Insta' Pot, but I don't know where I'd store it. I kinda tend to stick with my stove top pressure cooker as my kitchen workhorse. I look forward to seeing pics of what you're able to create with it! B

[Jfrosty27]

When our slow cooker died about two years ago, wifey insisted we needed to get an IP. We’ve used it only three times. I’m not too impressed. Kind of finicky in terms of getting the proper amount of liquid in the pot. Need enough for it to pressurize, but not too much for the recipe you are cooking. Takes too long to heat up and pressurize, then too long to depressurize at the end. It does go fast in the cook stage though. Results are no better or worse than the slow cooker. I guess I don’t see what the big deal is about these things. 🤷♂️

[Mosca]

All I ever use mine for is short ribs; they come out fantastic. Otherwise, it just doesn’t match my habits. Much like sous vide.

One thing I dislike about mine is cleaning it. I’m a fanatic about cleaning small surfaces on food related pots and pans and utensils: rims, edges, between tines, stuff like that. It’s easy to put the inner pot and the lid in the dishwasher; but I also have to take out the gasket, the pressure thing, the little screen, the little piece of silicon, and the waste cup, and either clean them by hand or risk them getting lost in the dishwasher. And then reassemble it all.

So much at my age is habit. Once a method is ingrained, even easier things seem harder and inconvenient.

[Alan Brice]

Love, love, love hardboiled eggs! In salad, sliced on top of potato salad, a quick sammich of egg salad. Just to pop in yer mouth for a quick hunger buster. HATE peeling them!
I can make nearly two dzn at a time(22) in appx 15-20 min. Out of the IP n into an ice bath for 5 min and the eggs nearly fall outta the shells.
Nearly everything concerned can go into the DW. Occasionaly scrub the stainless pot w/Bar Keepers Friend. Spotless.
Regular pressure cookers scare the life outta me. My MIL used to put hers straight from the stove under running cold water n I would just cringe. Always heard horror stories of food all over the kitchen ceiling.

[Mosca]

But I make hard boiled eggs in 15 minutes boiling them.

[Alan Brice]

Mosca I could never get the dang things to peel. These are totally different.

[acorgihouse]

I love my Instant Pot. Bought it on an amazon prime day years ago (prob 8 or so) because I knew so many people loved theirs. I thought I would regret it, since I used my CrockPot all the time and loved it. Now, the IP is on the counter frequently, I particularly use it for broths/soups, rice, stews and chilis and such. Sure, I can do all that on the stove top, but with the IP I can set it and walk away. I've given several as wedding gifts, for people who asked for one, and I usually give my two favorite IP cookbooks (with the basics.) www.hippressurecooking.com, and www.thisoldgal.com. Nowadays, there are umpteen places on the internet where you can learn IP cooking, I also grew up with a mom having that pressure cooking going on the stove. I still can hear that little ring-ring of the pressure gauge, and I learned to use those. I can't recall the last time I dragged out my actual stove top pressure cooker, I guess I just keep it because it reminds me of my mom.

[yakima]

My gizmo has a sue veed button. Anyone with experience with that?

And how much water for bomba rice? Ratio?

[shify]

I have an Anova for SV so never tried the Instant Pot SV, but from what I read it doesn't hold the temp very stable so is not great for SV. Maybe for longer cooks like a 36 hour short rib it'll work but if you want to cook a steak to 131 degrees, I'd probably stay away.

For rice, I agree with acorgihouse and use 1:1 (or a tablespoon or two more water than 1:1). I usually do calrose or basmati rice. Both take 6 minutes on high pressure and a 10 min natural release and comes out perfect

[fzxdoc]

From info on previous topics posted here, the IP SV is quite unreliable. There can be downsides to using a multifunction device, in that some of the available functions may not be top notch.

Purchasing an immersion circulator known for its accuracy might be a safer and more reliable way to get into the SV world. Plus the IP inner pot dimension is pretty limiting for SV use.

Just my two pennies' worth.

K.

[yakima]

K's two pennies worth make great cents.

[hoovarmin]

The Serious Eats website has some nice Instant Pot recipes

[yakima]

Excellent. Thank you.

[yakima]

So far, hard boiled eggs, chicken liver pate, tikka masala. All very good.
I have a thawed ribeye which needs to be eaten. So, tonite, red Thai beef curry with very fancy stew meat!

[jfmorris]

We have an off-brand instant pot, which my wife insisted on during a Black Friday sale years ago, and it sat gathering dust until I picked it up in 2020 and started using it. I mostly use it as a rice cooker, and it excels at that. I also recently used it to can a couple of pint jars of something (beer brewing related).

[jfmorris]

yakima I am doing something like 1.25 to 1 at the moment for water:rice. My IP has a white versus brown rice, and definitely goes longer for brown.

[hoovarmin]

yakima I do 1:1 ratio. Turns out great. Use the "Keep Warm" feature and you can knock out the rice early and it will be perfect when you are ready to serve it.

[jfmorris]

Thanks hoovarmin I'll try the 1:1 ratio next time. It's always been confusing to me, as the bag of rice, depending on the type and if its white or brown will give a much higher ratio, but I am betting those are for stove top where much of the water steams away, versus being sealed into the IP....

[fzxdoc]

yakima , for rice recipes and for other very-well-thought-out recipes, try the Amy+Jacky website. They test each recipe thoroughly. Their IP rice is foolproof.

Of the IP websites, I like theirs the best.

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/

Kathryn

[Panhead John]

You definitely have a strange way of showing it.

[Bkhuna]

I've been using their site since I bought my IP 8 years ago. If I could only have one IP site, it would be the one.

[jfmorris]

I cannot understand where at all that rather strange comment #11.3 came from. What the heck?

[CaptainMike]

You don't seem to be a kind person. Quite unkind, actually.

[yakima]

I have obviously ruffled feathers. That was not my intent. This site brings together folks with a broad range of backgrounds, interests and expertise, I appreciate that. My take away is to keep what some may term my sardonic sense of humor to myself.

[Skip]

I use ours in the winter more. Things I've tried are pulled chicken. boiled eggs, rice, and small batches of soup or stew. It's a gadget but it does work well. It seems a lot of the recipes on the net are from young Moms with Families to feed. It's fun to have but not totally necessary IMO.

[Michael_in_TX]

I enjoy my InstantPot, although it does take up significant counterspace. It gets used 90% as a rice cooker and for doing food when it is raining outside.

Here's my favorite rice 'recipe':

2 cups brown rice
2.5 cups water
High Pressure cook for 15 minutes.
Natural Release for 10.

Fluff and Eat!