Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

[Tropicalsenior]

4 minutes ago, weedy said:

I'm still not clear how that's substantially different form another cheesecake recipe; or why any recipe that "fits" won't work.

There really isn't any reason that any cheesecake recipe wouldn't work. I would just be sure to add the flour. And to be sure that whatever recipe you are using isn't too wet. The two references that I give, will give you all the information you need to get started. I do cook my cheesecakes a little longer than they do. Just start out at the minimum time, and if it seems too jiggly in the middle, cook it 5 minutes longer. You aren't going to ruin it. Hope this helps.

[weedy]

very much

 

cheers.

 

interestingly, the recipe I use, in the oven, tracks pretty closely to yours, except that it calls for 1 egg and a yolk, versus your 2 eggs. not a huge diff, but somewhat less eggy.

AND, it calls for twice the sour cream (in the filling) as yours.

I'm wondering a bit about that and whether it will be too 'wet' for a pressure cooker version that won't lose as much water to the air as an oven.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2017 by weedy (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

2 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Whisk together the sour cream and sugar and then spread on the hot cheesecake.  Let cool inside the pressure cooker for at least one hour.

 

Your cheesecake makes me drool and your recipe sounds great. I have bookmarked it. I'm getting together the ingredients for a cheesecake. I'm with you on the shortbread crust. I don't particularly care for graham crackers. In fact, I'm quite fond of cheesecake with no crust at all. It seems to interfere with the creamy smoothness, and I eat the filling and crust separately. Crust first, best part last.

 

Is there a reason one would want to spread the slightly sweetened sour cream on a hot cheesecake? Seems to me like sour cream can become very melty and might drip off the sides. I have a recipe for a cheesecake that calls for a sour cream top layer much like yours, but it is spread on a cold cake.

 

Also there are merits to an airy, lighter cheesecake and one that is ever so slightly browned and caramelized in my world. I think that's my favorite kind. If a food snob's coming over for dinner, cover the cracks with a sour cream layer or fruit topping.  

 

I would not kick any of the cheesecake styles off the plate with perhaps one exception. I believe the pizza joint I had fresh pizza at last night and reheated pizza for dinner tonight offers slices of no-bake cheesecake for $3.50. I can't swear to it, because I have never tried to make a cheesecake substitute without baking. The one time (years ago) I bought some for dessert from the pizza place, my husband ate his slice and mine, because after the first taste, I offered to carry it all out to the raccoons. HORRIBLE! How can they offer perfect pizza and wonderful tiramisu (made by the owner's mom, when she feels like it) and then sell unsuspecting customers this "cheesecake" abomination? 

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

10 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Is there a reason one would want to spread the slightly sweetened sour cream on a hot cheesecake?

I agree with you 100% on all your points. the best New York cheesecake that I had in New York had no crust. Just 100% fantastic, pure cheesecake. I would love to try a crustless version but my pan has an ever-so-slight leak and the crust seals it so it won't get out.

I do not care for most unbaked cheesecakes. They make a terrible version here and actually put green jello on the top. I do have an excellent no bake cheesecake recipe that I developed for a friend with dietary problems. If you would like to try it, I can send it to you in a PM.

The sour cream topping goes on the cake before you ever take it out of the pan. It melds right into the cake itself. If you put it on a cold cake it almost separates into a separate layer.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Tropicalsenior
Typo (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

8 hours ago, weedy said:

very much

 

cheers.

 

interestingly, the recipe I use, in the oven, tracks pretty closely to yours, except that it calls for 1 egg and a yolk, versus your 2 eggs. not a huge diff, but somewhat less eggy.

AND, it calls for twice the sour cream (in the filling) as yours.

I'm wondering a bit about that and whether it will be too 'wet' for a pressure cooker version that won't lose as much water to the air as an oven.

 

 

 

 

 

My recipe originally called for just the egg yolk and one day I got distracted and put in the whole egg. It turned out better than the first version so now that's what I do. I think the full cup of sour cream would affect the volume too much and you might want to cut that back to 1/2. if you are skeptical, Try it both ways. just be sure to add about 5 minutes cooking time to your recipe. Just for fun, invite people over and have a taste testing party.

