Instant Pot

I recently got my hands on the newest version of the Instant Pot. I had heard really good things about them from some coworkers, so I thought I would give it a try. 

My first foray with it was making hard boiled eggs (which is more like hard steamed eggs). The instant pot has a rack you place the eggs on to cook them. I was bummed that they only hold six eggs at a time, but that soon turned out to be a blessing! After reading directions from a couple websites, I steamed them for 6 minutes. I then used the quick release valve to release the pressure and immediately put them in am ice bath. While those were chilling, I placed the next six eggs in and cooked them for 6 minutes. Instead of quick releasing the pressure, I let the pot do a natural release for about 10 minutes then vented the rest of the pressure before taking them out for their ice bath. Folks, if you ever make eggs in your instant pot I implore you to let them sit for 8-10 minutes for a natural release. Those eggs were cooked perfectly. The first batch were a semi-cooked hot mess. Poor Scott experienced that first hand one morning before leaving for work. 

My next use of the Instant Pot was making a whole chicken. I had purchased a small fryer to use that was roughly 4 lbs. The instructions for the bird were to cook it 6 minutes a pound and then add like 5 or 7 minutes (I forget off the top of my head). Now that I think about it, I cooked it too long but it didn't matter. I heated up a skillet over medium-high heat and placed the chicken in it (after putting oil on it along with salt, pepper, and herbs de Provence). I seared the skin for a couple minutes on the top and bottom sides, then placed it in the pot on the rack. Before closing up the pot, I added 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pot. Being that I am not a planner and wasn't thinking about having dinner ready earlier in the day, I set the pot and then left for work before it was finished. Scott said it was really good and was still hot when he got home from work some 4 hours later. This bird was literally falling apart, meet off the bones when you touched it. I should have kept the bones and drippings to make an awesome bone broth. Next time I will! 

This evening I threw together some ingredients that I had to use up and made a beef stew. It was a little bland, so I tweaked the recipe after it was done. Next post will contain that recipe. This Instant Pot is going to be a game changer for me. It is fast, one pot to wash, and you just set it and forget it!