Thanks to all you fellow AR'ers! You've certainly supplied me with a wealth of info. All of which is appreciated. I'm leaning instant pot!
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There were a couple of things I learned really quickly when I first started using my Instant Pot.
1. The flavor of spices is amplified, so go lightly with them. I made my Beef Goulash recipe (usually done in a Staub Dutch Oven) in the Instant Pot and it was so spicy that my poor husband couldn't eat it.
2. If your sauce in the pot is too thick, the Instant Pot will never come to pressure. It pretends that it does and starts the count down, but it never really does. So I don't thicken my sauces until the cooking is complete.
Here's a short article on what not to do with an electric pressure cooker: http://www.thekitchn.com/5-mistakes-...-cooker-229013
KathrynComment
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Less evaporation of volatile flavor compounds, so full flavor of spices. Made a risotto the other day, and went about what I do with shallots in traditional, and I redubbed it a Parm-Shallot risotto, just so we wouldn't be surprised. -
I've had a hard time with the amount of liquid. There's a fine line between enough to cook and then reduce quickly and too much so that you'll be reducing for a long long time. Again, less evaporation. -
For me, Potkettleblack , the thickness of the liquid has been a recurring problem, especially if I use a doctored-up commercial sauce, as I do for quickie Indian dishes. I have to thin the sauce for the cook and thicken it back up again at the end. Either that, or use the Pot-in-Pot method, which I have yet to try but have a nice insert for.
Kathryn
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Thank you for the tips and link, Kathryn.
I also ordered the paperback version of this book that may give me even more insight as I stagger through this new method...
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These are top rated on Consumer Reports:
Stovetop
Fissler VitaQuick, $200
Philippe Richard 6-Quart Aluminum TTUI9554, $20
Electric
Fagor Premium 6 Quart Pressure & Rice Cooker, $100
Cuisinart CPC-600, $100
I have the Cuisinart electric and it works just fine. I retired my stove top cooker when I got the Cuisinart but, it had served me well and there were no issues, just bring it up to temp/pressure on the stove, lower to about a simmer that keeps the pressure valve rocking a little and, nothing to it. Elective, plug it in, press the buttons and you are done.
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I just added one to my wish list on Amazon. Has anyone cooked eggs in this contraption? The model I am looking at has an egg setting and a cake setting.Comment
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We boil eggs in our Instant Pot constantly. Some of the best eggs ever and literally fall out of the shells. Yep, love my Instant pot! In fact, doing up my beef stew tonight on this rainy day. 35 minutes and some of the best stew ever too.Comment
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Follow-up...
My Instant Pot arrived about three hours ago. It's built like a tank.
The manual suggested an empty initial run, but who ever does that without something in the smoker/grill/etc.???
I always boil five eggs for my wife to take to work on Mondays. She grabs one at lunch and that holds her over until dinner time. So, I decided to try the IP out.
I put seven eggs on the included trivet and added 1 1/2 cups of water. Set the unit on "Steam" (High Temp) for six minutes. When the timer hit six minutes, the "Warm/Hold" turned on. I shut it off; evacuated the pressure; and placed the eggs in an ice bath to stop them from cooking.
When cool, the eggs peeled very easily and were cooked perfectly with none of that 'gray' color that often occurs when I mis-time the cook. She-who-will-obeyed said (as she ate two) that they were the most perfectly cooked that I'd ever done. Success!!!
Next on the agenda is Navy Bean Soup as soon as I get a ham hock.
Thanks go to Kathryn for the Instant Pot recommendation!!!
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Craigar, the eggs all have to be on one level, so the most I can fit in is about 16 eggs on the steamer rack in the IP.
Lowjiber, the IP hard boiled eggs, if stored in their shells in the fridge, will eventually get that greenish outer layer to the yolks. I peel my hard boiled eggs right away after they have cooled thoroughly in the ice bath to minimize that effect. I store them in a Ziploc bag in the fridge.
Kathryn
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Lowjiber Have fun. It's a wonderful tool!
And if you want rice, put some butter in and melt it on brown (or whatever the equivalent is). Throw in a cup of rice and mix it around until it's translucent. Then throw in 1-1/2 cups of water and a bit of salt. Raise the heat to high pressure, cook for 3 minutes. The rest for 7 and release the pressure. Scale same proportions of rice and water if you want more.
It's the best rice!Comment
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lonnie mac, you have any Navy Bean tips. I know what I'm doing when cooking them on the stove, but will welcome any tips.
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As with anything in the Instant pot, or cooking with pressure as you know, I have always found that I like to "start" with the liquid I "want" to end up with. As in a pressure cooker you don't boil away your excess. As Kathryn said, you want to thicken in the end after the pressure release. I'll post up my NAVY bean recipe! I thicken in the end with my homemade bulk roux I keep in the fridge. As usual with beans, you'll probably still want to soak them over night. Here at my local HEB, there is a company that sells fresh beans of all sorts. Think they are called "We Love Peas". The beans are already soaked so in the insta pot it goes.
NAVY Beans
1 TBS bacon grease in IP
2 strips bacon fine diced
2 cans chicken broth
3 TBS butter
1.5 pound "We Love Peas" Navy beans
2 small ham steaks or cut up ham hocks
3 small organic carrots diced to 3/4â€
3 small organic celery diced fine
1 onion diced fine
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp thyme, or fresh thyme sprigs tied in a ball
1 bayleaf
1/2 tsp cyanine pepper
3 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground sage
Directions:
Brown bacon bits, add and sauté onions in Instant Pot in Sauté mode high. Add all spices and sauté some more. Add cubed ham/hocks. Add beans and enough broth just to cover. (two cans perfect with this recipe in the IP) Cook manual-high-pressure for 30 minutes. Natural pressure release for 20 minutes. Add 2 TBS homemade roux and sauté to thicken. Serve over rice with a liberal sprinkling of Cajun Chef green pepper sauce. (Mandatory!) And home made corn bread of course.
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That's awesome I'll incorporate a few "extra" items from your recipe above... for sure. I was (am) concerned about the IP instruction not to fill the tub over 2/3 full, but with pre-soaked beans it should be fine.
Not to worry 'bout the cornbread. I always make a 12" iron skillet of the stuff when the beans are ready. I'm an old country boy from the Ozark Mountains in southern Missouri. I eat cornbread with darn near everything. LOL
Your comment about the green pepper sauce intrigues me. I always throw in a can of diced green chilies about the time the beans are done.
Thanks much for the help... much appreciated. If you ever get to Las Vegas, we'll hook up for some beans and cornbread.
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I highly recommend this cookbook. Every recipe I have tried has been outstanding: https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Elect...VESC5M9YKDXBPB
The green lentil and spinach stew with shrimp is terrific...Last edited by lbyer; March 6, 2017, 07:21 PM.Comment
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I bought a Cook's Essentials 8Qt. Electric Pressure Cooker over a year ago. I took it out of the box, put it on a rack in the kitchen and I stare at it every now and then. I imagine someday I'll get motivated to learn to use it. Guys my age don't get in a rush you know.ðŸ˜Comment
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