Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

[divalasvegas]

9 hours ago, mgaretz said:

 

It appears to be identical to The Duo Plus, except it has an LED display vs LCD (and has color options).  Cooking functions all appear to be the same.

 

Most recipes for the IP are written using only Pressure Cook (aka Manual) mode, so they should be interchangeable, assuming you take size into account.  I have the 8 qt Duo Plus and the only difference I see vs the more common 6 qt (other than obvious capacity difference) is the minimum recommended amount of liquid.  The 6 qt recipes say 1 cup whereas the 8 qt say 2 cups.  I attribute this to the increased surface area of the 8 qt so as to prevent any dry spots, but I have done recipes with 1 cup or less without any issues.

 

Good morning and thank you so much for your help. Good God I had no idea that there was an 8 quart version of this.

 

I think that my first experiment will be the Coq au Vin recipe from Bon Appetit:

 

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/instant-pot-coq-au-vin

 

It seems to be very straightforward and is written to be made using the Instant Pot.

 

Thanks again and wish me luck.

 

[kayb]

I love my Instant Pot. I make all kinds of soups and stews, most of which freeze well, and it's the best thing going for cooking dried beans. I do some roasts, etc., that I would normally braise in the oven for hours and hours -- pulled pork for carnitas, pot roast, and so on. All that freezes well.

 

You can adapt most any recipe to the Instant Pot, as long as it has enough liquid. If you don't want that much liquid in your dish, you can put water in the bottom of your pot, put in a trivet, and put your dish in a separate vessel to go in the pot (PIP, or Pot-in-Pot, cooking). I have a set of two stacking dishes that are about the equivalent of 6 1/2 inch cake pans that I use a lot for curries; meat and sauce in one, rice in the other. It's marvelous. Think I paid $20 for the pan set, and it's been worth it.

 

Also, be careful with using thicker liquids. It's usually best to cook in a thin liquid and then thicken later, maybe on the saute function. Thicker liquids will often burn and stick, on the pressure cook function.

 

Lots of good recipes out there on the web, and some good cookbooks as well. 

 

[divalasvegas]

5 hours ago, kayb said:

I love my Instant Pot. I make all kinds of soups and stews, most of which freeze well, and it's the best thing going for cooking dried beans. I do some roasts, etc., that I would normally braise in the oven for hours and hours -- pulled pork for carnitas, pot roast, and so on. All that freezes well.

 

You can adapt most any recipe to the Instant Pot, as long as it has enough liquid. If you don't want that much liquid in your dish, you can put water in the bottom of your pot, put in a trivet, and put your dish in a separate vessel to go in the pot (PIP, or Pot-in-Pot, cooking). I have a set of two stacking dishes that are about the equivalent of 6 1/2 inch cake pans that I use a lot for curries; meat and sauce in one, rice in the other. It's marvelous. Think I paid $20 for the pan set, and it's been worth it.

 

Also, be careful with using thicker liquids. It's usually best to cook in a thin liquid and then thicken later, maybe on the saute function. Thicker liquids will often burn and stick, on the pressure cook function.

 

Lots of good recipes out there on the web, and some good cookbooks as well. 

 

 

Thanks kayb. When you mentioned cake pans I remembered that one of the other things I look forward to trying to make is cheesecake, although I believe that this would be done using the slow cooker function. Also, I would need to get a springform pan which is pretty easy to find. Still making my way through the instruction manual.

 

It's good to hear that one can adapt almost any recipe. I was wondering if there was a cookbook (or cookbooks) that you or anyone else here that has both recipes for top of the stove or oven cooking as well as the pressure cooker/Instant Pot alternative. I'm sure that I will learn through trial and error as I go along, but would definitely prefer to not ruin an entire pot of food in the process.

 

Edited to add: Doh! Mistakenly said above to make cheesecake with the slow cooker function but it's the pressure cooker function. Sigh, still reading the manual.............. 

Edited October 24, 2018 by divalasvegas
Additional comments. (log)

[rotuts]

I found this article about cleaning the iPot useful

 

https://www.imore.com/how-clean-instant-pot

[ElsieD]

16 minutes ago, rotuts said:

I found this article about cleaning the iPot useful

 

https://www.imore.com/how-clean-instant-pot

 

I would add that the foam brushes are available at paint stores in various widths.

