Instant Pot owners, what's your favorite recipie?

[ponyo]

RossMAN needs to repent. I'm already at level 2 and I only had the IP for a day. I'll hit level 3 tomorrow. I just got back from the grocery store with the ingredients I need for Instant Pot Pho which I'll make tomorrow. I bought some beef back ribs, ox tails, and chuck roast to make the beef broth. I'm going to make this pho recipe. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017521-pressure-cooker-beef-pho

ok. I made this recipe this evening using IP. It was a failure. I don't recommend doing this recipe as is. I don't know if it's the fault of the IP or the recipe. I followed the recipe almost exact. I used ox tails and beef back ribs for bone stock and chuck roast for boneless beef. I cooked it for 30 minutes on high. The good is the IP produced really tender ox tail and beef back rib meat in 30 minutes. The bad is the broth lacked the rich bone broth flavor. I don't know if it's the recipe and more spices are needed but it's missing the deep rich beefy taste and lacked flavor. I even added MSG after I tasted the broth because I thought maybe MSG might help. It did help some but broth was still missing the rich bone flavor and something else. I think if I made traditional beef broth on the stove top using beef knuckles and added that, it would've helped immensely. I thought beef back rib and ox tails would be enough but it really need the broth from slow simmered beef knuckle bone marrow. And I think the broth is missing some spices like clove. And I used the wrong type of rice noodles but it's all I had. I plan to make it again but I'm going to add real slow stove top simmered beef knuckle bone marrow broth to the IP broth. And I'm going to use different pho spice recipe. One with clove. Anyway, some pictures from the IP pho I made.

IP finished ox tails, chuck roast, and beef back ribs

broth, pieces of ox tail, back ribs, and chuck roast, and rice noodles

veggies added.

 

[Ns1]

thanks for the report back, but yeah that broth looks all wrong.

 

[sdifox]

Ebay has a clone on sale with PHOLIDAY10 coupon to save 10% off the price.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/222594345332

 

[ponyo]

thanks for the report back, but yeah that broth looks all wrong.

Do you know if that recipe is missing any key spices? I'm not familiar enough with pho spice ingredients so I don't know what I need to correct as far as spices. I used all the same spices that was listed in the recipe.

 

[ponyo]

Ebay has a clone on sale with PHOLIDAY10 coupon to save 10% off the price.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/222594345332

That one is 6 qt with Teflon coated bowl. After using IP today, I'm glad I got the 8 qt. Space is limited since you can't fill more than 2/3 full. And IP has stainless bowl instead of Teflon. That was a big selling point for me.

 

[Ns1]

Do you know if that recipe is missing any key spices? I'm not familiar enough with pho spice ingredients so I don't know what I need to correct as far as spices. I used all the same spices that was listed in the recipe.

it's behind a paywall that can't be circumvented using incognito, so please c/p it.

 

[ponyo]

Pressure Cooker Beef Pho

INGREDIENTS
FOR THE BROTH:

• 3 pounds beef knuckle, marrow or other soup bones
• 1 pound boneless beef brisket, chuck or cross-rib roast in one piece
• 4 ounces Fuji apple, about 1/2 of a medium-large apple
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 ounces fresh ginger
• 2 ½ pieces star anise
• 1 3-inch cinnamon or cassia stick
• 3 whole cloves
• 2 ½ teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• Sugar, if desired

FOR THE BOWLS:

• 6 ounces beef steak, such as top or bottom sirloin, eye of round or London broil (optional)
• 12 ounces dried narrow rice sticks or pad Thai-style noodles
• ½ small yellow or red onion
• 2 slender green onions
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves
• Black pepper
• Optional add-ins: thinly sliced Fresno, Thai or serrano chile; a large handful of bean sprouts, mint sprigs or Thai basil; lime wedges

PREPARATION
MAKE THE BROTH:

