Deryn

Melissa - I would say there is very little to no heat added to the ambient air when using the IP. The sides get a bit warm but I can touch them during cooking - probably because the actual insert is shielded from the outside by a bit of air space between it and the outer 'pot'. When one opens the pot after cooking, a bit of heat will obviously escape but otherwise, since there is no open element heating up the air and a regular pressure cooker is all one piece of metal, I think one could safely say it is much 'cooler' in the kitchen when using the IP. Works well in summer. In winter you may actually want it to heat your kitchen, I guess. I will let Anna answer for herself but that is my experience.

I love this series too - but I just checked and I guess I just missed the 1st of the series an hour or so ago and the next 3 are airing at 3 AM (i.e. well in the middle of the night)! Sigh.

Okanagancook - Thank you. Glad you saw a bit of what I was talking about. Now I know I am not as crazy as I was beginning to think I might be. I love MKR - it was the reason I subscribed last year - and I too love Rick Stein and Nick and Paul. And there have been quite a few others as well that I enjoyed. On the other hand, I don't think they should try to compete with Netflix by showing 'food-related movies' and guys like Carlo Rota and this new 'I am just leaving home and don't know a thing about cooking' girl make me turn the channel every time. Aside from that there just seems to be a little too much 'perkiness' creeping in lately. And I don't mind their new 'recipe sojourns' (I guess they haven't sold many ads) but they could kill that horrible musak on those too. Hope these trends don't persist. Or maybe I am just getting old. Hope it is them, not me. There have been many great shows - I am just really sad to see what I have seen this summer. They claimed no re-runs (though that has not been true) ... but .. this experimenting by doing 2 hours in that restaurant is far worse than a re-run in my humble opinion. I pay over $150 a month JUST for basic Bell tv service, a couple of boxes that work and one which doesn't (but they can't figure out why - meantime I keep paying) plus this one channel. Seems like enough to me but maybe I should be glad it is not $4 US right now. I would be thrilled to dump all the other (non)channels and just pay the $4 for Gusto instead - since when the tv is on, it really is still on that channel most of the time. I don't 'want' to cancel .. I am just tempted to right now. and rotuts - you are welcome, eh .. I think.

Glorious ribs, Anna. Since you ate so much I gather the recipe is a winner. I bookmarked it. Sleep well and have a good day out tomorrow. And somewhere I read that the minimum is 1/2 cup liquid - and I think that is probably sufficient in most cases, especially since meats and vegetables give off water as they are cooking. In fact, I browned some chicken the other day and didn't add any water and when I opened the lid I had almost 3 cups of liquid. I would not recommend that (I don't want to be sued) but it worked for me and nothing stuck either.

In Canada, we have a relatively new tv channel (it was a $4 add-on channel for my satellite service), out of Ottawa, Ontario, called GustoTV. I have been loving that they were primarily airing programs from Australia, New Zealand and Britain, along with a few from Canadian cooks but they are already going downhill really, really fast and I find that so sad. Granted the programs were often a year or two behind their debuts I am sure but since I could not get them at all, I was just thrilled to have something that was NOT HGTV or FOOD Tv. These programs really were MUCH better than anything produced in the US in many years (except perhaps by PBS) as far as I am concerned. It seems that this local entity is now determined to hire people who have never seen anything BUT perky unskilled Food TV type chefs in their lives (or they are told to emulate those) and that they think this is what we want to see. Recent local Canadian programs and hosts have been mostly nauseating to say the least (and I hate to give bad reviews - especially of Canadian endeavours but these are bad!) They are now making 'original programs' (probably to keep the Canadian content up) that have been getting progressively worse by the week, but the one last night was beyond bad. It was HORRENDOUS. If you love elevator music (3 bars of which are repeated endlessly - no words), NO introduction, no 'commentary' - not even an explanation about what restaurant one is viewing - other than to let you know that you are looking at live feed from a restaurant on a BUSY Saturday night - for TWO hours straight - and endlessly watching (silent) people standing around twiddling their thumbs, wiping off for the 10th time a group of clean dishes waiting for their contents to be dumped in them or reaching out of camera range for who knows what or surreptitiously licking their fingers (hello, health department - were YOU tuned in?), get GustoTV today! Me .. I think I am going to cancel. I will miss a few programs but this has just gotten too sad even for a measly $4/month. Canadians - we CAN do better than this! We have Anna Olsen, Ricardo, Michael Smith, and a host of others who already DO better than this by a long shot! I know busy in Ottawa on a Saturday night is not like busy in NYC on a Tuesday but this was sooooo slow and draggy and I can't imagine they had more than 10 people at tables beyond our view. Has anyone else ever actually watched a 2 hour 'presentation' like the above? And if you did, was it better than what I have described? And did you like it? Would you think that was a good idea?

