Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

[chromedome]

I'm still a relative n00b, so my list is necessarily short: dry beans and stock are the only things I've done more than once so far.

[blue_dolphin]

chicken stock

quick vegetable stocks

rice – white, brown, or risotto-like dishes

polenta

whole-milk "ricotta"

root vegetables or winter squashes, esp for puréed soups

pressure cooker ragù Bolognese (from Serious Eats)

potatoes for potato salad or mashed taters

kalua pork or other pork shoulder recipes

dried beans come in last as I prefer to cook them low and slow but the IP certainly comes in handy in a pinch!

 

 

 

[mgaretz]

Stew

cabbage soup

split pea or lentil soup

carnitas

broccoli

hard boiled eggs

artichokes

 

 

[lindag]

You got me at Cabbage Soup.  Can you point to a recipe?

 

[kayb]

1. Dry beans

2. Beef stew

3. Vegetable soup

4. Chili

5. Stock

6. Yogurt

7. Chicken breasts or thighs

8. Sweet potatoes

9. Hardboiled eggs

10. Rice

 

...in no particular order after the dry beans.

 

[mgaretz]

3 hours ago, lindag said:

You got me at Cabbage Soup.  Can you point to a recipe?

 

(my recipe, adapted from my slow cooker recipe, at my blog)

 

Instant Pot Cabbage Soup
 

Ingredients:
1 can of tomato sauce (14.5 oz can)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of water (use the sauce can to get the sauce that sticks to sides)
1 small to medium cabbage, de-cored and cut into 8 wedges then cut the wedges in half and separate
1 medium yellow onion cut into 1” wedges and separated
1 pound of carrots, peeled and cut into ½” slices (or more if you like carrots)
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
6 tbs sugar – to taste
2 lbs of stew meat 1” chunks (chuck is the best, but almost any cut will work)

Method:
Combine all of the ingredients except the carrots in the IP, cabbage goes in last.  Stir it up a bit.  Cook on High Pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release.  Stir in the carrots and cook for another 6 minutes on high pressure with a 15 minute (to full) natural release.  Serve!

 

Notes:  I use an 8 qt IP, for a 6 qt you may want to pre-wilt the cabbage by microwaving it for a few minutes so that you can fit it all in. As I am thinking about it, you could also try adding as much cabbage as you can, then add the rest with the carrots.   There is no need to pre-brown the meat.  

 

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by mgaretz (log)

[chileheadmike]

Dry beans

Green beans

Hard cooked eggs

Braised chuck roast

Chicken noodle soup

Wild rice

[lindag]

8 hours ago, mgaretz said:

(my recipe, adapted from my slow cooker recipe, at my blog)

 

Instant Pot Cabbage Soup
 

Ingredients:
1 can of tomato sauce (14.5 oz can)
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of water (use the sauce can to get the sauce that sticks to sides)
1 small to medium cabbage, de-cored and cut into 8 wedges then cut the wedges in half and separate
1 medium yellow onion cut into 1” wedges and separated
1 pound of carrots, peeled and cut into ½” slices (or more if you like carrots)
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
6 tbs sugar – to taste
2 lbs of stew meat 1” chunks (chuck is the best, but almost any cut will work)

Method:
Combine all of the ingredients except the carrots in the IP, cabbage goes in last.  Stir it up a bit.  Cook on High Pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release.  Stir in the carrots and cook for another 6 minutes on high pressure with a 15 minute (to full) natural release.  Serve!

 

Notes:  I use an 8 qt IP, for a 6 qt you may want to pre-wilt the cabbage by microwaving it for a few minutes so that you can fit it all in. As I am thinking about it, you could also try adding as much cabbage as you can, then add the rest with the carrots.   There is no need to pre-brown the meat.  

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this, it looks great!  Still some chilly days left to enjoy a tasty soup.

[Smithy]

23 hours ago, JAZ said:

I'm doing some research for a client, who wants to know what people cook most in multicookers, specifically the top 10 foods. For me personally, (in no particular order) it would be pork shoulder, chuck roast, short ribs, chicken thighs, beans, and cheesecake -- after that, it drops off quite a bit, but probably pasta and sauce combinations, bread puddings and custards, beets and sweet potatoes. What else? What do you cook most often?

 

Dried beans, stock (chicken and pork, especially), rice, cheesecake, casseroles such as enchilada casserole. Last year I'd have listed yogurt as a most-frequent use, but I've gotten away from that for no particular reason.

[kayb]

31. Dry beans

2. Beef stew

3. Vegetable soup

4. Chili

5. Stock

6. Yogurt

7. Chicken breasts or thighs

8. Sweet potatoes

9. Hardboiled eggs

10. Rice

 

...in no particular order after the dry beans.

 

[kayb]

Tonight: (quasi) Mexican chicken. A pint jar of tomatoes, can of whole kernel corn, can of rinsed black beans, chicken breasts cut in chunks, small can of diced green chiles, healthy dose of Penzeys taco seasoning. 10 minutes then NPR. Stir in a chunk of cream cheese, a drained can of black olives,  and serve over chips or, more likely for us this evening, quick-fried in butter corn tortillas. Sprinkle the whole thing with grated co-jack cheese.

 

Holdover from when the kids were young. I used to make it as a "Mexican lasagna" in a pie plate with corn tortillas as the "noodles." IP is much easier.

 

Edited April 12, 2019 by kayb (log)

[thurbers]

I admit I don't use it as much as I should. 

 

Dry beans

Soup both chicken and vegetable

My mother's version of "gravy" aka pasta sauce

the one oddity is pressure steamed citrus - clementines, mandarins, blood oranges for Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Orange cake. (I just don't have the patience to boil them for a couple of hours but do love the cake.)