[Okanagancook]

15 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Okanagancook 

 

what are you planning for the 2 1/2 hours ?

Make some other components of the meal.  Everything worked out well.  I used my double boiler and the potatoes were perfect after being in there for 1 1/2 hours.  I delayed mashing them by an hour...just left them whole in the IP with the lid on but not plugged in. 

[rotuts]

its a good idea to delay the actual mashing until the last minute.

 

my appologies

 

I thought you wanted to keep completed MP in the iP

 

although you can keep completed MPs

 

various way 

 

as noted by AnnaN

 

they re never as good as freshly mashed

 

I think the MP's are a sort of emulsion that changes over time.

 

although you can give those a boost just before serving

Edited September 28, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Make some other components of the meal.  Everything worked out well.  I used my double boiler and the potatoes were perfect after being in there for 1 1/2 hours.  I delayed mashing them by an hour...just left them whole in the IP with the lid on but not plugged in. 

 Not by any means suitable for all occasions but this recipe has saved my bacon more than once.  And speaking of bacon, adding crumbled,  cooked bacon to the mix does no harm whatsoever. Click

[ElsieD]

17 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 Not by any means suitable for all occasions but this recipe has saved my bacon more than once.  And speaking of bacon, adding crumbled,  cooked bacon to the mix does no harm whatsoever. Click

 

That looks good.  I wonder if the finished dish could be frozen?

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

That looks good.  I wonder if the finished dish could be frozen?

 Not sure I would attempt to freeze these but if you need mashed potatoes that you can freeze you might want to try these.  

 

Click

[Tropicalsenior]

20 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

That looks good.  I wonder if the finished dish could be frozen?

Potatoes don't freeze well because of their high water content. That's how Ore-Ida got so rich. They figured out how to do what the rest of us can't.

[Tropicalsenior]

7 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Not sure I would attempt to freeze these but if you need mashed potatoes that you can freeze you might want to try these.  

 

Click

This looks great.

[rotuts]

TJ's has some frozen mashed potatoes.

 

they sampled them once and I was bit surprised.

 

they are not as good as home made

 

but OK in a pinch.   they come in ' pucks ' :  you take what you need and micro them

 

adding a little hot milk and butter gets them on your plate.

 

decent gravy ( Not TJ's turkey gravy ) on top and that's that.

[Tropicalsenior]

21 minutes ago, rotuts said:

OK in a pinch.   they come in ' pucks '

Do you happen to know what brand they are? We can't get russet potatoes down here or even anything resembling them. Just the small red or white potatoes. They aren't good for mashed potatoes, you just wind up with something resembling potato flavored library paste. For the last twenty years on Thanksgiving, I have fed at least 20 people each year Ore-Ida instant mashed potatoes out of the box. I just doctor them up well and I get more compliments on my 'homemade' mashed potatoes. If they don't know, I'm not telling.

Edited September 28, 2017 by Tropicalsenior
Self editing (log)

[rotuts]

they are TJ's brand :

 

https://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/3225

 

I didn't know they had sweet P.s  Ill try the

 

I always keep the skin on and mash w the skin  

 

a lot moer flavor.

 

you can make decent MP's w waxy potatoes if you use a hand masher and don't over do it.

 

add the butter first , lightly hand mash  then the hot milk.

 

full fat milk works better for some reason even w the butter added first.

 

never an electric mixer for waxy potattoes

 

unless you need the glue you mentioned for something

Edited September 28, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

4 minutes ago, rotuts said:

they are TJ's brand :

 

https://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/3225

 

I didn't know they had sweet P.s  Ill try the

 

I always keep the skin on and mash w the skin  

 

a lot moer flavor.

 

you can make decent MP's w waxy potatoes if you use a hand masher and don't over do it.

 

add the butter first , lightly hand mash  then the hot milk.

 

full fat milk works better for some reason even w the butter added first.

