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The Instant Pot and I are not destined for Instant Pot greatness..

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    The Instant Pot and I are not destined for Instant Pot greatness..

    So second attempt with this thing. The first go around was largely my fault because I didn't take the time to learn how it operates. I thought I learned enough the first go around to be able to master a simple recipe without going to Instant Pot college but I guess I was wrong again.

    Going on another fishing excursion tomorrow so I just wanted some simple comfort food that can be thrown in the crock pot that can just be heated in the crock pot all day and eaten at will. Sounds like the perfect job for Mr. Instant Pot. The lid locks on so I don't have to worry about transporting it.

    Went through the pantry to see what I had on hand. Had everything for a nice chili mac. Perfect. I started out by sauteing onions and garlic in the Mr. Instant. That went great just as it did the first time. Done sauteing so I hit cancel to stop the process and shut it off. Fine. Add my other ingredients. Can of chili, can of stewed tomatoes, can of whole kernel corn and 2 cups beef broth and a box of penne pasta.

    Ok lets cook this stuff. Hit pressure cook set to high for 7 minutes. Mr Instant says "I'm on" ok I now know from last time that it's building pressure and the timer will start when the pressure is right. Everything is rolling along fine for about 10 minutes and I'm expecting the timer countdown to start soon. Next thing Mr. Instant says is "Burn"! WTH? What can be burning there's all kinds of liquid in there! Turns out things were burning to the bottom. Seriously? Instructions say to remove food, deglaze Mr. Instant and return food to pot and try again.

    I don't think so. If anything is getting returned it's Mr (I do everything perfectly) Instant Pot back to Amazon!!
    So I dump the food into my old standby crock pot to which I have to duct tape the lid on for transport in the car but that's fine with me. So now I have the pot sitting in the sink with hot soapy water waiting for me to scrub it clean.

    I'm sure there is some little step I missed that caused this and it's operator error. But for now Mr. Instant Pot is relegated to the laundry room to reside and collect dust on top of the laundry detergent cabinet.


    #2
    As Elvis would say, thank you vera much. I know there will be others to help you through your travails but, I question the hassle. Insta Pot college? I’m thinking not.

    Comment


      #3
      Haha. My wife SO wanted one of these. We picked one up on sale at Sam's Club on Black Friday, and a 3 crock serving thing she said she would use throughout the holidays for parties. Guess what? They are both still sitting in the box, in the spare room where she stuck them when we got home on Black Friday. She has yet to open the things, and continues using her 3 old crock pots, two 6 quarts and a 4 quart that must be 30 years old...

      I should try and sneak them back to Sam's Club for store credit and buy meat with the credit...

      Comment


        #4
        Some things are great for Instant Pot, some not. I love potatoes, beans, rice, etc. Also, the best boiled eggs (actually steamed) I have ever had. Pot roast, chili, etc. Best broth I ever made was in the Instant Pot. I have never tried a noodle dish. I tried a whole chicken, but the time in the recipe must have been off, because the chicken literally fell apart when I pulled it out. It was moist and delicious, but just fell apart. I might try it again, with the time adjusted. Pork and sauerkraut in the Instant Pot; OH MAN!!!

        Comment


        • treesmacker
          treesmacker commented
          Editing a comment
          Try this with that fall off the bone chicken... do it braising like, with water salt and pepper, and poultry seasoning. You'll end up with a terrific broth, chicken meat, skin and bones. Strain the works - save the broth. De-bone the chicken - this is the time consuming part, but worth ii for me. You end up with nice tender chicken and tasty broth. Now, make some rustic home made noodles. Just flour, eggs, and water. Roll dough flat, generously flour both sides, and then roll up into log ...

        • treesmacker
          treesmacker commented
          Editing a comment
          ... get the broth boiling, throw in the home made noodles and chicken meat, and in a few minutes you'll have a delicious thick soup - cut the noodles thick, and it turns out kinda like chicken and "dumpling noodles". Sounds crazy, but my family serves this over mashed potatoes... and we love it - kinda traditional dish that Grandma made. We used stove top pressure cooker for this for years, now easier with IP. I don't have exact details - I just wing it.

        • treesmacker
          treesmacker commented
          Editing a comment
          Oh, a few things I forgot to say... use a whole chicken. After rolling dough into log, cut perpendicular to roll, to desired noodle width, unroll individual noodles and throw into a stack with a little more flour to keep them from sticking together. A little extra flour doesn't hurt - it helps thicken the "soup".

