Many of us are in lockdown–or under stay-at-home orders. Same here, but I still have my Kindle and internet access. So I gave in to my weakness for cookbooks–as usual (especially with the lower prices for e-books).
Long a fan of Christopher Kimball through Cook’s magazine, Cook’s Illustrated, Cook’s Country, and America’s Test Kitchen, I’ve followed to Milk Street. I’ve always been successful with recipes from those sources (although sometimes finding things a little under-seasoned for my tastes).
I’m also a lover of my Instant Pot, although I’ve yet to use the slow cooker function on it. Always on the lookout for recipes (at least for inspiration if not the religious following of them), I was happy to discover this book on my “recommended” list. Awesome to see both the pressure function and the slow cooker function covered in one book. (Maybe I’ll get around to trying the slow cooker function sometime–someday.)
What better thing to do when you’re forced to stay at home than cook something. My first venture was determined by foraging in the refrigerator and the freezer, so it’s not exactly like the recipe, but enough to get a feel for the book, and to have a queue of bookmarked recipes to follow for my vicarious travels.
The “Spicy Collard Greens with Tomatoes and Peanuts” (a version of muriwo unedovi) was up for trial with the caveat that I was not going to the grocery store and that I was definitely in need of some green stuff. The freezer yielded frozen collard greens, and there were canned tomatoes in the pantry. The recipe called for chunky peanut butter, but my pantry gave up only a jar of creamy–so I had to do without the crunch. Whole habanero chilies also weren’t lurking in the fridge, so I had to sub in a serrano chile pepper lurking in the crisper. Overall very favorable result for not making a grocery run. Since I’m cooking only for me, I did halve the recipe and everything worked well–not too much in my category of “leftovers”.
In the queue for trying whilst I’m hiding at home is the German-inspired “Braised Red Cabbage with Apples” (one apple lurking in the fridge along with the cabbage), and the “Lentils and Bulgur with Caramelized Onions” which is a riff on my beloved mujaddara (only with bulgur instead of rice).
I wasn’t surprised to find differences in how meat cooks with sous vide and pressure cooking. I want to know more about the best way to cook other things that I use frequently: beans, cabbage, rice, etc. so I decided to do another comparison. Lentils are something that I do use quite often so I thought that a pressure cooker/sous vide test was in order here too.
I got the inspiration to gr cooking lentils from the Joule app on my smartphone. There was a section on “batch cooking”. Normally since I’m always trying to do single-serving cooking and don’t do well with leftovers I’d blow right by a suggestion like that but I noticed that those batch-cooked lentils could be stored in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days. That made sense since they would essentially be pasteurized. Interesting possibility for something that I use in as many ways as I use lentils!
Lentils are so quick cooking on the stove top that you might wonder why use a pressure cooker, or why (particularly with the time required) sous vide. One reason is hands off. In the pressure cooker it’s set and forget until done. The same is true of sous vide; for me that can be an advantage when I’m engrossed in writing and index. So, a comparison of the two methods.
Another thing that made me curious about cooking lentils this way was that they were cooked in pint jars. With the brown lentils I had in the house at 185°F for the recommended 90 minutes, plus the additional recommended 30 minutes I still didn’t have cooked lentils. But I thought this deserved further investigation so I went in search of other recipes for time and temperature suggestions.
My first stop was to consider how to cook lentils in the pressure cooker other than just pushing the “beans/chili” button on the Instant Pot (IP) was to look at American’s Test Kitchen’s Pressure Cooker Perfection. Much to my surprise I didn’t find lentils listed as an ingredient. So to other reliable sources for cooking time suggestions: from Forks over Knives website 20 minutes. From Kitchn, 15 minutes. Both recipes calling for natural pressure release.
For the sous vide (precision cooking) I did find lentil as an ingredient and, thus, instructions for cooking in Sous Vide for Everybody (location 3646). The recipe called for black lentils (sometimes called beluga lentils). Most often I use French green lentils (lentilles du Puy) but I occasionally use brown lentils so I opted to use those. At least I felt I was comparing apples to apples in terms of looking at cooking times and temperature since both were for black lentils.
