Instant Pot

Darren Wright

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My BIL and SIL bought us a very large instant pot for christmas, like 8 quarts. I've decided to give it a try today cooking up some smothered pork chops. So far it's going well, just sealed the lid to pressure cook it all.
 
My niece (who is a kitchen gadget maven) loves her Instant Pot. Also have a few younger cousins who feel the same way. Kinda funny how my mom did a lot of cooking with a pressure cooker, but my generation seems to have largely forgotten about them. Now that all the kids are using them, us old folks are starting to see the benefits. :)
 
Didn't turn out too, bad, but had a "Food Burning" message, so added more broth, but its a little more well done than I'd like, but tender and juicy. I ended up do some cauliflower fried rice with it.
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We buy the cauliflower rice at Costco. I microwave it for 5 minutes, then put it in a strainer with some paper towels and push most of the water out with a cereal bowl. I then heat up some butter to about medium high in a cast iron skillet and cook it like I would hashbrowns. Just let it brown for a few minutes before stirring.
 
I have the Farberware (?) pressure cooker like insta pot. I have trouble getting a good initial seal and can't quite make it work like it's supposed to.
my mom used the old fashioned one all the time when I was a kid. Much simpler then. I'd probably use it much more if I spent more time getting used to it.
 
I really like the Costco cauliflower rice. It's become an easy to fix go to... along with mashed cheesy cauliflower. The missus is an anti-gadget person or I'd already have an insta pot. Maybe one will sneak into the garage one of these days, along with a nice chamber vacuum sealer. :crossed:
 
I was well into the skeptics corner when the boss bought one of these, but I've mostly come around to the "deserves a place on the counter" crowd.

It's super useful for a few things. First you can cook rice in short order which is pretty nice. We used to have a rice cooker and this has pretty much retired that. We also use it a lot for cooking dry beans which are both a lot cheaper and imho a lot better than the canned variety. We also cook a lot of "extra" bones down into stock with it, although we're about as likely to use the stovetop+oven for that as imho pressure cooking doesn't do quite as good of a job of pulling out the gelatins. We do have a couple of "traditional" pressure cookers but loml likes the instant pot better because of the safety features plus you can set & forget with the timer as opposed to tweaking the stovetop temperature to hit the "right" pressure. It does NOT go as high as either of our other pressure cookers but for most things that's fine.

What really sold me though was the serious eats french onion soup recipe. Now I know a lot of you have had the watery sad stuff that passes as french onion soup most places and this is decidedly not that. This is a super rich broth with luscious caramelized onion notes layered into what is essentially a bread pudding. Finishing it in the oven with individually topped bowls with some decent cheese cooked until just brown and bubbly really tops it off. Super good! Unfortunately this clashes with the keto theory (sorry guys!) maybe for a cheat day.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/01/pressure-cooker-french-onion-soup-recipe.html
 
Making pulled pork takes 90 minutes including searing the meat and pulling the pork. Add smoke seasoning in liquid and you are eating smoked pulled pork. Chicken does great and very simple. I don't cook but push wife to use it for just about everything cause it's fast and easy. Best gadget we've got in a very long time. As you know retirees are pressed for time!!
David
 
Didn't turn out too, bad, but had a "Food Burning" message, so added more broth, but its a little more well done than I'd like, but tender and juicy. I ended up do some cauliflower fried rice with it.
View attachment 108980 View attachment 108981 View attachment 108982

We buy the cauliflower rice at Costco. I microwave it for 5 minutes, then put it in a strainer with some paper towels and push most of the water out with a cereal bowl. I then heat up some butter to about medium high in a cast iron skillet and cook it like I would hashbrowns. Just let it brown for a few minutes before stirring.
Does look good... LOML bought an instapot some months back, but hasn't used it yet... since I've taken over most of the cooking, may have to give it a go. As for the cauliflower rice, that's good stuff. I was initially a little reticent about trying it, but we've come to like it and my stepson who is here visiting (not much of a veggie eater) as discovered he like cauliflower fried rice. Think I will look for a recipe for the instapot and give it a go today.
 
We got one last year, and I was quite skeptical of how handy it would be. The description of it led me to believe if I sat it in the pantry, that evening dinner would be ready.:rofl:. Well, it doesn't do that :mad: but it is quite useful for many other things. My biggest complaint is trying to clean the SS pot after use; it can sometimes be a real PITA. I'm ordering a copper coated one to replace it.
 
We got one last year, and I was quite skeptical of how handy it would be. The description of it led me to believe if I sat it in the pantry, that evening dinner would be ready.:rofl:. Well, it doesn't do that :mad: but it is quite useful for many other things. My biggest complaint is trying to clean the SS pot after use; it can sometimes be a real PITA. I'm ordering a copper coated one to replace it.
Where did you order the copper one from?
 
I tried our instant pot last night to do some pork chops... the wife and stepson raved about them and I found them to be very tender and easy to chew. I'll probably be using it much more in the coming future.... now I have to try out the air fryer loml just had to have... new experiment coming up.
 
I tried our instant pot last night to do some pork chops... the wife and stepson raved about them and I found them to be very tender and easy to chew. I'll probably be using it much more in the coming future.... now I have to try out the air fryer loml just had to have... new experiment coming up.
I used to use my air fryer for crisping up my breakfast burritos. Really made them nice and crunchy.
 
I was well into the skeptics corner when the boss bought one of these, but I've mostly come around to the "deserves a place on the counter" crowd.

It's super useful for a few things. First you can cook rice in short order which is pretty nice. We used to have a rice cooker and this has pretty much retired that. We also use it a lot for cooking dry beans which are both a lot cheaper and imho a lot better than the canned variety. We also cook a lot of "extra" bones down into stock with it, although we're about as likely to use the stovetop+oven for that as imho pressure cooking doesn't do quite as good of a job of pulling out the gelatins. We do have a couple of "traditional" pressure cookers but loml likes the instant pot better because of the safety features plus you can set & forget with the timer as opposed to tweaking the stovetop temperature to hit the "right" pressure. It does NOT go as high as either of our other pressure cookers but for most things that's fine.

What really sold me though was the serious eats french onion soup recipe. Now I know a lot of you have had the watery sad stuff that passes as french onion soup most places and this is decidedly not that. This is a super rich broth with luscious caramelized onion notes layered into what is essentially a bread pudding. Finishing it in the oven with individually topped bowls with some decent cheese cooked until just brown and bubbly really tops it off. Super good! Unfortunately this clashes with the keto theory (sorry guys!) maybe for a cheat day.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/01/pressure-cooker-french-onion-soup-recipe.html
We are trying it tomorrow...I love FOS
 
After reading about the French Onion soup above, I had to try it out. For the recordI don't like FOS, but my better half loves the stuff...so I made it for here and I had chicken noodle. Anyway, she liked the soup a lot but the Gruyere cheese wasn't her favorite (not even close). So we'll (she'll) have it again, but with Provolone. I'll stick to other stuff.
 
Not a fan of French Onion Soup either... LOML may like it, I know she likes the Monte Cristo sandwiches that comes with FOS as a dip and was served at Bennigans in Humble... she ordered one often when we went there before they closed....
I tried the Instant Pot again last night with a Lemon Chicken, using boneless thighs... was very tasty and tender and only took about an hour to put it all together and cook.... getting to like using the IP.
 
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