Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

[rotuts]

iPot'ing a whole chicken ?

 

on a recent ATK show , they iPot'ed a whole chicken 

 

for 30 minute , HP.  they salted diced onion , minced garlic first

 

added minced rosemary , dry white wine and a cup of stock , and some flour first.

 

of course the result  was delicious   lots of Yum Yum sounds while eating.

 

it might be that delicious

 

my question is this :

 

Ive done stock in the iPod , met bones , 30 min HP

 

meat falls off the bone , as them chicken di in the ATK Rx.

 

its my understanding , from thinking about SousVide 

 

and cooking differentially in general ( high heat moves over time through what you are cooking )

 

that meat protein contacts w heat,  higher heat on those proteins 

 

more contraction

 

thus :   great deal of moisture ( thees flavor ) is squeezed out of the protein.

 

thus yogurt stock.

 

and the resulting protein might be tender , but loe in flavor 

 

and dry , as th juice has long left it.

 

true , you let the protein rest , and maybe it rellaxes and reabsorbs some juice 

 

w flavor.

 

has anyone iPot'ed a whole chicken "  cut up chicken ?

 

and found the meat flavorful ?

 

when I di my iPot stock , the meat after 30 is fall off the bone, but not particularly 

 

' full flavoredn'

 

Your thoughts ?  experience ?  

 

Im thinking of getting a few bone in CkThighs

 

iPot LP steam them  

 

over stock reduced white wubw m w aromatics

 

and see if the chicken meat is flavorful 

[Tropicalsenior]

I have done whole chickens and I never did them for more than 20 minutes. At that time, the meat is still flavorful and moist.

Sometimes when I buy a whole chicken, I bone out the breasts and the thighs and put the rest of it in the instant pot. Those pieces I cook for 18 minutes. Then I bone out the whole carcass and put the bones and skin back in and cook it for an hour for a good broth. I don't use any aromatics, just a good chicken powder to enhance the chicken flavor.

Using that method, I have the stewed chicken for chicken salad or soup and I have a good Rich chicken broth.

[rotuts]

@Tropicalsenior

 

thanks .  

 

excellent ideas for me to consider  

 

Ive done plain raw carcass , and have a system  of using very little water 

 

chop the bones , set the round carcass , so there is little water between the layers 

 

taken out the bones , mashed the meat

 

which easily fell off the bones 

 

w a hand potato hasher to create long strands 

 

the iP'd that for 10 minutes .

 

removed the meat , and using the back of a label 

 

squeezed out the remain liquid 

 

added that pack to the pot.

 

cooled .  defeated cold easily .

 

then froze that stock in formed ' bricks '   using one of those semi-disposable 

 

plastic containers now sold every where

 

when I had another carcass , I used those frozen bricks 

 

rather than water .  over s few ' sets '  in the iP  

 

I have 4 x bricks.  just bones , no seasonings etc salt

 

I sue these , and season de novo when Im using them for soup , or gravy.

 

very easy to do , just a few steps each time , unattended for the most part 

 

and the flavor adds up , with no  boiling , reducing etc 

 

which is the PITA of convention stock making 

[rotuts]

@Tropicalsenior

 

 

for your times above :  full pressure ?

 

out of curiosity only :

 

has someone used pressure steaming ?

 

chicken , or cut up chicken , including the breast,

 

pressure steamed ?    

 

might not be worth the extra work

 

as the advantage here is sir simplicity.

 

and a tasty result.

[Tropicalsenior]

5 minutes ago, rotuts said:

for your times above :  full pressure

Yes, I use full pressure.

[lindag]

@Darienne,

Re:  The cabbage soup recipe:

I didn't make mine in the IP but it's every bit as good in the  slow cooker or Dutch Oven.

Edited March 12, 2024 by lindag (log)

[TdeV]

For some reason (can't remember), I bought a 3 Qt Instant Pot. Still haven't used it yet.

 

Can I cook a full pound of Rancho Gordo beans in the 3 Qt Instant Pot? Just ordinary beans, not humongous ones (e.g. small black beans (Midnight), Cranberry, Domingo Roja, Flageolet, Mayocoba, Cowpea).

 

(Will post a link to this question in the Rancho Gordo bean thread).

