Author Topic: Instant pot recipes?  (Read 50210 times)

cavewoman

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #50 on: December 14, 2015, 09:20:21 PM »
Today I made lentil soup from this recipe:
http://eatwithinyourmeans.com/pressure-cooker-lentil-soup/

I added an extra carrot and celery stalk and might have had extra potatoes (I'm bad at estimating weight) so it came out stewy, but it was quite tasty if I say so myself!

I've never been much of a soup maker. I'd buy bags of soup mix. It amazes me that I can saute some vegetables, spices, and add water and it turns into this! My total prep time was much longer than the recipe, im not sure if that was a newbie thing (having to stop, unlock device, check next step) or because I was talking to my boyfriend about our days. It was still 1 hour to eat time though. Only salt, pepper, cumin and paprika in this. So tasty and so simple.
(I feel like a cavewoman who has time travelled and is marvelling at modern conveniences. Like I've finally listened to the band everyone had loved for years. Like, duh, soup is easy!)
I feel like a true mustachian now that I have cooked lentils finally.

:-)

elaine amj

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #51 on: December 14, 2015, 11:22:11 PM »
Well, I made chicken stock in the IP today. I followed a recipe which called for 55 min cooking time and natural depressurizing. I added some onions, garlic, and carrots (all I really had on hand) along with my rotisserie chicken carcass. The recipe called for salt but I skipped it.

Not sure if I cooked it too long (I later saw other recipes for 30 mins)  or used too much water (I covered with an inch of water) but it was on the bland side - I probably really do need the salt. I figure I can easily add it when I actually cook with the stock.  I strained it and put it in the fridge and will skim off the fat tomorrow. On a positive note, the stuff I strained out looked like all their yumminess had been drained out of them - hopefully all into the stock.

I am roasting a turkey this weekend so I plan to make another stock with the giblet and neck (maybe using this unsalted stock as the base instead of water?) in the instant pot and use that along with the drippings as a base for gravy.

I always use broth from the store - so I was thrilled to be able to make it so easily :) :) If I can fiddle with the salt/taste, it would be fantastic to always have homemade broth. Now I have to channel cavewoman and make lentils to be a true Mustachian!
« Last Edit: December 14, 2015, 11:24:22 PM by elaine amj »

TomTX

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #52 on: December 15, 2015, 05:19:50 AM »
Well, I made chicken stock in the IP today. I followed a recipe which called for 55 min cooking time and natural depressurizing. I added some onions, garlic, and carrots (all I really had on hand) along with my rotisserie chicken carcass. The recipe called for salt but I skipped it.

Not sure if I cooked it too long (I later saw other recipes for 30 mins)  or used too much water (I covered with an inch of water) but it was on the bland side - I probably really do need the salt. I figure I can easily add it when I actually cook with the stock.  I strained it and put it in the fridge and will skim off the fat tomorrow. On a positive note, the stuff I strained out looked like all their yumminess had been drained out of them - hopefully all into the stock.

I am roasting a turkey this weekend so I plan to make another stock with the giblet and neck (maybe using this unsalted stock as the base instead of water?) in the instant pot and use that along with the drippings as a base for gravy.

I always use broth from the store - so I was thrilled to be able to make it so easily :) :) If I can fiddle with the salt/taste, it would be fantastic to always have homemade broth. Now I have to channel cavewoman and make lentils to be a true Mustachian!

Unsalted home stock will be "bland" compared to the store stuff, but with a lot more umami. And as you noted - add salt as needed per use. You pretty much can't cook stock too long unless you get to the point where the bones disintegrate and you have to use a coffee filter to separate them out.

AlwaysLearningToSave

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #53 on: December 15, 2015, 05:30:31 AM »
Well, I made chicken stock in the IP today. I followed a recipe which called for 55 min cooking time and natural depressurizing. I added some onions, garlic, and carrots (all I really had on hand) along with my rotisserie chicken carcass. The recipe called for salt but I skipped it.

Not sure if I cooked it too long (I later saw other recipes for 30 mins)  or used too much water (I covered with an inch of water) but it was on the bland side - I probably really do need the salt. I figure I can easily add it when I actually cook with the stock.  I strained it and put it in the fridge and will skim off the fat tomorrow. On a positive note, the stuff I strained out looked like all their yumminess had been drained out of them - hopefully all into the stock.

I am roasting a turkey this weekend so I plan to make another stock with the giblet and neck (maybe using this unsalted stock as the base instead of water?) in the instant pot and use that along with the drippings as a base for gravy.

I always use broth from the store - so I was thrilled to be able to make it so easily :) :) If I can fiddle with the salt/taste, it would be fantastic to always have homemade broth. Now I have to channel cavewoman and make lentils to be a true Mustachian!

Unsalted home stock will be "bland" compared to the store stuff, but with a lot more umami. And as you noted - add salt as needed per use. You pretty much can't cook stock too long unless you get to the point where the bones disintegrate and you have to use a coffee filter to separate them out.