1. Rinse the bones and boneless beef. Peel and cut apple into chunks. Halve the large onion and cut into thick slices. Peel ginger, halve it lengthwise, cut into chunks, then smash each piece with the side of a knife.
2. Put the star anise, cinnamon and cloves in an 8-quart pressure cooker. Over medium heat or using the sauté function, toast for several minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant. Add the onion and ginger. (If using a stove-top pressure cooker, raise heat to medium-high.) Stir and cook for a minute or two. A little browning is O.K. Add 9 cups water.
3. Add the bones, beef, apple and salt. Lock the lid. If using a stovetop pressure cooker, raise heat to high and bring pressure to 15 p.s.i. Then reduce the heat to medium or medium-low. The pressure should be just high enough that a gentle, steady flow of steam comes out of the cooker’s valve. Cook for 20 minutes. If using an electric pressure cooker, set timer for 30 minutes. After cooking, both cookers will require time to allow pressure to decrease naturally, about 15 to 20 minutes. When that is done, carefully remove lid.
4. Transfer boneless meat to a bowl, cover with water and soak for 10 minutes. This cools it and keeps it from drying out. If desired, scrape any bits of tendon from the bones and add to the bowl of water.
5. Strain the broth into a pot through a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth or muslin. Discard the remaining solids. (At this point, the broth and beef can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 3 days.) Skim all but about 3 tablespoons of fat from the broth. You should have about 8 cups of broth. Add fish sauce and more salt, if needed. Add a few pinches of sugar and more fish sauce so the broth has a rounded, intense finish that is slightly salty and slightly sweet.

PREPARE THE BOWLS:

1. Freeze the raw beef, if using, for 15 to 20 minutes, then slice very thinly across the grain. Cut cooked beef across the grain into very thin slices. Set aside.
2. Cover the dried noodles in hot tap water and soak for 15 to 20 minutes, or until pliable and opaque. Drain, then rinse to remove starch.
3. Thinly slice the small onion and soak in water 10 minutes. Slice green onions into thin rings and set aside with chopped cilantro. Arrange any optional add-ins on a plate.
4. Bring the broth to a simmer over medium heat. At the same time, fill a pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. Dunk the noodles into the boiling water, using a noodle strainer or a mesh sieve, for about 15 to 20 seconds. Remove from water and divide noodles among 4 bowls.
5. Top each bowl of noodles with cooked and raw beef, arranging the slices flat. Place a mound of onion in the center, then shower with green onion and cilantro. Finish with a sprinkle of black pepper. Give the boiling broth a final taste for seasoning. Ladle about 2 cups broth into each bowl, distributing the hot liquid evenly to warm all the ingredients.

 

[ponyo]

ok. I'm a dummy. The recipe did have cloves. I read it as cloves of garlic and added that instead of whole cloves flower spice.

 

[Kaido]

ok. I made this recipe this evening using IP. It was a failure. I don't recommend doing this recipe as is. I don't know if it's the fault of the IP or the recipe. I followed the recipe almost exact. I used ox tails and beef back ribs for bone stock and chuck roast for boneless beef. I cooked it for 30 minutes on high. The good is the IP produced really tender ox tail and beef back rib meat in 30 minutes. The bad is the broth lacked the rich bone broth flavor. I don't know if it's the recipe and more spices are needed but it's missing the deep rich beefy taste and lacked flavor. I even added MSG after I tasted the broth because I thought maybe MSG might help. It did help some but broth was still missing the rich bone flavor and something else. I think if I made traditional beef broth on the stove top using beef knuckles and added that, it would've helped immensely. I thought beef back rib and ox tails would be enough but it really need the broth from slow simmered beef knuckle bone marrow. And I think the broth is missing some spices like clove. And I used the wrong type of rice noodles but it's all I had. I plan to make it again but I'm going to add real slow stove top simmered beef knuckle bone marrow broth to the IP broth. And I'm going to use different pho spice recipe. One with clove. Anyway, some pictures from the IP pho I made.

I haven't really attempted a full-on pho myself because I have an amazing pho shop right down the straight & the dude who runs it is straight from Vietnam & is an amazing chef (to the point where that's where I go for my birthday meal every year now), and I usually only get pho during the winter months (unlike say pizza where I make it pretty much weekly, haha), so I haven't been super incentivized to dig into a solid DIY method at home. I do a lot of soups in the IP & have made different broths before, but my bone broth experience was the same...it wasn't like the pho I got from the legit pho shop. Granted, I have never made it otherwise at home (stovetop etc.), so I haven't developed any kind of process for doing it, but I am curious if adding stuff like beef knuckles would work in the IP. I can't find the article at the moment, but there was a food blogger who a big bone broth cook & wrote a huge complaint post about how bad the IP is at legit beef bone broth, complete with pictures of the different liquid output, browning, etc. However, based on the Pressure Cook Recipes site's recipe, it looks like it's doable, although I don't have much frame of reference because I have limited exposure to actual pho outside of the two or three pho shops I've ever been to (I was only introduced to pho a few years ago), so there's the question of "good" vs. "authentic" (tasty vs. legit good? hehe).

