blue_dolphin

Yesterday my cousin and I cooked a big turkey, stuffing and gravy at my house to bring to a dinner at his daughter's home. The Instant-Pot proved the perfect tool to transport the gravy and keep it warm at the event. Used the locking lid for the car ride and switched to a glass one for the warming part. Very handy.

That could well be the case. It's possible that the high temp/pressure combo can release more volatile compounds. I also think that the sealed pressure cooker can sequester some of those odoriferous components that are usually released gradually into the kitchen atmosphere during conventional cooking so your naive olfactory system gets a big dose of them when you open the cooker. In a regular pot on the stove, your olfactory receptors would be more gradually be exposed to slowly increasing levels of these components and develop a bit of tolerance as they dissipate through your space. Nuisance odors can be a factor in any work environment although modern hospitals tend to be pretty good in terms of air changes and filtering. With the usual odd exception that sucks all the loading dock or trash autoclave exhaust fumes directly into the staff break room!

I'd bet you could make creative use of the Sauté function for a quicker-cooking proteins. Obviously that's not a walk-away-from activity but could be an option if you had the time. And easy enough to hit "cancel" and remove the food if you get a call.

I've recently candied lime, lemon and mandarin peels with this pressure cooker method, described by Laura Pazzaglia, who posts here on pressure-cooker topics. It's not a high-volume method as the recipe cautions that it is important that the volume be kept below the 1/2 full line of the cooker and that pressure be allowed to release slowly. I'm sure this is to prevent the sort of disaster that @andiesenji describes above, which would no doubt ensue if that caution were disregarded. While this doesn't address @pastrygirl's need to make a lot of candied product quickly (and wouldn't be much help since it's more than 6 years late!) but if one needed a modest amount of candied peel (say 5-10 fruits worth) to garnish a dessert or other confection, this method can get you there in a couple of hours, with less hands-on time than the microwave method. I used the Instant-Pot electric pressure cooker so it's particularly easy but the recipe includes instructions for both electric and stove-top pressure cookers. Just thought I'd add this small bit to a great thread that contains so much wonderful information.

The Instant-Pot community convinced me that I should have a spare silicone sealing ring. They are currently $9.95 sold by Instant-pot on Amazon (with Prime shipping but out of stock until 12/24) if anyone else feels similarly inclined.

Those are very pretty little bottles, @Jmahl! I made a number of ____-cellos for holiday gifts this year. Regular lemon with lemons from a friend's tree. A lime version from my tree and this Grapefruit-Rosemary version: Plus some non-alcoholic lime and cranberry-lime cordials. I did some last minute tasting and tweaking and bottled them up the other day right before heading out to a party and had to laugh out loud when I came home and surveyed the mess I'd left on the kitchen island. It was covered with at least 10 empty vodka and wine bottles, small shot glasses that I'd used for tasting and a scattering of measuring beakers and transfer pipettes. It looked like a mad scientist had gone on a bender! Time to get those empties washed out so I can get some new batches going!

I'm glad a solution is on the way and I hope you will post about your cooking endeavors with that beautiful pot, @Jaymes. I have been coveting it ever since I saw it in the RG newsletter - it looks so lovely, I want to touch it and smell it and cook beans in it! Oh my pot, is that RG mixteca pot a thing of beauty! However, I have plenty of nice bean cooking options: so I can't really justify the purchase right now and I'm hoping to cook vicariously through your pot. I'll get out my lovely black La Chamba and hold it when I read your reports!

What a great spread, Shelby. I had to google "pickle dip" - is there no end to the things eGullet prompts me to research and learn about ???

Sorry about the plate but very witty use of its remains. And great looking burger!

I'm guessing the pink stuff is prickly pear fruit. Tipped off by @FauxPas's great post about the Desert Rain Cafe. By the way, @Smithy, I am amazed at the meals you turn out in your mobile kitchen - lots of creativity going on there!

The Desert Rain Café and the San Xavier Festival would form the nucleus of a great road trip! And that time in the spring should be a lovely time to visit that area. I've got to make a note of this!

Yes, I was! I grew up in northern NY and still get a kick out of the novelty of my very own citrus trees out back! And IP-related, I candied the peels from some satsuma mandarins (my mandarin tree is still a baby compared with that big old lime, not too many fruit yet) yesterday. To be dipped in dark chocolate today.

And @Darienne, your orange julep talk has me wanting to make one, too! I grew up in northern New York in a town with an Orange Julep stand shaped like a giant orange and serving what were probably knock-offs of the Montreal area Orange Juleps. Always cracked me up to see that enormous orange dusted with snow for much of the year!