And don't forget the power of fresh herbs. Just a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried if you don't have/want to get fresh) will go a long way.

elaine amj

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #54 on: December 15, 2015, 07:20:55 AM »
Unsalted home stock will be "bland" compared to the store stuff, but with a lot more umami. And as you noted - add salt as needed per use. You pretty much can't cook stock too long unless you get to the point where the bones disintegrate and you have to use a coffee filter to separate them out.

And don't forget the power of fresh herbs. Just a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried if you don't have/want to get fresh) will go a long way.

Thanks - I feel better about it all. Haven't done this before so I wasn't sure how many steps I was missing :) I did want to control the salt more so was reluctant to add it to the stock - seems to make more sense to me to add it when I actually cook.

The herbs is a great idea. I had completely forgotten I had some thyme in the fridge. I plan to pick up a few more herbs this week and will use that when I make the giblet/neck stock.

I have used carcasses to make congee several times and for some reason, a rotisserie chicken carcass leaves it bland whereas a congee with turkey carcass is super yummy - even without adding salt.

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #55 on: December 15, 2015, 07:24:52 AM »
Well, I made chicken stock in the IP today. I followed a recipe which called for 55 min cooking time and natural depressurizing. I added some onions, garlic, and carrots (all I really had on hand) along with my rotisserie chicken carcass. The recipe called for salt but I skipped it.

Not sure if I cooked it too long (I later saw other recipes for 30 mins)  or used too much water (I covered with an inch of water) but it was on the bland side - I probably really do need the salt. I figure I can easily add it when I actually cook with the stock.  I strained it and put it in the fridge and will skim off the fat tomorrow. On a positive note, the stuff I strained out looked like all their yumminess had been drained out of them - hopefully all into the stock.

I am roasting a turkey this weekend so I plan to make another stock with the giblet and neck (maybe using this unsalted stock as the base instead of water?) in the instant pot and use that along with the drippings as a base for gravy.

I always use broth from the store - so I was thrilled to be able to make it so easily :) :) If I can fiddle with the salt/taste, it would be fantastic to always have homemade broth. Now I have to channel cavewoman and make lentils to be a true Mustachian!

If you're not canning it, there's no need to skim off the fat (unless there's loads of it).  Agree on not salting it until you use it for a recipe.  I make tons of stock and never salt it.  IMO, that's one of the huge advantages of homemade stock vs. salt store-bought broth.  If it doesn't have enough flavor, you can always simmer it to reduce the volume so it becomes more concentrated.  I waaay reduce any stock that I plan to freeze so that it takes up less space in the freezer.  The really concentrated stock is also nice for adding flavor to non-soup dishes like rice or steamed vegetables.  And yeah, you can't cook the stuff too long.  My last batches went ~24 hours on the stovetop.

On the herbs and so on - if using dried herbs and peppercorns, you can put them in a tea ball so you don't have to strain them out later.

elaine amj

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #56 on: December 15, 2015, 08:05:29 AM »

If you're not canning it, there's no need to skim off the fat (unless there's loads of it).  Agree on not salting it until you use it for a recipe.  I make tons of stock and never salt it.  IMO, that's one of the huge advantages of homemade stock vs. salt store-bought broth.  If it doesn't have enough flavor, you can always simmer it to reduce the volume so it becomes more concentrated.  I waaay reduce any stock that I plan to freeze so that it takes up less space in the freezer.  The really concentrated stock is also nice for adding flavor to non-soup dishes like rice or steamed vegetables.  And yeah, you can't cook the stuff too long.  My last batches went ~24 hours on the stovetop.

On the herbs and so on - if using dried herbs and peppercorns, you can put them in a tea ball so you don't have to strain them out later.

Hmm...I like the idea of reducing volume for stock I am going to freeze. About how long should I let it simmer for? (are we talking 30 mins, 1 hour or 2/3 hours?) Wonder if it is less energy to simmer on the stove or in the Instant Pot?

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #57 on: December 15, 2015, 08:49:59 AM »
It just depends on how reduced you want it and how quickly it is evaporating (and the beginning volume).  I make huge volumes (5 gallon stock pot) so I usually set it to almost low boil and let it reduce for a couple hours.  With a smaller volume it won't take as long, so you can boil it down rapidly if you're watching it, or set it to simmer and just look in on it occasionally if you don't want to babysit it.

Telecaster

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #58 on: December 15, 2015, 03:02:41 PM »

And don't forget the power of fresh herbs. Just a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or dried if you don't have/want to get fresh) will go a long way.

A fresh bay leaf or two works well also.   I'm a huge believer in the power of home made stock.   It has a rich depth of flavor that can't be equaled by the store bought stuff. 

sisto

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #59 on: December 17, 2015, 09:43:06 AM »
I have been making stock on the stove for years, but I just picked up an Instant Pot. I can't wait to make it with that. Someone mentioned canning it and I was wondering if there is an advantage to that. I normally just let mine cool and remove the fat and then pour it into freezer bags. Typically several bags of 1 or 2 cups that I can pull out later for various recipes. Canning seems like an unnecessary step, but maybe there is an advantage and I love to hear from those doing it.

