Instant Pot Pressure Cook-all

PaladinTom wrote:

Here's a question I have: so many recipes are great served with rice. What do you if you've already used the Instant Pot and still want to make rice? Do you clean the pot and then cook up some rice? (I'm really feeling like I may buy a second one of these.)

I bought a Zojurushi rice cooker (the NS-ZCC10 5-1/2-Cup model, though all of them are pretty good). They create excellent rice of all varieties really easily, keep them warm a looong time (up to 48 hours without excessive drying) and require even less work than making them in the InstantPot. Honestly, it's one of my favorite cooking items and sees way more use than any other kitchen item save maybe the dishwasher.

We kept our rice cooker. I was actually really looking forward to dumping both the rice cooker and slow cooker when getting the Instant Pot, but we've ended up keeping the rice cooker for the exact reason you stated.

bnpederson wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

Here's a question I have: so many recipes are great served with rice. What do you if you've already used the Instant Pot and still want to make rice? Do you clean the pot and then cook up some rice? (I'm really feeling like I may buy a second one of these.)

I bought a Zojurushi rice cooker (the NS-ZCC10 5-1/2-Cup model, though all of them are pretty good). They create excellent rice of all varieties really easily, keep them warm a looong time (up to 48 hours without excessive drying) and require even less work than making them in the InstantPot. Honestly, it's one of my favorite cooking items and sees way more use than any other kitchen item save maybe the dishwasher.

I have not pulled the trigger on a Zojurushi yet, though I am tempted. I have gone back to stove top rice cooking, as I have that dialed in pretty tight and it leaves the InstantPot freed up.

Regarding the rice thing, we have an uber-deluxe Japanese rice cooker, so we always cook rice in that. My wife (who is Japanese) scoffed at me when I suggested we use the Instant Pot for rice.

PaladinTom wrote:

Also, I'm still a little unclear about letting the pressure out. The system finishes and then counts up to show how long since it's been finished. Does the pressure also let out too? I waited quite some time, but the button didn't pop so I did the manual release.

Yes, the pressure gradually goes down if you leave the release value at "sealing." It can take anywhere from 10-40 minutes, depending on temperature, how much food is in the pot, etc.

Instant Pot recipes that I've seen tell you which way is recommended for that particular recipe.

If your primary dish take approximately as long to cook as the rice, you can cook them at the same time using a a trivet and a stainless steel bowl/container.
If the cook times don't match up well, I'll just cook one or the other first. If I do the rice first I just dump it out into something I can cover and maybe stick it in the microwave (without turning it on) to help it stay warm. I've also used the leftover liquid from cooking chicken to make the rice with, giving the rice the same flavor as the chicken.

As for releasing pressure, it only counts up if you have the Keep Warm setting on so you can tell how long it's been since the cooking time finished. It'll release the pressure on its own in 20-40 minutes (depending on what was cooked and how much liquid was used) regardless of whether the Keep Warm setting's used or not. The slow release is best for things that are quite liquidy, as there's a good chance that the liquid can come squirting out of the vent with a manual release.One thing a lot of places suggest is to let it sit for 10 minutes then do a manual release.

PaladinTom wrote:

Also, I'm still a little unclear about letting the pressure out. The system finishes and then counts up to show how long since it's been finished. Does the pressure also let out too? I waited quite some time, but the button didn't pop so I did the manual release.

Any other tips, hacks, or suggestions?

The only thing I wish I'd figured out earlier is that the default is to go from "pressure cook" to "Keep Warm", and the pot is technically still cooking on very low. This means a) natural release probably takes longer, and b) some things like rice will start to get dry and crunchy on the bottom from that low heat. Now I almost always just turn it off entirely when pressure cooking is finished.

Boudreaux wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

Also, I'm still a little unclear about letting the pressure out. The system finishes and then counts up to show how long since it's been finished. Does the pressure also let out too? I waited quite some time, but the button didn't pop so I did the manual release.

Any other tips, hacks, or suggestions?

The only thing I wish I'd figured out earlier is that the default is to go from "pressure cook" to "Keep Warm", and the pot is technically still cooking on very low. This means a) natural release probably takes longer, and b) some things like rice will start to get dry and crunchy on the bottom from that low heat. Now I almost always just turn it off entirely when pressure cooking is finished.

