Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

[rotuts]

OK

 

I thought you put the iPot insert

 

on your stove top.

 

sorry

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

@TdeV, were you stirring in the same way and with the same frequency?

[TdeV]

Sorry I'm not that coordinated, @blue_dolphin. I'm a pretty seat-of-the-pants cook, at least as far as chosen ingredients & volume of same. The best I can say is that I cook in a "similar way" to the way I've cooked before. I've been closely observing what has occurred with the Instant Pot but I don't know what I don't know.

 

Do you find the stovetop and the IP sauté functions similar? Or does one behave quite differently from the other?

[robirdstx]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

So, @robirdstx, you're suggesting that there is something very different between an Instant Pot and a stovetop burner. What?

I have no idea, but I have burned the bottom of a regular cooking pot on the stovetop and have not had it happen when using the Instant Pot.

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

OK

 

I thought you put the iPot insert

 

on your stove top.

 

sorry

 

 

Me too.

[TdeV]

2 hours ago, TdeV said:

So, @robirdstx, you're suggesting that there is something very different between an Instant Pot [edit: sauté function] and a stovetop burner. What?

 

53 minutes ago, robirdstx said:

I have no idea, but I have burned the bottom of a regular cooking pot on the stovetop and have not had it happen when using the Instant Pot.

 

Aha, perfect! This states what I want to know exactly.

 

[JAZ]

22 hours ago, TdeV said:

Sorry I'm not that coordinated, @blue_dolphin. I'm a pretty seat-of-the-pants cook, at least as far as chosen ingredients & volume of same. The best I can say is that I cook in a "similar way" to the way I've cooked before. I've been closely observing what has occurred with the Instant Pot but I don't know what I don't know.

 

Do you find the stovetop and the IP sauté functions similar? Or does one behave quite differently from the other?

 

The Instant Pot will automatically cycle on and off to keep a (relatively) stable temperature. If you have an electric stove, your burners will do that as well, but the difference is that the heating element in the Instant Pot is smaller in area. Of course if you have a gas stove, there's no cycling -- the flame is on all the time. It seems to me that the scorching on the bottom of your pot was probably caused by too high a heat and insufficient stirring. It's possible to get scorched food in an Instant Pot, but if you're cooking with the lid off (just to reduce a sauce, for instance), the heating element is designed to minimize that.

[rotuts]

@JAZ 

 

thank you for your timely contributions 

 

to this thread

[JAZ]

On 3/2/2020 at 2:59 PM, weinoo said:

 

2. Who the hell cooks pasta in an Instant-Pot? Oy.

 

Many people do, myself included. I don't do it often, but when I was working on my Instant Pot books, I included several recipes that cook pasta along with the sauce and other ingredients. It can work very well as long as you're careful to choose ingredients that cook at the same rate, get the liquid level right, and don't overcook the pasta. So, for instance, I have a recipe for ramen noodles, which of course cook very quickly, paired with shrimp and broccoli, both of which cook in the time the noodles do (pretty much the time it takes the pot to come to pressure, so no time actually cooking, with a quick release). I also have one for penne with sausage and peppers, which takes a bit longer -- 4 minutes cooking time, with quick release.

[rotuts]

Im a FastaPasta man myself

 

but the above makes a great deal of sense 

 

if one is very careful 

 

just saying

 

and the iPot

 

not to derail etc

 

makes great Ragu

 

pasta in the Fasta 

[weinoo]

Certainly seems like a solution looking for a problem.

 

I can boil enough water to cook ramen in the time it takes for the IP to come to pressure.  While that's happening, the shrimp and broccoli are cooking away in the broth. 

 

Seems like with pasta and ramen, there's just too great a chance to overcook the noodle in an instant pot. 

[rotuts]

@weinoo

 

""  there's just too great a chance to overcook the noodle in an instant pot.  ""

 

points taken

 

maybe the NYC water  ....

 

I think what matters is one's discernment 

 

and ability to Muti-Task w [NYC water ]   

 

the iPot might not work for you in this iteration 

 

but it might work for many others.

 

we get choices 

 

we keep track in a Red Engineering Lined notebook

 

which you should not loose

 

and have a nice meal.

[weinoo]

Also, my Italian grandmother would scoff at the notion of using a pressure cooker to cook her pasta!  OK - my Jewish one.

 

You have to remember from whence we came.

[mgaretz]

I think this is a manifestation of the “when you get a new hammer, everything is a nail” syndrome. 

Edited March 4, 2020 by mgaretz (log)

[Smithy]

I scoffed at the idea of cooking pasta in the Instant Pot, until I ran across a recipe for Chicken Bacon Penne in a Garlic Cream Sauce (from Pressure Cooking Today) and tried it. Delicious. As @JAZ notes, recipes that make the sauce while the pasta cooks in the same pot can work well in the Instant Pot and save some dishes afterward. 

[rotuts]

I think its some things work well, possibly very well

 

with Method A , but not everything .

 

remember the days were you had to have 45 gallons of water to cook 1 lbs of pasta ?

 

and you had to put oil in the water ?