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #60 on: December 17, 2015, 10:01:05 AM »
I can it when I'm making gallons of stock.  For a small batch freezing is way easier if you have the freezer space.  Stock needs to be pressure canned so it takes special equipment. 

sisto

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #61 on: December 17, 2015, 10:13:23 AM »
Thanks horsepoor! Yeah, I don't think I want to invest in all of that equipment. I sometimes wish I could can stuff though like when I have some extra fruit from peach and nectarine trees.

AlwaysLearningToSave

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #62 on: December 17, 2015, 10:56:07 AM »
Friday night I made yogurt.

Has anyone tried to make yogurt in an older version of the Instant Pot? As in, not the DUO version that has the built-in yogurt program? We have the IP-LUX60 and didn't buy the duo because at the time we did not consider ever making yogurt. I'm not going to buy a new pressure cooker just for yogurt but if someone has mastered the technique without the pre-programmed feature, I'm all ears.

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #63 on: December 17, 2015, 11:44:03 AM »
Thanks horsepoor! Yeah, I don't think I want to invest in all of that equipment. I sometimes wish I could can stuff though like when I have some extra fruit from peach and nectarine trees.

Fruit is acidic enough for water bath canning, so if you have a big pot, you'd basically need a jar rack, jar lifter and jars, all of which are pretty cheap.  I wb canned a small batch of half pint jars using the wire rack that came with the instant pot.  You can also do jam, tomatoes, pickles, salsa, chutney etc. Without a pressure canned.

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #64 on: December 18, 2015, 07:30:17 AM »
Splurged on IP for my wife's Christmas present to replace a broken crock pot. I really appreciate this thread - thanks. -Ap

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #65 on: December 18, 2015, 08:34:53 AM »
Update:  I found the Dad Cooks Dinner website and he advised to ignore the specialized settings and just use high pressure for everything.  Now the pot comes to pressure in about five minutes, woo hoo!  I've made his pot roast and two of his beef stew recipes and they were AWESOME.  Now what to do with the old crock pot ...

10dollarsatatime

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #66 on: December 18, 2015, 09:04:27 AM »
Just bought mine!  It was a return at a liquidation store, but works great and I got it cheap!  I made soup in it last night, and need to do hard boiled eggs and brown rice/barley today.

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #67 on: December 18, 2015, 12:21:59 PM »
Finally fired mine up today!


My roots are showing, because the first thing I made was blackeyed peas with ham hocks and I followed it immediately with collard greens. Cooked the collards in bone broth; my daddy's going to think he died and went to heaven.


Meanwhile, I'm in love. Fast, easy, cheap, good. All it took was buying the tool.

Micona

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #68 on: December 18, 2015, 12:23:45 PM »
There's a great IP Community on Facebook with over 19,000 members. You'll be able to get a lot of tips and recipes on there. Here's the link:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/InstantPotCommunity/?ref=br_tf

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #69 on: December 18, 2015, 01:32:25 PM »
Finally fired mine up today!


My roots are showing, because the first thing I made was blackeyed peas with ham hocks and I followed it immediately with collard greens. Cooked the collards in bone broth; my daddy's going to think he died and went to heaven.


Meanwhile, I'm in love. Fast, easy, cheap, good. All it took was buying the tool.

How did you do the collards, other than the bone broth? 

My IP is slow-cooking us some split pea soup with ham and carrots today.  Smells wonderful.

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #70 on: December 18, 2015, 01:55:57 PM »
Finally fired mine up today!


My roots are showing, because the first thing I made was blackeyed peas with ham hocks and I followed it immediately with collard greens. Cooked the collards in bone broth; my daddy's going to think he died and went to heaven.


Meanwhile, I'm in love. Fast, easy, cheap, good. All it took was buying the tool.

How did you do the collards, other than the bone broth? 

My IP is slow-cooking us some split pea soup with ham and carrots today.  Smells wonderful.


Cup of bone broth, six cups chopped collards, some thick cut ham (which probably wasn't needed for flavor at all), half a julienned onion and about two teaspoons chopped garlic. I cooked on high eight minutes, then decided that wasn't enough collards (they cook way down and I have a family gathering this weekend), so I added six more cups collards and went another eight minutes. If I'd planned it, I'd've only cooked four minutes on the first round.


That gives you very Southern-style collards, quite cooked. If you usually like them steamed, you should cut the time back more, maybe only four or five minutes total.

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #71 on: December 18, 2015, 02:34:25 PM »
Since the majority of crock-pot meals are meat based, I found a great substitute for meat is cauliflower or potatoes. Something you might want to try.

lizzzi

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #72 on: December 18, 2015, 08:57:47 PM »
Fifth meal: Just made white rice to go with the fish and vegetables we were having for supper. Followed the directions that came with the pot. It worked exactly as expected...good rice, no problems, easy clean-up. (No boiling over, like always happens when cooking rice on top of our electric stove.) The rice came out "sticky" rather than "fluffy", which was fine with us. I don't know if that would be a problem if people wanted fluffy rice instead.

