Instant Pot Pressure Cook-all

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
groan wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Best. Thread. Idea. Ever.

groan wrote:

Mongolian Beef. This is a standard in our home and SOOO good.

We are so going to try this. This looks fantastic.

You'll be sooo happy you did.

I just realized this thread is about pressure cookers. I was reading it as slow cookers.

I'm still undaunted, though. Mongolian beef will be mine. I'm lobbying the wife that we need to get a pressure cooker PRONTO.

The same technique with Mongolian beef works very well with chicken and pork. It's also very versatile...
- Substitute orange zest and red pepper flakes for the ginger and add a little vinegar (for brightness), and you have a great orange sauce.
- Substitute bourbon for the soy sauce and black pepper for the ginger for a great bourbon sauce.
- Lose the sauce ingredients altogether and throw in curry spices plus some stock, and you have a curry (I usually mix in sour cream, cream, or coconut milk after cooking for a more creamy curry).

If I have extra time, I break out the cast iron pot and use that technique, but simmer covered on low for 20 minutes instead of pressure cooking for 12. Cast iron browns like nothing else.

polq37 wrote:

This unfortunately defunct blog has a lot of pressure cooker theory.

Of note, many US market pressure cookers are calibrated to reach about 12 psi instead of the full 15 psi required for many recipes.

I recently bought a small Hawkins cooker off of Amazon. Hawkins is an Indian company with a long history of building pressure cookers for their domestic market. It was less expensive and seems more heavily constructed than many western market pressure cookers.

I wouldn't say 15 psi is required. The Instant Pot is 12 psi. Looks like the one he tested was 9 psi on high. I have used both Instant Pot as well as non-Instant Pot recipes and found little issues with the 12 psi. To each their own, though. Here is what Instant Pot says about why 12 (11.6) vs 15:

Why doesn’t Instant Pot operate at 15psi?

The choice of a lower working pressure in Instant Pot is a trade-off of function and cost. The pressure cooker industry safety standard ANSI/UL-136 has a stress test case which requires no leaking at 5 times the working pressure. For 15psi cookers, this is 75psi; for 11.6psi Instant Pot, this is 58psi. The differences in material and construction are huge. We could build an Instant Pot that operates at 15psi, but not at under $150 level. It would be more like $300~500 level and our research indicates that most people are not willing to buy in that price range.

On the other hand, operating at 10.15~11.6 psi only results in 7~15% increase in cooking time, i.e. about 3 more minutes in a 30 minute cooking. With the set-and-forget convenience, the extra cooking is more than tolerable. Furthermore, thanks to the air-insulated housing, maintaining pressure for the extra time consumes very little electricity. Our study shows that Instant Pot uses less than half of electricity comparing with a stove-top on a electric range, taking the same length of time.

I'm happy with a lower pressure cooker if it means I don't have to worry about this.

Saw that on the reddits yesterday and instantly thought of this thread. Yikes!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/wYhg2HV.jpg)

Thanks to this post and astral for the nice Kohl's deal. I got myself one. I gotta read up on it and get some recipes cooking!

Awesome. Hope you enjoy it. I suggest a nice beef stew for a first meal.

I made this Chickpea Stew a couple of days ago. It was pretty good and made enough for 4-5 servings so a good amount of leftovers. I recommend doubling the amount of vegetables.

My wife is allergic to nuts so we left out the pine nuts, but the pesto herbs still gave it a nice flavor and I imagine even better if you can include the nuts.

Really impressed with this thing so far. My wife and I cooked two meals together because of this. Which doesn't really happen except for cooking breakfast together.

We tried the Japanese Beef Curry first. Very good but very time consuming. I don't think I could make that all that time.

And then the chili verde. Which was very good. I ate it two nights in a row.

Bought one at the sale yesterday. Can't wait to try it when I get back from Ohio.

Nice! Let us know if you need any help. I also suggest joining the Facebook group, Instant Pot.

Just found this thread. I started making a veggie stew recently. Part of the recipe involves using the sauté function first, then adding the final ingredients and doing a final cook with the lid on. This is the first recipe I’ve done this way and it’s genius.

Currently we use the Instant Pot for lots of stuff. We use it to cook rice as well as for shredded chicken for tacos and enchiladas.

We made buttered chicken in it recently (the Indian dish) and it was good. I’d like to see if it’s possible to do other Indian dishes (saag paneer, etc.) with it.

I've found the Instant Pot to be the absolute best rice cooker! I've owned a couple of the cheaper <$50 rice cookers, and this is far better. I've never owned an expensive one.