 

 

Edited April 27, 2024 by TdeV
Added some example beans (log)

[blue_dolphin]

2 hours ago, TdeV said:

Can I cook a full pound of Rancho Gordo beans in the 3 Qt Instant Pot?

 

I only have a 6 qt Instant Pot and don't particularly care for Instant Pot beans so I can't speak from experience but quite a few people in the RG bean club Facebook group say it works well for them.  

[FrogPrincesse]

I just instant pot- ed Rancho Gordo Marcella beans last night and it worked very well. They were older beans (forgotten at the back of my pantry), so I had to adjust the cooking time accordingly, but they were perfect.

About capacity, there are reports of people cooking 2 pounds of beans in a 6 qt instant pot, so 1 pound in 3 qt should theoretically be possible.

 

[FauxPas]

 

I've been making a lot of Spanish or Mexican rice in the Instant Pot lately (not sure which country to choose). 

 

I use 1 heaping cup of long-grain rice and sauté in a Tbsp or so of oil. Then I add about 1 1/4 cup of chicken stock and 1 generous cup of Pace Chunky Salsa. Cook on high pressure for 5 or 6 minutes. 

 

This almost always turns out really well. A couple of times I missed the right proportions and got a Burn warning though so I am careful about measuring the chicken stock. 

 

Sometimes I want a bit more heat, depending on the salsa's heat. I add diced fresh or canned jalapenos before cooking or just before serving. 

 

It makes a decent-sized batch and I freeze it and then just microwave it to serve. It's so handy when we are having some meals where there is already a lot of chopping and prep and this is such an easy addition. I got the original idea/recipe from an online site but have modified it for my own purposes. I almost always have some in my freezer now. 

Edited April 28, 2024 by FauxPas (log)

[rotuts]

@FrogPrincesse

 

would you post more details of iPot=ting older RG beans ?

 

do you soak first ?

 

I have a few older units Id like to use up.

 

thanks

[FrogPrincesse]

4 hours ago, rotuts said:

@FrogPrincesse

 

would you post more details of iPot=ting older RG beans ?

 

do you soak first ?

 

I have a few older units Id like to use up.

 

thanks

Sure. It was about 1 cup of dried beans. I didn’t pre-soak (I was hungry and this was a sort of spontaneous meal planning). They went into the pressure cooker with some salt for 40 minutes at the high pressure setting, manual release. At that point I tasted them, added more water (they had absorbed most of it), cooked for an extra 20 minutes, manual release again. 

[Smithy]

On 4/27/2024 at 3:42 PM, TdeV said:

For some reason (can't remember), I bought a 3 Qt Instant Pot. Still haven't used it yet.

 

Can I cook a full pound of Rancho Gordo beans in the 3 Qt Instant Pot? Just ordinary beans, not humongous ones (e.g. small black beans (Midnight), Cranberry, Domingo Roja, Flageolet, Mayocoba, Cowpea).

 

(Will post a link to this question in the Rancho Gordo bean thread).

 

 

 

i'm pretty sure I did that recently. I know it was a full package of RG beans. I don't remember anything about the timing: 20 minutes on high, then 10 minutes release? Whatever I did worked out well, and the full pound was not too much for the pot.

[rotuts]

its cooler now , so I brought out the iPot 

 

and made a concoction Id been thinking about for some time :

 

a ground turkey , creamy , wine-y  , something 

 

that would go over Rice , or pasta , or a baked potato.

 

Id make enough to freeze in blocks , the way I do w my turkey-redsauce-ragu.

 

mise :

 

 

I sue this brand gr truly as it comes in 20 oz slabs  ( thicker than 1 lb slabs )  , goes on sale regularly 

 

and seem less wet than newer entries ( years now ) Perdue , Tj's )

 

I also wanted to see what would happen in the iPot w ' cream' soups , as ' Hip pressure cooking '

 

suggested avoiding milk in the iPot  ie scorch9hne ?

 

I brushed off the 1 lb mushrooms , coarsely chopped.  dumped the turkey slabs in the iPot , added the

 

chopped mushrooms , and the two cans of CofM no salt soup.   I reduced 1/2 bottle of Cote d Rhone I got at Tj's

 

this has more flavor than Tj's Coastal Zin.  and yes its a table wine , not a chit/chat wine  

 

 

wine reducing Left.  Looks yummy already !

