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Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 2)


Shelby

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On 12/28/2015 at 6:32 PM, Shelby said:

No not a dumb question!  Everything else you did was perfect.  Cup of water, ramekins-greased on trivet and yes, I'd do it on manual at high pressure for 3 mins and quick release.  Do a minute more if too runny.  I like mine on the runny side.  I think you can also use the steam button on high pressure but I haven't tried that way...at least I don't think I have.....my egg trials have been many lol.   I've read where people use the low pressure and it works for them, too.  It takes a bit of experimentation I think.

Thank you! We like runny yolks. . . really runny. I can't wait for morning, I might need a midnight snack tonight 

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The refurbished Cuisinart CPC-600FR 6-Quart pressure cooker arrived today lookin' brand-spankin' new! :smile:

Initial testing: 16 cups (one gallon) of 66° F tap water, heat-up time to full pressure. 

Cuisinart CPC-600FR 6-Quart vs. Hawkins SS 6.0 liter (~15psi) on a GE standard gas range set on high.

Heat-up time:

Cuisinart CPC-600FR 6-Quart, ~30 minutes.

Hawkins SS 6.0 liter (~15psi), ~29 minutes.

 

 That's in line with what I expected.

 

So far, so good! :B

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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15 minutes ago, DiggingDogFarm said:

The refurbished Cuisinart CPC-600FR 6-Quart pressure cooker arrived today lookin' brand-spankin' new! :smile:

Initial testing: 16 cups (one gallon) of 66° F tap water, heat-up time to full pressure. 

Cuisinart CPC-600FR 6-Quart vs. Hawkins SS 6.0 liter (~15psi) on a GE standard gas range set on high.

Heat-up time:

Cuisinart CPC-600FR 6-Quart, ~30 minutes.

Hawkins SS 6.0 liter (~15psi), ~29 minutes.

 

 That's in line with what I expected.

 

So far, so good! :B

Oh yeah!  Duh.  I forgot you bought the same kind that I got for Christmas.  I haven't done any thing with mine yet.  Now that you have yours, I will test too :) 

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FWIW, It sure seems to hold heat well.

The temperature of the water is 88° F ~14 hours after I turned it off.

And this is a relatively cool kitchen, ~65 ° F.

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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I made dark chili for lunch today.

The chili turned out great but the electric pressure cooker is MUCH more of a hassle to use compared to the stove-top type, especially in terms of clean-up.

I'm sure it'll see lots of use but not for stuff requiring browning and a short cook time.

~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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DDF :

 

what sort of Pot comes with your E.P ?

 

stainless steel, like the IP or Non Stick ?

 

Im wondering if your Pot is lighter than the IP  stainless or not

 

for clean up, in your case and mine  

 

shy not fill the pot with water, and then pressure ( clean ) cook the brine away ?

 

it would be interesting to compare your pot with the IP's pot :

 

surface type and actual weight of the pot that tells you its thickness

 

cheers

 

and a Happy New Year to all Pot Heads !

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The insert is easy to clean.

It requires about as much cleaning time as the entire stove-top pressure cooker.

Then there's the lid. The four piece lid.

Then the pressure cooker body, the cord and the counter-top.

 

Something else that I found irritating.

When it came time to pour the PC'd chiles and some of the other ingredients into the blender, it required fiddling with pot-holders to handle the insert, where the stove-up PC requires simply grabbing the handles and pouring.

 

The clean-up and fiddling around as well as other differences required an additional ~20 minutes compared to using the stove-top PC.

 

Anyway, just my honest assessment at this point.

 

 

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Ok, got my water in the Cuis for the test.  I only did like 3-4 cups.  I actually need it tonight along with the IP.  The chicken we are frying is HUGE.

 

edited to say:

 

I am a complete pressure cooker newbie.  I found the start-up IP instructions far easier to understand than the cuis.  I also don't like the pressure/release thingy on the cuis.  It seems backwards to me.  And, I don't like how the lid goes on and it doesn't play any music.  LOL.  Maybe it's just because I learned on the IP.  I will keep an open mind. I guess it doesn't matter as long as it works.

Edited by Shelby (log)
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1 hour ago, rotuts said:

DDF :

 

what sort of Pot comes with your E.P ?