[robirdstx]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

I found this article about cleaning the iPot useful

 

https://www.imore.com/how-clean-instant-pot

 

I find the ‘I cook, he cleans’ method works well for me. 😎

[Okanagancook]

Made pearl and pot barley...separately today.  They were pre-soaked for four hours.  Did a very nice job.

[divalasvegas]

Hello all. Finally did the water test and glad to say that all seems to be fine. Was actually kind of stressing myself out while doing this by following both the IP user manual and the online instructional video suggested here since the instructions in the dopey user manual takes you through only about two thirds of the process and then NOTHING after the process reaches the Keep Warm phase.

 

Unbelievably, It left out that the display will change, that you needed to press the Cancel button to turn it off, then switch the Release Valve to the Release position, wait for the Float Valve to go down and that the device will beep when the cycle is complete before removing the top, or anything about how long each stage takes. Come to think of it, the manual only provides HALF of the information to run the water test! Thank goodness for that online video.

 

The whole process is really not that complicated; it's just the IP's user manual makes it seem that way.  *** Rant over ***

 

Anyway, I decided that my first recipe using the pressure cooking mode will be 15 bean soup instead of Coq au Vin as stated in a previous post.* Figured I'd do something real simple for my first foray. I will be using these instructions:

 

http://simplepressurecookermeals.com/15-bean-soup-instant-pot/

 

Except for the pressure cooking, I plan on making this how I would normally do it meaning throw out that seasoning packet, not soaking the beans, season with onions, garlic (ha ha, the instructions call for one teaspoon of garlic), ham hocks and unsmoked fresh pork neck bones. Then, when the beans are done, add my own seasoning, Rotel tomatoes and maybe a diced jalapeno. Also might add diced celery, carrots and potatoes and either return it to the Pressure setting for a few minutes or just switch to the Simmer function. One thing I plan on changing is the amount of water, since I believe that the soup mix has 20 ounces of beans, I will add at least 10-12 cups of water, not 8 as the instructions suggest.

 

I won't be doing this until this Thursday after my weekly trip to the grocery store so any tips from you all will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

* Since I promised to experiment on/treat my three housemates to a sampling of the Coq au Vin, I definitely wanted to have a successful outcome first with something simple that I have made many times before like 15 bean soup.

 

Edited to add my deepest thanks to Shelby for the link you posted within this topic on 8/8/17 of the step-by-step video for doing the water test:

 

https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-water-test/

Edited October 30, 2018 by divalasvegas
Additional comments. (log)

[Smithy]

I've never tried using the Instant Pot for chicken broth before, but I was in a tearing hurry and had 3 chicken carcasses, some "peculiar parts" as my grandmother used to call them, a few odds and ends such as wings and bones from a rotisserie chicken, and a bunch of trim from celery and onions. It all went into the 6-quart IP with just enough water to almost cover. High pressure for 40 minutes, natural release and then some, as I went about my business. Some time later it all went into a chinoise for straining. The strained broth sat overnight so the fat could separate out. What resulted was on the order of 2 quarts of very stiff chicken jello. Purists may object to its relative cloudiness, but the flavor is outstanding.

 

 

Pure gold, I tell you!

[ElsieD]

I do this all the time except I cook it for 60 minutes.  Lovely stuff.

[rotuts]

I now routinely make turkey stock from my many de-boned turkey carcases

 

the meat I SV

 

i chop the carcass up , and if enough for a ' full ' iPot

 

I make the stock.  one hour.

 

I strain and chill there stock in the iPot in cold water , then overnight in a plastic container in the refrig

 

the defat.  I vacuum seal in ' bricks ' using semi-0dispossable oblong containters

 

and re-use that stock for a couple of times the next time I have turkey bones to turn into stock

 

very concentrated flavor w/o having to reduce on there stove.

 

I fairly lazy these days on steps like these   I did do these things years ago the traditional way

 

but now the iPot , because of its ease of use  has gotten me back into this.

 

nice !

[kayb]

Noticed t'other day my stock of stock is getting low. I excavated some beef soup bones when I was cleaning out and organizing the small freezer for the new beef, and I'm contemplating roasting a chicken tomorrow. It'll be stock-making time this weekend! Love the IP for stock.

[divalasvegas]

Hello again from this newbie InstantPotter. First of all, many thanks for all the encouragement and advice I received here. Thanks to you, I am an Instant Pot virgin no more!

