Instant pot/pressure cooker...

[mowin]

Went to my sister's the other day and she had this electric pressure cooker. Now my wife wants one.. 

Anyone have one? Likes, dislikes!!!

[mazzgolf]

Love mine! I make things like Osso Bucco with my deer shanks or necks, turkey legs for pulled turkey sammiches...

It's not just a pressure cooker but also a slow cooker... You can make lots of things in it.

Easy to use and easy to clean. 

[mowin]

6 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

Love mine! I make things like Osso Bucco with my deer shanks or necks, turkey legs for pulled turkey sammiches...

It's not just a pressure cooker but also a slow cooker... You can make lots of things in it.

Easy to use and easy to clean. 

Gotta admit, she made some ST Louis ribs in 35 min that were not bad.

After the instant pot, she added some BBQ and put them under the oven broiler to caramelize the sauce.  Little to soft and  obviously no smoke flavor, but I was impressed. 

[mazzgolf]

25 minutes ago, mowin said:

obviously no smoke flavor

I have a couple recipes where I put the meat in a smoker for a couple hours first to get that smokey flavor, then finish the cooking process in the Instant Pot (sometimes I'll slow cook, other times pressure cook).

I do this with my turkey legs. I used to throw away my turkey legs because I could never cook them good, till I found this recipe .. smoke in my electric smoker for a couple hours, then slow cook in Instant Pot ..  will never throw away the legs again! Pulled Smoked Turkey Leg sandwiches are awesome!

Then there is this. You'd never know how good this is until you taste it. Wild Goose Pate. Spread it on crackers or make a sandwich with rye bread. Again, smoke it first, then pressure cook it in Instant Pot. I got the recipe from the NRA American Hunter magazine (but I added the smoke-first step; that's optional)... Says it's for snow goose, but I use Canada goose and it's great! It's this: https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2020/3/28/recipe-snow-goose-pate/

I usually adjust the pressure cook times... I normal need to pressure cook longer then some recipes call for, wild game seems to need more time.

Edited December 29, 2023 by mazzgolf

[mowin]

4 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

I have a couple recipes where I put the meat in a smoker for a couple hours first to get that smokey flavor, then finish the cooking process in the Instant Pot (sometimes I'll slow cook, other times pressure cook).

I do this with my turkey legs. I used to throw away my turkey legs because I could never cook them good, till I found this recipe .. smoke in my electric smoker for a couple hours, then slow cook in Instant Pot ..  will never throw away the legs again! Pulled Smoked Turkey Leg sandwiches are awesome!

Then there is this. You'd never know how good this is until you taste it. Wild Goose Pate. Spread it on crackers or make a sandwich with rye bread. Again, smoke it first, then pressure cook it in Instant Pot. I got the recipe from the NRA American Hunter magazine (but I added the smoke-first step; that's optional)... Says it's for snow goose, but I use Canada goose and it's great! It's this: https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2020/3/28/recipe-snow-goose-pate/

I usually adjust the pressure cook times... I normal need to pressure cook longer then some recipes call for, wild game seems to need more time.

You've convinced me. 

Now I'm seeing some have a sous vide option..  

What size do you have?  Lots are 6qt, but is that large enough to fit a ven hock?  I'm thinking 8 min. 

[mazzgolf]

I have a 6-quart and it seems to fit what I cook. I do have to separate the thighs from the drumsticks when doing turkey legs (they won't fit when connected - if I separate them, it all fits in the pot). A venison neck fits. I don't cook huge meals where I would need anything bigger. I don't cook venison roasts, so can't say. But I know I've cooked osso bucco with 2 shanks in the pot fine. Might be a tight fit with 4 shanks along with everything else. If you have the kitchen space to store the 8-quart, wouldn't hurt to go bigger. My 6-quart fits perfectly in a corner of one of my kitchen cabinets... anything bigger and I don't know where I would store it .

As for sous vide - I have one of those machines also!  I LOVE venison backstrap sous vide... sooo good. I was not aware that Instant Pot now comes with a sous vide setting. That's interesting. With sous vide, you have to make sure its temperature monitoring is spot on. You really don't want it to be off, say, by 5 degrees because you cook it for so long that an imprecise temperature control could over cook the meat. (my sous vide machine is set to 132 degrees, perfectly pink venison every time! ). I can't say if Instant Pot has a good thermometer to keep the temperature within +/- a degree (compared to the sous vide machines made specifically for that purpose) - that would be something I would check the reviews on if I were looking to buy one with that sous vide option. See what people say about the accuracy of the temperature control when using the sous vide setting.