[JAZ]

Thanks, everyone. Your answers were helpful. Another quick question -- has anyone successfully cooked gluten free pasta in the Instant Pot?

[mgaretz]

Carnitas, made in the IP Mini, then broiled.  Some sauce from the pot spooned back over.  Served with Spanish rice and refried beans.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Made collards again in the IP for Easter dinner:

Seriously, the best collards I've ever made.

[ElsieD]

21 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Made collards again in the IP for Easter dinner:

Seriously, the best collards I've ever made.

 

I love collards but I have only recently been introduced to them.  Recipe?

[Kim Shook]

34 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

I love collards but I have only recently been introduced to them.  Recipe?

Here you go!  Make sure to read the intro notes - I did some things differently from the original recipe.  

[mgaretz]

Beef stew, made in the IP with tri-tip trimmings, carrots, mushrooms, potato, parsnip, celery, onion, peas and barley.  The beef was a little tough - when using tri-tip I will cook it longer next time.  (It was in for my usual stew timings - 10 minutes with everything but the carrots, parsnips and potato, quick release, then add the above and cook for an additional 6 minutes, quick release.  I would increase the first time to maybe 30 minutes from 10.)

 

 

 

[Kim Shook]

I am really excited about getting into Janet Zimmerman's ( @JAZ) books.  I cooked my first from "The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook for Two" tonight - Teriyaki Chicken and Rice and it was delicious.  

I told Mr. Kim that it was going to take some time for me to ‘believe’ in the IP. 😄 So far, I’ve had a hard time trusting that the food would be done in the time it is supposed to be.  It really is like magic!

[Kim Shook]

It seems that everything I read about the IP is about pressure cooking.  Does anyone use the slow cooker function?  If not, why not?  And if so, do I just treat it like a regular slow cooker?  I want to make these potatoes and wondered if they'd do well in the IP.  It's for company, so I don't want to screw up.  (Although, it is a first time recipe for me, so there is lot's of room to screw up anyway😊).  Ta!

[robirdstx]

40 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

It seems that everything I read about the IP is about pressure cooking.  Does anyone use the slow cooker function?  If not, why not?  And if so, do I just treat it like a regular slow cooker?  I want to make these potatoes and wondered if they'd do well in the IP.  It's for company, so I don't want to screw up.  (Although, it is a first time recipe for me, so there is lot's of room to screw up anyway😊).  Ta!

 

Hi Kim! I have not used the slow cooker function on the IP, but cooking potatoes that long just doesn’t seem necessary. Lately, I have been steaming my potatoes until fork tender, about 20 minutes, then tossing them with other recipe ingredients. Hope this helps!

[Shelby]

56 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

It seems that everything I read about the IP is about pressure cooking.  Does anyone use the slow cooker function?  If not, why not?  And if so, do I just treat it like a regular slow cooker?  I want to make these potatoes and wondered if they'd do well in the IP.  It's for company, so I don't want to screw up.  (Although, it is a first time recipe for me, so there is lot's of room to screw up anyway😊).  Ta!

I can't remember what I did in the IP slow cooker, but it had to have been meat of some kind.  I think a venison roast.  Anyway, it could just be my IP, but it got way hotter than my regular slow cooker--like too hot.  I will search here tomorrow, I'm surprised I didn't post about it, but then again, I'm losing brain cells daily so I might not have lol.

[kayb]

My understanding -- and I don't use the slow cooker mode much at all, as the pressure cook mode seems to supersede it -- is that the IP heats only from the bottom, while regular slow--cookers heat from the sides as well. I've read that if you slow-cook on "high," it's the equivalent of a low saute, so you may have some scorching/sticking problems.

 

If it were me, I'd cook them pot-in-pot in the IP on high pressure for maybe 10 minutes. Depending on size maybe not that long.

 

I love pot-in-pot cooking. I bought the stackable tins to go in mine, and use them ALL the time.

 

 

[mgaretz]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

It seems that everything I read about the IP is about pressure cooking.  Does anyone use the slow cooker function?  If not, why not?  And if so, do I just treat it like a regular slow cooker?  I want to make these potatoes and wondered if they'd do well in the IP.  It's for company, so I don't want to screw up.  (Although, it is a first time recipe for me, so there is lot's of room to screw up anyway😊).  Ta!

 

I have tried it twice, both with my cabbage soup recipe (which was originally a slow cooker recipe).  The first time was on low, where I have always made it in a real slow cooker, for 8 hours.  The cabbage and carrots were under-cooked.  Next time was on medium, same result.  Haven't tried high yet.  Both times it was easy to rescue - slap the pressure cooker lid on and cook for a few minutes.  This was in the 8 qt model.

Edited May 14, 2019 by mgaretz (log)

[Shelby]

Over on the sous vide thread I've been experimenting with SV'ing chicken and pheasant and then frying and have had good success.  So, I decided to try pressure cooking chicken gizzards and then frying.  

 

Not so much success.

 

Here are the gizzards after pressure cooking--so far so good.  I do them on high for an hour.  That makes them perfect for us--not falling apart, but tender with a tiny bit of chew like gizzards should have.

 

 

Then I soaked them in my usual buttermilk/egg mixture --not that the buttermilk would make them more tender, it's just my usual method-- and then they went into flour mixed with salt and pepper and then into the skillet for frying.

 

All of the breading fell off as you can see here:

 

 

They were still good and everything, but far from the usual fried chicken gizzards 😂.

 

Should I have double dipped them?  As in, dip in the buttermilk, then the flour, then buttermilk again and flour again?  Any ideas?  Or is this just never going to work?