My IP has a “Beans/Chili” setting, but it makes no sense to me. Each kind of bean takes a different time.
“Beans” button has a pre-sets heating ramp and pressure (high) - these are universal for all beans. What varies is the time. Hit the “-” or “+” button to set it for your particular bean.
I understand why a pre-set heating ramp would work for chili, but the regular Steam setting works well for beans for me.
You can use “manual” but it it’s a bad idea to use the “Steam” setting unless you are cooking on the trivet. Both the Beans & Manual button do the same thing – just set the time – but “Steam” keeps the heating element activated constantly. This means that if you have item in the liner pot and the liquid burns off, they could get burned on the bottom of the pot – so you’d have a mess. The manual and most of the other pre-sets will cycle the heat on and off based on temperature, so if it senses the bottom of the liner getting too hot, it will turn off the heat to cool down & prevent scorching, while still maintaining pressure.
I made my first attempt at hard cooked eggs. The adult kids wanted to dye eggs. I cooked 12 and all but 5 cracked. What did I do wrong? Placed eggs carefully on trivet, added 1 cup of water. High pressure for 5 minutes, natural release for 5 minutes, quick released rest of pressure. When I took off lid I could see immediately that most had cracked including two on the top that had oozed out of the shell. I went back to my standby the microwave egg cooked and cooked 4 more. We will have a lot of eggs to eat.
I did a dozen following this old gal https://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-easy-hard-boiled-eggs/ and they came out perfectly. i even forgot them and left them in 22 minutes with no problem. No cracks, easy peel.
I do all my hard boiled eggs on low pressure - 5 min. pressure, 5 min. before release, followed by ice bath. It’s very rare for eggs to crack.
Hoping not to turn this into another hard boiled egg thread… But it is the thing I do most in my IP and have dealt with the cracked egg issue. I think it’s all about the eggs. Trader Joe’s cheap large eggs have very thin shells and may already have micro-cracks when you put them in. Costco’s brown eggs have thick shells and never crack. I do 5 pressure, 4 npr and an ice bath for the TJ eggs with minimal cracking.
I haven’t had a batch of Costco eggs in since I reduced the time, but I’m thinking that will also help with the green yolk issue. Generally, I HB eggs when I bring a new dozen in and the older eggs may contribute to the green yolks.
I sometimes read the Facebook Instant Pot forum. Some people report that they get problems with eggs cracking. Others cook their eggs the same way, and get no cracks. It’s got to be the eggs, somehow.
Green yolks are from overcooking the eggs, though.
OK IP gurus, I need help troubleshooting a recipe. The recipe is for pork chili verde: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2017/03/easy-pressure-cooker-pork-chile-verde-recipe.html. I’ve made it twice now because I’m trying to duplicate a favorite restaurant dish. The recipe calls for no added liquid and claims this will work, I guess because of the liquid from the meat and vegetables? Well, it didn’t work. The first time I made it, my IP never came to full pressure, i.e., the float valve never came completely up, even though the timer eventually started and counted down the 30 minutes. Also the condensation collector was full by the time the 30 minutes was up. The pork was tender but there was almost no liquid in the liner. Definitely not like in the picture! I managed to deglaze with some broth and salvage the dish.
The second time I made it, I added about 2/3 cup of water. This time there was tons of steam coming out and eventually it came to pressure; however once again lots of water came out into the condensation cup, which basically never happens with any other recipes I’ve tried. This time when I took off the lid, there was a small amount of liquid inside but not much and once again I had to add broth before I could use the immersion blender to create the sauce. I like the flavors of this dish a lot, but am frustrated by the technique. Is this recipe flawed or am I doing something wrong?
@mom60, I use this recipe and they have come out perfectly:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZbma27VVEY
He recommends the ice bath. My shells have come off just like his.
I don’t get it. It takes 3 minutes to boil a small pot of water and then 12 minutes to cook the eggs. They almost always peel easily. The pressure cooker seems like more work and no time saving for eggs. Why use it for that?
@Corinthian “Also the condensation collector was full by the time the 30 minutes was up.”
This means your sealing ring isn’t seated correctly. Without a good seal, the pot can’t come to pressure.
@allyphoe well next time I’ll use a replacememt sealing ring. But the second time it did eventually come to pressure. And I’ve only had trouble with this one recipe. My other recipes have worked fine.
NOT true for me. My eggs always ended up mangled. This is no extra trouble at all, and they come out perfectly for me every time. I’ll never boil again.
I like the Instant Pot for eggs because there’s no babysitting.
What cut of pork did you use? Maybe the tomatillos were not as juicy as expected?
@“Cardinal Fang” I used boneless pork shoulder as the recipe called for. Maybe you’re right about the tomatillos. They didn’t seem that juicy. I guess I will add at least a cup of water for broth the next time.
@aMacMom- it might have been the eggs. I usually buy the Costco organic brown eggs but my late 20’s kids wanted to color the eggs so I bought the white eggs in the 18 pack from Costco. I think the shells are thin. A couple of the eggs that hadn’t broke, broke when my S accidentally dropped it on the table. The regular eggs I buy don’t crack easily once they are cooked.
I normally use the Nordic microwave egg cooker. No more putting eggs on the stove and forgetting about them.
Interesting. Someone else who was complaining about eggs breaking also said they’d used Costco eggs.