TomTX

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #73 on: December 19, 2015, 05:27:53 AM »
Fifth meal: Just made white rice to go with the fish and vegetables we were having for supper. Followed the directions that came with the pot. It worked exactly as expected...good rice, no problems, easy clean-up. (No boiling over, like always happens when cooking rice on top of our electric stove.) The rice came out "sticky" rather than "fluffy", which was fine with us. I don't know if that would be a problem if people wanted fluffy rice instead.

What settings are people using for brown rice?

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #74 on: December 19, 2015, 06:12:05 AM »
Finally fired mine up today!


My roots are showing, because the first thing I made was blackeyed peas with ham hocks and I followed it immediately with collard greens. Cooked the collards in bone broth; my daddy's going to think he died and went to heaven.


Meanwhile, I'm in love. Fast, easy, cheap, good. All it took was buying the tool.

How did you do the collards, other than the bone broth? 

My IP is slow-cooking us some split pea soup with ham and carrots today.  Smells wonderful.


Cup of bone broth, six cups chopped collards, some thick cut ham (which probably wasn't needed for flavor at all), half a julienned onion and about two teaspoons chopped garlic. I cooked on high eight minutes, then decided that wasn't enough collards (they cook way down and I have a family gathering this weekend), so I added six more cups collards and went another eight minutes. If I'd planned it, I'd've only cooked four minutes on the first round.


That gives you very Southern-style collards, quite cooked. If you usually like them steamed, you should cut the time back more, maybe only four or five minutes total.

Thanks, I'm not southern but I love collards.  Need to see if the grocery store has any decent bunches.

Micona

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #75 on: December 19, 2015, 08:01:52 AM »
Fifth meal: Just made white rice to go with the fish and vegetables we were having for supper. Followed the directions that came with the pot. It worked exactly as expected...good rice, no problems, easy clean-up. (No boiling over, like always happens when cooking rice on top of our electric stove.) The rice came out "sticky" rather than "fluffy", which was fine with us. I don't know if that would be a problem if people wanted fluffy rice instead.

What settings are people using for brown rice?

I made brown rice for the first time the other day. I did 1 cup water to 1 cup of brown rice. I made 2 cups so it was 2 cups of water and 2 cups brown rice. I just threw it all in. Set it to Manual for 22 minutes, NPR (natural pressure release).

cavewoman

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #76 on: December 19, 2015, 11:45:57 AM »
After my lentil soup on Monday, I finished the week with IP recipes!
Tue: butternut squash and sage risotto. So creamy that my brain thought I was eating something cheesy!
Wed: meatballs! Ground beef and soy chorizo. The freaking best.
Thur: Cincinnati chili from dad cooks dinner. I'm from the Midwest so it definitely reminded me of home chili. I taught my boyfriend about chili 3 way, with leftover spaghetti and cheese. Reminded me of steak n shake.
Fri: chili dogs.

I'm also getting into freezing meals finally. I've got the bad habit of suggesting things like taco bell when I'm tired and don't have a meal plan after work. From this week, along with having lunch for two each day, I froze:
- two quart bags of lentil soup
- two quart bags of cubed bnut squash
- two quart bags of meatballs and sauce

This is another duh moment of mine. My leftovers would always languish in the fridge. My boyfriend gets tired of something after one leftover lunch. So a week later, he'd be eating new leftovers and I'd be choking down the old stuff. Now I feel much better equipped to handle a lazy dinner night.

 And these one pot meals are a dream for cleanup. I've even been prepping ingredients in adorable tiny glass bowls like I'm Rachel Ray. Why not, when all I have to clean while my meal is cooking is a cutting board, knives, measuring things, and those bowls. Plus it helps a lot with a new recipe to not be searching for the 1/3 cup while onions are burning. Then after eating, lunch prepping, cooling and freezing, all I have to wash is the IP. A dream.

jeromedawg

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #77 on: December 19, 2015, 10:35:11 PM »
I was planning/hoping to get rid of our rice cooker after picking this up but I think it would be an inconvenience. Especially after reading some of the posts here about how it's generally not worth it to make rice unless in bigger batches (we do 3-4 cups at a time, at most). Another thought of course would be to buy a second pressure cooker.... LOL... that's actually not such a bad idea, considering I paid around $60 for the fuzzy logic rice cooker we currently have :T I have been entertaining the idea of DIY sous vide, so maybe I'll resort to getting an old-fashioned and old-reliable manual button rice cooker just because.

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #78 on: December 19, 2015, 10:49:47 PM »
So far I've made green lentils with tomatoes and spices, YUM! Mashed potatoes, so easy! And Basmanti rice. The rice was a little tricky since I only made a cup and it does not say if it's quick release or natural. I found quick release and turning off the unit helps to keep the rice from browning on the bottom. However, it still sticks a little.