Natural release takes just as long either way. It's been tested a lot over the years.

Reference

The reason why? Keep warm doesn't engage until pressure is fully released. Until then, the pot is fully off.

I did not know that. Thanks!

Stengah wrote:

If your primary dish take approximately as long to cook as the rice, you can cook them at the same time using a a trivet and a stainless steel bowl/container.

I was going to suggest that. I haven't tried it but my friend has and it turned out great. Also, with Mongolian beef, it infused the rice with the beef flavours. So good!

It depends on what you use the rice for. I tend to use white sushi rice as a palate cleanser between various dishes/drinks/etc. So I don't generally want that cooked with the meal. It's different if we're talking basmati or a brown/wild mixture, of course. And sweet rice is its own thing.

I ended up getting an Instant Pot for Christmas. I'm thinking of converting my slow cooker spaghetti sauce recipe to a pressure cooker.

I don't think I need to change much other than adding less wine and skipping the part where I drain the tomatoes, unless someone can advise me that I need more extra liquid than I think?

But my real concern is that I usually saute some celery, grated carrot and mushrooms with the onion and garlic in the original recipe and throw that in with the meat at the beginning. I've read that vegetables can become really mushy if they are overlooked in the pressure cooker. Would you advise me to throw those in at the end, or am I overthinking this and it won't be an issue in a sauce anyways?

EDIT: Just realized the same issue comes with my slow cooker pot roast which I usually cook on top a layer of mushrooms.

I brought mine home to Maryland after buying one for myself in North Carolina. I don't think my wife will let me take it back.

kuddles wrote:

I ended up getting an Instant Pot for Christmas. I'm thinking of converting my slow cooker spaghetti sauce recipe to a pressure cooker.

I don't think I need to change much other than adding less wine and skipping the part where I drain the tomatoes, unless someone can advise me that I need more extra liquid than I think?

But my real concern is that I usually saute some celery, grated carrot and mushrooms with the onion and garlic in the original recipe and throw that in with the meat at the beginning. I've read that vegetables can become really mushy if they are overlooked in the pressure cooker. Would you advise me to throw those in at the end, or am I overthinking this and it won't be an issue in a sauce anyways?

EDIT: Just realized the same issue comes with my slow cooker pot roast which I usually cook on top a layer of mushrooms.

You don't need much extra liquid since it doesn't boil off like it would in a slow cooker. It still needs an inch or two so there's enough to steam. I'd still drain the tomatoes so it's not too acidic, but that's my personal taste.

It won't be an issue to saute the veggies, though there might not be much reason to saute the celery and carrot. They'll end up the same consistency as slow cooking for 8 hours or so.

I tested the slow cook function yesterday with my pasta fagioli recipe. It seemed to hold an even temperature much better than my crockpot. For the same exact recipe there was so much extra broth than there was with my crockpot. Plus there was the added benefit of searing the meat and deglazing right in the same pot.

I love this thing way more than I expected.

Recipes that use wine can be tricky in the Instant Pot unless you are careful to boil off the alcohol in the wine before before sealing everything up for pressure cooking. So keep that in mind. Sometimes I'll do the saute/deglaze on the stove then add it to the cooker to finish. This works for risotto for example.

I made Chicken Chile Verde last night and it was a huge success. Definitely my favorite thing I've made so far.

FYI for anyone who might want to make this: the recipe calls for drumsticks and thighs, but I only had breasts. I asked Kenji about that via twitter and he recommended decreasing the cooking time by 20%.

praise kenjesus

Humm. I tried to make this Pot Roast tonight, but I had issues...

The pot never got up to full pressure. I got all the settings correct, but instead of reaching full pressure and starting its count down, the pot just kept venting steam for about 20 minutes then displayed a "BURN" indicator. This seemed like a BAD THING, so I turned off the pot, released the pressure, and checked things out. The meal was actually in decent shape, but all the liquid on the bottom had evaporated.

I added some more chicken stock and soy sauce to make the gravy and things tasted fine enough. Not great, but still a decent meal.

Anyone have this happen to them?

The seal on the edge seems fine and the pot seemed to be working fine. The venting seal protector was clear and everything looks normal. The gauge was set on "sealing" and I'm sure I pressed all the correct buttons.