 

FastaPasta will give you identical pasta , once you understand the water::Pasta::Cooking time

 

and you save the small amount of water from the FP :  gives you very starchy water to

 

add back to the cooked pasta.

 

Clean up ?    forget spending time cleaning out that oily large pot you used to use.

 

meat , for me , unless ground (  i.e.Ragu , ) ends up noticeably better SV

 

And I have not done a cubes of meat rags yet 

 

but Id bet the SV rib meat  + iPot sauce ( aromatics , tomato , herbs and spices )

 

would have a better mouth-feel and chew

 

than just the meat  in the iPot at one time. , pasta your chosen method.

 

but that's a lot of time , unless you do SV in bulk , to make the rag  in portions

 

then freeze.

 

then there is the Thorny Issue of the Meat sauce you get

 

from short ribs cooked ' braise '  so flavors exude from the meat

 

and make your meat sauce.

 

" If its not in the Meat , it better be in the Sauce "

 

that why higher temp cooking of meat

 

is better the next day   some jus prefers to get back into the meat.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[Kim Shook]

I’ve had a curse on my CSO hard cooked eggs lately.  After months of success, I haven’t been able to get them to peel cleanly for the last few dozen I’ve done.  So I decided to try the IP method again: 1 cup of water in the bottom of the pan, 5 minutes on high pressure, 5 minutes on natural release, then quick release and take the eggs out immediately.  I don’t do an ice bath because I suspect that tightens up the membrane (which is probably nonsense).  It worked great.  Perfectly cooked egg and both the hot one and the cold one I peeled worked perfectly:

I realize that my results probably have more to do with the eggs than the method of cooking.  But these were lovely.

[mgaretz]

27 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

1 cup of water in the bottom of the pan, 5 minutes on high pressure, 5 minutes on natural release, then quick release and take the eggs out immediately.

 

I do 4 and 4 and then an ice bath and get great results.

[Kim Shook]

Well, it might all be nonsense, but I can't argue with success:

😁

[TdeV]

In a thread about food processors (here), I asked why someone slices up veggies for stock, and @teonzo responded that more surface area in contact with water produces more flavourful stock.

I mentioned that I add whole onion, carrot and celery to the pressure cooker when making dried beans specifically so that the vegetables are easy to fish out of the bean stock. Teo told me to keep the vegetables in the stock.

Since it's about using the Instant Pot, I'm re-posting the question because I'd like more elucidation.

In my experience, cooking at high pressure for even 2 minutes is enough to make the vegetables mush.

What do you do?

 

[robirdstx]

18 minutes ago, TdeV said:

In a thread about food processors (here), I asked why someone slices up veggies for stock, and @teonzo responded that more surface area in contact with water produces more flavourful stock.

I mentioned that I add whole onion, carrot and celery to the pressure cooker when making dried beans specifically so that the vegetables are easy to fish out of the bean stock. Teo told me to keep the vegetables in the stock.

Since it's about using the Instant Pot, I'm re-posting the question because I'd like more elucidation.

In my experience, cooking at high pressure for even 2 minutes is enough to make the vegetables mush.

What do you do?

 

If I were making stock, I would remove the tired vegetables at the end, but when making beans, I would leave the sliced vegetables in with the beans.

[Kim Shook]

Needed some serious comfort food the other day.  Managed to secure the ingredients for a brisket in gravy including a brisket, dry onion soup mix, and no salt beef broth.  I mashed up two recipes that I found and had some really good luck.  After 70 minutes of pressure cooking and 15 of natural release, this is what I got:

 

Fully shredded (I might try careful slicing next time – it was just a little too shredded):

Incredibly tender and moist.  I’m still shocked when the IP works like it is supposed to!  I somehow don’t “believe” in it until it proves itself once again.  I guess we’re past that pasta and red sauce incident.  Plated with the lovely gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, and some oddly good corn that Mr. Kim picked up at Publix:

I also had gotten some of the soft Hawaiian rolls from FL and they mopped up that gravy perfectly. If you would like to try it, here's the recipe.

[lemniscate]

@Kim Shook  Milk Street freebie courses has a Instant Pot class WITH a whole section on how to do pasta and sauce.  It's a pretty good course.  I've had an IP for a while and thought "I'll enroll in the class and probably won't find it useful".  I was Wrong.   The course documents and recipes are downloadable in pdf form.  The videos and the host are pleasing and do not feel time-wasted to me.  I do have a short attention span, internet style.   I say Check It Out.  

 

Milk Street online courses (free)

[Kim Shook]

Since I had such good luck using the IP for hard cooked eggs, I thought I'd give it a try for soft cooked ones.  It is probably my favorite  way to have eggs and, to me, the hardest to do well.  I can poach an egg better than I can soft cook one.  I was really happy with the results:

This was a cup of cool water, 5 minutes LOW pressure, fast release.  Then 30 seconds cold water bath, 5 seconds under cold running water and back into the water bath for 3 minutes.  Not sure that back and forth between the water bath and running water is necessary, but - like I said before - why argue with success?  I think I'll try 4 minutes next time.  

[Kim Shook]

Four minute eggs today:

I think this is perfect for us.