When I was just a little kid, my mother had one of those big, heavy – heck, armour-plated – pressure cookers. She was always afraid it was going to ‘blow’ if the release valve failed. The valve never did fail, but I was imbued with a fear of pressure cookers that has remained with me all my life. Until now…
So eager was I to taste my first Instant Pot meal that I forgot
to take a pic for the blog! Here’s one that looks
almost exactly like mine. Note: This cook
added Celery and made Gravy…
Faithful readers will know that my sister Erin gave me an Instant Pot cooker for Christmas. It’s really a cross between the old style pressure cookers and a crock pot. But with it’s amazing array of settings and configurations, it lets you do anything but deep fry, and in a fraction of the time it would take with conventional stove top hardware.
Into the deep end…
I had been avoiding using the Instant Pot for several weeks, with that nagging old fear in the back of my mind. But Erin decided to throw me into the deep end by buying a nice Sirloin Tip Roast which she claimed she couldn’t resist on special for half price. She showed it off to me as she unpacked the groceries, declaring it would be perfect to do in the Instant Pot. I looked around me, but there was no place to run.
Playing with Instant Pot recipes…
You get a nice little cookbook with your Instant Pot which not only gives you recipes for specific entrées (many one-pot meals), but provides tables with recommended cooking times for almost any food you could imagine. That’s key to adapting the basic recipes to your taste and creating your own.
I started with the Roast Beef recipe on page 27 of the cookbook and almost immediately began adapting. First of all, the recipe didn’t call for any Salt or Pepper. I decided that was either a careless omission or the work of an overzealous health-nut editor who doesn’t care if their food has any flavour. I also remedied a couple of other omissions: I can’t imagine a Roast of Beef without a couple of cloves of chopped Garlic strewn over its top and a few shakes of Worcestershire Sauce for zing.
The recipe called for whole Carrots, and Potatoes cut in 1 in. / 2.5 cm chunks. Spuds I had, but I was all out of Carrots, so I used some Brussels Sprouts I found in the crisper drawer and some Broccoli.
The process…
I drizzled a couple of tablespoons of Olive Oil into the pot, which I had pre-heated to ‘Sauté’. As instructed, I browned the meat on all sides, then removed it momentarily to place the supplied wire roasting rack in the bottom of the pot. After replacing the Roast in the Pot, I dropped in a good sprinkle of Thyme and Parsley. I would have added Rosemary, too, but my spice cupboard is low on Herbs just now. (I’ve been avoiding going out. It’s snowed every day for the past week.) The recipe called for half a cup of Red Wine, but I didn’t have any Red in the house (same reason). So… In with cup and a half / 375 ml of Beef Stock and seal the lid. Another oddity of the basic cookbook recipe: it called for Chicken Stock, not Beef. I was beginning to wonder how much of her own Red Wine the author had consumed before sitting down to write the recipe.
I was instructed to select ‘Pressure Cook’ or Manual’, set the timer for 55 minutes, and forget. After 55 minutes, I let the pressure off and cracked the lid, added the Veggies, sealed the lid again, and pressure cooked for another 10 minutes. That’s all it took to cook the Sprouts and Potatoes to perfection.
The result…
A perfect well-done – yet still tender and juicy – Roast of Beef and beautifully aromatized Veggies. And the Juices in the bottom of the pot would have made lovely Gravy or – my preference – a really tasty reduction. Again, no Red Wine. So I saved the juice for Soup base.
Lessons learned…
I did learn a couple of useful things about cooking in the instant Pot. The Broccoli was reduced to pulp after just 10 minutes under pressure, and I’ll have to strain its remains out of the Juice before making that soup. Also, the outer layer of the Roast was fall-apart tender. I’ll bet, if I let it go for another 15 minutes or so of primary cooking time, I’d end up with a perfect Pot Roast!
I’m over my fear of pressure cookers…
I think I’ll be planning at least a couple of meals a week that I can make using my Instant Pot. Love at fist bite…
~ Maggie J.