Please keep us updated with your progress. Three of the biggest areas I'd like to tackle with my IP in 2018 are pho (particularly a beef soup with bone broth), Thai (especially yellow curry), and Indian (butter chicken, tikka masala, etc.). Especially since the IP is so good at repeatable results, once I get them nailed down to my taste preferences, I can just make them whenever successfully, which would be awesome.

 

[Ns1]

Isn't that pho recipe missing salt? 2.5 teaspoons, are we trying to kill snails or someshit here? Also missing charring onions and ginger

Spices don't really seem wrong.

 

[Muse]

I think I may need one of these, please comment:

I routinely make a recipe that calls for filling a pot with around 3 quarts of very coarsely chopped vegetables. I put a little water in the pot and turn on the flame of my gas stove and after a couple minutes or so I lower the flame and let it simmer around 20 minutes. The hope is that the vegetables become cooked, rather soft but not too soft. I find this very hard to gauge. The time part is easy, what's hard is getting the flame just right. With an electric pot that would, I think, be simple, as long as the ambient temperature wasn't that important, and I suppose it isn't all that important.

Would an instant pot be the way to go? I see slow cookers for sale at Amazon. Would that be what I want or would an instant pot be just as good and have added utility or actually be better for this? I have no experience with these things, personally. Can you suggest specific purchase ideas?

 

[Nikip88]

5 pounds of bulk beef
1 pound of oxycontin

Hillarious

 

[Nikip88]

Am considering buying one, what's your "go to" IP meal?

Edit: bought one, I like crock pot beef roasts, this will speed things up.

I love making BARBACOA in my crock pot or oven but if i am in a hurry and i dont want my whole house smelling like beef I use the IP and put it on a stand outside the back door. I love BARBACOA!!!! If u make this make sure u use beef cheeks. Not chuck or brisket like alot of people say. ItS NOT the same.

 

[ponyo]

I haven't really attempted a full-on pho myself because I have an amazing pho shop right down the straight & the dude who runs it is straight from Vietnam & is an amazing chef (to the point where that's where I go for my birthday meal every year now), and I usually only get pho during the winter months (unlike say pizza where I make it pretty much weekly, haha), so I haven't been super incentivized to dig into a solid DIY method at home. I do a lot of soups in the IP & have made different broths before, but my bone broth experience was the same...it wasn't like the pho I got from the legit pho shop. Granted, I have never made it otherwise at home (stovetop etc.), so I haven't developed any kind of process for doing it, but I am curious if adding stuff like beef knuckles would work in the IP. I can't find the article at the moment, but there was a food blogger who a big bone broth cook & wrote a huge complaint post about how bad the IP is at legit beef bone broth, complete with pictures of the different liquid output, browning, etc. However, based on the Pressure Cook Recipes site's recipe, it looks like it's doable, although I don't have much frame of reference because I have limited exposure to actual pho outside of the two or three pho shops I've ever been to (I was only introduced to pho a few years ago), so there's the question of "good" vs. "authentic" (tasty vs. legit good? hehe).

Please keep us updated with your progress. Three of the biggest areas I'd like to tackle with my IP in 2018 are pho (particularly a beef soup with bone broth), Thai (especially yellow curry), and Indian (butter chicken, tikka masala, etc.). Especially since the IP is so good at repeatable results, once I get them nailed down to my taste preferences, I can just make them whenever successfully, which would be awesome.

My wife who's much better kitchen cook than me claims stove top slow cooked beef knuckle broth is the key missing ingredient. The pho broth was definitely bland like it wasn't cooked long enough. It wasn't bad when I tasted without the noodles. But once the noodles were added, it was like the broth lost 50% of the flavor. I'm going to play around with the recipe and make it couple more times before I give up. I don't want to go to the beef knuckle route yet because I don't want to simmer for 8+ hours on the stove. I'm going to try substituting store bought beef broth liquid for the 9 cups of water. If that still doesn't work, then I'll try the slow cooked beef knuckle bone marrow.

I have to drive 45 minutes one way to get a good bowl of pho. There are pho restaurants like 5 minutes away but it's ok but not great.

 

[ponyo]

Isn't that pho recipe missing salt? 2.5 teaspoons, are we trying to kill snails or someshit here? Also missing charring onions and ginger

Spices don't really seem wrong.

Recipe needs lot more salt but that's something that can be easily added at the table. I added loads more into my bowl and even added flavoring msg salt to see if that would help. Broth was still bland. Not missing salt bland but missing rich beefy taste bland.

The charred onions and ginger were added at step 2 of the broth preparation. I think I'm probably going to have to try this the old fashioned way on the stove top.