AlwaysLearningToSave

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #79 on: December 20, 2015, 07:31:35 AM »
Friday night I made yogurt.

Has anyone tried to make yogurt in an older version of the Instant Pot? As in, not the DUO version that has the built-in yogurt program? We have the IP-LUX60 and didn't buy the duo because at the time we did not consider ever making yogurt. I'm not going to buy a new pressure cooker just for yogurt but if someone has mastered the technique without the pre-programmed feature, I'm all ears.

Nobody? Really? I figure if anyone has figured it out it would be a mustachian...

Bracken_Joy

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #80 on: December 20, 2015, 08:06:25 AM »
I was planning/hoping to get rid of our rice cooker after picking this up but I think it would be an inconvenience. Especially after reading some of the posts here about how it's generally not worth it to make rice unless in bigger batches (we do 3-4 cups at a time, at most). Another thought of course would be to buy a second pressure cooker.... LOL... that's actually not such a bad idea, considering I paid around $60 for the fuzzy logic rice cooker we currently have :T I have been entertaining the idea of DIY sous vide, so maybe I'll resort to getting an old-fashioned and old-reliable manual button rice cooker just because.

3-4 cups to me is a big batch. I was talking about making 1 cup not being worth using the instant pot. 2 cups+ ot seems well worth it, because of the boil over factor and so on. I'm comparing to stovetop though- I don't own a rice cooker.

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #81 on: December 20, 2015, 08:50:28 AM »
I was planning/hoping to get rid of our rice cooker after picking this up but I think it would be an inconvenience. Especially after reading some of the posts here about how it's generally not worth it to make rice unless in bigger batches (we do 3-4 cups at a time, at most). Another thought of course would be to buy a second pressure cooker.... LOL... that's actually not such a bad idea, considering I paid around $60 for the fuzzy logic rice cooker we currently have :T I have been entertaining the idea of DIY sous vide, so maybe I'll resort to getting an old-fashioned and old-reliable manual button rice cooker just because.

3-4 cups to me is a big batch. I was talking about making 1 cup not being worth using the instant pot. 2 cups+ ot seems well worth it, because of the boil over factor and so on. I'm comparing to stovetop though- I don't own a rice cooker.

Ditto. I usually cook 1 cup of white rice, so it's better in my little 1qt sauce pan.  If I was doing 2+ cups of brown or wild rice I'd absolutely use the IP.

Always learning - I think most posters have the DUO, which is why you're not getting feedback.  However, you could experiment with the temperature that your pot keeps liquids on the keep warm setting.  If it's <115, you're probably golden.  You'll just need to use one of the other settings to bring it up to 195 F, then use the keep warm setting for the incubation phase.  However, I don't see how you would hold the lower, steady temp long enough if the keep warm setting isn't the correct temp.  If it's too warm the yogurt culture will die.  There is lots of info on the interwebz on making yogurt in a slow cooker that should work the same way with your IP.

lizzzi

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #82 on: December 20, 2015, 08:53:05 AM »
Fifth meal: Just made white rice to go with the fish and vegetables we were having for supper. Followed the directions that came with the pot. It worked exactly as expected...good rice, no problems, easy clean-up. (No boiling over, like always happens when cooking rice on top of our electric stove.) The rice came out "sticky" rather than "fluffy", which was fine with us. I don't know if that would be a problem if people wanted fluffy rice instead.

What settings are people using for brown rice?

The little recipe book that came with my IP says for brown rice the proportion is 1:1.25 brown rice to water. Cooking time is 22 to 28 minutes. I just pushed the "Rice" button. I opened the IP around 40 min. later--don't know what time it actually finished cooking and put itself on "Keep Warm", because I forgot about it in doing other things.

fallstoclimb

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #83 on: December 20, 2015, 10:44:45 AM »
I've been cooking brown rice with my instant pot for a few months now and am learning that its pretty forgiving.  I basically just do 1:1 and then throw in some extra water.  Haven't seemed to do too little water yet; did too much once but I just drained the rice and all was fine.  I usually let it do natural release for at least quite a while, and sometimes all the way, without many ill effects.  I pretty much just hit the rice button and walk away. 

AlwaysLearningToSave

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #84 on: December 20, 2015, 01:05:29 PM »
[quote author=horsepoor link=topic=47422.msg909394#msg909394 date=
Always learning - I think most posters have the DUO, which is why you're not getting feedback.  However, you could experiment with the temperature that your pot keeps liquids on the keep warm setting.  If it's <115, you're probably golden.  You'll just need to use one of the other settings to bring it up to 195 F, then use the keep warm setting for the incubation phase.  However, I don't see how you would hold the lower, steady temp long enough if the keep warm setting isn't the correct temp.  If it's too warm the yogurt culture will die.  There is lots of info on the interwebz on making yogurt in a slow cooker that should work the same way with your IP.
[/quote]

Thanks, horsepoor. I might just have to do some experimenting. I'm kicking myself for not having gotten the Duo and just hoped someone else who has made yogurt before had already done the experimenting.

