Pressure: Adventurers with the Instant Pot

No, I am not writing this essay from a marijuana dispensary.

This month I am focusing on the latest kitchen gadget that I just HAD to buy, the Instant Pot.  The presentation on QVC was so compelling that I called a friend and made her buy one, too.  Every dish the hosts took out of this modern-age pressure cooker looked so completely yummy that I was instantly hooked.  And the cooking time?  Next to nothing, they touted, even when frozen chicken was used.  (Damn QVC and the Today's Special Value!)

But what they didn’t mention was more than what they said.  Let’s start with the fact that the name is a real misnomer and only partially correct.  It is a pot.  Instant?  Not by a long shot.  Since this device is an updated pressure cooker, I followed the instructions to steam up a batch of water to make sure it wouldn’t blow up under pressure.  Just the term “pressure cooker” is enough to evoke fear in many people, although this appliance is capable of slow cooking, baking and other feats of culinary magic, not just pressure cooking.  However, let’s not forget that people have used pressure cookers to make bombs. 

Before I attempted to make food in this contraption, I first had to do the “water test.”  In this case, I’m pleased to say that it did not detonate.  It takes at least 10 minutes just to get up to full pressure, and then you have to release the pressure by turning a valve, or you can let it release naturally.  Both take time. 

Next, I followed the advice of the entire Instant Pot Community group I joined on Facebook, where the IP vets (I’m into the lingo now) said to stick to a recipe.  I chose chicken, scouring the internet for a recipe that would be simple to follow.  It WAS simple, but it took much more than an instant. 

I had to first brown the chicken using the sauté feature.  Although my Viva model is a sizable 6-quart unit, much of the space in it is vertical, so having enough room to brown the boneless chicken breasts (which I cut in half to fit better) was a challenge.  I cooked them for considerably more than the time recommended because I had thick pieces of chicken.  Nobody wants to eat rare chicken, right?

Then I removed the chicken and added liquid – not the water the recipe called for (too blah), but a 14-oz can of chicken stock.  And I threw in some lemon juice (which I never did taste in the final product) for flavor.  You put the chicken back in on the trivet provided, and then comes the important part – you lock the lid on the device (which is like locking the astronauts into a space capsule, but on a smaller scale) turn it on and wait for it to get up to steam.  There’s a little float that bounces around until the steam level is reached, when it locks into an upright position.  Again, Instant is not exactly accurate.  This whole process is easy enough – you set the timer and when the pot reaches steam level, it starts the countdown to the time you set – but just getting to this point took more than 10 minutes.  I set the time for 9 minutes (remember, the 9 minutes starts AFTER the pot reaches the steam/pressure level) instead of the recommended 5 minutes – again, because the chicken was so thick. 

Here’s the thing – once the pot gets up to steam, you can’t just lift the lid and check the progress.  You have to let it finish its cycle and then wait until the steam is released naturally (which took another 5 minutes) or release the rest manually, taking care not to get scorched by the steam coming out of the venting valve.  I don’t recommend trying this for a facial. 

So, mine went through the cycle, and I followed the directions to let it “naturally” release its steam, which is somewhat like waiting for Mount Vesuvius to blow up.  That’s 5 minutes, followed by another 5 minutes after manually releasing the steam.  Then there was another 5 minutes of waiting time to let it sit and retain the juices. 

Let’s face it, I could have browned the chicken on the stove top and popped it into the oven, or I could have cooked the whole thing on top of the stove much FASTER than the so-called INSTANT pot.  But the chicken was tasty and tender, and there was a lot less clean-up because nothing splattered all over the stove, which is my usual MO. 

Feeling flushed with success over my first attempt with the IP, next I tackled an even simpler recipe – buttered noodles.  I used a half of a stick of butter melted in the bottom of the pot on the sauté setting.  The recipe called for chicken stock, but I used vegetable instead and threw in a can of cream of chicken soup to add thickness.  The noodles were broad noodles that get even broader when they are cooked.  I used half of the bag (and it lasted me for three days).

Once the pot came up to full pressure, it took just a mere 5 minutes to turn the dish into fully-cooked, tasty noodles, which is much less time than it would have taken to boil the water and cook the noodles conventionally, so I marked this one a win.  The end product had too much liquid – it looked like soup with a boatload of noodles in it – but I can adjust that.

My third experiment was a modest attempt. I had 2 turkey tenderloins, about ¾ of a pound each, that I seasoned and sautéed in the IP.  I then added chicken stock (which I am running through at an alarming pace) and I threw in some baby carrots.  The turkey was tender and the carrots overcooked after 15 minutes, so next time I’ll use less liquid and cut the cooking time a bit.

So far, so good.  I haven’t blown up the kitchen, and the cleanup is easier because all of the food is in one pot.  There’s no sautéing on the stove and cleaning up the splatters.  Amazon has already delivered the cake pans I ordered that fit in the Instant Pot and allow you to not only bake, but to steam things stacked up, so you can cook more than one thing at a time.  Then I remembered that I don’t bake, and that I sure don’t need to eat cake!  I’m not sure Weight Watchers will approve my use of this device.  I’m cooking and eating more these days, which is very un-WW-like of me.

I’m curious about other recipes.  It looks like it will be good for making soup, although my current recipe for butternut squash soup only takes less than 30 minutes from prep through cooking.  The idea here is to replace the crock pot with this device, which takes a lot less time than a slow cooker.  But I know I can’t walk out the door with the Instant Pot going like I can with the crock pot, and what’s better than walking into the house to the fragrant smell of a dinner cooking, just waiting for you for serve and enjoy?  Let’s try a pot roast to see how the house smells after that.

I’m willing to keep experimenting.  But I will get an earlier start and make sure that I factor in the extra time and that I don’t start out this process when I am already starving.  Otherwise this gadget will sit comfortably in the pantry, next to the Air Fryer that I just HAD to have when I saw that gadget on QVC and have used just once – with disastrous results.  So far, the score at Casa Gordon is Instant Pot 3, Air Fryer 1.