So I ordered one of these million in one things aka Instant Pot..

[Mr. Bones]

Sounds like great food, Brother!
I'm always lookin fer receipts, if ya have any IP links to share, it'd be much appreciated, as I ponder how best to utilize my 6 qt Plus!

[ribeyeguy]

I bought my wife one for Christmas and she loves it. I have to admit that I'm now a huge fan too. So far she's made a pizza casserole, Mongolian chicken (twice), pork fried rice, a cheeseburger casserole and just last night a chicken cordon bleu casserole.

The fried rice was a little bit sticky but still delicious. My absolute favorite was the cheeseburger casserole, I can't even describe how good it was. Everything she's churned out so far has been just off the charts delicious. She claims to have a surprise in store for me this weekend, can't wait to try it whatever it is!

[Frozen Smoke]

Yep you are right fzxdoc and had I read the manual I would have known that before I started but that would have taken all the suspense out of it right? So now with that being said I could have prepared this dish in the same amount of time and maybe even less than what the Instant Pot did so for this dish the only advantage I see is it's all done in one pot. Otherwise I would have browned the hamburger and sauteed the veggies cooked down the beef broth and added the tomatoes in one skillet. While I was doing this I would have had the pasta cooking in another pot. When done combine the pasta into the skillet. Done.

So I would have had to wash the skillet that's it. So this recipe wasn't a dish that really makes the Instant Pot show it's value. We will be giving it another go I'm sure.

[fzxdoc]

Frozen Smoke , the detail you missed out on is that the countdown timer on the Instant Pot doesn't start until the pot is fully up to pressure, which takes around 15 minutes or so. So you always have to remember that the time, start to finish, has to include the ramp up time, the actual cook time that you set, and then the pressure release time.

Some dishes have you do an Immediate Pressure Release (the Old Faithful look and sound); others have you do a Natural Pressure Release, which is to let the pot sit until the little pressure indicator has gone back down to the pre-pressure setting, which could take around 40 minutes or so after the set cook time has expired. There are in-between release times too. So read each IP recipe closely so you will know the true start-to-finish time and what sort of pressure release is required.

Kathryn

[klflowers]

No pics but i did some carrots in the ip last night. Peeled some whole carrots (not those baby carrot things), choppped them into roughly 3" long pieces and split the thicker ends to try and make the pieces uniform. Put 1 cup h2o in pot, carrots in steamer basket, high pressure for 2 minutes. After they were done, i dumped the water, put the ip on saute and added butter and some honey and sauteed the carrots. Salt, pepper, they were xcellent.

[Mr. Bones]

Thanks fer sharin, Brother!
Ribs look delicious!

[Larry Grover]

Glad you're still alive, it made me nervous the first time I cooked even though I read the instructions. I think the main safety concern is steam burns, and vapors from alcohol even though people use it anyway.

Got a lot of rain the past couple weeks so I made Coca Cola ribs. Turned out really good and super easy. Put a cup of apple juice in the pot, applied rub then placed ribs on trivet, pressure cook, sauce, then broil for 4-5 min. Here's a screen grab from a youtube video (He rambles so just fast forward to 6:07 if you want to see the end result.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt0LVCkVmOE&t=3s

Most on youtube tend to use baby backs...25 minute high pressure with fast release. This guy used 50/50 BBQ sauce & Coke for the liquid to bring to pressure (which meant he had to thicken after the cook.) I did it different...while the meat was cooking I put the coke in a saucepan and reduced 75% then mixed it with the sauce.

[Frozen Smoke]

Ok made my first meal in this thing last night. Wanted the wife to do it so she got familiar with it and after all I bought it for her but she had purse bingo to go to so I was left to my own devices once again. Ok fair enough.
I went with spaghetti bolognese simply because I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.

