Instant Pot Musings

Instant Pot musings. 

Well I’ve owned my Instant Pot for little over a week so I thought I’d share with you some of my observations. 

I’ve noticed from what I’ve read that some people are hesitant to use an Instant Pot. Now on the one hand this does make perfectly good sense as it actually is still a pressure cooker. I think the main thing to remember is just to use good common sense when you are cooking with it. 

This means making sure to allow the pressure to release naturally if possible, and going ahead and covering your Instant Pot with a towel when quick releasing with the vent. I even wear my oven mitts just to make sure I don’t get burned by escaping steam. If you follow these steps all should be good. 

I’ve also found that watching several You Tube videos on how to cook in the Instant Pot will make you much more confident the first time you use it. Referring back to the videos along the way can also help if a question arises. 

Be aware that the time written in the recipe is the actually cooking time in the pot. It doesn’t allow for the initial pressurizing time (So far for me about 5-10 minutes.), and the gradual release time at the end. I’ve been giving it about 10 minutes before releasing the valve manually. 

Also I have found that cooking dried beans for 40 minutes rather than 30 gives them the consistency I like best. So far I’ve cooked both pinto beans, and black eyed peas. My first batch of pinto beans did not cook long enough. Remember, this is using dried beans that do not need to be soaked over night. Woo hoo!

In addition, the second time I used the Instant Pot my silicone seal was not properly seated, and it would not even pressurize. Luckily, we were able to easily push it back to its correct position, and ended up with perfectly cooked black eyed peas. 

Because the black eyed peas ran a little late in fixing I was unable to cook my hard boiled eggs. That is the next thing on my list, and I’ll be curious to see how they actually taste. Chuck has gotten spoiled to the eggs being cooked in the oven, and prefers their taste to eggs that have been boiled. 

Either way, I’m excited to continue down this new culinary journey with my Instant Pot in hand!