Posted on 10/25/2017 4:13:32 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
I think weve 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 weve found that the crock pot does pretty well is pulled pork. (Don't laugh, Texans - we're currently apartment dwellers ;-)
Weve 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 Im stuck with a huge vacuum-packed jar of berries that Ill 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 dont 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
I’m anxious to see how it does a whole chicken. Husband has a barbacoa recipe he wants to adapt to it. And I like beans, and look forward to cooking them faster. Also, faster bone broth!
I’m initially looking forward to hard-cooking eggs that are easy to peel - I think I’ve done several threads on that, and have tried many techniques; but I’ve never mastered peeling eggs that reliably look nice for deviled eggs.
(The best trick I’ve tried so far is to put some olive oil in the boiling water; but still not ideal.)
This guy has looked at the subject of boiling eggs from about every angle:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html
He’s a pro chef and after extensive experimentation has settled on the “hot start” method to give easy peeling. He says you get about a 90% yield of flawlessly peeled, deviled egg-quality boiled eggs this way.
Ive never heard that one, I will try it. The olive oil in the water for boiling eggs. How do you use a pressure cooker for easy to peel eggs? I never heard of that one either. Obviously my hard-boiled eggs leave a lot to desert be desired in the looks department. :-)
That’s one I haven’t tried. I’ll give it a go - I’m thinking I’ll still do some eggs on the stove, because an 8 qt pressure cooker is a lot to pull out for a couple of eggs.
Thanks!
This young woman has done a lot of posts on using the Instant Pot:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO1PMPMsS3M
OK thanks, I will check it out. I wonder why it is called an instant pot? That throws me. If its a slow cooker and a pressure cooker and a rice cooker and a yogurt maker What is instant? Maybe the pressure cooker I suppose but not the others.
Probably because they needed a catchy name for marketing ;-) and it makes cooking some things go much faster.
Over the years I learned to mostly boil stuff until it loosens. The newer soaps seem to have some more powerful action if soaked awhile. My huge glass baking dish I cook fish in, and rice pudding, I got sick of soaking and missing stuff in corners and so much scrubbing so I learned to fill it no more than half with water, bake til it boils then let sit in the warm oven. It gets the baked on skin and all the stuff loose.
But I don't know all the tricks. I have some old Club aluminum pots I inherited which I like, but a couple get white spots on them. I thought it was mildew, and soaked it in bleach which made it worse. So I'm still working on that, got most of it off but that's what I'm going to tackle with steel wool to see if I can get the rest. They are messy and get rusty but I try to use them multiple times before throwing away.
Oh, our local supermarket has all the Werther's. I like the chewy best but the hard ones have the best flavor. I try to avoid most hard candy that size for fear of choking.
That same guy (Kenji Lopez-Alt) did extensive testing — including double blind testing — of boiled eggs using a pressure cooker and found no improvement over boiling them in a pot. He goes into that towards the end of the article I linked.
I can vouch for the hot start method which I learned about from a poster on one of your earlier cooking threads. It works great. The improvement over the conventional method is pretty dramatic, at least with fresh eggs, which tend to be the ones that are hard to peel.
Filling your aluminum pot with water, adding a couple of tablespoons of vinegar, and boiling it for about 15 minutes, might help with the oxidation:
https://www.howtocleanthings.com/surfaces/how-to-clean-aluminum/
Thanks! I’m hoping the pressure cooker works out, but if it doesn’t, I’m glad to have the other tip. For me, it hasn’t made a difference if eggs are fresh or older; though the olive oil in the cooking water did improve things a lot. I guess it’s because it seeps into little cracks and makes things ‘slippy’ or breaks down that inner membrane.
Ski that needs to be done. They sand down hot spots but what they take off can't be put back on. I don't know how far they can adjust, may have a heat process. I'm not real happy with them but it's tolerable. It hurts at first when I put them in but in a little while it goes away for the most part, you'd think it would get worse but it doesn't.
Combined with my stomach problems which hurt every day, have to get that looked at, too, spend most of the time in bed for the last year because it hurts less lying on my back. No bleeding and no nausea so I still get hungry but not like normal. That could turn out to be the most serious. I don't know if it is worth it at this point to try to fix things. For some people it would be.
Also, don’t put aluminum in the dishwasher. Something about dishwash detergent oxidizes it badly.
If I still had my kids home, it would be different. I didn't want to sacrifice drawers in my small kitchen and it was a real nuisance rolling that around.
But I didn't know that so thank you.
I ruined a beautiful baking sheet by putting it in the dishwasher. I think I was tricked, because I’d done it before with liquid dishwasher detergent, with no problem; it seems to be the powdered detergents that cause the problem, or it may be just certain brands.
I just decided to quit doing it altogether.
I should clarify that he found the pressure cooker to be on par with the hot start method using a standard pot but better than cold start in a standard pot.
Anyway, good luck with your eggs!
Thanks - I’ll let you know. (Husband has graciously allowed it to be the first experiment - even though I know he’s dying to get a big chunk of MEAT in there.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.