Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 3)

[Anna N]

 Just cooked up some wheat berries for later use.   Do not think I would even consider them if I had to do them stovetop.

[rotuts]

Might I have a little more detail on what you used for wheat berries ?

 

not bulgur Id guess, but 'whole wheat berry kernels ? '

 

very interesting.

 

I use a lot of bulgar of all # numbers  but that's different I know.

 

care to add a few more details on times etc prep.

 

i know Id really enjoy  more whole grains, and with the IP its only inertia and a bit of sloth that's keeping be from doing it

 

in bult of course.

 

thanks

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

Might I have a little more detail on what you used for wheat berries ?

 

not bulgur Id guess, but 'whole wheat berry kernels ? '

 

very interesting.

 

I use a lot of bulgar of all # numbers  but that's different I know.

 

care to add a few more details on times etc prep.

 

i know Id really enjoy  more whole grains, and with the IP its only inertia and a bit of sloth that's keeping be from doing it

 

in bult of course.

 

thanks

 

Uncooked wheat berries. 

 

 

Cooked x 30 minutes, high pressure, cool down 10 mins, release any remaining pressure. 1 part wheat berries to 1.75 liquid with addition of 1 tablespoon butter to address any foaming issues. Drain and use or freeze. 

[Anna N]

"Paneer"  made in the  I P  and currently being pressed in my Japanese pickle press.   I would love to take credit for the idea of using the pickle press in this way but I came across the idea elsewhere and I have forgotten just where so I cannot credit my source. 

 

[ElsieD]

16 minutes ago, Anna N said:

"Paneer"  made in the  I P  and currently being pressed in my Japanese pickle press.   I would love to take credit for the idea of using the pickle press in this way but I came across the idea elsewhere and I have forgotten just where so I cannot credit my source. 

 

 

First time in my life I have ever heard of a pickle press.

[blue_dolphin]

1 minute ago, ElsieD said:

First time in my life I have ever heard of a pickle press.

 Me, too!  But nice to know that it can multi-task !

 

I just made another batch of IP "ricotta."  I will use some to make a baked ricotta spread with lemon, rosemary and garlic to bring to a party this evening.  It's supposed to be hot here but I can bake it in the Cuisi oven without heating up the kitchen.

[rotuts]

I also have never heard of a J.P.P.

 

I found this vid :

 

 

I sure would love to find out this guy's salt proportions 

 

looks like a JPP will end up here soon 

 

just for the above.

[cwfenn]

Received one today as an early 40th birthday present (thank you in-laws), looking forward to working with it!  Hoping to find some go-to recipes for it.

[ElsieD]

On Saturday, June 04, 2016 at 2:02 PM, Anna N said:

On Sunday, May 29, 2016 at 2:34 PM, rotuts said:

 

Apologies to Anna N and rotuts - i'm having trouble posting and can't seem to get rid of the above.

 

I did Asian beef short ribs in the IP last night.  They cooked for 50 minutes on high with a 10 minute natural release.  Next time I will add 10 minutes to the cooking time.  That said, they were still very tasty.

[SJMitch]

FYI: Amazon's Deal of the Day today is the Instant Pot Smart for $140.

[blue_dolphin]

I made more whole milk ricotta in the IP this morning.  I've gotten in the habit of keeping milk in the house just for this!

 

Then, I finally got around to trying the coconut brown rice and beans recipe that appeared in a Rancho Gordo newsletter back in March, adapting it for the instant pot.

I scaled the coconut milk and water down just a bit, using 5 oz each for one cup of brown rice. I cooked it 22 min on high pressure followed by 10 min natural pressure release before venting the IP.  The rice looked a tiny bit wet but after fluffing and standing a bit while I retrieved the beans, it looked perfect.

Instead of the the Domingo Rojo beans called for in the recipe, I substituted Rancho Gordo midnight black beans that I'd cooked in the IP last week for a black bean salad and stashed the extras in the freezer.  

I served this with shrimp for lunch today but I think it would make a great meatless meal along with some grilled or roasted vegetables.

 

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

I cooked some red potatoes for potato salad today - all good.   Then had a failed eggs-periment when I tried making some hard-cooked eggs for the first time in the IP. 

