Smithy

Tomato ketchup?

I didn't try Steam Bake this time around. That was a disaster last week when I tried it on the mini-hash-rounds. I understand that steam bake is the counterintuitive favorite amongst this crowd, but I was afraid to try it so quickly following on the last disaster.

Right out of the box, there's a difference between the IP Duo-60 and the IP Ultra 60: the pressure control and relief valves. The system is more automatic than before. There's a warning tag with a tie around the relief valve; it's difficult to miss. I decided to try the pressure-cooking mode first. It really is a set-and-forget mode. I've been working lately with equipment that requires pushing a knob, turning it for a different mode, pressing it again (and so on) so I had no trouble with the controls. There are instructions for those who don't find it as easy, but I'll be happy to provide more detail for those interested. Maybe it's just because I like progress reports (although I hated them when required to give them to my bosses) but I really like the screen that shows the status of the program. It's bright and easy to read: what mode, how far along, and what's happening inside? At this point, the pressure was building. The timer had not started, and would not start until the pressure had reached the "high" point. Note the difference in the graph between the right and left photos. The bottom snap in this collage shows that the pressure "button" had closed and pressure was on the rise. After the pressure reached the set point, the timer began. ...and because I wandered away to do other household chores, it kept track as the temperature and pressure dropped after the cooking time had elapsed. In this photo, it was done cooking and had switched to the "keep warm" cycle as the temperature and pressure dropped. I don't have photos of the steam release, because I don't have enough hands, but I will say that after allowing the pot to sit for 20 minutes on natural release it was as uneventful as with my IP Duo-60...and it was easier, because I simply had to push a button down instead of twisting a valve. I still took the precaution of covering the vents with a towel. The last test I did tonight - and, alas, the last test I'm likely to do for a couple of days - was to see what this IP Ultra 60 thinks it can do for temperature control in slow cooker mode. If it can really accomplish this range of temperatures, it will be a marvel. Tests to come in a day or three. Tests of the other functions need to come along too. What would y'all like to see? The idea is to put my IP Duo-60 and this IP Ultra60 alongside each other and compare their performance. I have enough kitchen circuitry for this feat. The electrician who wired this kitchen would be proud.

Whee! Look what turned up at my house! This is my opportunity to evaluate the Instant Pot Ultra 60 and compare it to the Instant Pot IP Duo-60 that I already have. Where the IP Duo-60 has plenty of functions, the Ultra has more functions AND that control knob that promises finer control of temperature. Maybe it fine-tunes other parameters as well, but I've been especially interested in temperature. DH and I have been pining for a slow cooker that offers a better temperature setpoint than "low" and "high" or "low", "medium" and "high". Will this be it? A couple of extras -- lagniappes, as folks in some parts of the USA would say -- were included. We have all read about the tendency of the gaskets to pick up off-odors from, er, assertive ingredients such as garlic or onion, and the need for extra gaskets so that sweets aren't contaminated with off-odors. The other lagniappe is a pair of nesting steamer baskets. One fits inside the other so it can be added or removed at will. It's a perfect arrangement for cases where two ingredients need different steaming times. I'm all ears for suggestions.

I'm playing with my new Cuisinart Combo Convection Steam Oven and realizing / recognizing that it won't replace my air fryer...and that I need a separate toaster. My DH quipped this morning, "I wonder how many of your eGullet friends have run themselves out of counter space?" Tonight it was CSO-fried fish and air-fryer-fried mini-hash rounds, along with microwaved asparagus and toaster-toasted toast. A lot of appliances were in use, at staggered times to keep the goddesses of the breaker box happy. This was a new brand of prepared fish for us. I cooked it in the CSO, 450F for 18 minutes, flipping once through as recommended. In my opinion it still wasn't as crisp as it should be, so I put a couple of pieces in the air fryer and crisped them up more. The color was better and crisper (see upper right picture in the collage for comparison) but the fish flesh was pretty much reduced to smithereens, or maybe flinders, or even cotton filaments. The mini-hash rounds were perfect. The asparagus was nicely cooked but inadequate in quantity. Next, I may haul out the deep fryer I picked up for a song at a garage sale and compare its results to these. The point, of course, is to use less oil...but if the results are unsatisfying, why bother?

Glorious!

Welcome to middle age, @Shelby. 😉

Don't forget northern Minnesota!

@sartoric, that's high praise for a recipe. Do you have a link that you can share?

Good point. I tried some potato hash-brown thingies (somewhere between the size of 'tater tots' and fast-food-joint hash rounds) last week and made the mistake of trying them on steam/convection bake. They wilted, and turned into balls of mush.

I'm afraid the crabcakes were of the "as long as it takes" variety. I think, but did not record to be sure, that I cooked them at 400F convection bake for about 20 minutes. I watched carefully, in between trips downstairs to reset the breakers, until the crust seemed right. I also flipped them at least twice...maybe 3 times...to ensure good browning. It was certainly no more than 30 minutes all told. We thought afterward that setting the crab cakes on a rack might have eliminated the need for flipping. That will be another test.