 

About a week and a half ago I made my first recipe of 15 bean soup in the manner I described in my above post. Happy to say it turned out very well. I used the 30 minute pressure cook pre-set. When I checked at the end of that cycle, it wasn't anywhere near done--probably because I always start with dried beans (never pre-soak)--so I just did the 30 minute process over again and the results were great! I hesitated to post a photo 'cause, well, it's just a bowl of bean soup, but here it is:

 

 

Believe me, it tasted way better than it looks using my sometimey tablet camera. That's a little bit of spicy smoked sausage peeking through bottom left in the bowl since the store didn't have the fresh pork neck bones I wanted.

 

Next just this past Sunday was my attempt at Coq At Vin and, once again, it turned out great too. My housemates really enjoyed it. We made the meal a collaboration with me doing the Coq Au Vin using the Bon Appetit recipe and mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, one who did creamed spinach and bought a nice loaf of French bread along with some tasty Cabernet Sauvignon and the other, who is Italian did an appetizer of grilled zucchini wrapped around tuna mixture and little apple tarts. The landlord contributed another bottle of wine. Alas, my wonky tablet camera produced this photo of the final dish:

 

 

Yikes, it's kinda fuzzy wuzzy wuz a bear looking but it really did taste better than it looks. The chicken was tender and moist, the carrots, mushrooms and shallots were perfectly cooked and, using the saute function, the IP thickened and simmered the sauce after removing the food quickly and easily.

 

Here's a slightly better photo of the dish plated:

 

.

I will post additional remarks about both recipes and a couple of questions about how the Instant Pot performed in cooking both dishes.

 

All in all--knocking on wood--very happy with this appliance.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Edited to add: I was thinking that my next recipe, after Thanksgiving of course, will be braciole. If any of you have a tried and true IP recipe, please share.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by divalasvegas
Additional comments. (log)

[divalasvegas]

On 11/6/2018 at 3:55 PM, Smithy said:

I've never tried using the Instant Pot for chicken broth before, but I was in a tearing hurry and had 3 chicken carcasses, some "peculiar parts" as my grandmother used to call them, a few odds and ends such as wings and bones from a rotisserie chicken, and a bunch of trim from celery and onions. It all went into the 6-quart IP with just enough water to almost cover. High pressure for 40 minutes, natural release and then some, as I went about my business. Some time later it all went into a chinoise for straining. The strained broth sat overnight so the fat could separate out. What resulted was on the order of 2 quarts of very stiff chicken jello. Purists may object to its relative cloudiness, but the flavor is outstanding.

 

 

Pure gold, I tell you!

 

Wow, beautiful stock Smithy! You remind me that I need to make turkey stock for Thanksgiving. Doh, I hadn't even thought to use the Instant Pot for this but now I think I will. I was planning on buying whole turkey wings for this but would like to not cook it so long as to render the wings tasteless/inedible.

 

Do you or ElsieD, rotuts, and kayb or any others who've made stock in the IP have any tips on how to achieve this? The stock will of course be pared with the drippings/fond from my roast turkey so it doesn't need to be super strong in flavor plus I just hate the thought of throwing away meat if I don't have to.

 

Thanks.

[Smithy]

42 minutes ago, divalasvegas said:

 

Wow, beautiful stock Smithy! You remind me that I need to make turkey stock for Thanksgiving. Doh, I hadn't even thought to use the Instant Pot for this but now I think I will. I was planning on buying whole turkey wings for this but would like to not cook it so long as to render the wings tasteless/inedible.

 

Do you or ElsieD, rotuts, and kayb or any others who've made stock in the IP have any tips on how to achieve this? The stock will of course be pared with the drippings/fond from my roast turkey so it doesn't need to be super strong in flavor plus I just hate the thought of throwing away meat if I don't have to.

 

Thanks.

 

I haven't tried broth with turkey at all, and I've never purchased spare parts for the broth-making, but here's what I have experienced with chicken: by the time the broth is done - whether in a standard stock pot or the instant pot - the broth has pretty much all the flavor and the meat has very little. My dog appreciates the remainders, mind you, but those bits of meat that I tried didn't merit inclusion in any dish I could think of. I suppose if the meat were cooked for less time it would retain flavor, but then the stock would have less. Furthermore, I think the thickness of the "jelly" relies on melting the collagen from within the meat. This has also been my experience with beef.