 

[ponyo]

I think I may need one of these, please comment:

I routinely make a recipe that calls for filling a pot with around 3 quarts of very coarsely chopped vegetables. I put a little water in the pot and turn on the flame of my gas stove and after a couple minutes or so I lower the flame and let it simmer around 20 minutes. The hope is that the vegetables become cooked, rather soft but not too soft. I find this hard to gauge. The time part is easy, what's hard to getting the flame just right. With an electric pot that would, I think, be simple, as long as the ambient temperature wasn't that important, and I suppose it isn't all that important.

Would an instant pot be the way to go? I see slow cookers for sale at Amazon. Would that be what I want or would an instant pot be just as good and have added utility or actually be better for this? I have no experience with these things, personally. Can you suggest specific purchase ideas?

I would just keep doing it on the stove top like you've been doing. 20 minutes is quick. But if you want a new toy to play with, IP is neat. IP can slow cook although I just got it so I haven't tried. But something like Anova sous vide sounds better for your application if you don't want to do stove top.

 

[Kaido]

My wife who's much better kitchen cook than me claims stove top slow cooked beef knuckle broth is the key missing ingredient. The pho broth was definitely bland like it wasn't cooked long enough. It wasn't bad when I tasted without the noodles. But once the noodles were added, it was like the broth lost 50% of the flavor. I'm going to play around with the recipe and make it couple more times before I give up. I don't want to go to the beef knuckle route yet because I don't want to simmer for 8+ hours on the stove. I'm going to try substituting store bought beef broth liquid for the 9 cups of water. If that still doesn't work, then I'll try the slow cooked beef knuckle bone marrow.

I have to drive 45 minutes one way to get a good bowl of pho. There are pho restaurants like 5 minutes away but it's ok but not great.

One thing I wish the IP had was granular control of the Saute function (low, med-low, med, med-high, high, or even a variable temperature dial like the KitchenAid multi-cooker has). I'm sure there's a way to replicate bone broth successfully in the IP. It's not that pho is hard, it just takes some time to do it right, and the whole point of the Instant Pot is to cut down that time, so it sounds like we have a project! This looks like an interesting approach:

http://zenbelly.com/2017/01/07/instantpot-beef-pho/

That recipes uses beef tallow along with ox tail & beef shank. I would imagine that would add a lot more flavorl They do a 50-minute pressure cook & a 20-minute NPR. They also toast the spices initially. I still think one of the root causes is simply not having a huge pot to simmer the bones & stuff in, but pressure cooking should be able to extract out what can fit in a 6qt or 8qt pot, provided you use the right starter materials to extract the flavor out of. I am no expert on pho, however, so I'd need a second opinion on whatever I cook to make sure it's legit, haha. I may have to try it in my 14qt EPC. iirc the GoWise brand is actually made in the same factory as the Instant Pot. 14 quarts was the largest electronic pressure cooker I could find, although it has a non-stick pan instead of a nice metal one, but for the price ($130, same price as the original 6qt IP), it has served me well:

https://www.amazon.com/GoWISE-USA-GW22637-4th-Generation-measuring/dp/B01LVZY19H

Sounds like we have a project on our hands! We need to crack the beef bone broth IP code!

 

[Kaido]

I think I may need one of these, please comment:

I routinely make a recipe that calls for filling a pot with around 3 quarts of very coarsely chopped vegetables. I put a little water in the pot and turn on the flame of my gas stove and after a couple minutes or so I lower the flame and let it simmer around 20 minutes. The hope is that the vegetables become cooked, rather soft but not too soft. I find this very hard to gauge. The time part is easy, what's hard is getting the flame just right. With an electric pot that would, I think, be simple, as long as the ambient temperature wasn't that important, and I suppose it isn't all that important.

Would an instant pot be the way to go? I see slow cookers for sale at Amazon. Would that be what I want or would an instant pot be just as good and have added utility or actually be better for this? I have no experience with these things, personally. Can you suggest specific purchase ideas?

The nice thing about the IP is that it replicates the cooking procedure the same way every time, so assuming you're using the same ingredients in the same quantities with the same cook settings, then it will come out the same every time. I use this for hardboiled eggs in the IP...comes out exactly the same every time, no guesswork. If you do try an IP, get a big bag of veggies & do several test runs to dial in the results until you get what you want. I used to use the pressure-steam function until I read this article, which converted me to pressure-cooking the vegetables:

http://www.theveggiequeen.com/2015/10/14/to-steam-or-not-to-steam/

For example, 1 cup of water plus however many 1/2 corn on the cobs you can fit in the IP for 4 minutes on Manual with QPR (quick pressure release, where you turn the knob to release the steam right after cooking, that way the corn doesn't get soggy) = amazing corn on the cob (fresh or frozen, in the husk or not). That's actually one of the reasons I have multiple Instant Pots...I can do the meat in one pot & throw veggies in the second one & not have to babysit the stovetop or oven to cook them.

