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Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)


Okanagancook

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2 minutes ago, Eric Srikandan said:
On 1/29/2018 at 8:03 AM, kayb said:

I wish I liked bell pepper. I love  the look of stuffed peppers. But I can't stand that bell pepper taste.

 

I know that feeling. I think they just taste yuk.

 I love bell peppers but we can't have any in my house because my housemate is allergic to them. That, and onion, and garlic! All things that I dearly love.

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Just now, Tropicalsenior said:

 I love bell peppers but we can't have any in my house because my housemate is allergic to them. That, and onion, and garlic! All things that I dearly love.

Wow, that would be tough.  To me, everything is better with onion and garlic.

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The Wall Street Journal had an article, dated yesterday, about the fears and imagined (and real) hazards of the Instant Pot that's garnered almost 200 comments:  America’s Instant-Pot Anxiety: ‘I Said a Prayer and Stayed the Hell Away’

 

Not sure if there's a paywall.  I was able to access the article via Google on a browser I've never used to log in to the WSJ by searching for the article title:  America’s Instant-Pot Anxiety: ‘I Said a Prayer and Stayed the Hell Away’

so that may work.

Edited by blue_dolphin (log)
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Just now, Tropicalsenior said:

It sounds really interesting, can you paraphrase it for us?

 

It's primarily an essay on the fearfulness, reluctance to read instructions and/or failure to follow them of US consumers than it is about the Instant Pot itself!  

Commenters fall into various camps:  IP users and lovers, people who tried the IP once or twice with poor results and returned or tossed them, people who think all such appliances are "fads" ,  people who use conventional pressure cookers and don't see any advantage of the IP,  people who see no value in any sort of pressure cooker, etc. 

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My wife ordered one for me for Christmas. Arrived yesterday. These things are popular. 

 

1st cook was  green beans and new potatoes with some bacon and onions. 1.5 hours for the beans then added the potatoes and 20 minutes later they were done. 

 

Did hard cooked eggs this morning. 6 eggs, cup of water and 5 minutes on high pressure then 5 minutes on natural release, then release the steam and run under cold water. Perfect, yolks done, no green, peeled easily. 

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That's the thing about opposum inerds, they's just as tasty the next day.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 2/2/2018 at 5:21 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

It's primarily an essay on the fearfulness, reluctance to read instructions and/or failure to follow them of US consumers than it is about the Instant Pot itself!  

Commenters fall into various camps:  IP users and lovers, people who tried the IP once or twice with poor results and returned or tossed them, people who think all such appliances are "fads" ,  people who use conventional pressure cookers and don't see any advantage of the IP,  people who see no value in any sort of pressure cooker, etc. 

I fall into two of those groups

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On 2/13/2018 at 9:39 AM, chappie said:

Green beans under pressure for 1.5 hours??? 

That kind of got me, too. After 1.5 hours, all I could imagine was a pile of mush. So, yesterday, after finding some nice fresh beans in my little Chinese market, I decided to give it a try. I checked the internet for recipes and found two that sounded logical. One recommended cooking them in water for 1 minute, the other said to steam them for 2 minutes. being a contrarian, I decided to steam them for 3 minutes with NPR release. They had just the right texture but I wished I had stayed with 2 minutes because I wanted to reheat them in a skillet with a vinaigrette of crispy Serano ham, bacon fat and vinegar. That one minute over was just too much for my taste.

Fresh beans ready to steam.

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Fresh from the instant pot. There was no crunch to them at all.

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Finished dish with crispy ham and vinaigrette. They were delicious.

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Dessert that night, was an orange bread pudding made from some leftover Moroccan orange cake. Here it is, fresh from the instant pot.

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Edited by Tropicalsenior
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I may be in the minority, or the only one, but I like green beans cooked soft. I usually cook them all day in a crock pot to get them this way. Other vegetables I prefer al dente, but not green beans. 1.5 hours worked just fine for me. 

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That's the thing about opposum inerds, they's just as tasty the next day.

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@chileheadmike I'm not questioning your preference, far from it. I have a few myself that no one else agrees with, and that's their problem not mine. I'm just saying that this worked for me. I do have one question for you. Did you cook them in the water or did you steam them? The difference in the method might make a difference in your timing. I have found in cooking other vegetables, that I much prefer steaming them because they don't absorb extra moisture and they seem to cook just a bit quicker.

Edited by Tropicalsenior
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In the water. I had some home made chicken stock, I diced an onion, tossed in 3 strips of bacon, lots of fresh cracked pepper, worcestershire, and a few dashes of tobasco. 

 

I've only had the thing for a week or so. So far I've cooked eggs, the green beans, some steamed chicken breasts for my dieting wife, and a batch of chile colorado. I took pics of that, I'll post them later. Pretty good success so far, I like

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That's the thing about opposum inerds, they's just as tasty the next day.

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@chileheadmikeit sounds like they were great. I would probably forgo the time for the flavor that you put in it them. I'm glad that you like the instant pot. I've only had mine since September, but I love it. I had an Oster electric pressure cooker before this but it blew up with me! I got this one by accident to replace that one and it is only a Chinese knockoff of a Chinese instant pot. It's almost the same thing and it works the same so I'll take it. BTY, I would love to have a good recipe for chili Colorado. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures

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4 hours ago, chileheadmike said:

I may be in the minority, or the only one, but I like green beans cooked soft. I usually cook them all day in a crock pot to get them this way. Other vegetables I prefer al dente, but not green beans. 1.5 hours worked just fine for me. 

 

I go both ways on green beans. I love fresh ones sauteed and finished like @Tropicalsenior with viniagrette and some kind of crispy meat, or with Asian flavors in a stir fry, but I also love the slow-cooked ones (particularly with new potatoes). They should be cooked with some variety of smoked pork, and salt and pepper; they're brought to a boil, covered, and then simmered long and low on the back of the stove while you're cooking everything else.

 

It also has to do with the variety of green bean. The stringless variety like Blue Lake or Contender are good quick-cooked; but give me a big ol' mess of Kentucky Wonder pole beans, and I will happily sit and string and snap them and cook them all day with a hamhock, and eat the whole potful. Particularly if there is fried okra, Silver Queen corn, and fresh tomatoes to go with it. 

 

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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2 minutes ago, Beebs said:

I have discovered the joys of steaming whole beets in the IP. 

Isn't it wonderful. It's almost worth the price of the instant pot if that was all it could do. I like beets but I hated cooking them. I boiled them, I baked them, I tried to cook them in the microwave. They were still miserable. Then, one of the first things that I did was beets. They were a thing of joy. I'll never do them any other way again.

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Pickled beets and pickled eggs, also steamed in the instant pot.

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