Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 5)

[JAZ]

I'm not sure about cream of mushroom soup, but I've developed a few Instant Pot recipes that use milk with no problem. I use milk and butter for cooking potatoes that are going to be mashed; and milk and water in oatmeal, mac and cheese, and tuna and noodles. I also have a recipe for pork loin in milk. In that recipe, the milk curdles a bit, but I call for pureeing the sauce with an immersion blender, so that takes care of the texture.

[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 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 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 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 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.