"Braising" beef in a pressure cooker is the worst idea right?

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Yeah, I've never had or used a traditional pressure cooker, so I was vaguely remembering what I'd read about it [emoji38]

Electronic pressure cookers have sensors that allow them to regulate the pressure by releasing steam while it's working. Once the time is up, it releases steam naturally, or you can turn the valve and release it all at once.

With the old style PCs, for a quick pressure release, you put the pot in the sink and ran cold water over it.
 
The question was raised, why cook pasta in a PC. If you brown the ground beef, add onion and garlic, herbs, and spices, you can then just add tomato product to make the sauce. It takes minutes in the Instapot for the full flavors to come together. Remove the pressure, and add another cup of water, then the uncooked pasta. The sauce flavor permeates the pasta as it absorbs the extra liquid, giving you a rich sauce that adheres to the pasta.

Another use is to make a sauce (or use your favorite store brand sauce), thin the sauce, put a little sauce on the bottom of the Instapot, then a layer of uncooked lasagna noodles, layers of meat, veggies, cheese, and more sauce, repeating for for or five layers. Set the instapot to pressure setting, and cook for ten minutes. Lasagna in ten minutes instead of an hour.

American goulash is quickly made in the Instapot as well.

Fresh ravioli, done in a snap.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
i've made some pasta today in the instant pot and later added cheddar.


i didn't knew you can make dry pasta by boiling it in sauce and water instead of water {adding the sauce later}..


it is nice.
next time i will try to make ragu pasta.


can you even make some sort of lasagna in the instant pot?
 
This thread is very useful as I have just acquired a pressure cooker (a "normal" one, not an Instant Pot). All I have done in it so far is baked potatoes (I PC them to soften before finishing in the oven to shorten the overall cooking time.) I did try some rice, but in 4 minutes it turned to mush, so I won't bother with that again. Tomorrow I will try a Beef and Ale Stew, and reading the previous posts here, I guess the thing to do is fry off the beef and onions in the PC, add stock/ale and the other seasonings, herbs etc and pressure cook for - what, 10 - 15 mins? Then add the other vegetables (in this case, potatoes, carrots, squash and mushrooms) and then just simmer gently on the hob with a normal lid (which came with the PC so it fits properly), to let the flavours develop and soften the veg, or should I be brave and PC the veggies too? In which case, how long so they don't go mushy? My PC has two settings "high" and "medium", so I am thinking, use the high setting for the initial cooking of the beef and the medium setting after I add the vegetables? (My PC doesn't need to be cooled under a running tap - though it can be if required - it has a gradual release mechanism if that is relevant.)

Having bought the pressure cooker, I want to make the most of it and save both time and money by using it as much as possible.
 
@KatyCooks, I learned yesterday, from a thread here, that when pressure cooking rice, the ratio of water to rice is 1:1. If you use more water, the rice will turn to mush.
 
@KatyCooks, I learned yesterday, from a thread here, that when pressure cooking rice, the ratio of water to rice is 1:1. If you use more water, the rice will turn to mush.
Hi Taxlady (long time no chat!) Interesting. Yeah, it was the first thing I tried, and I followed the instructions on the booklet that came with the PC - which appear to be a bit rubbish! As the amount of rice I need (to feed two people) is so small, I honestly think I might as well just cook it as normal in a pan.

I am going to do a curry recipe soon too, which would require cooking lentils and chickpeas for 1.5 hours, so that is definitely going to be done in the PC! (Though again, not really sure how long for at this point.)
 
I have never made rice in my Instant Pot. It's so easy to do on the stove.
 
just dont use too much liquid because there is no much evaporation in pc

looks like a cool pc.

i'm not that much of a fan of my electrical pc until now.....
 
just dont use too much liquid because there is no much evaporation in pc

looks like a cool pc.

i'm not that much of a fan of my electrical pc until now.....
Yes, it seems that is where I went wrong with the rice! It is doing a great job with my baked potatoes, so I just need to try some new things now.

Sounds like you are feeling the same way! :)
 
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As I told somebody on a recent thread, I did this the first time I cooked rice in my Instant Pot - used the same amount of water as normal, and hit "rice". What it does is cooks it 12 min, at the lower pressure cook. Later, I read the instructions - imagine that! The ratio given is 1:1, because very little steam escapes.

And for those beans and lentils, be sure not to overfill the PC, and it's best to let the pressure release on its own, as some foam can be inside, from beans. Also, if you cook any whole grains, like oat groats, spelt, sorghum, etc, the lower pressure is best, if you want to keep the grains from "exploding".
 
As I told somebody on a recent thread, I did this the first time I cooked rice in my Instant Pot - used the same amount of water as normal, and hit "rice". What it does is cooks it 12 min, at the lower pressure cook. Later, I read the instructions - imagine that! The ratio given is 1:1, because very little steam escapes.

And for those beans and lentils, be sure not to overfill the PC, and it's best to let the pressure release on its own, as some foam can be inside, from beans. Also, if you cook any whole grains, like oat groats, spelt, sorghum, etc, the lower pressure is best, if you want to keep the grains from "exploding".
Thanks pepperhead, I appreciate the advice about the beans and lentils. The PC I have allows me to let the pressure release very slowly so that is very useful.
 
Beautiful piece of equipment you have there, Katy. Looks so much more 'user' friendly than the old fashion type.
Thanks dragnlaw. It turns out you can also use it in the oven (up to 180) so, a very useful piece of kit for a small kitchen.
 
Okay, so I cooked my beef chunks for 15 minutes in the pressure cooker with all the main flavourings as we discussed. I opened the lid and tested the liquid. Delicious! However, the beef was tough. I put it back on for 10 minutes. It was better, but not in any way tender. I opted to chicken out here and just put in my vegetables, popped on the "normal" lid and let it simmer on a very low heat.

The upshot was that it tasted lovely, but the meat was not as tender as I would have liked.

I think I am a little "wary" of what is probably an excellent piece of kit!
 
I'm the last person to give advise on pressure cookers, but.... I think you are not giving it a chance to do its magic.
I'm sure someone will help here! Lots of people have them and must be able to chime in.
Braising under pressure is the whole purpose of the cooker, no? speed things up and tenderirze at the same time.
 
Okay, so I cooked my beef chunks for 15 minutes in the pressure cooker with all the main flavourings as we discussed. I opened the lid and tested the liquid. Delicious! However, the beef was tough. I put it back on for 10 minutes. It was better, but not in any way tender. I opted to chicken out here and just put in my vegetables, popped on the "normal" lid and let it simmer on a very low heat.

The upshot was that it tasted lovely, but the meat was not as tender as I would have liked.

I think I am a little "wary" of what is probably an excellent piece of kit!
Have you done a search for recipes using your model of pressure cooker? There might be people out there who have the same one.

I think it would just take more time to make it tender, though.
 
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