JAZ

In my books, when I call for half an onion, or a small onion, I give a volume amount as well. So the ingredient list will read "1/2 small onion, chopped (about 1/4 cup)". I figure if I give both, then the reader will know both what to start with (half a small onion) and what they want to end up with (1/4 cup of chopped onions). I use weights when I think it will make sense to my readers, as in "1/2 pound red potatoes," but my editors almost always want an equivalent, in this case, the number of potatoes. I don't think that's very useful, but the editors make the rules, so I follow them. One thing to keep in mind is that it's not always the recipe writer who makes these decisions -- I'd love to use more weights in my recipes, but my editors have a specific audience in mind, and they don't think their readers will have a kitchen scale. So I have to deal with that, or not write for them.

That's interesting to me. What I like about my toaster is that it can brown (not char) the outsides of the bread without drying it out. I like a moist interior and crusty exterior. I'm not sure that my toaster is quick, but it gives me that result.

Here's mine, if you're interested. http://hecooks-shecooks.com/french-onion-soup/. I should note that I don't finish it the way most diners do -- I don't cover the top with cheese and bread and broil it. I just float a cheese crouton on top.

I developed my recipe by accident, when I had some leftovers to use up. I had stock left from mushroom risotto, which was chicken stock infused with dried porcini. It wasn't quite enough to make soup, but I also had some jus leftover from French dip sandwiches. That was beef stock flavored with sherry, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme. I used both -- about 2 parts chicken stock to 1 part beef -- along with onions cooked two ways, and it was by far the best French onion soup I'd ever made, and one of the best I'd tasted. I recently made a batch without beef stock (but with the thyme, W. sauce, and sherry) because the container of beef stock I thought I had didn't exist. It was very good, but not quite as good with some beef stock. As far as what's traditional, I think Ruhlman is probably right that originally it was made with water, since it is, at base, a peasant soup. But I think he's wrong in thinking that the's the best way to make it. Julia Child, Craig Claiborne and James Beard all call for beef stock (Claiborne says good beef stock is more important than onions, which seems misguided to me). Perhaps the large number of recipes that call for chicken stock hark back to the days when canned chicken stock was better than canned beef stock. The cookbook Cook's Illustrated Best Recipes calls for a combination of canned chicken and beef stock along with red wine to avoid calling for homemade beef stock. In short, I think any of those choices are fine, as long as you like the results.

Kim, when I was developing recipes for pork tenderloin in the IP, I found that it's possible to do it a couple of different ways, depending on what else (if anything) I was cooking with it. But it takes an amazingly short time to cook under pressure. (I almost always sear first, so take that into account.) I have one recipe in Instant Pot Obsession where I cook it with cabbage and noodles, so after searing and lightly browning the vegetables, I added liquid and noodles, and cooked for 4 minutes low pressure, because that's what i use for noodles. That was with quick release. If I'm just doing the tenderloin on its own, I sometimes cook it for even less time, but let the pressure release naturally for 8 minutes or so. The other thing to note is that I generally get tenderloins that are a bit smaller -- more like 1.25 pounds, and I cut them in half to get two shorter pieces because I find they fit better in the pot. Pork loin, of course, is a different cut and takes different timing. I found it much trickier than tenderloin.

Many people do, myself included. I don't do it often, but when I was working on my Instant Pot books, I included several recipes that cook pasta along with the sauce and other ingredients. It can work very well as long as you're careful to choose ingredients that cook at the same rate, get the liquid level right, and don't overcook the pasta. So, for instance, I have a recipe for ramen noodles, which of course cook very quickly, paired with shrimp and broccoli, both of which cook in the time the noodles do (pretty much the time it takes the pot to come to pressure, so no time actually cooking, with a quick release). I also have one for penne with sausage and peppers, which takes a bit longer -- 4 minutes cooking time, with quick release.