elaine amj

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #85 on: December 22, 2015, 09:53:39 AM »
We had our Christmas dinner this past weekend. I made giblet gravy with the instant pot and it was fab :) I did it the day before, browning the giblets and the neck (removing the liver) in the instant pot, then adding the instant pot chicken stock I had made a couple of days before. It came out delish (I had forgotten to take out the neck before wet brining my turkey so I didn't end up having to add any salt). I thickened it on the stove and put it in the fridge. The next day, I added the drippings from my turkey (not really necessary, but why not) and heated it all up on the stove. So nice to have so much gravy :)

I'm tacking ribs for Christmas Eve. I work that day so I'm thinking that I will cook the ribs in the instant pot (plain? or with some seasonings?) the night before. Then on the day, heat up the cooked ribs into the oven with bbq sauce (broiling it at the end). Any thoughts/tips?

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #86 on: January 03, 2016, 04:53:02 PM »
 Tonight we determined that one does not have to cook from a recipe to use an instantpot. This is a good thing because I'm one of those people who never uses a recipe; I just make it up as I go along.

 So, a sweet potato-based curry soup kind of a thing. Two large sweet potatoes, cubed, and one yellow onion, both of which needed to be used pronto, were the inspiration. I added some shredded chicken (already cooked and frozen), about a cup and a half of either chicken or turkey bone broth from the freezer, and a little extra water. Threw in some curry powder, some basil because it seemed to go well, and cooked eight minutes on high – That's the time for cubed sweet potatoes, and onions take less time, so I knew everything would be cooked.

Then I stirred in half the recipe of steamed curry rice* I made earlier this evening in my rice maker – 4 cups brown rice, a tablespoon or two of prik king curry paste,  dash of lime juice and a dash of fish sauce, cooked in half light coconut milk and half water. The whole thing turned out absolutely fabulous, though it needed a little bit of salt.

 The downside of my method of cooking is that I never know what to call anything – what should I name this recipe, because I think it should go in the rotation?



* We love this curried brown rice, which I made up over the holidays, so I plan to make enough for a couple of different recipes most weeks this winter.

pbkmaine

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #87 on: January 03, 2016, 05:04:52 PM »
Used pressure cooking feature of the Instant Pot to make chicken broth from a chicken carcass in 40 minutes (plus warm up and cool down) instead of the overnight crockpot. DH said he really appreciated the fact that the house did not smell like chicken all night.

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #88 on: January 03, 2016, 05:13:39 PM »
Used pressure cooking feature of the Instant Pot to make chicken broth from a chicken carcass in 40 minutes (plus warm up and cool down) instead of the overnight crockpot. DH said he really appreciated the fact that the house did not smell like chicken all night.


I was just bemoaning the fact that it's too small for the turkey carcass in my freezer.

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #89 on: January 03, 2016, 07:29:24 PM »
Tonight we determined that one does not have to cook from a recipe to use an instantpot. This is a good thing because I'm one of those people who never uses a recipe; I just make it up as I go along.

 So, a sweet potato-based curry soup kind of a thing. Two large sweet potatoes, cubed, and one yellow onion, both of which needed to be used pronto, were the inspiration. I added some shredded chicken (already cooked and frozen), about a cup and a half of either chicken or turkey bone broth from the freezer, and a little extra water. Threw in some curry powder, some basil because it seemed to go well, and cooked eight minutes on high – That's the time for cubed sweet potatoes, and onions take less time, so I knew everything would be cooked.

Then I stirred in half the recipe of steamed curry rice* I made earlier this evening in my rice maker – 4 cups brown rice, a tablespoon or two of prik king curry paste,  dash of lime juice and a dash of fish sauce, cooked in half light coconut milk and half water. The whole thing turned out absolutely fabulous, though it needed a little bit of salt.

 The downside of my method of cooking is that I never know what to call anything – what should I name this recipe, because I think it should go in the rotation?



* We love this curried brown rice, which I made up over the holidays, so I plan to make enough for a couple of different recipes most weeks this winter.

Sweet potato curry soup?  It sounds fantastic!

I never cook from a recipe either, but the Instant Pot doesn't care.  Yesterday I sauteed some leeks in butter, added several cloves of minced garlic, some thyme, rosemary and marjoram, salt and the juice of a small lemon.  Then one small cubed potato and a gallon bag of cauliflower florets that have been in the freezer for too long, a pint of my concentrated homemade turkey stock plus enough water to cover.  15 minutes under pressure, then added some plain yogurt and the end of a container of sour cream and made it nice and creamy with the immersion blender.  I added some hot sauce for a tiny kick at the end too.  So good; I ate like 3 bowls of it yesterday.

I've started eating a bunch of steamed broccoli with my eggs once or twice per week, so I put a cup of water in, set it to steam with the vent open, and have nicely steamed broccoli by the time I'm done making an omelette on the stove.  It comes out too soft if I close the vent and set it for even 1 minute (though 1 minute with the vent closed made perfect green beans).