In poking about on the Internets, I saw two possible pilot error types of things.
• Perhaps I had too little or too thick of a liquid on the bottom of the pot.
• Perhaps I didn't deglaze well enough and left a sticky residue on the bottom so that the sensor never registered the pot as being at high pressure.

Digging in a bit more on this, I found this helpful video, and now I'm down to three ideas...

1. I wonder if I just didn't have the sealing/venting gauge on correctly. It was definitely in the correct position, and the pressure valve popped up fine after about five minutes, but the whole time steam kept coming out of the sealing gauge, even with it in the sealing position. Maybe I just had it sitting too high?

2. Maybe I just didn't deglaze the pot well enough so that messed up the sensor enough that it never registered as being at full pressure.

3. Maybe the sealing/venting gauge is defective? I just ran a test now with water and things worked just fine until I lightly touched the sealing gauge, at which point steam started coming out of the valve even though it was in the sealing position. Not sure if this is normal or not?

I had the valve in the wrong position, but it was really obvious in that steam kept coming out of if. Once I put it in the right position it stopped to that. Touching it would momentarily release steam, letting go would stop. If it's constantly letting it out I'd guess it's either misaligned or defective, but I'm just guessing.

nbd

bnpederson wrote:

I had the valve in the wrong position, but it was really obvious in that steam kept coming out of if. Once I put it in the right position it stopped to that. Touching it would momentarily release steam, letting go would stop. If it's constantly letting it out I'd guess it's either misaligned or defective, but I'm just guessing.

Yeah, I'm so new that I didn't realize it shouldn't have been doing that. I had in my head something along the lines of "it's normal for the release valve to be releasing some steam as it reaches full pressure" but obviously not as much nor as long as it was doing tonight. Maybe I just didn't have it seated correctly. I'll keep an eye on it next time. Lessons learned!

Yep, that sounds like the issue I had. You gotta move it around 'til it isn't releasing anything at all, that valve is for manual release only. Natural release won't even have anything come out of there, the metal bit will pop down and you'll be able to open the top on your own.

I had the pot not reach pressure once and then cycle over and over again until ran out of liquid.

I think what happened was that there was not enough liquid in the pot to get to the pressure it wanted, so instead of generating steam for a while and then sealing it spit out a lot of steam, failed to seal, and then tried again, and then it all went downhill from there.

Mongolian Beef was a success!

The only issue I had is that I couldn't quit get a sear on the meat with the Instant Pot. There was a ton of steam, and then the fat would render out so I couldn't get the browning I can with a skillet. Otherwise it was delish. I can't wait to cook my beef stew recipe with this thing. I very likely will be buying a second one after my finances have recovered from X-Mas.

PaladinTom, did you sear the meat on Saute prior to adding liquid and pressurizing?

I just had a long fight with the BURN message. It didn't like the sauce at all. I had to thin it out a lot and ended up emptying the whole thing out to scrape off the few tiny spots of cooked-on sauce it had before it would get all the way pressurized.

Stengah wrote:

I just had a long fight with the BURN message. It didn't like the sauce at all. I had to thin it out a lot and ended up emptying the whole thing out to scrape off the few tiny spots of cooked-on sauce it had before it would get all the way pressurized.

Unless I'm cooking rice or pasta with the dish (to absorb the thin liquid as it cooks), it really doesn't do well with thick sauces. After the cooking cycle is done I'll frequently either remove the solid stuff and reduce the liquid over high heat, thicken it with a corn starch slurry, or reserve a bunch of the liquid for flavored rice or soup.

astralplaydoh wrote:

PaladinTom, did you sear the meat on Saute prior to adding liquid and pressurizing?

I did. I just used a little oil.

LouZiffer wrote:
Stengah wrote:

I just had a long fight with the BURN message. It didn't like the sauce at all. I had to thin it out a lot and ended up emptying the whole thing out to scrape off the few tiny spots of cooked-on sauce it had before it would get all the way pressurized.

Unless I'm cooking rice or pasta with the dish (to absorb the thin liquid as it cooks), it really doesn't do well with thick sauces. After the cooking cycle is done I'll frequently either remove the solid stuff and reduce the liquid over high heat, thicken it with a corn starch slurry, or reserve a bunch of the liquid for flavored rice or soup.

That's what I normally do too, tried out a new recipe that didn't work out well. It tasted good, but took longer to make in the instant pot due to the burn message than it would have to make it normally.