I recently purchased a Cuisinart Combo Steam Convection Oven (CSO for short) and have been putting it through its paces. Tonight I tested a recipe from the booklet that had come with the CSO for brussels sprouts with pancetta. After those were done I put some crab cakes (from our grocery store deli) in under convection baking. Meanwhile, sweet corn on the cob cooked in the microwave and bread toasted in the toaster. That's when we learned that the microwave, the toaster and the CSO are all on the same circuit. The breaker panel says otherwise. We'll have to be more careful about balancing the loads in the future.

Oh yeah...I'd forgotten about that one too!

"The Big Easy" = the Green Egg? Thanks for the info about the Naan in a Caan.* I hadn't thought of it, but now if I hear about it I won't be tempted. *(Shelby, I hope you have a sleepless night for that earworm, because I sure will)

No need to be embarrassed about that! Thanks for the info! Oh, did you toast the bread before putting the tuna on, then broil afterward? I'm trying to work out how toasties should be made (talk about embarrassing)...

Thanks for taking one for the team!

Wow! Please tell more about the salad, and the method.

Sounds like something one would use so as to see The Mummy coming in the dark.

I should think "Corpse preventer" would be a better summary of her profession. Purple was one color available for casts...what were the other choices? Is there a significance to the purple?

"Remove the paddles"...now, why didn't I think of that? Thanks, @andiesenji!

Oh, the stories we're told as children -- indeed! I don't remember whether I was told that eating the bread crust on my sandwiches would curl my hair or put hair on my chest -- maybe both, at different times. Either way, it didn't come to pass. We made up for last night's excesses with a Caprese salad (how I love summer tomatoes!) and fresh bread. I posted about the bread here. In this iteration it was sliced, slathered with garlic-infused oil and butter, and then broiled and toasted in the CSO. Frankly, neither of us could taste the garlic but it was good otherwise. The bread made a good crisp sop for the salad juices.

When you do, I'll be interested to know your opinion.

I just called the cook. She says it's basically her own invention, somewhere between a conventional shepherd's pie and a pasty. It's a double-crust meat pie with mashed potatoes at the bottom (to soak up juices) instead of as a topping, with some celery, carrots, mushrooms and ground beef that had been par-cooked before going into the pan, and of course the potatoes were cooked before being mashed. She says she says the crust is a "really basic" pate brisee, although she didn't put salt in it because she knew the meat dish would already be salty. To accommodate the electic oven she was using, she put the pie on the bottom rack and shielded the pie on top until the pie was mostly cooked, if I understood her correctly. She gave an entertaining description of how she gets better results making the pastry by hand with a pastry blender and swooshing the mixture around rather than using an electronic device such as a food processor; she credits America's Test Kitchen with the technique. Feel free to ask more questions...she's lurking, and will either correct me privately or join the group. Of course I'm encouraging the latter option.

My first attempt at baking bread in the CSO is encouraging. I tried a recipe for ciabatta from Nick Malgieri's cookbook, A Baker's Tour. This book jumped into my bag at some library book sale or other, but I've never gotten beyond admiring and aspiring until now. It's a bit jarring to see baking recipes that use volume measurements instead of weight, but I didn't feel like digging out my notes from the Peter Reinhart online class I took. Besides, it's time to try this book or give it away. Oven spring and browning were wonderful. I used the Bread cycle in the CSO, and had to adjust the temperature: first, because the CSO on that cycle doesn't go as high as the recommended 500F and the second, because it was clear that the larger loaf was cooking too quickly. These loaves took 3 separate baking sessions; I began with half the batch as the first loaf, then broke the second half into 2 separate, smaller loaves that I tried to flatten slightly for purposes of making sandwich buns. The big loaf began at 450F and I ended up lowering the temperature to something like 275F for the last 10 minutes to reach the proper internal temperature. The buns cooked at 400F for 20 - 25 minutes on bread cycle, and they look right. The large loaf's crust was crackly at first, but already isn't. It's humid today. The crumb wasn't as open as I'd have liked. That might have been my technique or the recipe, but I surely can't fault the oven! I'm having buttered toast right now. Couldn't wait for dinner. It's rather a bland recipe, compared with others I've tried. Next time I'll try a different bread recipe. Still, this was a nice way to try out the oven's bread cycle. I'm pleased.

I didn't cook any of this, but last night's dinner with good friends simply has to be shared. Their daughter, an inveterate baker, outdid herself with a shepherd's pie with a crust worthy of being included in the Sister Pie cookbook. Their garden contributed beautiful broccoli that was perfectly steamed and served with a vinaigrette to be added at will. There was also a small pitcher of gravy to be added to the pie at will. We contributed (the first bottle of) wine. Here's dinner: It was all finished with a lovely rhubarb crisp, coffee, and liqueurs of our choice. Holy smokes, what a meal. The parents are excellent cooks in their own right, but it's a marvel they let the daughter move away! Not shown: the sparkling conversation. It was a wonderful evening.