Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Jamestown1630]

I think we’ve only ever done two or three things in a crock pot that really turned out well; my crock pot has gotten the most use as a way to carry to a party and warm up dishes that have already been cooked otherwise. But one of the things we’ve found that the crock pot does pretty well is pulled pork. (Don't laugh, Texans - we're currently apartment dwellers ;-)

We’ve tried several recipes that turned out OK, but I wanted to make pulled pork in the crockpot like the Carnitas that we get at Chipotle (again, don't laugh! I just like it). A few months ago, I ordered what looks like a lifetime supply of Juniper Berries, because someone online had insisted that they were the key – but for us, they were not; and now I’m stuck with a huge vacuum-packed jar of berries that I’ll probably never use up in the remaining time that the Lord has allotted me.

But: I think I found the recipe last weekend. My husband signed up to receive email recipes from Cooks Country, and a recent one was for ‘Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas’; we tried it, and it was excellent. The secret seems to be citrus, which you don’t really taste AS citrus; but somehow, it adds that elusive 'je ne sais quoi'.

A slight variation of the recipe is available at the Mels Kitchen Cafe website; the Cooks Country recipe suggested crisping the final product in a fry pan, but Mels Kitchen does it under the broiler, and I think that makes a better product:

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/slow-cooker-pork-carnitas

After about a year of ‘window-shopping’ pressure cooker options, we have decided to purchase an Instant Pot. We are going for the 8-quart ‘Duo’, because that seems to offer the most versatility. I became interested in this product because of all the reviews on how well it does hard-boiled eggs (makes them very easy to peel, even very fresh eggs) bone broth, and yogurt-making. Husband is interested in the fast-cooking of meats.

Do any of you who have an Instant Pot have favorite recipes/uses for it?

-JT

[pugmama]

I found this site re converting recipes to use in the airfryer. Lots of good info here:

https://recipethis.com/convert-recipe-airfryer-recipe/

[pugmama]

We liked this recipe. I freeze pomegranate seeds: Slow cooker chicken with walnuts and pomegranate Author: Something New For Dinner Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: 5 hours Total time: 5 hours 30 mins Serves: 4 servings This slow-cooker chicken is a variation on Persian Fesenjoon, a medieval dish originally made with wild duck. This slow-cooker chicken stew is fork-tender with a perfect balance of sweet, sour and savory. Ingredients 2 cups toasted walnuts 3T butter or olive oil, divided 2 onions, chopped ⅓ cup pomegranate molasses ½ cup chicken stock 2 T lemon juice 1½ t cinnamon 1 t turmeric 2 T brown sugar 1 t kosher salt ½ t ground pepper 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs 10 whole peeled garlic cloves 4 stems of fresh rosemary 4 carrots, chopped into 1" pieces 1 cup pomegranate seeds ½ cup chopped parsley Instructions Put the toasted walnuts in a food processor or Mini-Prep and blitz until they look like coarse meal. Set aside. Saute the onions in 2 T of butter or olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add toasted walnuts and cook for another 2 or three minutes, stirring. Add pomegranate molasses, chicken stock and lemon juice and stir to combine. Remove from heat, put into a bowl and set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, mix cinnamon, turmeric, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Using your hands, coat each piece of chicken with the spice mixture. Add 1 tablespoon of butter or olive oil to the pan you sauteed the onions in. Working in batches, brown the chicken on both sides. Put the chicken in the slow cooker and top with the onion and walnut sauce. Scatter garlic cloves and rosemary stems over the sauce. Start slow cooker on high, until sauce begins to bubble then turn down to low and cook for 3½ hours. Add carrots to slow cooker and stir to combine with sauce. Continue cooking on low for another hour. Garnish with pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley. Serve over herbed basmati rice.

[pugmama]

Better format here:

https://somethingnewfordinner.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-with-walnuts-and-pomegranate-molasses/

[leaning conservative]

My assistant at school loves Popeye’s & she always gets the spicey. I don’t really want spicey hot chicken just well seasoned. And I do love their mashed potatoes & the Cajun gravy, yum. I have wanted to try their shrimp.

And it is sad that I know this, but I did errands on Columbus Day and got the new McD’s chicken tenders & they were divine!!!