 

never an electric mixer for waxy potattoes

 

unless you need the glue you mentioned for something

 

Thanks for the tip. I will try that for just us, but when I'm making turkey and trimmings for twenty people, at 78 years old, I no longer have the strength nor the time coordination. So until someone complains, Ore-Ida it is.

[rotuts]

cut up the wax potatoes , consider leaving the skin on for flavor

 

pressure stieam ,  then dry out a little in the pot after you toss out the hot water or another pan.

 

mash w a hand masher.  I still have my grandmother's

 

add butter , mash a little more  then the hot milk

 

I like a little fresh ground nutmeg in MPs and white sauce

 

just a little

[Tropicalsenior]

2 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Add butter , mash a little more  then the hot milk

 

I like a little fresh ground nutmeg in MPs and white sauce

 

just a little

The sounds great and I'm going to try it. Thanks for the IP directions. It only makes it easier.

I've been looking for a good wire potato masher for about five years. Ever since a friend of a friend of a friend showed up and wanted to stay overnight, I've been without one. Three weeks later, when I invited her to leave, she left with some of my favorite cookbooks and the wire potato masher that I had had for about 50 years. The cookbooks I understood. They were good ones. But what does anyone need with a potato masher on vacation in Costa Rica?

[Toliver]

17 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

I want to keep my mashed potatoes warm in the IP ready for dinner.  If I make them two and a half hours ahead and keep them will they be ok or will they get dried out and/or scorched???

Thanks

At every family holiday get-together my mom uses a thermal bowl to keep her mashed potatoes warm. It looks something like this (click). Except her bowl is quite large. It has the stainless steel interior and the lid has a sort of gasket to it. It does the job.

[Beebs]

Still getting the hang of my IP, so I also made mashed potatoes last night. I used one of the recipes on the Instant Pot website as a starting point. Turned out great, done in no time at all! Pre-mashing, they were sitting in there about 20 mins; post-mashing another 40 mins. The Warm function doesn't keep them as hot as I'd normally like them (I my mash piping hot!), so I think taking a page out of Okanagancook's book is the way to go - mash them at the last minute.

 

Made bolognaise earlier this week too. Turned out fine, but needed to adjust seasoning. Downside of the IP is that it's not simple to adjust seasoning. I like to adjust as it cooks, but I can't do that with the IP.

 

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

cut up the wax potatoes , consider leaving the skin on for flavor

 

pressure stieam ,  then dry out a little in the pot after you toss out the hot water or another pan.

 

mash w a hand masher.  I still have my grandmother's

 

add butter , mash a little more  then the hot milk

 

I like a little fresh ground nutmeg in MPs and white sauce

 

just a little

 

How long do you pressure steam them for?  I did MP in the IP last night and decided to steam them.  So I checked the manual and it says next to nothing about the steam function so I ended up using manual pressure.

[rotuts]

for potatoes

 

Russet or Wax

 

I cut into fairly large segs

 

the pressure steam    at HP

 

ie in a basket above the cup of water for 

 

7 min w a 10 min release

 

I also have notes in my note-book for 

 

the same but 8 min and natural release

 

 

[ElsieD]

@rotuts  thanks, but I knew about the pressure steam at HP.  I was talking about using the actual steam function button.  Has anyone ever used it for anything?

[Tropicalsenior]

42 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Has anyone ever used it for anything?

I have a steam button on mine plus 14 other buttons and except for the saute I rarely use any of them. With the manual button you can do anything you want to. And thanks to everyone here I understand my pressure cooker and the times and settings that I need for just about everything. Anytime that you put water and and the things that you want to cook in a steam rack, it will do exactly the same function by just using manual. On most of my preset functions the time is automatically set and fixed. I like to have more control over the time and going with the manual button lets me do that.

[Tropicalsenior]

On 9/26/2017 at 9:03 PM, kayb said:

make rice pudding

I would like to know more about your rice pudding. I love rice pudding but I haven't had the nerve to try it yet in the instant pot. Do you have a recipe that you would share?