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Instant Pot

34K views 236 replies 33 participants last post by  james4beach  
Let me check runs to fridge

Well I actually just got 3.6L from 3 chickens - I use my standard rubbermaid container as measuring cup, because that's where the broth is going after - 1.2L/chicken.

2.5h on the IP for chicken broth - I'm sure it could be less, but I'm a scrooge I guess and want it all out of that chicken!

With this recipe my soup became "goupy" in the fridge, not a firm set block of jello, but not freely flowing either.

I think my broth has been slightly more gelatinous following the same recipe using 1 or 2 chickens in the past (though still not firm jello). 3 chickens is new territory for me.

I've made it stronger before and a harder jell. I'm not sure if I noticed a taste difference when used. The main factor for flavorfulness when using it in soups seems to be how much salt is added to bring out the chicken flavor.

Maybe I'll try it stronger next time to remind myself. Though with 3 little ones now (T-10 minutes of free time this morning!!) keeping scientific track of my frozen broth containers for months on end for recipe variation seems like an item that might slip off the to-do list.:p
 
Just IP'd 3 whole chicken carcasses - 2 frozen, 1 fresh - to make ~4 litres of soup.

I'm trying out the lid in the dishwasher tonight, first time, hopefully it won't wreck it - internet says it won't. The chicken smell was becoming excessive from only hand washing with a brush each time.
 
I pretty much just use mine for soup, but love it for that. How's you bone collection coming along James? My chicken is up, but beef is way down - Inflation 😝

I guess developing an improved product, making it reliable and long lasting, helping millions of consumers improve their lives at a low cost, paying hundreds of employees salaries for many years, and making the founders and upper management millions as a reward for their good work at rolling out a new product --- now constitutes a "failure" of a company in this day and age.

'merica
 
Tried that Doesn't work well for me for some reason... I have these bags all over the damn freezer with cubes flying around. and if I want to thaw them I need another bowl which makes a mess... and the little cubes get freezer burned really easily compared to in tupperware.

Since you're into that though, what I found by far the best for freezing was to do it in these bendy silicone mini-loaf or muffin tray moulds. Once frozen, you literally peel back the silicone and the broth blocks pop right out.
 
Or start using the stock... :)

I'm guilty of overstocking the freezer too...I stock up when things are on sale but I'm not eating as fast as I'm buying.
I usually stock up on stocks of stock in the summer when there's more stock of bones during bbq season for stocking. Which leads to overstocking, and my stock of containers for stock become out of stock from my stocks of stock container stock.
 
Chicken takes like < 1 hour to roast in the oven... I don't know why anyone would want to instapot it.

Problem with instant pot is there is no preheating stage available, so you have to do all your work preparing the food, and then as the very last step load it all into the cooker, and then press start, waiting 15-20 minutes to preheat.
 
Well since you won't let it go... yes I think "gelled" is probably the correct verb. Though my Jello-ified is clearly the more fun variation. :)

I don't really like being a meticulous "food engineer" - I enjoy just tossing things together and not following recipes. But sometimes I just can't help it, and get upset when I see people doing things clearly wrong in the kitchen! In school I'd often find myself looking at charts of beef cuts instead of rock cuts... perhaps that's why it took so long to finish university...
 
jello-ified is most certainly the proper verbiage! :biggrin:

I have no idea what is going on in that pot that it is not agitating the chicken bits into oblivion, like boiling does (that's why we simmer). It seems to me that the only conclusion that I can draw is that the IP is holding the pressure and temp at precisely the right place so that the fluid is at high temperature (due to high vapour pressured of the sealed pot), but is not infact boiling or moving the parts of food around the pot at all, as I was envisioning. In hindsight, this makes sense, as the IP needs to prevent excess steam buildup and over pressuring, lest it explodes.

For reference, after draining out the clear broth I picked up one of the chicken leg bones, and it crushed easily between my fingers - a good sign that the stock is fully and completely "done".
 
This thing is friggen awesome for soup stocks!

Chicken carcass, bay leaf, pinch of salt, 1.5hrs and natural release, produces clear deep yellow stock with a thin film of fat on top. Perfect. My in-pot recipe is inferior, and I always had problems getting the simmer right and the stock to come out clear. Once refrigerated it is thick like jello as well.

Beef stock took 3hrs, and again produced nice brown clear liquid which jello-ified in the fridge. Extracting the collage/gelatin from large beef bones (Prime rib) on the stove took me 12+ of simmering at a bare minimum - once I cooked beef stock for 48hrs and it was not as good as the Instant Pot.
 
Ya it was the standard Arborio risotto rice. I'm not sure if it's the best authentic Italian short grain risotto rice, but that's what all the standard American recipes ask for.

Does it really only take 15 minutes of stirring? It takes me 30+minutes of stirring and broth adding to make it by scratch, and that's just the stirring part that comes after the sauteeing and broth heating. I've heard that you can speed this up by just adding the broth in larger batches, stirring less often and boiling harder and the creaminess is not compromised. I'm not so sure though. I like the constant stir, barely wet rice method.