        #5
        I would guess the pasta got on the bottom, and was burning because there was no liquid under it. Not sure how that happened. I have a breville fast/slow, which is a much better engineered Instant Pot, and haven't had that happen. But I've never done a pasta in it, as the pasta takes about the same in a 3qt sauce pan as it takes to bring the pot up to pressure and let it go for half the boil time.

        It's a rice wizard though, but not worth the time for instant rice. For basmati, and other rices that want 20 minutes of simmer, much better to bring to pressure and go, even though you only save about 5 minutes or so. quinoa, other grains, same thing. risotto.

        Made the base of my T-day gravy in it. Amazing pressure cooked drippings, then turned into gravy in a pan. Great stocks, soups, broths, stews.

        Comment


        • Frozen Smoke
          Frozen Smoke commented
          Editing a comment
          Chili and broth were both on the bottom of the pot. Then pasta then stewed tomatoes over them. The first dish I did also had pasta so I knew that pasta needed something under it. It was actually the chili that burned to the bottom so i'm guessing this must need to produce enough heat to build steam there is a potential of bottom scorching some things.

        • Potkettleblack
          Potkettleblack commented
          Editing a comment
          Wondering about the viscosity of the chili and the sugar content. From a can, I suppose, Hormel or the like.

          My breville is nonstick, so it doesn't saute as well as the Instant, but it also doesn't have a burn issue.

        #6
        I have had mostly good experiences with our Instant Pot so far. I have run into issues cooking frozen chicken breasts with broth. I had to use the wire rack to get the chicken breasts off the bottom of the pot, otherwise the machine just kept 'burning' them. We use it a lot for potatoes, rice, and pasta. I did manage to cook a full turkey breast in it for Thanksgiving. I did that just because I needed to see if it would work. It did work, but my smoked turkey blew it out of the water.

        Comment


          #7
          I concur Potkettleblack that the time it takes this thing to get up to pressure you can cook your pasta in a sauce pan and have better control. Once this thing is locked down for pressure your pretty much in it until the end of the game, no stirring things so they don't stick to the bottom!

          I keep hearing how good it is for rice. We don't make much rice but when we do it is local wild rice that is harvested locally and hand parched. It cooks differently than any other rice I have made. I use a steamer with a rice basket so i can always see what's going on with it. I need to be able to shut it down when I see it's the exact time it's ready the instant Pot won't allow for that.

          It's going to be awhile but i'm sure I will tangle with this thing again or let the wife have at it. if she don't like it it will be a give away to one of the kids.

          Comment


            #8
            You might consider following some recipes designed for the Instant Pot until you get the hang of it and then try winging it later on.

            Comment


            • Histrix
              Histrix commented
              Editing a comment
              Agreed. It's like the old saying that "if the only tool you have is a hammer then everything becomes a nail".

              A pressure cooker is not going to be the best tool for everything.

            #9
            I agree with Potkettleblack that the pasta (and specifically the penne pasta) is the likely culprit. If you google "Instant Pot Chili Mac", you'll find a bunch of recipes ... every one of which that I checked out uses elbow macaroni. I'm guessing that the size and shape of macaroni makes it less likely that it will sink to the bottom and form a mat.

            Based on your experience, if I ever try something similar in the instant pot and I've got no elbow macaroni on hand I think I'll cook the pasta separately and just stir it into the finished chili once the pot's done with everything else.

            Comment


            • Potkettleblack
              Potkettleblack commented
              Editing a comment
              That's how I would do in anyway. Pasta as a mix in.

            #10
            If all else fails, read the instructions!

            Comment


            • treesmacker
              treesmacker commented
              Editing a comment
              What!!??

            #11
            I find this happens when I sautee something, then add an ingredient that can get sticky and cook. It happened a couple times with my Orzo pasta dish that I love making. What was happening was that dumping the pasta in while the burner was still hot, was the pasta started to cook and it would stick to the bottom (like pasta does if you don't stir it up in the early stages) then start to burn. Then I decided to let the pot and burner cool down before adding the pasta and starting the cook. That seemed to prevent the burn. So now, when I sautee something, once I sautee, I add the water or broth that I'd cook the rice or pasta in and let it sit for a few minutes, then add the pasta, let THAT sit for a minute, stir it up real good, then lock on the lid and start cooking.