Edited December 29, 2023 by mazzgolf

[mowin]

3 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

I have a 6-quart and it seems to fit what I cook. I do have to separate the thighs from the drumsticks when doing turkey legs. A venison neck fits. I don't cook huge meals where I would need anything bigger. I don't cook venison roasts, so can't say. But I know I've cooked osso bucco with 2 shanks in the pot fine. Might be a tight fit with 4 shanks along with everything else. If you have the kitchen space to store the 8-quart, wouldn't hurt to go bigger. My 6-quart fits perfectly in a corner of one of my kitchen cabinets... anything bigger and I don't know where I would store it .

As for sous vide - I have one of those machines also!  I LOVE venison backstrap sous vide... sooo good. I was not aware that Instant Pot now comes with a sous vide setting. That's interesting. With sous vide, you have to make sure its temperature monitoring is spot on. You really don't want it to be off, say, by 5 degrees because you cook it for so long that an imprecise temperature control could over cook the meat. (my sous vide machine is set to 132 degrees, perfectly pink venison every time! ). I can't say if Instant Pot has a good thermometer to keep the temperature within +/- a degree (compared to the sous vide machines made specifically for that purpose) - that would be something I would check the reviews on if I were looking to buy one with that sous vide option. See what people say about the accuracy of the temperature control when using the sous vide setting.

I love my SV.  But if I can combine that feature, I'm tempted. 

[mazzgolf]

Just looked it up and found this America's Test Kitchen review: She says a lot of good things about what they liked.. but then watch at the 9:37 mark... this is what I was worried about when I mentioned it earlier... the ONE thing they don't like (she says):

"The one thing that we were a little bit disappointed with this pot was that the sous vide function was not very accurate. It was off just enough so that we actually overcooked things a little bit, and that was not satisfying to us. So we think you still need a separate sous vide device. But in everything else, we loved this cooker."

Remember that a sous vide machine also circulates the water - the Instant Pot doesn't do that. That might be one reason why the results aren't as good. Circulating the water likely helps maintain that consistent temp. And of course if its temp gauge/thermostat isn't accurate enough, that would cause problems, too.

 

 

[mowin]

23 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

Just looked it up and found this America's Test Kitchen review: She says a lot of good things about what they liked.. but then watch at the 9:37 mark... this is what I was worried about when I mentioned it earlier... the ONE thing they don't like (she says):

"The one thing that we were a little bit disappointed with this pot was that the sous vide function was not very accurate. It was off just enough so that we actually overcooked things a little bit, and that was not satisfying to us. So we think you still need a separate sous vide device. But in everything else, we loved this cooker."

Remember that a sous vide machine also circulates the water - the Instant Pot doesn't do that. That might be one reason why the results aren't as good. Circulating the water likely helps maintain that consistent temp. And of course if its temp gauge/thermostat isn't accurate enough, that would cause problems, too.

 

 

Ok, that's interesting, and makes a lot of sense. 

Now the wife wants one that has a air fryer built in.  WTF. We hated our air fryer. It sucked.. couldn't get anything crispy and gave it away, now she wants a pressure cooker, air fryer combo.  Good lord help me. 

[Stubborn1vt]

I've been looking for one to do some small scale canning.  I've seen a couple on Marketplace for fairly cheap.  I like the idea of electric instead of a stovetop one.

[The_Real_TCIII]

I really like mine. Ive had all the "single use"gimmick appliances but the Instant Pot stuck lol. You can make a fantastic stew in 30 minutes

[dbHunterNY]

my wife uses one all the time. we have an big air fryer too. i can handle the air fryer but the insta-pot has a lot of buttons and shit going on. lol i could figure it out i'm sure but the insta-pot is her deal and she loves it.

[cas]

I actually have 3 of them. Cooked 90% of my home cooked meals in it for 2-3 years.  Of course I didn't have a working stove. lol

[Gsphntr]

Just made a mississippi pot roast in an hour with mine. Love it. There are so many one pot recipes for little clean up.