Is the Instant Pot magical ?

Paul

Paul

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Excuse me for getting wordy here but I was really impressed with the results.

So I got the Instant Pot at Kohl's thanks to heads up deal from colleenmomof2. Nice too because my wife had fun shopping last night with the Kohl's cash and rewards from shopping. I definitely feel it is an upgrade over the Power Pressure Cooker XL. Among other things I've made rice several times. Every time it has come out perfect even when I've fiddled with the time.

Last night however I did something different. Instead of water I used a garlic ginger sauce with some added water to make the rice. My daughter had bought chicken and I thought it was drumsticks but it was frozen. So I went looking for a recipe that I could use for frozen drumsticks and came up with the one linked. When I got to the chicken it turned out to actually be thighs. I thought about it (briefly) and did the recipe anyway.

The chicken was awesome but that is not the point here.

When I ran the rice in the Instant Pot using the remaining sauce with a little added water, the rice was not done at all so I reset it and started it again. This time however the rice ran for an extended period of time and the display said "Auto" It ran for over 1/2 hour-45 minutes like this which is way longer than it normally takes for rice. I thought it was not working properly and didn't expect it to ever actually finish. My kids asked several times if it was ready and I was annoyed that my rice was a fail and fully expected to find a mushy mess when I opened the thing up. But then my son comes to me and says the rice was done and could he have some? So I went to check and it actually was done.

The weird thing was when it finally finished the rice WAS perfect except for the bottom which was a little burnt. (not burnt enough to taint the flavor of the rest of the rice). It wasn't even sticky as you might expect from those ingredients in the sauce (honey / sugar) and was not mushy.

I was really impressed. I guess it has some sort of sensor and can figure out when rice is properly done?

https://livingsweetmoments.com/instant-pot-ginger-garlic-drumsticks/

 
I don't know if it's magical - but as a recent recipient of one

as well I'm now looking for some ideas.
Thank you for your link Paul. I'll take a look at it.
I bought the ingredients to try mushroom risotto (for the instant pot) and hope to serve it with shredded short ribs which I'll make the day before in the instant pot.
I made the following stew and thought it was pretty good. I didn't really follow it for budget purposes - but because the instructions were simple for my first endeavour.
Betty

https://www.budgetbytes.com/2017/01/instant-pot-beef-stew/comment-page-7/#comment-453449

 
Congratulations on your success, Paul!

Magical Instant Pot has not been my experience smileys/frown.gif I'm batting about 50% "perfect." My rice, eggs, meat, and veggies are ending up either overcooked or under. I have my 4th batch of hardboiled eggs in ice - hopefully perfect this time smileys/wink.gif Putting pumpkin custards in - successful last time. Then bone soup - always good (not so dependent on perfect pressure/time setting). Ended up with too much minestrone in the pot to pressure cook and then couldn't get the right Saute setting (low to high), with it boiling at times - beans undercooked and veggies over. Still tasty but had to watch it - my fault. Looking forward to fish tacos tomorrow - last 2 attempts from frozen were tasty but fish was overcooked. Playing with 1 minute time differences smileys/wink.gif

I've never pressure cooked before - my mom was afraid - so I am learning. For the two of us, the 6 quart Instant Pot has been a wonderful addition. I'll get better with practice. Colleen

 
I hesitently tried pasta for the first time

I've been doing pasta my whole life and spent a lot of time with my stickler Italian grandfather and awesome Irish grandmother who was trained by her inlaws who really put her through the ringer back in those days but ultimately triumphed to become the best Italian cook in the family (she added some Irish secrets to her calzones)...

I was really anticipating a fail here. not bragging but it came out perfect... Two bags of the Garafolo Casarecce from Costco. I did a mix of water and homemade sauce just enough to cover it. High pressure 4 minutes. it had just enough al dente and no gooey-ness and absorbed some flavor from my sauce. I'm almost embarrassed to say that it was the best pasta I ever made short of when I've done it from scratch.

I got the 8 QT, btw.

 
I should also say that I pick my poison so to speak

I have not tried eggs. For veggies I learned my lesson in the Power Pressure Cooker. All of my initial attempts were way overcooked so I started cutting any vegetables extra large if they were going in the pressure cooker. Even then I put some bagged organic veggies from Costco in the Instant Pot a few nights ago and they were good but a little overcooked.

The vast majority of my use of the pressure cooker(s) has been for:

rice & rice dishes like Spanish rice, beans, bone broth & stocks

The beans I do with pretty much 100% success rate by going high pressure for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. These are non-pre-soaked, dried beans. I usually do them in some sort of broth or stock and not straight water. I really like adding tomatoes which end up as a sort of gravy. I use the La Victoria salsa for this because it is a fairly neutral salsa in terms of spices i.e. not full of cumin or other such and just has vegetable ingredients and no "natural flavors" or other garbage. For beans I also add a healthy amount of vinegar

Right now I have a freezer full of bones and broths that I've made in the pressure cooker and pull them out for beans or other purposes.

 
Experimenting and not taking any failure as absolute

My IP rack of spareribs came out better than any other attempt over 30-some previous years. And they might have been perfect if finished on the grill instead of gobbled up right out of the IP. smileys/wink.gif You definitely can teach an old dog new tricks! Colleen

 
Pasta, beans and yogurt are still on my IP-TTD list

I have the dry beans (and recipes) but just haven't gotten there. Yesterday and today's IP total - hardboiled eggs (excellent flavor/texture but slight green line on yolk), pumpkin custard (made a partial recipe that is good but not as good as last time), stock from Costco rotisserie bones etc., 8 chicken breasts poached in stock (190-205 degrees for overcooked - will dial back time next time), chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes along with 3 small whole skin-on potatoes (yum on the mashed), frozen Costco 6 oz mahi-mahi fillets for fish tacos and maybe brussel sprouts. Colleen

 
I tried lemon risotto. It was a bit too wet. Will try 4 minutes

next time - and a bit less broth. I agree failures are going to happen. I'd love to perfect a great risotto though.
Betty

 
Me, too! The possibility/probability for perfect IP risotto exists!

And lemon risotto - yum! Risotto - also on my list of IP things to make smileys/wink.gif Betty, please share your "recipe."

I'm doing pretty well if undercooked by using the Sauté Function or tossing into the oven to complete. It's the overcooked that I am hoping to avoid. Colleen

 
The attached article and recipe is quite in-depth. I don't know enough yet

about instantpots to determine if her information is correct, but it seems very scientific (something I'm not smileys/smile.gif
My husband doesn't really like onions so I took her advice and used a bit more broth and skipped the onion. I think next time I will use the onion.
If I find a recipe that I'm happy with I will for sure post.
Good luck

Betty

https://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-risotto-in-7-minutes/

 
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