 

 

the wine went down to 3/4 cups , and remembering the 1 cup rule , added someone salt chicken stock.

 

it was 8 oz for the unit.  more on this later .

 

iPot's on low pressure ( mindful of the possible ' milk ' issue , for 30 moon , then quick release.

 

I added no seasoning what so ever .  my plan it so salt ( I use a different salt ) and season each batch after the cooking,

 

thus varying each meal.

 

 

still looking very tasty !

 

 

clearly a Cat , possibly a Dog , didn't care for this  !

 

added a little salt , and it was very tasty .

 

I was going to brown the slab , on each side , and the chopped mushrooms

 

for added flavor , but went the lazy route .

 

the idea is ' very easy to put together , tasty , and thick enough for Rice , pasta , baked [potato '

 

this effort was too thin.  I made a mistake by added the extra 8 oz commercial Ck stock.

 

and , Illl pull out the Cuisinart next time to get an easy , much finer dice on the mushrooms.

 

the dice here was wrong.

 

but , I learned Cream of ... condensed soup does not burn in the iPot

 

and once the result is thinking , and more uniformly diced 

 

a very nice item to easily make , Vac freeze in blocks 

 

and season each time I pull out a block fro the freezer.

 

P.S.:  I ended up not using the miso .  it might be an add-in for individual servings 

 

in the future.

 

P.P.S:  there was a very small amount of scorching , after all .  in the rim , 1 " x 3 "

 

no more .''sealed up easily w some hot water and a teflon-ish sponge.

 

Ive done many many turkey ragu , similar ingredients :

 

slab turkey , jared tomato sauce   and iP'd on high 

 

no scorching .

Edited August 22, 2024 by rotuts (log)

[Dave the Cook]

It wouldn't surprise me if (relatively) undiluted milk was left in the bottom of a pot, and the pot was set to sauté, the milk would scorch. Under those conditions, many things would. People say and/or believe many things that are simply not true, (including not to use milk in a pressure cooker). Such beliefs are often based on little evidence or a misunderstanding of the principles involved. I once had an otherwise very good chef tell me that not letting the salt dissolve in your pasta water before adding the pasta would create urea (uh . . . no).

 

That's one bit of perhaps not-so-surprising news.

 

A second is that, typically, condensed "cream of . . ." soups contain less than 2% cream.

[JAZ]

Regarding the amount of liquid in the pressure cooker, you rarely need a full cup of liquid to start. If you're not cooking something that absorbs water (like rice or pasta), you can get by with as little as 1/4 cup, because most foods contain a fair amount of water, which is released on cooking (and since you're using a pressure cooker, it doesn't evaporate). A pound of mushrooms, for instance, will release about 1/2 cup water. Meats release both water and fat, so you'll end up with a lot more liquid than you started with.

[rotuts]

thank you for that insight.

 

Ill be doing this again , w everything but the 8 oz of chicken broth.

 

scorching ?

 

well . I did try to sautés something a long way back in the 6 qt iP

 

and it did sorch , and it did clean up.

 

in this case

 

I did mix things around a bit , before  I did the 30 in iP 

 

on Low Pressure

 

the scorch was snot that large , and I only discovered it

 

after poured off the cooled down content of the iP

 

but , what ever made it 

 

did clean up.

 

and as before , same sort of thing

 

as mentioned

 

no cream of anyting

 

no scorch.,

[rotuts]

BTE  the sauce Fx in the iPots is lethal

 

the heat is so uneven , hard to avoid a lot of scorching , burning.

 

maybe if one then pressure cooks , the torched bits incorporate  

 

I always sautés in a regular pan  first , if that's part of what Im point in the iPot.

[Shel_B]

The idea of taking frozen meat and cooking it directly from frozen is not a new idea.  There is an old discussion here about cooking sous vide directly from frozen, and I've seen several videos and read some comments about cooking beef (steaks and chuck for pot roast) that way, I don't recall seeing anything about so doing with chicken in the Instant Pot. I'm thinking about making chicken broth or stock in that way, or just cooking the chicken for use in salads and sandwiches.

 

Might there be some issues with that, or can I just dump the frozen chicken into the pot and crank it up? Has anyone cooked chicken this way? How were your results?