 

Caveat: I am a rank amateur at this. Let's hope the pros can tell us how to get good broth without destroying the meat! 

[kayb]

59 minutes ago, divalasvegas said:

 

Wow, beautiful stock Smithy! You remind me that I need to make turkey stock for Thanksgiving. Doh, I hadn't even thought to use the Instant Pot for this but now I think I will. I was planning on buying whole turkey wings for this but would like to not cook it so long as to render the wings tasteless/inedible.

 

Do you or ElsieD, rotuts, and kayb or any others who've made stock in the IP have any tips on how to achieve this? The stock will of course be pared with the drippings/fond from my roast turkey so it doesn't need to be super strong in flavor plus I just hate the thought of throwing away meat if I don't have to.

 

Thanks.

Like @Smithy, I've never found any meat left from making stock worth much other than pampering the dog. I use a carcass, however much meat is left clinging to it, skin and wings that didn't get eaten, a halved or quartered onion and four or five cloves of garlic. I don't salt it. I let it go 90 minutes and then however long on "keep warm" until I get around to doing something with it. I use the steamer basket to hold all my solids, so I just lift that out and chunk the contents. Then I run the pot through a couple of cycles of saute with the lid off, to reduce it by about half, and pour it into a baby food keeper thingy that lets me freeze about half-cup portions. When they're frozen, I pop them out and stash them in a zip-lock, label it as to what kind of stock, and back in the freezer they go. At present, I have bags of chicken, ham and beef stock in there. It's simple enough to add the water back in when you're using it.

 

I've been told it works well to keep all sorts of veggie scraps frozen and when you have enough, make vegetable stock. Onion trimmings, carrot peels, broccoli stems, and so on. Have never tried that.

 

[Okanagancook]

Ditto for me on the IP for stock making in that fashion.  My freezer has half full bags of veggie scraps and meat bites separated by type awaiting stock making. It is amazing how quickly it accumulates.

[divalasvegas]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

 

I haven't tried broth with turkey at all, and I've never purchased spare parts for the broth-making, but here's what I have experienced with chicken: by the time the broth is done - whether in a standard stock pot or the instant pot - the broth has pretty much all the flavor and the meat has very little. My dog appreciates the remainders, mind you, but those bits of meat that I tried didn't merit inclusion in any dish I could think of. I suppose if the meat were cooked for less time it would retain flavor, but then the stock would have less. Furthermore, I think the thickness of the "jelly" relies on melting the collagen from within the meat. This has also been my experience with beef.

 

Caveat: I am a rank amateur at this. Let's hope the pros can tell us how to get good broth without destroying the meat! 

 

Thanks Smithy. If you're a rank amateur then I guess I'm "ranker" tee hee since I've only used the IP twice! If I am using chicken scraps from a leftover roast chicken to make stock then I definitely toss any meat used. However, I think I need to experiment with cooking the wings for less time like you say. Frankly, growing up, we just used *gasp* water mixed with flour with the pan drippings and the gravy always turned out very tasty.

 

[divalasvegas]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

Like @Smithy, I've never found any meat left from making stock worth much other than pampering the dog. I use a carcass, however much meat is left clinging to it, skin and wings that didn't get eaten, a halved or quartered onion and four or five cloves of garlic. I don't salt it. I let it go 90 minutes and then however long on "keep warm" until I get around to doing something with it. I use the steamer basket to hold all my solids, so I just lift that out and chunk the contents. Then I run the pot through a couple of cycles of saute with the lid off, to reduce it by about half, and pour it into a baby food keeper thingy that lets me freeze about half-cup portions. When they're frozen, I pop them out and stash them in a zip-lock, label it as to what kind of stock, and back in the freezer they go. At present, I have bags of chicken, ham and beef stock in there. It's simple enough to add the water back in when you're using it.

 

I've been told it works well to keep all sorts of veggie scraps frozen and when you have enough, make vegetable stock. Onion trimmings, carrot peels, broccoli stems, and so on. Have never tried that.

 

 

Hi kayb. I really haven't properly outfitted my IP yet. I definitely want that steamer basket, a tempered glass lid and a 7-inch spring form pan. 

