Instant Potters! Which pots do you use for pot-in-pot cooking?

[SmurfPants]

I want to make rice and dahl. Can I just buy any old stacking tiffins?

Or something else?

[Iamastonished]

What is pot in pot cooking?

[SmurfPants]

Where you pot a pot inside the IP on top of a trivet, for example to cook rice. I've read a recipe where you can have rice in one pot and dahl in another, both in the IP at the same time.

Does that make sense?

[Iamastonished]

What is an IP? Sorry for sounding so dense BTW.

[SmurfPants]

An Instant Pot

It's an electric pressure cooker and it's a blummin brilliant piece of kitchen kit. Everybody NEEDS one.

[Iamastonished]

Off to google it

Oh, I see. It is a pressure cooker. Never felt the need for one. I don't have room in my kitchen to keep one either.

How does a pressure cooker make life easier for you?

[SmurfPants]

Because it cooks things quickly, eg something like cauliflower soup takes only 5 minutes at pressure. But also, once you've put it all in you can walk off and leave it and the IP will keep it warm for you for hours.

So, i can chuck all the soup stuff in and leave the house to go shopping or whatever. When I come back it just needs blitzing and it's ready to serve. No need to watch it or stir etc.

You can fry stuff in it first before switching it to pressure too, unlike normal slow cookers.

Something like a lamb curry that I'd usually simmer for 2.5 hours will be perfect with about 25 minutes at pressure. Bolognese takes about 15 minutes. Chicken curry/stew takes about 12 minutes.

So, kind of like the convenience of a slow cooker, but the taste and texture is so much better than slow cooked. I find slow cookers reduce everything to mush.

I just love that I can get a decent home cooked meal on the table after work without too much of a wait for us.

i use mine about 3 times a week and I promise I'm not on commission!

[987flowers]

I'm very tempted to buy one! They sound brilliant!

[Iamastonished]

I just don't have the storage space for one, and I'm not convinced I would use it that much.

[thenumberseven]

I use mine daily often more than once. We eat pulses often and they take minutes to cook as opposed to hours.
Also meat and chicken turns out very tender and flavourful
For pot in pot cooking I use pyrex type containers also mugs and cups inside a steamer basket.
Have a look at this site, lots of valuable info and tips on pressure cooking
www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-accessory-forms-and-molds/

[Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes]

I haven't tried pot in pot yet, but am also very pleased with my IP, so easy and convenient, I use it all the time too. However I disagree about flavour being better than a slow cooker, I think it's significantly worse and have to use a lot more seasoning, herbs etc in the IP.

[Cakecrumbsinmybra]

I just can't see how the dishes can have as much natural flavour this way?

[SmurfPants]

Thanks seven.

[VeryPunny]

I just use Pyrex dishes (I have a normal pressure cooker not an Instant pot)

To all you pressure cooker doubters: they are ACE! Food is so much tastier (high pressure means cooking times much shorter, vitamin content maintained), you use far less liquid as none evaporates so flavours are more concentrated. They are also very energy efficient. A million times better than crappy slow cookers which make institutional bland mush.

[SmurfPants]

I'm looking for something that I can stack in the IP, so I can do two dishes at once. maybe tiffins?

Or is there a way of stacking Pyrex dishes in it?

[Wh0Kn0wsWhereTheTimeGoes]

My slow cooker never produced institutional bland mush, it produced rich, flavoursome meals. However it overcooked if you left it on all day and you couldn't saute in it, so the IP wins hands down for convenience, and smell containment, but flavour is definitely lacking, certainly in meat dishes. It is great for veg based meals like soups though.