More on the Instant Pot

JAileen

I’ve used it four times since I got it: twice I’ve made a very smooth and lovely lentil soup, once I made pork and black beans, which was delicious, and most recently I made *the* best turkey stock ever.

I just discovered the drawback: the eight quart IP is ginormous. I pulled out my old pressure cooker, to donate, and tried to put the IP in its place. Of course it’s wider, but it’s also too tall for the corner turntable cabinet. I did find a tall enough space elsewhere, but I’m going to have to donate a rarely used dehydrater and a slow cooker. I don’t regret getting this size, but it reminds me of the bread maker I was given years ago.

7 years ago

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15 replies

Latest reply was from Runcarla

Suz

(website)

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Yes, it's massive. I have the smaller 6 qt. one and even that is huge. Luckily I have the space to store it.

Glad you are enjoying it! I've been making fresh yoghurt, soups, braised chicken with celery root, and yesterday, garlicky Cuban pork. Yum!

7 years ago

Anonymous

It is indeed huge, and I have to store mine on a shelf in the laundry room in the basement. Kind of a nuisance, but reality in my small kitchen. I'd like to try yogurt, although it seems a bit fiddly? Glad to hear about your success with the turkey stock.

7 years ago

JAileen

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I have it on a pull out shelf in the dining room, so not that far away. When I bought it, I also bought a glass lid. I’m thinking of making onion confit. It was one of the few things I made in the slow cooker. A friend always borrowed the slow cooker for a Christmas party, and put glogg in it. I’m going to give it to her.

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

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Nice xmas gift! I hope your friend will give you glogg in return!

Onion confit sounds fabulous.

Lisa, yoghurt is fiddly, till you get the knack. At which point it becomes dead simple. There's no fussing between steps. You leave it alone for a long time.

I found a bunch of recipes. It didn't work for me correctly the first time because our thermometer was broken. And the second time I did something else that made it a bit runny. For me, the trick was using a really good starter yoghurt, and letting it sit at 180 degrees for a few minutes before allowing it to cool -- that seemed to thicken it. The flavour is really lovely and the price is excellent. The only downside is that you can't use your pot for something else while you're making it and it does take a while!

7 years ago

pil

Veteran

Mine arrived a couple of weeks ago. So far I have made yogurt (strained to make it thicker), turkey broth and turkey vegetable soup, and a chuck roast. I think the roast was a tad dry but it was definitely quicker than the oven.

7 years ago

shiny

Veteran

My husband got one of these for me last year and I'm ashamed to admit we've only used it once! To make chili. It's an 8 quart. We are just the two of us now, so that 8 quartz batch of chili lasted us for weeks! It was really good though...

Problem is I am so short, to do the stirring and browning, I literally had to get up on a kitchen stool on me knees to see what the heck I was doing. It's not like our crockpot, it's so much taller.

We do have plenty of space for it and I really would love to get more use out of it, especially over the holidays as we have family staying with us. Welcome any recipe ideas to feed a crowd!

It's just a pain being so short I have to get up on a stool to use it.

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Shiny, get Melissa Clark's cookbook. It's brilliant. Dinner in an Instant.

Sounds like you need lower counters!!

7 years ago

Anonymous

Jaileen- After saying I never use it, I am now all over the InstantPot!
I didn’t make the creme brûlée, but I DID render lard in it (2 hours instead of 6). (I’m trying to eat more grass fed/local meat/fats etc.)

Now I want to make yogurt, as I eat a lot of it, and Suz, you were saying it’s cheaper. I have the yogurt button on mine!

Also have a chicken carcass that i can use to make soup.

Hey I now have a weekend of IPing planned out!

7 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

Shiny, I think you should get a very short stool, maybe just 8-12 inches. I have one that height to reach things in my closet. Kneeling on a stool isn’t a good solution.

Lisa, I’ve always envied people with basements. We’re one of the few in our neighborhood without one.

Pil, I wonder if your pot roast needed more liquid?

Smittie, the turkey stock I made was amazing. I used the carcass from the roasted bird and just added water. I gave it 30 minutes or so. Then I gave it another 10, I think. I strained it into a pot and after cooling a bit, refrigerated it. I skimmed off the fat, and the stock was complete jelly. I added some dark meat and some vegetables. To be honest, though, it didn’t need any of that.

Suz, you’ve mentioned Melissa Clark before. I need to look into her book. I love her videos on the NYT. I watched her Thanksgiving video which had her mother, husband and daughter. They were so funny!!

A couple of recipe ideas: I used to make beef stew in my pressure cooker. I used red wine as the liquid. It was really delicious. Another thing I used to make was risotto. No stirring!

7 years ago

Runcarla

Veteran

Do you use powdered milk to make your yogurt, Suz? I make my yogurt in a big ceramic bowl that I wrap in a towel and set on top of my fridge - the way my dad did in the 60's.

7 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Carla, no -- I bought some organic plain yoghurt as my starter and use 3.25% milk plus a splash of cream to make it. It's not low fat, but I don't care about that. Some IP recipes do call for powdered milk I think, or a powdered yoghurt starter. But it isn't necessary if you have live cultures.

MMmm. Love the sounds of that stock you made, JAileen. And also the stew.

7 years ago

Stagiaire Fash

Veteran

Carla, do you use the powdered milk so you don’t have to lug fresh from the store? Makes sense to me! I wish we liked drinking the stuff—seems we are always out getting more milk! Your dad’s reminds me of how the first person I knew who made their own yogurt did it—did all the mixing, heating, etc in the kitchen, then wrapped the jars up in his sleeping bag and left it in the living room for hours. The results were consistently good.

7 years ago

Peri

Veteran

Hey, I didn't even know what this was, but my DH brought one home from Costco this week. I'm not a cook, and definitely not an adventurous, try new things kind of cook. Any advice on how to learn about this thing? Good website, or that cookbook mentioned above? Definitely not going to use it for yogurt though...dairy allergy. I have no idea what to do with it! (Or why he wanted it either!) I already have a slow cooker I hardly ever use.

6 years ago

JAileen

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Peri, before I bought the IP, I asked about it here. There are a lot of resources mentioned:

https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....tant-pot-1

6 years ago

Runcarla

Veteran

Fashintern, I drink 3.2% or 2% and put 10% in my coffee, but I use powdered milk for big batch yogurt as an economy. I wouldn't drink the stuff, but in yogurt I notice no real difference.

6 years ago

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