(Part 2) Best products from r/PressureCooking

Strictly I use this brand:
https://www.amazon.com/Tinkyada-Organic-Gluten-Free-Variety-Bundle/dp/B017QGAUP0

I usually let it time 10 minutes, but am gonna try some different techniques, from this thread.
It seems using the pressure cooker, in my experience, keeps all of something like the starch inside, the result is not overcooked mushy noodles but always a thick sauciness coating.
Being I don't do dairy, I can't really do Mac and Cheese, but using a broth with some Nutritional Yeast Powder, I can get a close similar thing. LOL
It's pretty easy to make some awesome noodle dishes though too, like this for instance:
https://youtu.be/A0MiecCcvbI

I have both kinds. Stainless is better, but usually more expensive. Stainless is heavier. Aluminum is fine for most purposes, except for acidic recipes that will react to the metal. Most pressure cookers have very even heating because they typically have significantly thicker bases than other cookware. I like using the pressure cooker pots even when I'm not using pressure due to the even heating. They're great for browning meats to develop the fond (browned bits that stick) for sauces. This 4qt. Prestige Aluminum is a good value for someone starting to learn and who doesn't want to spend much money to see how it works out for them. Amazon has available for same day shipping in many areas, so if you order before noon you can have it in your hands by 9pm. Amazon also has the 2L and 3L sizes. These use rocker valves but don't release excessive steam if you adjust the heat precisely.

You're probably better off getting an induction burner like this and maybe a small rice cooker for easy rice. Pressure cooker will cook rice really well if you still want to get one though. The meats you listed would do better on a burner or in an oven, veggies can be easily steamed in a microwave, and even your sweet potatoes will cook best in a microwave or cubed up and put in a pan.

>Is it as simple as placing the chicken in and cover with some kind of flavored liquid?

So here's how a pressure cooker works:

1. It requires one cup of liquid to operate; the liquid is required to pressurize the pot. Sometimes you'll have juicy food, so you may not require as much liquid. The water is heated & then used to create pressure inside of the pot.
   
2. If you've ever blown up a balloon, a pressure cooking works in the same way: you lock the lid, then it builds up pressure, just like a balloon.
   
3. Water normally boils at 212F; inside of a pressurized environment, the boiling point of water raises to 250F. This roughly quadruples the cooking speed, without affecting the quality of the food.
   
4. It cooks in a special way, using "saturated steam", which is different than simply steaming the food.
   
5. There are 3 parts to the cooking process; the preheat or "pressurization" time, the cooking time, and the cool-down time.
   
6. You have two options for cool-down: NPR or QPR. NPR means "natural pressure release", which means that when the pot finishes cooking, you let it come down to room-pressure by itself over the course of ten or twenty minutes. QPR means "quick pressure release", which means you twist the vent knob (don't put your hand over the top of it!) to quickly release the pressure, which typically happens in under a minute (steam shoots out like a volcano & it makes a loud, scary noise, which you'll get used to). Different recipes require different release methods for different reasons (affects the texture, mainly - sometimes you want an NPR and sometimes you want a QPR; the recipe will tell you).
   
7. It's important to realize that all advertise cooking times are essentially straight-up lies. Rice may take 3 minutes to pressure-cook, but it takes 6 minutes to pressurize and another 10 minutes to do a natural pressure release, so it's really about 20 minutes to cook the rice from the time you dump it in & start the machine to the time it's ready to eat.
   
   The TL;DR is that you drop food & water in, let it cook, and eat! The majority of recipes involve either dumping ingredients in, or doing a few extra steps, such as using "saute" mode to brown the meat before you pressure-cook it, so you get some texture on the outside, as well as super-tender meat.
   
   An easy method is to pour in some salsa & add a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts; frozen is fine! Cook for 25 minutes on manual mode using high pressure. Take the chicken breasts out, chop them up or shred them with forks, and then stir them back into the salsa. See if they're cooked how you want or if they are over-cooked; I'd suggest keeping a little notebook to take notes in so that you have a reference of what works & what doesn't!
   