 

 

Edited October 17, 2024 by Shel_B (log)

[liuzhou]

https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cooking-frozen-chicken-in-instant-pot/

[chromedome]

I do it with bone-in frozen rabbit and chicken. I just use the "Meat" preset and walk away, couldn't even tell you without checking how long that is. My GF has chewing problems and likes things cooked to a pot roast consistency, and occasionally I need to let it go a few extra minutes to arrive at that. If you're looking for a less-cooked texture I can't help you with the timing, but I'm sure other sources can. Bottom line, there's no particular reason not to.

[Shel_B]

5 hours ago, chromedome said:

I do it with bone-in frozen rabbit and chicken. I just use the "Meat" preset and walk away, couldn't even tell you without checking how long that is. My GF has chewing problems and likes things cooked to a pot roast consistency, and occasionally I need to let it go a few extra minutes to arrive at that. If you're looking for a less-cooked texture I can't help you with the timing, but I'm sure other sources can. Bottom line, there's no particular reason not to.

 

 

Thanks for you comments and suggestion.  I mostly wanted to know if it was doable, and it seems that that's the case.

 

I never used the preprogrammed settings, but your mentioning them sent me to the Instant Pot site to find out more about them.  Useful info there ... Thanks!

[Shel_B]

12 hours ago, chromedome said:

I do it with bone-in frozen rabbit and chicken. [...] Bottom line, there's no particular reason not to.

 

Well, I found a reason not to, at least for me.

 

When I make stock, I always parboil the chicken and rinse the pieces under running water before starting the actual stock-making process.  All sorts of debris and junk are cleaned from and from and, to a degree, from within the chicken.

 

By putting the chicken into the IP frozen, without parboiling, the stock was somewhat (a little) murky and had a somewhat less-than-clean-and-fresh taste compared to the stock from non-frozen and parboiled chicken.  It'll be OK for some recipes, but for others only non-frozen and parboiled chicken will be satisfactory.  For example, putting the stock into a heavily-flavored chili should be OK, but tomorrow I'm going to cook up some chickpeas in the chicken stock for use in a couple of chickpea-forward dishes and I'm concerned about the results.  I'll post my findings when that's done.

 

So, while the experimenting isn't complete, I am sure that going forward I won't be cooking chicken in the IP directly from frozen.  However, it's nice to know it can be done with reasonable results, but I can't think of any reason to do it other than having a time constraint. 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2024 by Shel_B
edited content (log)

[chromedome]

23 minutes ago, Shel_B said:

By putting the chicken into the IP frozen, without parboiling, the stock was somewhat (a little) murky and had a somewhat less-than-clean-and-fresh taste compared to the stock from non-frozen and parboiled chicken.  It'll be OK for some recipes, but for others only non-frozen and parboiled chicken will be satisfactory.  For example, putting the stock into a heavily-flavored chili should be OK, but tomorrow I'm going to cook up some chickpeas in the chicken stock for use in a couple of chickpea-forward dishes and I'm concerned about the results.  I'll post my findings when that's done.

 

Did you use natural release, or quick release?

 

Because I never blanch my chicken/turkey/rabbit beforehand, but the stock comes out nice and clear if I do the natural release. If I do a quick release, the sudden pressure change makes it boil furiously for the first couple of minutes and then you get a murky stock. I do that typically when I'll be using it immediately to make gravy, and speed is a consideration (or when I'll be doing a pureed soup, and clarity won't matter).

[Shel_B]

11 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Did you use natural release, or quick release?

 

Because I never blanch my chicken/turkey/rabbit beforehand, but the stock comes out nice and clear if I do the natural release. If I do a quick release, the sudden pressure change makes it boil furiously for the first couple of minutes and then you get a murky stock. I do that typically when I'll be using it immediately to make gravy, and speed is a consideration (or when I'll be doing a pureed soup, and clarity won't matter).

Natural release ... let the pot cool down until the button went down.

 

To be fair, the stock was murky compared to my usual blanched stock.  I bet a lot of people would consider it fine.  I did until I started blanching the chicken and compared the results.

 

Bottom line, the difference wasn't great, but it existed, and I feel better results can be had for not much extra time and work.