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #90 on: January 03, 2016, 07:41:56 PM »
Tonight we determined that one does not have to cook from a recipe to use an instantpot. This is a good thing because I'm one of those people who never uses a recipe; I just make it up as I go along.

 So, a sweet potato-based curry soup kind of a thing. Two large sweet potatoes, cubed, and one yellow onion, both of which needed to be used pronto, were the inspiration. I added some shredded chicken (already cooked and frozen), about a cup and a half of either chicken or turkey bone broth from the freezer, and a little extra water. Threw in some curry powder, some basil because it seemed to go well, and cooked eight minutes on high – That's the time for cubed sweet potatoes, and onions take less time, so I knew everything would be cooked.

Then I stirred in half the recipe of steamed curry rice* I made earlier this evening in my rice maker – 4 cups brown rice, a tablespoon or two of prik king curry paste,  dash of lime juice and a dash of fish sauce, cooked in half light coconut milk and half water. The whole thing turned out absolutely fabulous, though it needed a little bit of salt.

 The downside of my method of cooking is that I never know what to call anything – what should I name this recipe, because I think it should go in the rotation?



* We love this curried brown rice, which I made up over the holidays, so I plan to make enough for a couple of different recipes most weeks this winter.

Sweet potato curry soup?  It sounds fantastic!

I never cook from a recipe either, but the Instant Pot doesn't care.  Yesterday I sauteed some leeks in butter, added several cloves of minced garlic, some thyme, rosemary and marjoram, salt and the juice of a small lemon.  Then one small cubed potato and a gallon bag of cauliflower florets that have been in the freezer for too long, a pint of my concentrated homemade turkey stock plus enough water to cover.  15 minutes under pressure, then added some plain yogurt and the end of a container of sour cream and made it nice and creamy with the immersion blender.  I added some hot sauce for a tiny kick at the end too.  So good; I ate like 3 bowls of it yesterday.

I've started eating a bunch of steamed broccoli with my eggs once or twice per week, so I put a cup of water in, set it to steam with the vent open, and have nicely steamed broccoli by the time I'm done making an omelette on the stove.  It comes out too soft if I close the vent and set it for even 1 minute (though 1 minute with the vent closed made perfect green beans).


Ooh! Thanks for both the key to Instantpot broccoli and the idea for what to do with some yogurt that needs to be used this week.


Can't use your name, if 'sweet potato curry soup' was meant to be a name, because if I call something a soup, my husband won't eat it. He has it in his mind that he doesn't like soup, so we eat lots of stews, and everyone is happy. :) He liked tonight's supper, so all is well, but it wasn't really a stew, and "curry stew" sounds weird to me anyway.

TomTX

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #91 on: January 03, 2016, 07:52:58 PM »
Used pressure cooking feature of the Instant Pot to make chicken broth from a chicken carcass in 40 minutes (plus warm up and cool down) instead of the overnight crockpot. DH said he really appreciated the fact that the house did not smell like chicken all night.


I was just bemoaning the fact that it's too small for the turkey carcass in my freezer.

Defrost the carcass, break it down, Instant Pot. If it's THAT huge, run two batches.

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #92 on: January 03, 2016, 08:06:31 PM »
Used pressure cooking feature of the Instant Pot to make chicken broth from a chicken carcass in 40 minutes (plus warm up and cool down) instead of the overnight crockpot. DH said he really appreciated the fact that the house did not smell like chicken all night.


I was just bemoaning the fact that it's too small for the turkey carcass in my freezer.

Defrost the carcass, break it down, Instant Pot. If it's THAT huge, run two batches.


Might could break it down (or just plain break it) still frozen. It is that huge. Was planning to cook it down in my water bath canner one fine day. You probably see why it's in the deep freeze. On the bright side, it was most likely the source of both the bone broth and the shredded 'chicken' tonight (I date my frozen poultry by the month, but don't otherwise distinguish,and there were both turkeys and chicken leg quarters in November).

horsepoor

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #93 on: January 03, 2016, 08:15:28 PM »
Can't use your name, if 'sweet potato curry soup' was meant to be a name, because if I call something a soup, my husband won't eat it. He has it in his mind that he doesn't like soup, so we eat lots of stews, and everyone is happy. :) He liked tonight's supper, so all is well, but it wasn't really a stew, and "curry stew" sounds weird to me anyway.

Ha!  I would just drop the soup part then.  Everything I consider to be a curry is sort of a stew served over rice.  I call it "curried whatever" if it's with powdered curry and not saucy.

BTW, I do kind of the same thing to my husband.  He announces that he doesn't like certain ingredients.  I make a dish with that ingredient and don't tell him until after he's eaten and approved of it.  Most recently, it was plantains in pastelon, which I've made a few times to rave reviews. 

He refers to the IP as the Magic Pot.  I think that's because there's no second pan for him to scrub if I need to brown something before slow cooking it.