[Hoffer Rand]

We love ours. Try making yogurt. So inexpensive and super easy. If your family likes yogurt, it’s the “whey” to go. :)

[leaning conservative]

Thanks so much, my mouth is watering!

[AppyPappy]

We’ve even put our crockpot outside on the deck in the summer, cooking while we were at work.

[Hoffer Rand]

We probably use ours once a week or so. I’ve made a few different chicken recipes, have a killer recipe for chicken thighs with swiss chard and grape tomatoes done in a balsamic reduction. Have made pork and beef roasts. And a couple soup/stew type recipes. We haven’t had it that long. A couple months. Hubby regularly makes yogurt. You can get the glass lids on Amazon pretty inexpensively.

[Yaelle]

I hardly ever deep fry lately. So that would be one apparatus I could put “away” somewhere and have room for the pot. Wow, I wonder what bone broth would be like in it.

[Jamestown1630]

The Popeye’s spicy isn’t really hot-hot; it’s just nicely flavored and slightly spicy.

I really like their mashed potatoes and gravy - best of all the other fast food places.

[Jamestown1630]

I’m wondering about bone broth too. If it really breaks down/extracts the way that long cooking does, it would sure save time. You’d perhaps be inclined to do smaller amounts and do it more often.

[EinNYC]

Pumpkin Cake with Chocolate Chunk Streusel

2 cups pumpkin puree (from a 28 oz can)
1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, melted
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs 1
/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/2 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Streusel Topping

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
7 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped with a knife

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13 X 9 inch pan.
2. Place the pumpkin in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add all the rest of the cake ingredients and beat until combined.
3. In a separate bowl combine the streusel ingredients.
4. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the streusel.
5. Top with remaining batter and sprinkle remaining streusel over the top.
6. Bake for 1 hour or until a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
7. Note: This cake freezes very well so I always make the full amount, but a half recipe fits nicely in an 8 inch square pan or an 8 inch round pan with 3 inch sides.

B'tayavon!

[Gingersnap]

I've used slow cookers for years (a real help when I was working) and have been using an Instant Pot Duo for 10 months. I can't speak to egg cooking since I use the amazing Cuisinart egg cooker for that stuff. But.....

The Instant Pot is incredible. When doing standard stuff like stews, soups, pot roasts, etc., the Saute feature means that you can brown the meat and soften your veggies in one pot. The manual pressure setting does what pressure cooking does: tender, juicy meats of all kinds.

It's also a slow cooker AND the adjustable temp means that your old 'Crock-Pot' recipes will turn out perfectly since modern slow cookers just eventually boil everything.

Bone broth takes an hour at pressure and maybe an hour and a half all told. It will turn into jelly once it cools. Tomato sauce is an hour. Yogurt is stupidly easy - way easier than my old yogurt maker. Risotto needs no baby-sitting. You can make polenta or cornmeal mush with the porridge setting (or make steel cut oatmeal if you like that sort thing).Tamales, anybody? Cheesecake? Want to make your own pumpkin pie filling? A pie pumpkin fits inside and so much easier.

Can you tell that I'm a fan?

[miss marmelstein]

Never had a pressure cooker and put my deflavorizer...er, I mean my crockpot, out on the sidewalk. No one picked it up and I had to throw it away.

[Jamestown1630]

LOL! ‘Deflavorizer’ pretty much describes most of my experiences with one. But I think this little pressure cooker may be handy. Will let everyone know as we experiment.

[Jamestown1630]

Thanks very much. I especially want it for bone broth; and you’re right - the modern crockpots go to a boil no matter what.

We’re also thinking it would be good for things like spaghetti squash and acorn squash, that take so long in the oven.

[miss marmelstein]

Look forward to hearing your experiences with it. The New York Times has been pushing pressure cookers for a while now - mostly because one of their cook/writers has a book out on it.

[Califreak]

Going to be warm again here.

I put braciole in one and polenta in the other.

I don’t know how it’s going to turn out.

[Gingersnap]

Yes, any hard squash can be cooked easily in the Instant Pot. If you use squash puree a lot, it’s very easy to cook the squash, peel and seed it, and then return the chunks to the same pot and use Saute to make your puree with an immersion blender - no non-stick coating to scratch up and just one pot.

[umgud]

Thanks