We made beef stew last night. I've made it several times before. We just cut up a roast, or a steak, into small pieces and toss them in some flour and seasoning. Drop some olive oil into the instant pot and put it on saute. Add the meat and let it brown. I then toss up a diced onion into it. Then some garlic. I then add a little red wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan (this is important with the Instant Pot). I then add a few cups of stock and a small can of tomato paste. Throw in a couple bay leaves. I then set it for manual for 30 minutes. After that I add chopped potatoes, carrots, and celery. Back on manual for 5 minutes. After that I add a little bit of a corn starch slurry to thicken it. Done.

astralplaydoh wrote:

I've found the Instant Pot to be the absolute best rice cooker! I've owned a couple of the cheaper <$50 rice cookers, and this is far better. I've never owned an expensive one.

We made beef stew last night. I've made it several times before. We just cut up a roast, or a steak, into small pieces and toss them in some flour and seasoning. Drop some olive oil into the instant pot and put it on saute. Add the meat and let it brown. I then toss up a diced onion into it. Then some garlic. I then add a little red wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan (this is important with the Instant Pot). I then add a few cups of stock and a small can of tomato paste. Throw in a couple bay leaves. I then set it for manual for 30 minutes. After that I add chopped potatoes, carrots, and celery. Back on manual for 5 minutes. After that I add a little bit of a corn starch slurry to thicken it. Done.

That sounds exactly like the veggie stew I made, but with beef. The sauté function has been a revelation.

We make this tortilla soup pretty regularly.
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/chic...

We don't put the taco in the soup any more but it is pretty good with it in. We just do nacho chips on the side. I crush mine into the soup.

astralplaydoh wrote:

I've found the Instant Pot to be the absolute best rice cooker! I've owned a couple of the cheaper <$50 rice cookers, and this is far better. I've never owned an expensive one.

We made beef stew last night. I've made it several times before. We just cut up a roast, or a steak, into small pieces and toss them in some flour and seasoning. Drop some olive oil into the instant pot and put it on saute. Add the meat and let it brown. I then toss up a diced onion into it. Then some garlic. I then add a little red wine to deglaze the bottom of the pan (this is important with the Instant Pot). I then add a few cups of stock and a small can of tomato paste. Throw in a couple bay leaves. I then set it for manual for 30 minutes. After that I add chopped potatoes, carrots, and celery. Back on manual for 5 minutes. After that I add a little bit of a corn starch slurry to thicken it. Done.

On manual high or low pressure? And you do a quick release at the end of each timer?

Manual High.

Now, this goes against 99% of my usual Instant Pot cooking rule. USUALLY, you do not quick release when cooking meat. But, for this, I quick released. I figured it was IN water/broth, so I wasn't worried about it drying out from a quick release.

OMG I've one of these things for a year, hardly ever use it, and just found this thread. There is going to be SO MUCH GOOD FOOD this month.

I use it at least 4 times a week.

You people are so gonna make me buy one of these!

Spoiler:

This comment was a shameless excuse to tag this thread.

PaladinTom wrote:

You people are so gonna make me buy one of these!

Spoiler:

This comment was a shameless excuse to tag this thread.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/dac74Al.gif)

Apparently got it delivered while I was in Ohio, and my wife forgot to tell me she put it with a few other boxes she had yet to open. Made the best chicken and rice soup we've ever had in the first use, and got ingredients for Mongolian Beef for later in the week.

got ingredients for Mongolian Beef

Oh, man, I just flashed hard on The Stick of Truth. ("Goddamn Mongorians!")

Malor wrote:
got ingredients for Mongolian Beef

Oh, man, I just flashed hard on The Stick of Truth. ("Goddamn Mongorians!")

Just remember, you must never EVER Mongolian on a mans beef

Spoiler:

Until the final battle where, obviously, you have to to win.

It's Canadian Thanksgiving today but i'm done with turkey!
It's Spanish Chicken with Rice day!

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/zfSoEPw.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/2rcW0BO.jpg)

So good for making yogurt, and so easy.

Spanish Chicken with rice???
It has a name. It's called Paella. And that recipe ain't it.

Bruce wrote:

Spanish Chicken with rice???
It has a name. It's called Paella. And that recipe ain't it.

Spanish rice isn't Paella. Totally different thing, and it's from Mexico. (Yeah... it's not even from Spain.)

Well whatever you want to call it, it was delicious. We used basmati rice and instead of saffron we used turmeric.

Yum!

Well, some time later today (if my UPS tracking is accurate), I should be a part of the Instant Pot family! Can't wait to try this thing out and see what all the fuss is about.

Quick question: I notice that some people say you should pick up spare seals because they tend to pick up the flavor of whatever you're cooking. Is there any truth to that? Should I pick up some spare seals and just switch them out depending on what I'm cooking (savory, sweet, etc...), or is it enough to just make sure I'm thoroughly cleaning everything after every meal?