 

The whole turkey wings I get are pretty huge--probably will only need two--and I am such a turkey wing lover so I think that I might experiment with cooking them along with the usual suspects (carrots, celery, onions, bay leaves, parsley, thyme) for maybe half or a third of the 90 minutes you do. Like I said above, any stock I get will be tastier than just plain water and flour and what I don't use for gravy can be used in my turkey vegetable soup along with any turkey scraps.

 

Thanks for the great tip about running the pot through the saute cycle; hadn't thought of that.

 

I think it's really dangerous hanging out with you 'cause those baby food thingies are just too damned cute! My MasterCard still has skid marks from all my recent shopping.☺ As a matter of fact this just arrived two days ago:

 

 

It's the latest version of the Oster Countertop Convection Oven and, oh yes, it's red!

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by divalasvegas
Additional comments. (log)

[divalasvegas]

1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

Ditto for me on the IP for stock making in that fashion.  My freezer has half full bags of veggie scraps and meat bites separated by type awaiting stock making. It is amazing how quickly it accumulates.

 

Okay Okanagancook that is a level of organization I need to adopt!

[ElsieD]

After the hour and NPR are up, I strain it and reduce it if need be.  It gets frozen in 1 cup portions in zip-lock bags.

Edited November 15, 2018 by ElsieD
Added the zip lock bags (log)

[rotuts]

here is how I do my turkey stock in the iPot.

 

i just ' processed ' two whole Fz turkey breasts.   Shady Brook Farm

 

each Br was about 12 + lbs.   they go on sale at the beginning of Nov , like clockwork at one local chain.

 

$ 0.79 a lbs.     I had room for 5 in the freezer , and do two at a time,

 

this makes for 8 very large SV pouches of TB's , two per side of TB  .   I trim out the two tendons and cut the large Br in about 12

 

Tie up to hold its shape , as teasing out the two tendons doesn't make for perfectly trimmed TB's

 

I SV two / bag in a 16 QT Colman Cooker  @ 142.5  for 4 hours , rapidly chill.

 

later , perhaps tomorrow Ill open those bags and smoke at ambient temp on the weber w gas off w pellets.

 

then debag individually and freeze

 

back to the stock :

 

I chopped up the bones from the two TB's so they would fit nicely in the iPot , covered w water about an inch above

 

and iP'd on high for 40 min.   natural release .   

 

then I removed all the bones and left the meat mixture in the iPot and mashed all the meat up w a hand masher.

 

stringy stuff.   iP'd on high for 20 more minus , natural release.

 

as it was very cold test and through the night , I left the full iPot out on the deck , covered.

 

in the AM I skimmed off all of the hardened fat , about 1/4 " all around the top.

 

I reheated the result ;

 

 

meat bits and stock

 

I strained this mixture 

 

 

and pressed down on the solids a the hand masher

 

 

this is the amount of solids from the two Large TB's.   Its quite a bit , as these TB's have the wing ' pulled off ' mechanically

 

so there is quite a bit of white wing meat attached to the TB's   its seems like such a waste to toss out , but its complexly flavorless at this point.

 

MC looks it over , then passes on it.

 

I use the semi-disposable plastic containers to make some ice the night before, ice bricks about 8 oz eash

 

I add these to cold tap water

 

 

the add the warm stock to these containers

 

 

cover them , and let them float in the ice bath until cold

 

 

then freeze the bricks in bags I have for my chamber-vac.    they fit nicely stacked in the downstairs freezer

 

Ill use these 4 again for the liquid in the iPot for the three other TB's chopped up carcases , and then

 

Ill freeze the final stock and use that for gravy , soup etc over the winter

 

it save me from reducing the first pass stock

 

I get approximately 8 0z  in each of the containers.  its already been defatted , which was an early step.

 

Tastes Just Like Turkey.      no seasonings were used at this point.

[divalasvegas]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

After the hour and NPR are up, I strain it and reduce it if need be.  It gets frozen in 1 cup portions in zip-lock bags.

 

 

Good morning @ElsieD. I usually freeze stock in random plastic containers. Is there an advantage of using zip-lock bags over plastic containers? Thanks.

 

BTW, in the area where I live, the weather is doing a little bit of everything: snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, etc. I really wish I had a big, bubbling pot of something, anything in my IP today! 

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, divalasvegas said:

 

Good morning @ElsieD. I usually freeze stock in random plastic containers. Is there an advantage of using zip-lock bags over plastic containers? Thanks.