            Seems like 7 minutes would be too long to basically cook pasta, since everything else is already cooked. I would think it would only need 3-4 minutes at the very most, but probably less. This might have also contributed to your burn notice. I think my best pasta has been cooked for 1-2 minutes and then allowed a 4-5 minute natural pressure release (letting the pot cool without actually venting pressure), then a quick release (pressing the release valve to let the steam release quickly.) So the pasta is really cooking at pressure for 5-6 minutes or so, but doesn't need a full quick-release which can negatively affect the texture of your food, especially pasta.

            Comment


            • ItsAllGoneToTheDogs
              ItsAllGoneToTheDogs commented
              Editing a comment
              you want to use a cold liquid when deglazing after using the sautee function, This happens to me maybe 1-2x per year. Definitely frustrating, but not the norm.

            • Buck Flicks
              Buck Flicks commented
              Editing a comment
              Interesting. Now that you mention it, that's what happened on my first try with the orzo. Still, I think your penne would be done after 3-4 minutes, especially if you're going to slow cook/warm it in the crock all day long. I might cook the pasta by itself, then add all the other ingredients and let that run on the slow cook mode.

            • Buck Flicks
              Buck Flicks commented
              Editing a comment
              By the by, my crock pot has clamps for the lid for transport. It's the best thing ever, especially for getting my chili from the kitchen to the chili cook-off.

              Read reviews and buy Crock-Pot 6qt Programmable Cook & Carry Slow Cooker Black SCCPVLF605-B at Target. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more.

            #12
            I got the burn warning a couple times but then it went away, reached pressure and nothing was burnt on the bottom.

            Curious, I poked around and found out that "overheat" was re-named "burn". This can be caused by using saute then going right into pressure. The recommended fix is to hit cancel, remove inner pot and let everything cool down for a few.

            My wife is happy, just discovered medium cooked hard boiled eggs...the shells slide right off.

            You can leave if you want, but eventually you'll come grovelling back.

            Comment


            • Timbo54
              Timbo54 commented
              Editing a comment
              Love this thread as I'm on the fence in buying one. Jumbo Hard boiled eggs in my Mirro-Matic pressure cooker set at 5 psi will take 15min. and the shells peel very easy.

            #13
            My wife is borrowing an Instant Pot to try out to see if we want to buy one. She is doing some Asian short ribs this evening for the first test. My guess is we won't really see the need for it. My wife and I are both home all day so we don't really need "quick meals after work" type of foods. But we will see.

            Comment


            • Buck Flicks
              Buck Flicks commented
              Editing a comment
              That's the main attraction for me - being able to cook a meal in a fraction of the time. It's also very easy. I just made some Asian baby backs (but marinated in the Korean short-rib style) they were delicious, but lacked the crusty/smoky goodness that would have come from properly smoking them.

            #14
            We made jasmine rice in it last night. Worked like a charm. The actual cook time was 4 minutes. I didn't time the pressure build up or the pressure release time.

            Comment


              #15
              Yeah it's sounding like this thing just has to many quirks to it to make it real useful compared to just doing things in the standard way. Boiling your pasta and then mixing it in after, sauteing in it and then taking the pot out to let it cool before you proceed to the next step, the time it takes to pressurize and then release pressure....meh, I'm getting pretty disenchanted with this gadget.

              I'm going back to my stick burner now.

              Comment


              • ItsAllGoneToTheDogs
                ItsAllGoneToTheDogs commented
                Editing a comment
                why would you boil the pasta first unless the recipe requires the pasta to be rinsed before adding to a sauce? We make chili, pulled pork (well not any more now that I have my MAK), chicken breasts, rice dishes, and hard boiled eggs most often. The problem you had is rare. I'd suggest a few other recipes before throwing the towel in. Even if you only used it every other week, the time savings in most recipes is priceless.

              • Attjack
                Attjack commented
                Editing a comment
                Pressure cookers are pretty standard equipment though. These just have a few more features. They are good for some things and not others just like regular pressure cookers. Unlike a slow cooker I definitely found it to have a learning curve. I also feel like a pressure cooker of some sort should be a part of any well-equipped kitchen. If you haven't given up on it already maybe start here next time you want to use it. https://www.seriouseats.com/tags/pressure%20cooker

              • Buck Flicks
                Buck Flicks commented
                Editing a comment
                Well, normally you wouldn't, Dogs... I suggested cooking the pasta first for this particular recipe because everything else being added was already cooked, and didn't technically need to be cooked at pressure. It just needed to be warmed up.

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