I usually steam hard-cooked eggs but I figured I'd try the IP since it's hot outside and wanted to keep the kitchen cooler.   I thought I'd read a recommendation here for 5 min at low pressure with natural release so that's what I did, using 5 eggs (weighing 63-67g), fresh from the fridge and transferring them to ice water as soon as the pressure dropped.  They were somewhere along the soft-boiled spectrum, not exactly sure where but they smooshed when I tried to peel them. 

I set up a steamer and steamed them for another 5 min, based on the one that I'd cracked the most.  I could see the yolk and it looked done.  This time, I was able to peel them OK but the rest of the yolks were still in a gel-like state so I put the yolks back into the steamer in a little dish. They eventually got cooked and I'll be having some egg salad sandwiches one of these days as they are not in any state to be displayed on top of a salad! 

 

I surfed around the internet and saw potato salad recipes that cook the potatoes and eggs together in the IP so I decided to give that a try.  There are several that use 4 min at high pressure, followed by quick release.  I didn't quite trust that and tried one potato and one egg (I know, I know...n = 1 = bad, bad experiment) following a recommendation for 6 min at high pressure, 6 min natural pressure release.  Both eggs and potato were nicely cooked.  Obviously n = 1 = inconclusive but I'll give that method one more go before switching back to steaming on the stovetop.  Perhaps such a recommendation is actually somewhere in this very topic but my search skills aren't all that good. 

[Shelby]

16 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

I cooked some red potatoes for potato salad today - all good.   Then had a failed eggs-periment when I tried making some hard-cooked eggs for the first time in the IP. 

I usually steam hard-cooked eggs but I figured I'd try the IP since it's hot outside and wanted to keep the kitchen cooler.   I thought I'd read a recommendation here for 5 min at low pressure with natural release so that's what I did, using 5 eggs (weighing 63-67g), fresh from the fridge and transferring them to ice water as soon as the pressure dropped.  They were somewhere along the soft-boiled spectrum, not exactly sure where but they smooshed when I tried to peel them. 

I set up a steamer and steamed them for another 5 min, based on the one that I'd cracked the most.  I could see the yolk and it looked done.  This time, I was able to peel them OK but the rest of the yolks were still in a gel-like state so I put the yolks back into the steamer in a little dish. They eventually got cooked and I'll be having some egg salad sandwiches one of these days as they are not in any state to be displayed on top of a salad! 

 

I surfed around the internet and saw potato salad recipes that cook the potatoes and eggs together in the IP so I decided to give that a try.  There are several that use 4 min at high pressure, followed by quick release.  I didn't quite trust that and tried one potato and one egg (I know, I know...n = 1 = bad, bad experiment) following a recommendation for 6 min at high pressure, 6 min natural pressure release.  Both eggs and potato were nicely cooked.  Obviously n = 1 = inconclusive but I'll give that method one more go before switching back to steaming on the stovetop.  Perhaps such a recommendation is actually somewhere in this very topic but my search skills aren't all that good. 

Oh man, I'm sorry for the fail.  I am the one that uses that method --and I think Anna does too.

 

I put the trivet in, place the eggs on...I've done 6 --5---8--maybe even more eggs than that.  Cup of water, 5 mins, low pressure, natural release.  Never had a problem.  So very strange that it didn't work for you.

[blue_dolphin]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Oh man, I'm sorry for the fail.  I am the one that uses that method --and I think Anna does too.

 Oh, it was fine. I learned something - preliminary evidence (N = 1 potato and 1 egg) suggests that I can cook the potatoes and eggs together.  That should be a time saver.  

And nothing was wasted, the un-pretty eggs will make me some lovely egg salad sandwiches.  It was just sort of comical, going through all these machinations to make few hard cooked eggs for my danged lunch !

 

Two observations:   I put the eggs in a steamer basket instead of the trivet, so maybe that had some effect, keeping them closer together or something.  Secondly,  in my post, I wrote that the eggs weighed 63 - 67g, suggesting there was a range.  Actually, 2 of the eggs were 63 g and 3 + the singleton cooked with the potato were all 67g.  

[Shelby]

I honestly don't think the weight of the eggs matter...I've done all sizes together --my eggs are usually from chicken down the road and there are a WIDE range of sizes lol.  The steamer basket might have been a difference, I've never done them in that.

[cta]

2 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Two observations:   I put the eggs in a steamer basket instead of the trivet, so maybe that had some effect, keeping them closer together or something.  Secondly,  in my post, I wrote that the eggs weighed 63 - 67g, suggesting there was a range.  Actually, 2 of the eggs were 63 g and 3 + the singleton cooked with the potato were all 67g.  