 

stainless steel, like the IP or Non Stick ?

 

Im wondering if your Pot is lighter than the IP  stainless or not

 

for clean up, in your case and mine  

 

shy not fill the pot with water, and then pressure ( clean ) cook the brine away ?

 

it would be interesting to compare your pot with the IP's pot :

 

surface type and actual weight of the pot that tells you its thickness

 

cheers

 

and a Happy New Year to all Pot Heads !

I'm not sure which model of Cuisinart PC that @DiggingDogFarm is using, but the one that I had included a non-stick inner pot.  The pot was uniform thickness, not thick enough IMHO, so I did find bottom-scorching to be a problem at times.  Also it was not long before the non-stick coating started getting scratches which eventually led to chipping of the non-stick surface.  I understand that it's possible to order a stainless liner for the Cuisinart PC but I did not ever buy one.  Now the IP on the other hand has a stainless steel inner pot, and I just realized that it has an extra thick (clad?) bottom.  Maybe that's why I didn't have any trouble yesterday making goat cheese using the yogurt setting?  Not sure.  But so far I have not had any problem cleaning the stainless steel IP inner pot, nor did I have any problem cleaning the Cuisinart non-stick pot.  Anyhow, to each their own and I'm glad that everyone is jumping on the PC bandwagon because I've been using PCs for decades (starting with an old Presto jiggly-top aluminum model) and I just love them!  Now as far as this IP is concerned, maybe I'm still in the infatuation stage but so far I've found absolutely nothing to complain about (now that it was explained to me how to attach the lid by a kind eGulleter upthread).

 

PS  Dang @Shelby your cheesecakes are killing me over here!  Maybe I'll make one and give it to my SIL so I won't be tempted into unhealthy late-night snacking. 

Edited by kbjesq
clarification (log)
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@Shelby when you say that you're frying your chicken . . . is this pressure fried chicken?  (A topic that has been discussed ad nauseam, I know, but just curious about how you are preparing this gigantic chicken and using 2 PCs to do it?)  Sorry if this has already been discussed on the IP threads, I think that I've read through all of them and I don't remember seeing anything about using the IP to fry chicken.  

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2 minutes ago, kbjesq said:

@Shelby when you say that you're frying your chicken . . . is this pressure fried chicken?  (A topic that has been discussed ad nauseam, I know, but just curious about how you are preparing this gigantic chicken and using 2 PCs to do it?)  Sorry if this has already been discussed on the IP threads, I think that I've read through all of them and I don't remember seeing anything about using the IP to fry chicken.  

I am going to fry the chicken in a skillet on the stove --just until it's nice and browned and then I'll pop it into the pressure cookers (using a cup of water) for about 25-30 mins.  Makes it so tender.  It's not crunchy...it's like KFC.   We do gizzards like that too.  

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5 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I am going to fry the chicken in a skillet on the stove --just until it's nice and browned and then I'll pop it into the pressure cookers (using a cup of water) for about 25-30 mins.  Makes it so tender.  It's not crunchy...it's like KFC.   We do gizzards like that too.  

Interesting -- I've never heard of this technique but may give it a try.  Thank you for the explanation!

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2 minutes ago, kbjesq said:

Interesting -- I've never heard of this technique but may give it a try.  Thank you for the explanation!

We love KFC chicken (well, we used to until it became crappy lol) and this is as close and we can get to duplicating it (without having something we could pressure fry in).  My husband played around a ton trying to figure it out.  I promise you will like it.

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Ok, pictures from the chicken last night.

 

After frying but before pressure cooking

 

PC311036.JPG.e99ed6624d9e85633a30f152c7a

 

Stacked on racks in the cuis. and the IP.  Ronnie made a rack for the cuis.  He's like McGyver that way lol.

 

PC311041.JPG.7d68c82f82b45fb6162f96a20ab

 

PC311042.JPG.041800698ccccd2b0ae5bbf63ee

 

PC311043.JPG.dff3f501ec7291ec02c416bee59

 

They would have been done at close to the same time but I forgot to push start on the cuis.  The IP starts on its own.

 

Done!

