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Cooking with the Instant Pot

Shel_B

By Shel_B
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chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted

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.

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“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

"Some books stay with you even as you evolve, level up, and taste disappointment, and maybe you owe something to those books." -Charlie Jane Anders, Lessons in Magic and Disaster

Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
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Posted
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!

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 ... Shel


 

Shel_B

Shel_B

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Posted (edited)
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 by Shel_B
edited content (log)

 ... Shel


 

chromedome

chromedome

Posted
Posted
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).

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

"Some books stay with you even as you evolve, level up, and taste disappointment, and maybe you owe something to those books." -Charlie Jane Anders, Lessons in Magic and Disaster

Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
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Posted
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.

 

 

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 ... Shel


 

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
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Posted

Over the last year+, I've been eating white rice more frequently than before, mostly Jasmine, Basmatti, and Mahatma long grain rice. Been cooking in a pot on the stove top and the results have been quite good overall. However, thoughts of a rice cooker have been dancing thru my head.

 

For some reason I searched for.making rice in the Instant Pot and discovered there's a rice setting on my model, and I tried it this afternoon with some fussy Basmatti. I added the rinsed and drained rice to the IP with water, salt, Abit of ghee  buttened 'er up and pushed the RICE button, and let the mess rest for 10-11 minutes before venting.

 

The results were about on par with my stove top technique. I'm a happy fellow, a little fine tuning should improve the results.

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 ... Shel


 

YvetteMT

YvetteMT

Posted
Posted

I appreciate this Shel_B.  I've wondered about using my IP for rice since i really only use it for pressure cooking.   

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Hunter, fisherwoman, gardener and cook in Montana.

Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
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Posted
43 minutes ago, YvetteMT said:

I appreciate this Shel_B.  I've wondered about using my IP for rice since i really only use it for pressure cooking.   

In the past I tried using the IP for rice and followed directions from various sites on the internet re time and water proportions. Couldn't get a decent result. This was kind of a long shot before buying a cooker. It's worth experimenting with. IMO. I used less water than the pkg directions.

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 ... Shel


 

MaryIsobel

MaryIsobel

Posted
Posted

I haven't tried my Instapot for rice. I cook big amounts of white or brown rice using the pasta method.I then freeze it in 1 cup portions flattened in freezer bags.

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

I was about to say the a rice cooker is the way to go but I guess that depends on how often you eat rice and available storage space. Everyone has one here, but the do eat rice at least twice a day.

 

You don't need an expensive one - even a basic one does the job perfectly well. I have two: a small one for when it's just me and a large one for when I now rarely, entertain.

 

 

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted

I routinely cook rice in the Instant Pot.  I always use the pot-in-pot method as I tend to cook just one or two servings which isn’t enough volume for the rice function to work properly in my 6 qt IP. Always equal amounts of rice (rinsed) and water, Time varies from 1 min for jasmine rice, 3 min for basmati, 7 min for sushi rice, to 23 min for medium grain brown rice, all followed by at least 10 min natural release.

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