Instant Pot

Is there no dedicated Instant Pot thread here? So far I've had the greatest success with the most mundane of goals - perfect hardboiled eggs, rice, mac& cheese - but it's come in handy once or twice, and it's great to reduce certain recipes to just one dish. For instance, the now famous Indian butter chicken recipe that made a star of its author:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-butter-chicken-lady-who-made-indian-cooks-love-the-instant-pot

Kenji-Alt’s pressure cooker chile verde is in regular rotation here.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2017/03/easy-pressure-cooker-pork-chile-verde-recipe.html

And weeknight pho https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/01/30-minute-pressure-cooker-pho-ga-recipe.html using this technique but simplifying even more w/

1) pho spice sachets from Vietnamese markets
2) frozen tendon meatballs

Also super easy risotto w/ squashes

This thread reminded me I need to figure out how to farm drugs in Stardew Valley

Will definitely try that pho. Maybe not with drumsticks, though.

is there something special and wonderful about the Instant Pot vs. other brands of slow cookers and pressure cookers, or are we using the term generically?

I understand that the Instant Pot is a fancy electronic pressure cooker in the way that a Zojirushi is fucking amazing at making rice

Instant Pot Lux V3 6 appliances in 1 enhanced version includes a cake and egg program in addition to the Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Sauté, Steamer, and Warmer.

Features 12 Smart Built-In Programs – Soup/Broth, Meat/Stew, Cake, Egg, Sauté, Rice, Multigrain, Porridge, Pressure Cook, Keep Warm, Steam and Slow Cook, your favorite dishes are as easy as pressing a button

saw the recent NYT profile and am strongly considering one

but! there are so many to choose from on amazon (including off brand versions)

it's so good, love my IP

i have a "cosori" brand one and it is good

i don't have one and probably never will but all instant pot users should check out my pal laurel's IP cookbooks: https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Electric-Pressure-Cooker-Cookbook-ebook/dp/B01CIYURJE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1520210989&sr=8-3

oh wow I already had that book on Kindle! it's good

she has one more out there and possibly another in the works. also, she rules.

i have a gourmia pressure cooker/slow cooker and it's good for certain things, but other things seem better made in the more traditional stove top way

xpost your friend must've made a grip off that book, it was def one of the ones that guy recommended on the IP Facebook group

The best IP recipes I've found and used have been like 20% of coupons. They still take work, they still take special ingredients and shopping, they still take some attentive cooking, but they take off maybe 20% of the time. Which is fine with me, especially since despite the aforementioned they typically do it all in one pot.

I've had one just over a year now. It's a good tool, glad I got it, but it has frustrating limits and is strictly 2nd-tier cookware.

That's my biggest frustration. For admittedly useful yet 2nd tier cookware, it takes up a ton of space.

it just kinda reminds me of when microwave ovens got popular and people bought microwave oven cookbooks and then decades later -- "lol at cookbooks for microwave"

xp -- yeah, I'm glad I have an out of the kitchen but easily accessible storage spot for mine, or I might have sold it by now. Things it's pretty good for: eggs of all yolk-donenesses, yogurt, cheesecake, stock, going from dried beans to a done dish in an afternoon. I don't like it for chunky country-style stews because I want some texture variation and flavor control. But it is great to pound some steam into chicken thighs with stock and seasonings and tenderize them for making that stew on the stovetop. I haven't tried rice -- my stovetop method is so perfect I haven't had any reason to.

I tried to make coq au vin in the Instant Pot as my first thing. That was a mistake (especially since I had never made coq au vin before).

I have a vegetable soup recipe adapted from the modernist cuisine cookbook that calls for a pressure cooker and it's divine

Hot Pot Sergeant!

OMG, I should make that label for my instant pot.

https://www.theringer.com/2020/2/21/21146731/rootitoot-ruth-mccusker-instant-pot-facebook-community

aw she sounds like she was a good sort

and the author is correct: the Instant Pot fb group is a bummer, I lasted a week in there top- wish i had known about Rootitoot <3

Help me with instant pot recpies that are not all horribly american in their foundations (sorry americans, but if I read one more recipie that invoves canned soup, canned broth, or casserole I will go mad).

In particular I'm interested in anyone's experience with pot-in-pot technique which Indian cooks seem particularly fond of. I bought the smallest3L IP as I really wanted a multicooker to replace my rice cooker, but the trivet it came with barely raises off the floor of the pot, wouldnt the rice be swimming in the curry that way?

Easily the best resource for IP Indian recipes that I’ve found is https://myheartbeets.(com)

I’ve reused those recipes zillions of times, can recommend faves but I’d advise browsing initially for your own taste/needs

Awesome, thanks!

yeah thanks, haven't used my instant pot for months now, so I'm going have a rummage around that site because I could do with some inspiration

I am *loving* it for dried pulses. I can whack a cup of dried chickpeas and a bayleaf in, stick it on high for 20 mins, and the chickpeas are ready for use in a curry. It does rice nicely too, though with my stupid new diabetes diagnosis I am not meant to eat rice which blows as I live on it.

My one attempt at beef bourgignon was a fail, but I think I put way too much liquid in, and not enough flavourings.

I swear by Rainbow Plant Life, who's a vegan blogger, although she is (Indian-)American. But IMO nearly all of her recipes are winners, and she makes a pretty good use of the IP.
https://rainbowplantlife.com/category/recipes/instant-pot-recipes/

She's got some Indian recipes that aren't suited for IP cooking (best for stovetop) that have become staples for me: tofu curry, red lentil curry, palak paneer.

That said, her IP lentil soups, white bean and kale soup, and chili are unassailable.

Riffed off the lentil soup recipe on that rainbowplantlife site, for my tea. I wanted to try the saute function for one thing - made a soup by sauteeing off leek and garlic, throwing in the usual mirepoix, and some large potato chunks, tomato, chicken stock, and her extra ingredient - balsamic vinegar. It really made a difference to the depth.

(as did the chicken stock, ha. I'm no vegan).

Vegetable broth will do the same, but whatever floats your boat. Glad you enjoyed it!