The experiment
I had already tried using Mason jars the water bath and in the IP so I decided to use a pint Mason for both methods of cooking.. Although I believe that Ziploc freezer bags are probably safe, I have a think about using as little plastic as possible for environmental reasons if I can use recyclable containers like the Mason jars.
As with the meat, I decided to season both batches the same so that the only difference was the cooking method so the lentils were cooked with only salt as seasoning; it’s the texture that I really wanted to know about. From reviewing recipes from several sources for both electric pressure cooker and sous vide I prepared two pint jars each with 4 3/4 ounces of brown lentils, salt and 8 3/8 ounces of water–one for the pressure cooker and one for the sous vide water bath. The pressure cooker was set for 15 minutes and normal pressure and the sous vide for 194°F and 3 hours (range 3-5 hours. Then the wait began.
The jar from the pressure cooker was cooled (it was sealed) and refrigerated until the sous vide lentils were cooked. That jar was also cooled (it was also sealed) and refrigerated. .
The results:
For the taste and texture tests, both jars were removed from the refrigerator, unsealed to look at the lentils before reheating. The cold jars were placed in a cold water bath to reheat to 145°F (1 hour and 30 minutes).
Just looking at the two, there was an obvious difference in how some of the lentils cooked in the IP were “blown out”–i.e. exploded, burst open, etc. Not great for use in a salad. No surprise here given what I’ve read about the differences in other legumes cooked in either of these ways.
the sous vide lentils
pressure cooked
Tasted before reheating (cold), lentils cooked in the IP were much softer, really almost mushy, OK in soup especially if you wanted to puree some to thicken it a bit. The sous vide lentils were firm, but tender–just what I’d like if they were for a salad or a side. After reheating, there were still the same differences.
The flavor? I’m struggling to describe the differences in flavor–there definitely was a difference. I think part of it was that the IP lentils you started tasting immediately when they hit you mouth; with the sous vide lentils you didn’t really taste them until you start chewing them. Then there was this burst of flavor which seemed to me to be more intense than with the IP lentils. I found it very difficult to separate flavor from the “mouth feel” of the two batches–I think the texture differences affected my reactions.
After this experiment I think I’ll be cooking a lot of lentils with the sous vide method. If I want lentil soup I’ll be turning to the IP. I’ll also add more salt to both.
Cooking pork spare ribs to that point where they are extremely luscious and tender is usually a long process, usually involving the oven (at least for me). Even in the cooler weather this didn’t seem to be an option even with windows and doors open; however it occurred to me that I had another option: the Instant Pot. So despite the rather humid (even if cool) weather and the prospect of hotter weather imminent, that package of spare ribs went home with me.
I’ve cooked other meat (e.g. beef short ribs) in my Instant Pot with wonderful results so that was my plan. Realizing that i was going to have an abundance of pork I started thinking of ways to deal with it: some for the freezer perhaps since there are lots of things to do with good cooked pork.
My favorite way of cooking many things in the Instant Pot (IP) is the pot-in-pot method*–a container with a lid inside the Instant Pot. My reason for using this method so often is that in cooking for one I’m often using rather small quantities in a six-quart IP. Often I don’t want to add as much liquid as would be necessary cooking directly in the container of the pot itself.
I like this method especially for meats. The broth that you collect is undiluted by water so you have broth that is flavorful and will gel nicely. So that is how the spare ribs were cooked. The only “disadvantage” to this method is that you may need to increase the cooking times but since I use the IP mainly because of hands-off method and flavor I don’t find that to be a problem.
It really isn’t possible to give quantities for things like the peppercorns or precisely for the salt–you’ll have to judge by your taste.
Ingredients
about 2 to 2-1/2 pounds boneless pork spare ribs
2 bay leaves
whole black peppercorns (a lot–about a generous teaspoon or more if you like pepper
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
salt (more than you would think)–about 2 or 3 teaspoons
Preparation
The day before or at least three or four hours ahead of cooking, sprinkle the spare ribs generously with kosher salt.
When ready to cook, rinse if there is still salt visible and pat the meat dry.
Cut the strips into 2- or 3-inch chunks (to fit into your bowl).
Add 1 cup of water to the IP container, place the trivet, and set the covered bowl on the trivet.
Close the IP and set to “meat”. These took about 90 minutes at high pressure.