Another beautiful thing about this pot, vs. a pressure-cooker only, is the ability to reheat.  Yesterday I made the soup under pressure, ate some for lunch, and let it sit around for a couple hours (house is cold, so no big deal), then put it on slow cook while I went out for a run.  Came home to perfectly reheated soup, which I wanted immediately since it was like 15F outside.

jacksonvasey

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #94 on: January 05, 2016, 11:22:07 AM »
Thanks, horsepoor. I might just have to do some experimenting. I'm kicking myself for not having gotten the Duo and just hoped someone else who has made yogurt before had already done the experimenting.

From my experience, at least, it's probably worthwhile to get a new Instant Pot rather than fuss around, at least for me.  My house tends to be on the cool side, so countertop culturing never has worked well for me making yogurt.  Before I heard of InstantPot I bought a Dork Sous Vide and used that with an old-fashioned crock pot to get a 110 degree water bath.

http://www.amazon.com/Dorkfood-Sous-Vide-Temperature-Controller-DSV/dp/B0088OTON4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452017843&sr=8-1&keywords=dork+sous+vide

The Dork Sous Vide runs the same price as the Instant Pot Duo (or at least, what I paid for it on Cyber Monday), so in a sense it was 'wasted' money.  But, I still have the temperature controller, and I have used it for sous-vide a few times, enough to justify the price (vs. going out for dinner that night, which was typically the alternative at that point).

Also, I used to scald the milk on the stovetop, and no matter how vigilant I was, it seemed to always go a little too hot, and the yogurt had a kind of burnt milk flavor.  The Instant Pot does a better job of scalding the milk than I ever did.

So, if you're handing enough with electronics, you could probably build your own temperature controller for fairly cheap, and just have that shut the InstantPot off when it hits 180 degrees, and then experiment with the low setting or use the controller and an old-fashioned crock pot to maintain 110 degrees for culturing.

jacksonvasey

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #95 on: January 05, 2016, 11:29:29 AM »
For xmas eve I broke down an enormous pork shoulder I got in the summer for cheap, and smoked half of it on my pellet grill for about 3 hours, meantime I put the other half in the IP for like 40 minutes, and froze the result for carnitas, by and by.  After the smoking, did the other half, came out great.

One of our go-to IP recipes is to brown a couple boneless chicken breasts and/or thighs in the pot on saute/high.  Then, dump a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes on, with garlic/onion/italian seasoning, then put it on high pressure for 20 minutes.  The chicken falls apart, the tomatoes are cooked, and you get a nice, quick, red sauce.  I load it with red pepper flakes after, and some parmesan, but you could pre-load that too before the pressure cycle if everyone likes a bit of heat.
It's not terribly fancy, but it hits the spot and it's almost no effort (expecially because I phone it in and use onion/garlic powder)

kudy

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #96 on: January 08, 2016, 09:29:26 PM »
Made chicken stock from a rotisserie carcass this evening - went really fast and the broth looks great!

Dollar Slice

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #97 on: January 09, 2016, 10:45:51 PM »
I got an Instant Pot for my birthday this year--does anyone else have one that seems to take forever to come to pressure?  Seriously, mine takes AT LEAST fifteen minutes.  That's why I don't do recipes with a short cooking time because it'll take longer to come to pressure than it does to cook.  I still like it, though.

I just got one, trying it for the first time tonight... and it just refused to come to pressure. It also seemed to be steaming more than it should (I wasn't 100% sure about that since it's my first time using it). 15-20 minutes, I opened it up and checked everything and re-sealed it... 15-20 more minutes, I opened it up, pulled out the gasket and put it in again to make 100% sure it's in right... after 45 minutes total, I was googling a bunch to try and figure out what the problem was, someone suggested pushing down a little on the lid of the cooker when it's boiling/steaming. I tried that: BAM, instant seal, the little metal thing popped up, and a little while later (maybe a minute) the panel switched from "On" to the timer. So for anyone having this issue, give that a shot. It's been at pressure for ten full minutes now with no issues.

I have no idea how this black beans and brown rice recipe is going to end up after boiling it for ~40 minutes before pressure cooking :-/  I also added extra water because it was nowhere near cooked and starting to run out of liquid (probably from losing steam for 45 min). Oh well. Practice makes perfect. Hopefully.

FausseBourgeoise

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #98 on: January 09, 2016, 11:25:15 PM »
This all looks great. I've been meaning to try pressure cooking, particularly for bean recipes.

Rural

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Re: Instant pot recipes?
« Reply #99 on: January 10, 2016, 05:02:38 AM »
Made my usual all-day-cook in a slow cooker chicken fiesta soup last night -- in half an hour!


Jar of salsa, three cans of chili beans, and some chunks and shreds of either-chicken-or-turkey from the deep freezer (these are precooked). Threw it all in, chicken still frozen, and set for ten minutes since it was already cooked items. Also accidentally set to low pressure without realizing, and that turned out great for precooked, as I could open it immediately when it was all done, but the favors had integrated in a way that takes at least four hours in the slow cooker.


We eat this with tortilla chips and have leftovers I'll convert into a dip later.