Your soup looks great, Anna. I cannot tell you (and maybe I should have mentioned that when I first began talking about mine) that one can get 'better' taste/results from anything cooked in the IP than one might get from cooking the same item in a regular pressure cooker or perhaps even in a regular pot on the stove - just faster than the latter and less trouble/having to watch over it, etc. than the first (once one gets the hang of how the IP 'thinks'/works). I can say that I think you will find it terrific for stews and soups this winter - and I really loved the stock I made in mine too. I am not super discriminatory about most rice dishes either so those work great for me (though I have made the mistake of putting in too little or too much water at times - serves me right since I don't use recipes much). I too am height challenged (and in my case that also means too short for my weight). Conventional height countertops are too high for me to stand at for long or to allow me to get a proper look down into tall pots. I tend to use my table instead of the counter for mixing anything that requires me to be 'over top'. I don't have one yet but I am determined to build on a 'pastry/bread height' counter at the end of the taller one - but I suspect it will be where most of my 'appliances' end up sitting and being used.

I hope that dim sum spread (which looks outstanding and very 'fresh') was as delicious as it looks. My mouth was watering as I looked at the pictures. I do hope you and Anna take us there again some time but how wonderful that Franci and family were able to share it with you.

Hi, hi, hi and welcome to our eGullet fold! I also hope you find that you want to participate at least as much as you lurk - I am sure we can all learn much from your unique culinary background and experiences.

Anna - I knew you couldn't use the pancakes. I think the suggestion of flour tortillas in the recipe was a bit far fetched, and to my mind, rice was a much better option but that was not my (implied) question. I don't have your 'recipe' but you pictured a LOT of dark 'liquid' in that measuring cup. Did ALL that 'liquid' go into the pork mixture? And how long and at what pressure did you finish cooking it? Most recipes for moo shu/shoo pork that I am familiar with involve very little soy or hoisin in the pork mix - so it just seemed to me that if you put all that into the mix and then also pressure cooked it (for more than a minute), it was bound to come out brown, mushy and looking like a very poor imitation of a cheap westernized Chinese takeout meal. I find that if something looks like that dish you pictured I lose my appetite before I even taste it. I am not surprised you found it barely edible. It definitely was the recipe - not your cooking or the IP. Again I am glad your second meal was much more delectable.

Bravo. Your dinner (pork with prunes) looks wonderful. I am so glad it worked as expected. I was beginning to worry that you would starve after your first experiment. That 'moo shoo pork' ... I don't even understand why there was a recipe for same for a pressure cooker since (in my experience) it is a stir fry dish with little to no hoisin actually IN the dish - that is smeared mostly on the rice pancakes it is usually served with (but which you didn't even use). I can see just using the sauté function to make it all but you must have also closed it up and pressure cooked it too? It definitely came out looking very sad and brown ... too bad it wasn't, at least, delicious.

I was having a bit of trouble imagining that southern/Asian combo but I looked up your menu and now I get it. Intriguing!

Uh oh .. two glasses of MR and then having to stand on the stool to look down in the pot. I am on tenterhooks. Stay safe, Anna.

What a great first experiment with the Instant Pot, Anna. Thanks for your rundown on doing poached eggs - I haven't tried those yet so it is nice to know they come out so nicely (although now I guess I will have to buy some poaching pods). I found the lid hard to get right the first time too - but even if you can't see the markings on there (or the vent stem) I am sure that you will get the hang of that in no time - I did and I can't see that well either. I seem to hit the pot lid assembly pretty easily now. I have to laugh now too that I couldn't figure out where exactly the lid was supposed to go when open either (one of its handles just slips into the slot on the pot handle and it stands on end straight up very securely) so I had an ah-ha moment there too a couple of days after I started using it. You will probably find that the pot doesn't vent steam every time. I am not sure what makes it do it or not but it is not whether something is cold or hot already or even a particular level of liquid it seems because mine only does it sometimes and I can vouch for the fact that it 'may not or may' depending on what 'it' is thinking, not what you think. rotuts - one could 'boil' potatoes (either under pressure or in the pot open too I think) OR steam them, your choice, in the Instant Pot. You don't need much water to steam, possibly as little as a half cup. As for the fill line, the top of the measurement is 10 cups - but depending on what you are cooking, it will hold more than that. They tell you not to fill above about 2/3rds of the way up the pot HOWEVER that is primarily for things like soup or stews. The reason one should not fill higher for that kind of item is simply that the mixture could bubble up and clog the steam vent - common sense - but you can fill higher if that won't be an issue which I would think would be the case with a bunch of simple cut up potatoes. Note: The 10 cup line is well below the max-fill line too, which is about 1" below the top of the insert and about 1 1/2" above the 10 cup line. I don't have a measuring tape handy but I think the total depth is a little over 7 inches (but I could be out a bit there). I would hazard a guess you would get more potatoes into the beast if you cut them up smaller so there was less 'air space' around each bit than if you tried to pile large baking potatoes into it whole.