I removed a healthy serving of the cooked spare ribs for my supper on that cool, rainy evening (with sides of cabbage and some rice) and then cooled the remaining in the broth (and the fat) for another use.
Cooks notes: *This is a rather long video but it introduces the pot-in-pot method and containers suitable for this. I almost always use a cover on the inner pot so that additional liquid doesn’t collect in it. For more on containers see this link, this link, or here.
My Instant Pot (IP) is now a kitchen fixture (as was my multicooker before)–it has a special spot on the counter since it is in almost daily use. The more I use it the better I like it. It’s a great addition to the kitchen and has replaced several other small appliances; however, that does not mean I’m ready to give up the dutch oven for some slow cooking in the oven on winter days. That kind of braise is not something that I expect the IP to replicate.
I’m working on a list of credible recipe sources for it. By credible, I mean those that seem to be aware of what this appliance can really do, without unrealistic expectations. Some books that I’ve looked at seem to suggest that the IP can replace any other way of cooking, so I’d not judge them to be useful recipe sources.
My inbox popped up useful information from a favorite source (Kitchn): a whole gallery of different things that are kind of IP basics like rice, steel-cut oats (important breakfast stuff here), cooking dried beans (one of the main reasons for getting the IP), stock-making (pressure and slow cooker), and not-so-basic: risotto, braised cabbage, plus a lot more. This gallery includes the slow-cooker function of the IP (which seems to be somewhat ignored in many books and online groups).
Cookbooks by authors that I’ve found useful while adapting to the way the Instant Pot works include:
The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook: Fresh and Foolproof Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker by Coco Marante, 2017, Kindle or hardcover.
Comfort in an Instant: 75 Comfort Food Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot®, by Melissa Clark, 2018, Kindle or hardcover.
Dinner in an Instant: 75 Modern Recipes for Your Pressure Cooker, Multicooker, and Instant Pot® by Melissa Clark, 2017, Kindle or hardcover.
Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Urvashi Pitre, 2017, paperback, and free to read via Kindle Unlimited.
The Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook: Authentic Flavors and Modern Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker by Archana Mundhe, 2018, Kindle and hardcover.
The Ultimate Instant Pot Cookbook: 200 Deliciously Simple Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker by Coco Marante, 2017, Kindle and hardcover.
The Keto Instant Pot Cookbook: Ketogenic Diet Pressure Cooker Recipes Made Easy and Fast bu Urvashi Pitre, 2018, Kindle and paperback.
Instant Pot Miracle: From Gourmet to Everyday, 175 Must-Have Recipes by The Editors at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, Kindle and paperback.
There are a couple others coming out in 2019 that I’m looking forward to taking a look at:
Madhur Jaffrey’s Essential Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey, to be released May 2019, Kindle and hardcover.
Instant Pot Fast & Easy: 100 Simple and Delicious Recipes for Your Instant Pot by Urvashi Pitre, January 2019
I’m one of those people who grew up with homemade cottage cheese and everything out of the grocery store is a real washout after that. I’ve made it at home occasionally, on the stovetop, but that takes more attention than I’m sometimes ready to give to it.
I just got my email from Taste magazine and there was an article on cottage cheese. It’s from the point of view of a “life-long southerner” (which I’m definitely not) but even some northerners did the homemade cottage thing. Somehow I missed the concept that with the Instant Pot yogurt cycle I could make cottage cheese easily until I saw this article and the recipe.
I admit that I’ve succumbed and now have an Instant Pot (IP). I’m pleased with everything I’ve done in it so far, but I think I’m cognizant of what its capabilities are so I’m not going to ask it to do things that just aren’t realistic. I don’t expect the same results from a braise done in the Instant Pot as I would from a braise done in my Le Creuset enamel cast iron dutch oven over hours in the conventional oven, and to be perfectly frank, I’ll not quit doing braising in that conventional oven even though the results from the IP can be very good but definitely not the same.
I’ve been looking at cookbooks oriented to cooking with the instant pot–and I find that a lot of them need a healthy dollop of skepticism about what the IP should–not can–do. The IP is, after all, a kitchen tool. There is no such thing as one-tool-does-it-all. My expectations of the IP are based on what I know about the cooking environment inside that appliance–just as were my expectations of what my Krups multifunction cooker would do.