 

BTW, in the area where I live, the weather is doing a little bit of everything: snow, sleet, rain, freezing rain, etc. I really wish I had a big, bubbling pot of something, anything in my IP today! 

 

I lay the bags flat on a sheet pan to freeze them and once frozen, I stack them.  I find it takes up the least amount of freezer space.

[divalasvegas]

37 minutes ago, rotuts said:

here is how I do my turkey stock in the iPot.

 

i just ' processed ' two whole Fz turkey breasts.   Shady Brook Farm

 

each Br was about 12 + lbs.   they go on sale at the beginning of Nov , like clockwork at one local chain.

 

$ 0.79 a lbs.     I had room for 5 in the freezer , and do two at a time,

 

this makes for 8 very large SV pouches of TB's , two per side of TB  .   I trim out the two tendons and cut the large Br in about 12

 

Tie up to hold its shape , as teasing out the two tendons doesn't make for perfectly trimmed TB's

 

I SV two / bag in a 16 QT Colman Cooker  @ 142.5  for 4 hours , rapidly chill.

 

later , perhaps tomorrow Ill open those bags and smoke at ambient temp on the weber w gas off w pellets.

 

then debag individually and freeze

 

back to the stock :

 

I chopped up the bones from the two TB's so they would fit nicely in the iPot , covered w water about an inch above

 

and iP'd on high for 40 min.   natural release .   

 

then I removed all the bones and left the meat mixture in the iPot and mashed all the meat up w a hand masher.

 

stringy stuff.   iP'd on high for 20 more minus , natural release.

 

as it was very cold test and through the night , I left the full iPot out on the deck , covered.

 

in the AM I skimmed off all of the hardened fat , about 1/4 " all around the top.

 

I reheated the result ;

 

 

meat bits and stock

 

I strained this mixture 

 

 

and pressed down on the solids a the hand masher

 

 

this is the amount of solids from the two Large TB's.   Its quite a bit , as these TB's have the wing ' pulled off ' mechanically

 

so there is quite a bit of white wing meat attached to the TB's   its seems like such a waste to toss out , but its complexly flavorless at this point.

 

MC looks it over , then passes on it.

 

I use the semi-disposable plastic containers to make some ice the night before, ice bricks about 8 oz eash

 

I add these to cold tap water

 

 

the add the warm stock to these containers

 

 

cover them , and let them float in the ice bath until cold

 

 

then freeze the bricks in bags I have for my chamber-vac.    they fit nicely stacked in the downstairs freezer

 

Ill use these 4 again for the liquid in the iPot for the three other TB's chopped up carcases , and then

 

Ill freeze the final stock and use that for gravy , soup etc over the winter

 

it save me from reducing the first pass stock

 

I get approximately 8 0z  in each of the containers.  its already been defatted , which was an early step.

 

Tastes Just Like Turkey.      no seasonings were used at this point.

 

Hello @rotuts and thanks for your detailed response. Just a few questions/comments:

 

• Great price on those turkey breasts; won't find such a good deal here. Did I read you right that each whole breast was 12 pounds? I don't think I have ever seen any that large. BTW, that was an insane amount of meat on those trimmings.
• Thanks for the tip about setting the pot outside to chill the stock and de-fat the stock next morning. I think that we're both probably experiencing the same cold, snowy weather, so I can definitely do that. Do you have a plastic lid that fits the IP or just use aluminum foil?
• Love, love, love your method of freezing bricks of ice in the containers and then using them to quickly chill down the stock. I have many of the same types of containers. Will be using your method from now on although I just usually leave the stock in the containers. You are dangerous for my bank account since now I am thinking I need to get a vacuum sealer!
• Also like your method of using the first stock as a base for the new additional stock. Sometimes I do that, sometimes I don't but now that I have the IP I can do this all the time.

Just to be clear, whenever I use chicken or turkey carcasses and/or any frozen trimmings of breasts or thighs, I never eat any of the meat after making stock that way; that gets tossed out.

 

I have, however, made stove top stock by simmering whole, large chicken breasts--only one and a half to two hours max--after reading a blog where the person tested out which cut of chicken made the most "chickeney" stock and shockingly it was the chicken breasts. I know, I know this goes against everything I had been doing to make stock but the person was right. The great thing is that the meat still has great flavor and comes out very moist. Great for making chicken salad.

 

Sorry this post is so long but just wanted to let you know I definitely appreciate all of your advice.