The Instant Pot will automatically cycle on and off to keep a (relatively) stable temperature. If you have an electric stove, your burners will do that as well, but the difference is that the heating element in the Instant Pot is smaller in area. Of course if you have a gas stove, there's no cycling -- the flame is on all the time. It seems to me that the scorching on the bottom of your pot was probably caused by too high a heat and insufficient stirring. It's possible to get scorched food in an Instant Pot, but if you're cooking with the lid off (just to reduce a sauce, for instance), the heating element is designed to minimize that.

Sorry I wasn't clear. I don't use the IP for my eggs. Some electric multi-cookers can steam without pressure, but Instant Pots can't (as far as I know -- maybe the newest model can).

When I was researching my pressure cooker books, I tried low and high pressure and altered the times and other variables, and what I found was that everything makes a difference with pressure cooked eggs. Once I used the same amount of water, the same sized eggs, the same time and the same release, but used a different (higher) trivet, and the eggs were underdone. What I suggest in my books is to experiment until you get the results you want, and then do everything exactly the same -- amount of water, temp and size of the eggs, trivet or egg rack, time and release time. Despite all the eggs I've pressure cooked and despite that I've gotten pretty good at it, I still steam eggs without pressure and get much more reliable and forgiving results.

When I use fruit in salads, I often use a "savory" spice or two -- a little cumin and ancho chile with pineapple, or aleppo pepper with watermelon, or celery seed in a mix of apples, celery and shaved sharp cheddar. In desserts, I tend to like a little spice since without it the dessert can just seem unrelentingly sweet. But I do agree that it's easy to overdo.

As Smithy mentioned, I have a recipe for pressure steaming eggs and potatoes together for potato salad (4 minutes, high pressure); the eggs come out with completely solid, pale yellow yolks. If you're after a softer, darker yolk, you could cut the time by a minute. That being said, despite all the eggs I've cooked in the Instant Pot, I find that steaming them without pressure gives the most reliable results. Under pressure (low or high), it seems that the tiniest variable can make a big difference in how they come out, and pressure cooking takes about the same time total as non-pressure steaming. I bring an inch or so of water to a boil, then add the eggs in a steamer basket and cover the pot. Thirteen minutes will give you completely set, pale yellow yolks; 10 minutes will result in softer dark yellow yolks (not runny).

Welcome!

Thanks, everyone. Your answers were helpful. Another quick question -- has anyone successfully cooked gluten free pasta in the Instant Pot?

I'm doing some research for a client, who wants to know what people cook most in multicookers, specifically the top 10 foods. For me personally, (in no particular order) it would be pork shoulder, chuck roast, short ribs, chicken thighs, beans, and cheesecake -- after that, it drops off quite a bit, but probably pasta and sauce combinations, bread puddings and custards, beets and sweet potatoes. What else? What do you cook most often?

After trying several different brands and styles of towels, we've been disappointed with all of them. They've all started out reasonably absorbent, but after washing with a little bleach, they become less and less so (as I mentioned above, we're really hard on towels). Finally, we tried a more expensive brand -- Gryeer Microfiber Kitchen Towels. So far, they've been amazing. For instance, I placed a wet sieve on one, and it wicked away all the water in the mesh pretty much instantly. And after use, they dry out quickly, so there's no worry about mildew. They're more expensive than the other towels we've tried and they need a bit more care in the wash cycle, but so far, they're worth the money and effort. We reserve them for drying hands and dishes, and use cheap cotton bar mops for spills and cleaning, and as potholders.

I pretty much have to include crustless quiche recipes in my Instant Pot books, so I've made quite a few. While -- for me personally -- the crust is what makes a quiche, I will say that pressure cooking does make an exceptionally creamy quiche filling. But keep in mind that if you like a browned top, you'll need to give it a few minutes under the broiler after.

When I was writing the book, I asked my contact at Ninja about that and was told it reaches 7.25 psi on low pressure and 11.6 psi on high pressure. The working temps at sea level, according to my contact, are 233F on low pressure and 244F on high.