Yay, Anna! Please report back when you have a chance to try it a few times. You are never boring!

I have done organic corn in my freeze-dryer but never thought to throw some chocolate on it. I don't (yet - someday I hope) have an EZTemper but I could try that combo out myself since I already have the corn on hand. Even if I don't manage to temper the chocolate perfectly I could get the idea I am sure.

How exciting for you, gfron! And it is great to know we will be able to buy your book in Canada (for twice as much as in the US, no doubt, but it will be available easily!) On another note though, for me, the name BooksaMillion conjures up a picture of a junky discount bookstore. I don't think I have ever seen one that was a really nice upscale bookstore. Are there any that are not like my image? If not, I hope they don't distribute there immediately. Amazon and B&N (and the specialty kitchen store) sound ideal however.

What a great idea, Kerry. Does that corn bark have a definite sweet corn taste or is it just like a crunchy sweet 'something'?

I have a hand written collection of 'recipes' that my great-grandmother used in the 1875-1900 period in Evanston, Illinois. At one time I had an idea that I should find a way to use them in some kind of a 'cookbook' (most probably only for family distribution) but I felt I should try them all out first to be sure they still worked with today's ingredients, etc. They do 'work' for the most part but only because of my own personal experience with cooking was I able to make them work as many of the procedures, timing for baking and amounts of ingredients were indeed missing. And, of course, I cannot be certain they tasted exactly as they might have back then. But, it was a really fun experience to try to cook as she did back in those days - albeit in a modern oven. Luckily, I am mostly an intuitive cook myself though - I am not sure, without me modernizing the recipes, if anyone I might have distributed the books to would have actually used them as I tried to. My great-grandmother didn't have any little girls (her kids were all boys) so I guess she was not able to pass cooking skills on directly to her own children as was usually done way back when. By the time a young lady was ready to go out in the world with a new husband, she intuitively knew what size of mug to use to measure the flour, how much a pinch was, how long to beat the eggs and what texture to expect from the pudding when it was done. She also knew exactly where in the wood-fired oven to place the roast and how to put up jams and how to make butter. Heaven knows though where the little boys were when Mom was cooking - none of the men in my family have ever done more than start a fire or a BBQ. Perhaps they were out learning how to bag the venison with their fathers.

I would get the 7-in-1 IP-DUO 50 or 60 (the 50 is smaller by a quart and from what I understand that is lost in the diameter not the height and also a bit cheaper I think) if I were you, Shelby - if you have enough credit at Amazon. I think you will get more use out of the 60, mind you. No, you can't pressure can in it but I am certain you will find it VERY handy for almost everything else you do. You will love it - if you don't, I will buy it from you and give it to Anna. (Anna - don't hold your breath as I am absolutely certain Shelby will love it).

Nice to see you back, Mr. Mike!

Thomas - I am glad you are here and about to change that for everyone! Would love to hear more about 'outside Santiago' Chilean cooking/recipes, etc.

Welcome to eGullet, Peggy. What kind of cuisine is your favorite/specialty?

It was just a 'suggestion', Darienne. Wasn't 'my' recipe. Sorry if it was not a success in terms of taste for you but thanks for reporting the results. I am not sure why the whole wheat flour other than perhaps it provides a bit of fiber (and nutrition) not found in regular AP flour. Low 'whatever' recipes often use that trick to supposedly 'reduce' calories by claiming that even if the calories are there, they are never absorbed and therefore can be taken off the final total. Who knows if it is true enough for a cake to make much difference though. Whole wheat flour probably makes the cake 'heavier' than AP would too - perhaps to give the impression you are eating a richer cake (although it could also make the cake drier too which wouldn't be a plus in my book). I would not use fat free anything either so I don't blame you for subbing there.

What about this one? http://www.amazon.com/Lazy-Kettle-All-Natural-Liquid-Smoke/dp/B000I552GE

We (or at least many of us) always welcome new gadget junkies into our midst! Helps assuage our guilt. So welcome to the eGullet fold, Sparren.