First thing I must fess up to is I don't have the patience to read user manuals so I just kind of glanced over it and dived in. Besides the recipe I used walked you through all the settings you needed to use. Here's the recipe.

https://recipes.instantpot.com/recipe/spaghetti-bolognese/

First step was browning the hamburger and onions. This went very well no issues and it did a very good job of it. Now add beef broth and the other ingredients with uncooked spaghetti noodles and lastly the crushed tomatoes on top. The next step was to set to high pressure for 7 minutes. This is where operator error came in. I made the settings and waited to see if this thing was going to blow up showering the entire kitchen with spaghetti bolognese or cook it perfectly. First thing I noticed was the timer of 7 minutes was not displayed it simply said "On". Hmm. So now it's been on for 5 minutes and still just says on. Doubt is starting to creep in that I probably should have read the manual closer but why start now.

7 minutes comes and goes and it still just says on but I can hear noises going on inside something is percolating. Oh boy i'm getting worried. Now it's 9 minutes 2 minutes past the cook time something must be awry so I hit cancel and stop the process of what surely is building up to be my impending doom. I turn the little steam release thingy to vent and get a little pssssttt for about a minute. Open the cover and things are boiling and the noodles are still uncooked. Plus it's spaghetti bolognese soup at this point.

Ok start from scratch only leave out the glancing over the manual part just repeat the same mistake. This time I set the timer for 5 minutes instead of 7 figuring it has cooked some already. So this time I figure I'm just letting it go and see what the outcome is. I position myself as far away from this thing as I can but still see the display. Again it's been running way over the set cook time and the display is still just reading "On".
This time I refuse to be intimidated and figure if it blows up I got time to get Service Master in to do the clean up before the wife gets home.

All of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see the display flicker. It changed to the timer showing 5 minutes!! Now I can't take my eyes off it. I have to watch the countdown. 4,3,2,1 DING!! Dinner is ready right? No! You have to hit the little steam release thingy. Now instead of psssttt I get HISSSSSSSSS!!! For about 10 minutes. Is it safe to take the lid off while this dragon is Hissing I don't think so. Wonder what the manual says about that? So I wait it out until it's just a whisper of noise.

Turn the cover to open and very carefully lift the lid off. I cautiously stick my face over the pot to see what's inside. Well I'll be if that contraption didn't turn that spaghetti bolognese soup into something that looks like it could be real spaghetti bolognese! I dish myself up a plate and dig in and it was darn good if I must say myself. The sweet taste of victory man over machine triumphs!

Upon reflection of this experience I think I know where I went wrong. I took "Instant" literally. Nothing is "Instant" with this thing. But hey it was fun!!!

[Buck Flicks]

Yeah, stove top rice is easy and I don't have to worry about futzing with different water amounts. My attempts at rice in the IP haven been sub-standard. But it's perfect on the stove top every time. Takes a little longer, but usually not longer than cooking the rest of the meal takes.

I am interested in making yogurt, though.

[Buck Flicks]

I've had a hard time convincing myself to cook chili in it. I think the long slow simmer does something for chili that a pressure cooker can't do.

[Thunder77]

And they were BIG potatoes! Like 12-13 ounces each. The only downside is that the skins are not as crisp. You can brush them with some oil, and crisp them in the oven, or on the grill, if you know, you happen to be grilling. :-)

[Craigar]

Baked taters in 12 minutes? Hmm...I haven't tried that trick yet. I guess I will have to add it to the list.

[Thunder77]

Frozen Smoke, my wife says the IP makes the best chicken stock she has ever had, and I can’t disagree with her... 😎😎

[Frozen Smoke]

Thanks Thunder77! I hope we enjoy ours as much as you do yours! I did baked taters the other night in the oven for a hour. i did them per America's Test Kitchen best method which included brining them in salt water for a couple seconds each which made me suspect because to me a couple seconds in brine means nothing but I followed their instructions to the T. They were good but nothing special and the skins were not soft enough to get through with your fork but they were tasty.

[Thunder77]

Hi, my name is Joe, and my wife Jen and I are Instant Pot addicts..... My daughter and her fiancé got one for an engagement present, and she raved about it. I went and bought the Mini for when I travel due to work. It is wonderful to have, let me tell you! Then I got the 8 quart Duo, because we have a large family.

At first my wife Jen scoffed at me for buying another gadget, but now she is hooked too.
I made baked potatoes in it the other night in 12 minutes!!

The slow cooker is going bye-bye.