I didn't test duck in it, so I'm afraid I don't have any advice. I did cook chicken thighs (bone-in, skin on) -- pressure cooked for 5 minutes, with 12 minutes at 375 under the crisping lid. Not sure if that helps or not.

The area of a 9" circle is 63.62". The area of a 6" circle is 28.27". I don't get how 3 x 28.27 = 63.62. I've done a lot of research reducing dessert recipes, and although you don't have to be exact, you need to be closer than that.

I've written one book for both stove top and electric pressure cookers, and one (with another in the works) specifically for the Instant Pot, so I have a fair amount of experience with both. First, an Instant Pot is a "true" pressure cooker. That is, it cooks under pressure. And most Instant Pot models have low and high pressure settings (only the LUX has only high). It's true that in most cases, stove top PCs cook at a higher pressure than electric pressure cookers. When I was researching my first book, I found that the difference in psi didn't translate into much difference in cooking, with a few exceptions. There is less oversight required with an electric pressure cooker, since you don't have to regulate the heat. On the other hand, they do take longer to come to pressure. And they do take up more room than a stove top cooker. As for the settings I use regularly, I stick mostly with the Manual (in older models) or Pressure Cook function. I do sometimes use the Steam setting, since it heats faster, and sometimes that's helpful. There are several reasons I don't use the preset functions. First, the preset times never seem to correspond with the cooking times I want, so I'd have to change the time anyway, so it's not a time saver. Second, Instant Pot keeps changing the preset functions on different models, and since I don't know what models my readers have, I don't want to give directions that they might not be able to follow. And even though my books are written for Instant Pots, I know that owners of other brands of cookers buy the books, so I want to make them useful for those readers too. As for how often I use an Instant Pot, that depends on whether I'm researching recipes for a book or not. Some Instant Pot devotees want to cook everything in one, and so I try to come up with a wide variety of recipes that use them. When I'm not working on book recipes, I use an Instant Pot regularly for several dishes -- pork shoulder and chuck roast, beans, dense root vegetables like beets. If I didn't have the Instant Pots, I'd probably use my stove top pressure cookers, but I like the convenience of the electric ones.

When I was developing recipes, I found the best kind of recipes (to my way of thinking, at least) were the kinds of dishes that people ordinarily start under pressure and then transfer to the broiler or grill. So, for instance, ribs or chicken wings started in the pressure cooker, then browned with sauce under the air crisper. I did a Southwestern braised beef dish and finished it with a cornbread topping, which was a success. Fruit crisps and crumbles worked well for desserts. My contacts at Ninja kept suggesting recipes that started with frozen foods cooked under pressure and then "crisped," but I was able to avoid that.

We have a counter with no cabinets over it, which is where I always used the Ninja. When I was testing it, I thought it might be problematic if used under cabinets, but I never had to do that.

One of the recipes I developed for the book was for egg rolls -- I made the filling under pressure, then filled and "air crisped" the rolls. I was pleased with them. Not exactly like fried, but definitely crisp. I haven't used other air fryers, so I don't know if this is typical, but since the crisping lid only heats from the top, anything you want to get crisp on both sides has to be turned over halfway through cooking. I didn't notice a lot of exhaust when I used it but I was using it in a place that was pretty well ventilated.

I consulted with Ninja when they were developing this product and was then approached to write a cookbook for it. It was a really interesting project. I'd say that for someone who doesn't already have an electric pressure cooker and air fryer, it's worth considering. I'm happy to answer any questions about it -- I used it for several months developing recipes for the book.

When I was testing eggs for my book, I found them to be really temperamental. For me, this is what works: eggs right from the fridge on the trivet, 1 cup of water, 4 to 5 minutes high pressure. Quick release then into an ice bath to cool. But if I ever did anything different, I got different results. One time I just used a different trivet (taller) and the eggs were more like soft boiled. I hate to say it since I'm working on a new Instant Pot book, but when I need to hard cook eggs, I use a regular steamer. After the water comes to a boil, 13 minutes results in yolks cooked to solid pale yellow. 10 minutes gets you yolks that are dark orange and soft in the center.