 

PC311046.JPG.e5b2e3b7d21a29e22746f3c3dd1

 

PC311047.JPG.cd72eb35d3a15fea2e8f83811b9

 

Was happy with how the cuis. worked, and of course, the IP did wonderfully too.  Am wondering if I should purchase a second seal ring for the cuis. to have on hand just in case.

Edited by Shelby (log)
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On 12/21/2015 at 2:19 PM, cyalexa said:

I had trouble with the champ recipe from http://dadcooksdinner.com/2013/03/pressure-cooker-champ-irish-mashed-potatoes-with-green-onions.html/.

Other than not peeling the potatoes and using a mixture of skim milk and heavy cream instead of whole milk, I followed the recipe exactly. After 7 minutes a few of the potato slices were still quite firm. I tried another 3 min on high pressure which resulted in burning of the milk on the bottom of the pot. If I were going to try it again I would cube rather than slice the potatoes and start with 9 minutes. 

I've made this recipe many times with no issues and they taste delicious! I wonder if your pot did not come to pressure. I've accidentally left the vent to open and the IP will start to count down without ever reaching pressure.

Anne Napolitano

Chef On Call

"Great cooking doesn't come from breaking with tradition but taking it in new directions-evolution rather that revolution." Heston Blumenthal

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18 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Ok, pictures from the chicken last night.

 

After frying but before pressure cooking

 

PC311036.JPG

 

Stacked on racks in the cuis. and the IP.  Ronnie made a rack for the cuis.  He's like McGyver that way lol.

 

PC311041.JPG

 

PC311042.JPG

 

PC311043.JPG

 

They would have been done at close to the same time but I forgot to push start on the cuis.  The IP starts on its own.

 

Done!

 

PC311046.JPG

 

PC311047.JPG

 

Was happy with how the cuis. worked, and of course, the IP did wonderfully too.  Am wondering if I should purchase a second seal ring for the cuis. to have on hand just in case.

Holy cow, that is some good-looking chicken @Shelby!  And by the way the steamer rack that normally comes with any inexpensive rice cooker should fit inside the Cuisinart pressure cooker. Although I seem to recall that my Cuisinart pressure cooker included a steaming rack. Yours did not? That's odd. Perhaps I did not have the same model that you now own. In any event you may very well find an inexpensive steaming rack that will fit inside your Cuisinart pressure cooker at any decent Asian market. If not, send me a PM with your mailing address and I will send one to you, I have at least 3 and one of those actually might be the original one that came with my Cuisinart pressure cooker - the one that I don't own anymore ;)

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Oh thank you @kbjesq !  I wasn't as clear as I should have been.  The cuis. did come with a rack, but I wanted another one so I could stack the chicken.  The rack he made was tall enough to stand over the other rack that was filled with chicken.

 

P1011050.JPG.9083e97942852c6efade9bb1fd2

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19 hours ago, Shelby said:

Ok, got my water in the Cuis for the test.  I only did like 3-4 cups.  I actually need it tonight along with the IP.  The chicken we are frying is HUGE.

 

edited to say:

 

I am a complete pressure cooker newbie.  I found the start-up IP instructions far easier to understand than the cuis.  I also don't like the pressure/release thingy on the cuis.  It seems backwards to me.  And, I don't like how the lid goes on and it doesn't play any music.  LOL.  Maybe it's just because I learned on the IP.  I will keep an open mind. I guess it doesn't matter as long as it works.

 

I started out with the Cuisinart and switched to IP (I now have 2 IP'sO.o). I had issues switching from browning mode to pressure cooking in the Cuisinart. The pot would get too hot and wouldn't allow it to pressure cook until it cooled down a bit. I've never had that issue with my IP's.

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Anne Napolitano

Chef On Call

"Great cooking doesn't come from breaking with tradition but taking it in new directions-evolution rather that revolution." Heston Blumenthal

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34 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Oh thank you @kbjesq !  I wasn't as clear as I should have been.  The cuis. did come with a rack, but I wanted another one so I could stack the chicken.  The rack he made was tall enough to stand over the other rack that was filled with chicken.

 

P1011050.JPG

Well kudos to your husband - he is indeed a MacGyver! Bravo & Happy New Year 

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