There are some previous threads that may give you some ideas of what people like about different solutions they are using. Evernote seems quite popular and it's not cooking-specific so you may find other uses for it. Organizing Recipes from Several Sources Organizing what you've learned at eGullet Storing, Tracking, and Accessing Favorite Recipes

Is this because you want to avoid any seeds? Sometimes navels are the only game in town but if other varieties are available, I would encourage you to consider them, even if you have to pick out some seeds. I have 2 trees, a navel and something that might be a Valencia. They tend to get ripe at different times and I use them interchangeably. The navels get sweeter when they are totally ripe but I think the others are more flavorful. I think the heavy-for-size and sniff-test are the best guides although the waxes they use can confound the nose!

Not to mention pot envy!

My laundry sink (and the washer and dryer) are out in the garage but I appreciate that sink for washing big stuff. In my last place, I had to use the bathtub!

I usually avoid serving soups at buffet-style parties as it can mean balancing both a plate AND a cup or bowl for the soup, plus the need to put out forks AND spoons but when I have done it, the soup has been a hit. And I absolutely love the idea of using a collection of Christmas mugs for the soup.

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit that I figured I'd try making it first and then worry about what to do with it later! I've never had good candied lime peel so I want to taste it when it's done and see what I think. I love to nibble on good candied orange peel, either dipped in dark chocolate or not. For the lime peels, I may try dipping some in white chocolate or including them in a bark with dried cherries or cranberries and nuts. I certainly plan to finely chop some and include them in baked goods - cookies, scones, etc. And I think they will make a pretty garnish if I ever get a little springform pan for the IP and try a little lime cheesecake!

OK. I'm back. Nice thing about the Instant-Pot is that I was able to run out and leave it alone. I don't usually leave heat-producing appliances in an "on" position when I leave the house, but all was well. Here are some of the peels drying on parchment after being boiled in the sugar syrup. Reserved syrup is in the cup to the left. The recipe specified cutting the peels about as wide as they are thick so these thin-skinned limes ended up being cut fairly finely. Hopefully that helped get the bitterness out and sugar in. They taste fine. There's a slight touch of bitterness, but I like that little tingle on the tongue. Not unpleasantly bitter at all. After drying for about 15 min, these guys got tossed with regular white granulated sugar. I packed some of them into a small jar with the syrup in case I want to use them that way. The recipe says to put them in the fridge to dry for 4 hrs - overnight. Not sure why as other recipes I've read caution against putting them in the fridge. No room in there anyway so they will dry at RT. Should be OK. So Cal isn't overly dry or humid at the moment. I figure I'll shake off the excess sugar tonight or tomorrow and see if they want another toss in the sugar or look ready to package up. No final results yet, but overall, very promising. 5 lemons (or limes like I used) isn't a ton of peel so I think it would be easy enough to pilot this out with a small batch even if you don't have lots of peel on hand. You just want all the peels to be submerged in syrup for that final cook.

OK. There is really no need for these pictures since the ones on the hippressurecooking site are just fine but I took them so here you go. Limes on the tree: Note they are turning yellow and falling off into the rosemary underneath. 5 limes, weighing ~ 1 lb chosen for our experiment today. They look nice and juicy: Juiced. I got ~ 10 oz juice from these guys. I will use it to make some preserved limes. Pulp scraped out. The recipe suggested a melon baller to loosen the pulp but I found the tip of a sharp knife worked better for me. Once started, it's easy to pull the pulp off the skins. In the cooker for the first cook in water: I was tempted to repeat that step to reduce the bitterness but tasted a piece after that first boil and it wasn't terribly bitter so I'll just go with the recipe as written. Also tempted to sub in some portion of lime juice into the sugar:water mixture for the second boil to give them a little more tang but I'll go with the recipe. I've got to go out to an appointment before the pressure releases from the second boil so I'll report on my results later.

Thanks for posting that. I will certainly give this a try with some of the limes from my tree. I have read many warnings about candied lime peels being too bitter and was reluctant to go through a lengthy process to come up with nasty, bitter peels but this is quick enough to try and adjust again if they don't work the first time. Lord knows I've got plenty of limes!

In preparation for the most recent forum upgrade, there was discussion of establishing a "rating" option for Recipe Gullet entries. If that had happened, this is one I would have given my very top rating! They come out nicely toasted with just the lightest coating of sugar and spice so the nuts are the star of the show - light and crisp, not sticky or gooey. The version I printed out years ago (Spicy Sweet Walnuts.pdf) gives a range of 1/2 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of cayenne and depending on the use, I like them on the spicier end of that range. This method works great with pecans and I've tried it with almonds and hazelnuts and they are OK but those smoother nuts can't pick up as much of the coating as the nooks and crannies in walnuts and pecans. Other spices are fun to play with, too. I like a mix of cayenne and chipotle the best. I make them all year but thought I'd give them a plug now since it's the season and all! My top rating: *****!

I believe these would be best classified within the Russian Tea Cake/Mexican Wedding Cookie spectrum. There is a nice mix of finely ground (for a crumbly texture) and chopped (for crunch) nuts. Both walnuts and almonds, I think. Very nice with a cup of coffee!

I received a little tin of Christmas cookies and chocolates in the mail yesterday, so breakfast is coffee and cookies..... ....and chocolate!