The article from Taste titled “Don’t Cook With an Instant Pot Just Because You Can” (a discussion of Melissa Clark’s IP cookbook titled “Dinner in an Instant“) has that healthy bit of skepticism–no one tool does it all. The book confines itself to recipes which the IP does really well making it a good addition to the library if you are learning about an IP–it will help with a realistic expectation about what this kitchen tool does really well.
The other cookbooks that I’ve added to my library since acquiring the IP are “The Essential Instant Pot CookbookThe Essential Instant Pot Cookbook” by Coco Marante and “The Instant Pot Miracle” (authorised by Instant Pot). These two books provide a good introduction to the IP and to pressure cooking, as well as an array of recipes that have been tested in the IP. So, good additions.
I guess my point in this ramble is that the IP is an expensive kitchen gadget and you don’t want to be disappointed and relegate it to a dusty corner somewhere to be with the “fry baby” that also never gets used. So far I think it is well worth the price so long as I have realistic expectations of what it does well.
I know that it’s not going to put out anything crispy or crunchy, and I haven’t really figured out why I’d want to use it to cook fish. I do like steaming some vegetables in it, and I love the way hard-cooked eggs peel when cooked in it. Rice was fine too, although I did mine with the pot-in-pot technique which is wonderful for cooking for one–so far a very happy addition to the kitchen!
One of my favorite things is a combination of rice and beans–or lentils. The top of my list of comfort food (even higher than mac ‘n’ cheese) is mujadara–rice and lentils, and onions. (I discovered that if you want to find this in a Lebanese cookbook you should look for m’jadara, but then, I was not even sure what the dish was called so I didn’t even get close.) Now that I know what I’m looking for, it’s much easier to look in the index!
I’m sure that this is one of the dishes that every cook has their own recipe, so I was looking at how it was seasoned. There was an amazing range: from salt, pepper, and onions to versions including cumin, allspice, coriander, cinnamon, and cayenne. Some included lemon juice or zest.
Since I’ve become the proud owner of an Instant Pot (IP for short), I have been experimenting with things like dried beans, rice, and all sorts of meat dishes. I’m convinced that the IP is going to be a good replacement for my Krups multifunction pot.
I had been exposed to pressure cooking ages ago, and by a cooking style that produced everything drab olive green, and by first-generation pressure cookers. So I never really bothered. Now I’m convinced that I have been missing a good thing. So, enter the IP.
I started with the simplest version of mujadara that I could find. My perusal of recipes led me to the conclusion that rice and lentils were used in almost equal quantities. Since I’m a single-serving cook, I want smaller quantities than any recipe that I’ve seen.
For my first test, I didn’t do the crispy onions–I just put some chopped onions in with the rice and lentils. Since I’ve been reading TheEssential Instant Pot Cookbookby Coco Morante, and everything I’ve followed her instructions for has worked so well, I decided to follow my “gut” about how much water to use to cook this in the IP, and knowing that onions would release a bunch of water, I used just slightly less than the volume of the rice and the lentils.
My Mujadara
For two servings:
Ingredients
1/4 cup brown basmati rice
1/4 cup lentils de Puy
a good three-fingered pinch of kosher (Morten) salt.
black pepper
a dash of red pepper flakes
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
scant 1/2 cup water
Preparation
All ingredients into the Instant Pot
Add water
Multigrain setting
Yes, all of it all at once into the IP, without rinsing the rice, in a 7-cup Pyrex bowl for the pot-in-pot cooking method.
I should have reduced the time just a bit to leave a bit more “tooth” to the rice and to the lentils–I suspect 30 minutes will work fine. Even though all the recipes I’ve found say NOT to use the French lentils, I like them–and they were what I have in the house for general use. So, that’s my version.
For a first run, I’m was a happy camper. The second time around, the multigrain time set for 30 minutes. I added the seasonings in from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe, except that I was out of coriander. To try to pick up something of the same flavor, I added sumac. However, without any extra seasonings, it was a good side to go with my rotisserie chicken (brought home from the grocery store because I’m eyeball-deep in indexing) and not spending a lot of time cooking.
The second batch, with shorter cook time and more seasonings, was better consistency, but I really like the very plain dish for flavor although I’m sure it will depend on what’s being served with it.
a-single-serving.com 