 

I use the same method weekly (with the eggs on the steamer) and get perfect hard boiled eggs every time (as you can see here: 

)

[blue_dolphin]

32 minutes ago, cta said:

 

I use the same method weekly (with the eggs on the steamer) and get perfect hard boiled eggs every time (as you can see here: 

)

Yep, your post is one of several here that I looked to for the method.  So nice that it works for you!

[rotuts]

BD   Id try again.  Ive never had any problems, I do a doz. at a time, right out of the refrig.

 

Im doing 2 doz today  ( 1 doz x 2 ) for HBEggs for PotSalad.

 

I use a push pin on the flatter end to let air out of the air sack     can't really say if this matters in the IP but Ive been doing eggs that way for a long time

 

maybe its just psychological therapy, but Ill keep doing it.

 

I chill in cold tap water, and if the tap water is not cold enough, later I use ice in the water.   the dry and store for later use.

 

for potatoes I use a basket that was gifted to me, cut the potatoes skin on into fairly large chunks  ( they need to be re-cut into smaller chunks for the final

 

PS )  fill the basket up  then IP

 

I cool, then refrig in a sealed container.  I take out what I need later, cut into smaller PS sized and then make the PS.

[Anna N]

We just took delivery of a 6 qt Instant Pot and it comes as Version 2 with new features:

 

slow cooker temperatures, normal, high, low now correspond to conventional slow cookers

 

Beeping can be turned off (except for any error conditios)

 

Auto keep warm can be toggled on or off

 

It now memorizes last temp/pressure/time settings. 

 

[Shelby]

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

We just took delivery of a 6 qt Instant Pot and it comes as Version 2 with new features:

 

slow cooker temperatures, normal, high, low now correspond to conventional slow cookers

 

Beeping can be turned off (except for any error conditios)

 

Auto keep warm can be toggled on or off

 

It now memorizes last temp/pressure/time settings. 

 

Oh nice!  I like the mem. of the last settings.  And the auto warm being able to be turned off.

 

******IdonotneedanotherIP IdonotneedanotherIP IdonotneedanotherIP*****

[Okanagancook]

IamnotbuyinganinstapotidonotneedaninstapotohnoiamnotbuyingonenomatterwhatyouguyspostaboutitnononoIthink

Damn,starting to weaken.

[kayb]

25 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

IamnotbuyinganinstapotidonotneedaninstapotohnoiamnotbuyingonenomatterwhatyouguyspostaboutitnononoIthink

Damn,starting to weaken.

 

Go on and cave. You'll love it.

 

[blue_dolphin]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

We just took delivery of a 6 qt Instant Pot and it comes as Version 2 with new features:

I'd read about the new features and they sound good.  I really like that they added them to the base model without a price change instead of rolling out a new-improved-pricier version.

 

28 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Damn,starting to weaken.

 

2 minutes ago, kayb said:

Go on and cave. You'll love it.

 

Yes, listen to @kayb and cave.  Or just wait for a deal and then pounce on it.  If you find a pressure cooker at all useful, but maybe not always worth the fiddling to adjust the heat and start timing, then you will love the IP.

 I'm personally responsible for at least 5 IP purchases among my friends and they are all happy with them.

[Shelby]

On April 29, 2016 at 8:33 AM, Shelby said:

Just for fun, I made banana bread in the IP yesterday.  I don't have a bundt type pan that will fit in there so I had to use my cheesecake pan.  I suspect that's why 30 mins on high with NR wasn't enough to get the middle done.  I put it back in for another 15 mins and it came out done.  It's not pretty but it tastes good.

 

My husband has been wanting another one of these--I've made probably four and he loves 'em.  Anyway, my IP is busy doing a pork roast so I did the banana bread in the Cuis. pressure cooker.  Same recipe, same pan, same time same everything except in a different pressure cooker that has a non-stick liner.  

 

Well, I'll let the picture speak for itself.  I didn't know one could burn something steamed lol.

 

 

I have to leave for a bit ...when I get back I'll take it out and see what it looks like inside.

 

It's smells like banana gingerbread.  

 

[lindag]

Why do I, when I read these IP threads, think that I must need an IP when I already own at least a half dozen very modern stove top pressure cookers that I love?