pressure cooker - what do you do with one?

[juliettatrax]

I've just been given a pressure cooker. It comes with a tiny instructions book and I haven't a clue what to do with it. Any hints/recipes/advice gratefully received. Or does it go straight to the charity shop?

I gave DH an Instant Pot for Christmas and he loves it. He made Mongolian Beef in it yesterday and froze portions for future use. It also makes perfect, tender brown rice.

There are scads of blogs and websites with recipes for them. Just ask Mr Google.

I can see scores of blogs etc, I suppose I'm not quite sure what the cooker does that's so much better than conventional cooking, I know it's supposed to be super-speedy but it takes a while to come to pressure and then forever to cool down and that adds on about another half hour. What am I missing?

It can be faster - even adding in the time up to pressure and then back down again. I make a goulash in mine (InstantPot). Takes about 1hr 15 mins in total - 15 up to pressure, 45 mins cook, about another 15 mins pressure release. In oven it would take 2 1/2 hrs - and meat is really tender.

The Mongolian Beef only takes 30 minutes start to finish and as PP mentioned the beef comes out beautifully.

It’s great for cooking potatoes/cauliflower to just cooked without having to watch the pot (or have the smell of cauliflower!)

I do a gammon in it fairly frequently; poach a whole chicken. Cook chicken thighs for using later in another dish.

Meatballs in tomato sauce take 8mins if cooking. I put them on the timer so they are cooked 20 mins before I want them so they have enough time to depessure. Pre cooked rice or couscous done when i get home - v useful for after swimming or long afternoons in the park.

I’ve done risotto in it but am not a massive fan.

Good for tough cuts of meat- brisket/beef cheeks/pigs cheeks/shin of beef in stout.

I use it a lot to do prep/parts of a meal and freeze bits. So I’ll cook spicy black beans and pulled pork, freeze in portions and then have with tortillas and rice and salad as a quick mid week dinner.

Chicken breasts from frozen in 13 mins

Stews, chillis, bolognese, mashed or boiled potatoes (so easy!)

You can cook most things in it, even cake although I haven't tried

All the stuff that takes 3/4 hours like Ragu, stews or curries take less than 30 mins but taste like it's been blipping away for hours. Also great for the tough joints like brisket, pulled pork in super quick time.

Stews, casseroles, lamb shanks, pulled pork etc. Very good for cooking potatoes (and other veg) quickly. I make soup and stock a lot as well. It also does a decent risotto in 11 minutes though it's not quite as good as the hand-stirred type.

One 'fancy' dish I like to do is to stick some flageolet beans in with a couple of duck breasts, some seasoning and a glass of white wine - comes out beautifully tender.

The only thing I haven't liked so much is oxtail - I thought it would be amazing but actually the texture was a bit too gelatinous for me, so have gone back to doing it in the oven.

Oh yes - stock is awesome. Bones of a chicken hacked up, onion, carrot, bay leaf, peppercorns and water. High pressure for 2 hours, sieve it and it’s done. No need to watch, no smell in the house.

Risotto in 8 minutes (amazing)
Stock with chicken carcass and any leftover veg in the fridge (also amazing)
Steaming veg
Curries
Chilli con Carne
When DS needed bottle top ups it was also fab for sterilising his bottles (but not all pressure cookers are suitable for this)

Is it an electric, or manual hob-top type?

I love my Instant Pot. I use it at least every couple of weeks, even in summer. In winter it's used probably twice-four times per week. I have a spare inner pot, yoghurt pot adapters etc. I make a lot of stew, cook beans from dried (much cheaper than using tinned beans). Very handy for cooking cheap cuts of meat - the ones with bone & joint/sinewy bits, terrible for oven cooking, amazing for pressure cooking as they make gorgeous stock very cheaply. I sometimes get fat offcuts free from the local butcher, render it down, make dripping - healthier for frying than vegetable oil.

Difficult to cook items like brown rice & lentils. Done in 10 minutes with no supervising. No brainer, I use it everyday.

Stock and soups are my go to for my pressure cooker.

And mash! Mine is stovetop and does mash start to finish in 10 minutes.

Ooh, thanks everyone, I feel more inspired. Would I get timings from the internet? I did a stew at the weekend which I thought was fine but no better than on the stove and only took marginally less time. It's an electric cooker, also an air fryer, but that''s another post, going to try fish and chips in that bit tonight ...

I have an instant pot and I like that you can just chuck it in and walk away.

I make a chicken, sweet potato and spinach curry and it's the best I've ever done and only takes 13minutes cook time and release pressure after 10mins.
I buy the cheaper roasting joints now as they come out really tender.

I also do boiled eggs in mine as they peel really easily

meepmop any chance you could post the chicken and sweet potato curry recipe? Sounds lush!

It's this one www.garnishandglaze.com/chicken-curry-recipe/ I use passata for the tomato sauce and don't put as much garlic in but that's because DH is really sensitive to the taste of it.

Also this Tuscan Pasta is amazing, not healthy though tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-tuscan-chicken-pasta/ I use cheddar instead of Parmesan

Thank you!

Here's the Mongolian beef recipe. It is fairly healthy.

theblondcook.com/instant-pot-mongolian-beef/

She has a lot of other good recipes on her blog.

I usually up-size it by 50% to have plenty of leftovers to freeze in quart zip lock bags. I also use a bit less brown sugar and saute some additional veg (snow peas, snap peas, zucchini, onion and red bell peppers) to add when cooking is complete. You can't put the veg in with the meat as the pressure cooker will turn them to mush.

I also do brown rice in the IP to go with the Mongolian Beef, which comes out perfectly tender.

recipes.instantpot.com/recipe/perfect-brown-rice/

Thanks again, any recipe links gratefully received, there's so much out there but don't know who to trust!

I've made this one today, I can recommend it. Do need to make sure you deglaze thoroughly though. I also put a bit of stock in when doing the onions and spices as it seemed to be burning www.gastrosenses.com/blog/beef-masala-curry/