 

[dawp]

just got an 8qt. one when amazon had it discounted for black friday. so far we just used it to make a pork roast & rice, came really good.

 

[Ns1]

Recipe needs lot more salt but that's something that can be easily added at the table.

Salt is never added to pho at the table. Ever.

This isn't galbi tang.

 

[ponyo]

One thing I wish the IP had was granular control of the Saute function (low, med-low, med, med-high, high, or even a variable temperature dial like the KitchenAid multi-cooker has). I'm sure there's a way to replicate bone broth successfully in the IP. It's not that pho is hard, it just takes some time to do it right, and the whole point of the Instant Pot is to cut down that time, so it sounds like we have a project! This looks like an interesting approach:

http://zenbelly.com/2017/01/07/instantpot-beef-pho/

That recipes uses beef tallow along with ox tail & beef shank. I would imagine that would add a lot more flavorl They do a 50-minute pressure cook & a 20-minute NPR. They also toast the spices initially. I still think one of the root causes is simply not having a huge pot to simmer the bones & stuff in, but pressure cooking should be able to extract out what can fit in a 6qt or 8qt pot, provided you use the right starter materials to extract the flavor out of. I am no expert on pho, however, so I'd need a second opinion on whatever I cook to make sure it's legit, haha. I may have to try it in my 14qt EPC. iirc the GoWise brand is actually made in the same factory as the Instant Pot. 14 quarts was the largest electronic pressure cooker I could find, although it has a non-stick pan instead of a nice metal one, but for the price ($130, same price as the original 6qt IP), it has served me well:

https://www.amazon.com/GoWISE-USA-GW22637-4th-Generation-measuring/dp/B01LVZY19H

Sounds like we have a project on our hands! We need to crack the beef bone broth IP code!

Thanks for the additional recipe. Looking at that recipe, it's pretty similar to the one I used as far as ingredients and cooking procedure. I just think it's the limitation of the pressure cooker rather than the ingredients. It needs the huge pot of different bones and long simmer. I might try increasing the cooking time to an hour and then using the saute function to let it simmer in the IP pot for a bit. But first I'm going to try substituting beef broth for water.

I want to try to get a decent bowl of pho before I try tackling IP ramen.

 

[ponyo]

The nice thing about the IP is that it replicates the cooking procedure the same way every time, so assuming you're using the same ingredients in the same quantities with the same cook settings, then it will come out the same every time. I use this for hardboiled eggs in the IP...comes out exactly the same every time, no guesswork. If you do try an IP, get a big bag of veggies & do several test runs to dial in the results until you get what you want. I used to use the pressure-steam function until I read this article, which converted me to pressure-cooking the vegetables:

http://www.theveggiequeen.com/2015/10/14/to-steam-or-not-to-steam/

For example, 1 cup of water plus however many 1/2 corn on the cobs you can fit in the IP for 4 minutes on Manual with QPR (quick pressure release, where you turn the knob to release the steam right after cooking, that way the corn doesn't get soggy) = amazing corn on the cob (fresh or frozen, in the husk or not). That's actually one of the reasons I have multiple Instant Pots...I can do the meat in one pot & throw veggies in the second one & not have to babysit the stovetop or oven to cook them.

We use Cuisinart steamer and love it. Little pricey but I think it's worth it to get the glass and stainless steel. https://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-STM-1000-CookFresh-Digital-Stainless/dp/B01CU0949U

 

[ponyo]

Salt is never added to pho at the table. Ever.

This isn't galbi tang.

Why? And speaking of galbi tang, that should translate well to IP since the rich white bone broth isn't needed.

 

[ElFenix]

I wonder if you can cross this:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/10/quick-and-easy-1-hour-pho.html

With this:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/01/30-minute-pressure-cooker-pho-ga-recipe.html

 

[ponyo]

I wonder if you can cross this:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/10/quick-and-easy-1-hour-pho.html

With this:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/01/30-minute-pressure-cooker-pho-ga-recipe.html

Both are chicken broth based pho. I thought about adding some chicken feet to make the beef broth. I do use chicken broth in many of the seafood broth.