You have to be careful to let things cools down before you open the top with the Prestige. Make sure all the steam from the whistle is let out. The whistle on top should also be properly cleaned too. It the pressure cooker is still warm I usually put cold running water over it in the sink to cool it down before I open it.
I bought an extra seal in case something happened to the original, but many people use their seals exclusively for sweet/savory because they pick up odors so easily. The silcone liners for eggs are just nice to have for poached eggs, for boiled eggs i simply put them on the rack with water under them
Because I didn’t want to vacuum my house, I just spent way too much time watching Instant Pot youtube videos. It’s a great way to get some instructions and recipes for the pressure cooker.
The meat you put in a pressure cooker should be meat that takes well to stewing and braising-- so, meat that has fat in it. Definitely not boneless skinless chicken breasts, which are pretty much guaranteed to turn into shoe leather if pressure cooked.
I saw a good-looking pressure cooker recipe for stewed chicken legs with rice: first you pressure cook the chicken in spices and a little liquid, then you cook the rice in the liquid while broiling the chicken to get crispy skin.
I got the Instant Pot three weeks ago when it was on sale after Christmas – was like $85. I have the DUO60 7 in one. It is so worth ever penny! Never owned a pressure cooker before, and now I’m wondering how I ever got along without it. I’ve made three things in it so far – all delicious, and so fast. Can’t wait to try more recipes. I love that it keeps the smell contained (mostly). A crock pot roast cooking for 6 hours will smell up your kitchen for days. A pressure cooker roast smells up your kitchen maybe 10 minutes (when the stem is released). Love! Love! Love!
Question for longtime owners of the Instant Pot – can I toss out my crock pot and rice cooker? I’m hanging on to them like for security just in case the Instant Pot makes can’t do everything I need it to do. But I don’t have storage space for all three.
I’d like to throw out my rice cooker, but I’m using both the Instant Pot and the rice cooker right now. So I guess the rice cooker stays, for times when I want rice with the thing I’m making in the Instant Pot.
I don’t use a crock pot, but I think the crock pot and the instant pot are used for the same things, so your crock pot could probably go.
I’d like to get rid of my few crockpots but I do use them at holidays as sort of 'keep warm" containers for potatoes, stuffing, etc. And, I really like my crockpots for nights like New Years Eve when I can have meatballs in one, apple cider in another, and so forth. i guess if I’m just going to hang onto them for a couple of times per year, I can find someplace other than the kitchen to store them.
I still use the crockpot I bought when I was 26. I go to airport, can’t predict time we’ll get home, but dinner is ready. Also, I am home and eat at 7, but my s/o arrives 8or 9, so his food hot. I often shop Sunday morning, and do cooking right afterwards. Nice to know the chicken or roast is cooking through the day.
Must say, I have no problem with my house smelling like soup or roast.
Yep, I know that; however, after witnessing the magic of perfect rice, fall apart pulled pork and perfect beans in the IP, I thought perhaps some of the on-line recipes (and ensuing effusive positive comments) touting fall-apart BSCB in this little pot were worth a try. No soap. Really. *
Later read in Beginner Basics – Hip Pressure Cooking …“The meat may fall apart, or appear tender but it is actually quite fibrous and tasteless as all of its juice (and flavor) will have been squeezed out into the cooking liquid. Personally, I have not found the “perfect” cooking time for boneless- skinless-breasts. I think one minute under pressure is even too much.” I’m pretty sure I went at least five minutes
Maybe this recipe? http://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-chicken-and-rice-one-pot-meal/ That looks very good. I’ve done what I’ll call successive/consecutive (for lack of better words) cooking with great success in the IP; particularly, if I want some of the vegetables to maintain a firmer texture in my soups/stews.
(Aside --went back to the BBRRR acronym -- brine, brush, rub, roast, rest for consistently good chicken) (gimmesomeoven blog).
With the exception of rotisserie chicken, I have yet to eat tasty chicken breast. Since the juices stay on the chicken in a rotisserie, it maintains its tenderness; however, any cooking method in which the juices escape, you are left with dry, leathery meat. I avoid cooking chicken breast (unless I’m cooking a whole chicken in my pressure cooker, in which case the breast is the worst part) and usually stick to thighs or legs. For me, it’s unnecessary to suffer through dry, tasteless chicken (and turkey) breast just because it’s supposed to be healthier. Could be that I’m a bad cook and I haven’t figured out how to cook breast properly, but with so many failed attempts, I’ve given up on trying.
Most of my life, I never really cared for meat, especially chicken. When I think on it now, my mom did not know how to cook it properly so I never appreciated meat flavors. I am also a bad cook and it is only recently that I have been making an effort to make decent meals for my family. It’s been an education in learning the science and the optimal cooking method for various foods. Anyway, I have always been curious why so many people love chicken breast. Is it because they are eating bone-in? When I did make breast it was usually BSCB, but even with Popeye’s/KFC chicken, the breast with bone-in is always the last to go in our family. Am I wrong in thinking that breast meat is overrated?
I’ve had my crock pot since first marriage (a wedding gift) and it’s always been such a space hog when not in use. But I agree with post upthread – can use during holidays to keep stuff warm. Some one needs to design an affordable appliance that can replace all the one-recipe gadgets like rice cooker, griddle/grill, deep fryer, waffle maker, bread maker. I can go on. I got rid of the bread maker, though.
Last night I made a simple, but delicious, black bean soup in the Pot. I sauteed a chopped onion in some olive oil, added 5 cloves of chopped garlic, half a chopped up farmer’s sausage, a bay leaf, two dried red chilis, some cumin I ground in the mortar and pestle, and two cups of black beans. Plus some salt, but it was already salty enough even though I used low-sodium chicken stock, so that was a mistake. I cooked it for 40 minutes, a long time but these black beans I bought recently seem to date from the last century. Then I took out the bay leaf and the chilis, and used the immersion blender to give it a bit of a puree.
I served it in bowls, with a scoop of white rice in each bowl and a bit of yogurt. Yum! And it was so easy.