The point was people were saying you can even make risotto in the IP. A finicky recipe. I suppose it wasn't bad but it wasn't that great. I'l probably sick with things like speeding up the cooking of large vegetables, stews, and softening tough meats.

Getting to the point in life where I think I should be working harder at value added things like exercise, working more, socializing more, reading, and not trying to distract myself with things like elaborate food planning & preparation, which I've used as a pretty reliable excuse for the last 10 years whenever I should've been doing something more important.
 
That being said, I don't think I'd do risotto again in the IP. It was pretty good... but didn't have quite the right texture and smoothness I was looking for, and it only was moderately faster and easier than the regular method (which takes 50-60 minutes).

Thanks Plug. I will try to get things to a boil on the sautee mode first. You'd think high sautee and high pressure modes would equally have the burner set to max, though, eh?
 
Made mushroom and scallop risotto tonight. Fridge to plate in about 35 minutes! Still, after sauteeing the onions and rice, and adding 1.5L of hot broth, it took 15 full minutes on high to get up to pressure and the 5 minute counter to begin. I wish the burner was stronger to get it up to full heat faster.
 
Potatoes and carrots are super simple and quick in the IP actually. All you have to do is wash and cut up some baby potatoes, throw into the IP. Then throw in a bag of baby carrots along with some water (I use chicken broth). Set the IP for 4 minutes and done.

It takes less than 5 minutes for pressure to build up, and another minute to quick vent, so let's say roughly 10 minutes total, and they come out just right. It's a very simple recipe and process, no need to over think it.
Did I do something wrong? I do have the 8 qt. I had about 2lbs of cold potatoes and 1-2 cups of cold water in there, and it took a full 15 minutes for it to come up to pressure and the timer to start... It was as long as bringing a large pot of water to boil... That's why next time I was planning on soaking the potatoes and IP liner in hot tap water for a few minutes first, while I'm getting the carrots ready, to hopefully jump start the heating up process.
 
^ However you make it, that's just a good and easy recipe all around. Spaghetti, high quality extra virgin olive oil, garlic, parsley, spicy red chili flakes, salt. I like to add parmesan cheese and bacon sometimes too. But not necessary.
 
I've cooked carrots and potatoes together for years in a pressure cooker and never had this problem. I will cut the carrots in 2 or 3 pieces and cut the potatoes into pieces of similar thickness to the carrots. Put them all in the pot and let them cook. One of my favorites is a boiled vegetable dinner made of carrots, potatoes, parsnips, cabbage and a whole onion steamed together sometimes with rutabaga. If the potatoes are big I will cut them in half or thirds. And put the big chunk of cabbage on top, like a 1/4 of a head of cabbage. Maybe it's because I like traditional Canadian over cooked vegetables, I am not going to lose my mind if everything isn't exactly to the same stage of al dente.

I do beef stew in one stage too (without the beans, who puts beans in beef stew). I roll the meat in flour and brown pretty thoroughly in a frying pan before it goes into the pot.
Ya I guess I'm just trying to figure it out as best I can, now with IP cooker timing. Though even in the oven or pot I often screw up the timing/doneness of things... Normally I'd say with the same size chunk of potato and carrot that the potato will cook slower than the carrot in the oven. Seems like in the IP with all the steam it might be opposite. I'll have to play and dial it in for the right size/shape/timing with the IP.
Definitely excited to be able to whip up "roasted" vegetables or beef stew in <30 minutes.
 
First recipe: Baby potatoes and carrots, to go along with some leftover roast beef from last weekend.

Disaster. Put the potatoes in first (1.5lbs) with a cup of water, both fridge-cold. It took 15 minutes to get up to full temp, then the pressure cooker timer on for 6 minutes. Peeled the carrots during this time. After 6 minutes I vented the steam and opened. The potatoes were almost done. Put in the carrots and represurized (only 5 minutes this time) and cooked for 4 more minutes.

The potatoes were over-done and the carrots way underdone. Then I threw them in a pan with garlic, oil, sugar, and S&P and steamed another 5+ minutes to get the carrots reasonably soft. Overall the whole thing took 45 minutes, marginally quicker than the "boil then sautee" method overall.

Next time I'm going to have to cook them all together and avoid a mid-cook venting. But I'll have to get the potatoes hot first. I think I'll do this by:

-Wash the potatoes in the IP sleeve in the sink, letting the potatoes and IP heat up for 5 minutes under scalding hot tap water.
-Peel and chop the carrots while the potatoes and IP are sitting in the hot water
-Drain potatoes
-Add carrots to IP and 1-2 cups scalding hot tap water
-Pressure cook for ~7 minutes
-Sautee in hot pan for 2-3 minutes with oil, garlic, butter, salt, etc.