   Some tips:
   
   
8. I don't know what kind of pressure cooker you have, but you'll want to buy some spare sealing rings. The ones for the Instant Pot absorbs smells like crazy, so I have separate ones for really potent, savory stuff & stuff for sweeter items like desserts. I made chicken curry one time & then made yogurt later that week & my yogurt smelled like Indian food!
   
9. I use a mesh basket for many of my meals, especially stuff like pulled pork, where I don't always want the meat to be sitting in the water. It makes it easy to remove the food using an oven mitt (hot handle!).
   
10. Once you figure out a recipe that you like, write it down! Again, a paper notebook is fine. The key thing to remember here is that the pressure cooker will cook it exactly the same way every single time if you follow the same instructions & use the same quantities of ingredients as you did originally, which means that once you nail a recipe down, it will always come out perfect!
    
11. Check out egg bites made in the pressure cooker; they are like velvety mini omelets and are REALLY good! I use this silicone mold to make them (fits in my 6-quart Instant Pot).
    
    Chicken, beef, pork, eggs, rice, oatmeal - you can make all kinds of stuff in the pressure cooker! I've had mine for years & literally discover new recipes every week still, so welcome to the club!

Fellow ADDer here. This thing rocks, although it is pricey. Great pressure cooker, but the thing I love most about it is the huge capacity.

Capacity = versatility and when you have ADHD/ADD you need all the versatility you can muster. Plus, you'll likely have leftovers, which will expand your future versatility :)

I'm a newbie, but I'm rather fond of Lorna Sass' Pressure Perfect - has good generic tips for pressure cooking, e.g. using a foil pouch to protect vegetables over a long cooking time, as well as a bunch of great recipes.

That looks awesome, but I hope you didn't throw away all that bone marrow.. Just because this is one of the best dishes I've ever had. [(Here.)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John_(restaurant)

Easy to do at home, too. Btw, I can't recommend Ferguson's book highly enough.

Seriously, get an electric pressure cooker. I can make beans from dry in the bag to finished in about an hour. I can make a "cooked all day" stew in about the same time. Baked potatoes? About 5 minutes. It is an amazing appliance. I love cook top pressure cookers, but the electric takes away all the adjusting and messing around. Set it and it finishes, then it holds itself on warm until you get back to it. The only thing I don't care for with a stove top version is the fact that it needs to be monitored. An electric pressure cooker is so versatile I can't even express it enough. I don't have a pressure cooker and a rice cooker and a slow cooker. I have an electric pressure cooker and it does the job of all of them.

This looks like an awesome one as it has capacity AND it can be used for canning. That is one feature I wish mine had. This gets to 15psi which is important for canning.

Make sure you have a heat proof dish or three that will fit inside the IP. It needs to be <8" at the widest, so for square dishes that's the diagonal. I don't think Pyrex is safe if you want to broil, so you may need a metal dish or ceramic ramekins/souffle dishes.

A collapsible veggie steamer basket works better for catching smaller food than the wire trays. People recommend the OXO one, but I like my cheapo one.

If you plan to even attempt yogurt or desserts you will need an extra sealing ring. My first IP meal was ham & bean soup, and my gasket still smells like ham two months and several meals later.

I have an extra inner pot and I really like being able to cook while one pot is in the fridge or dishwasher.

cooking rice in the microwave is super easy! I have this exact microwave rice cooker, which helps the rice steam exactly right so it comes out evenly cooked and tasting good- not mushy or hard. I'd highly recommend it!

I just tried rice over a dried chickpeas with a camping pan - the MSR Alpine "stowaway." Link. I took the lid off, but the handle still works great, and the 1.1 liter is sized perfectly for my 6qt instant pot. I put it on top of an inverted steamer basket.

In a pinch it could be good to have something like Uncle Ben's "ready rice" around - have brought on vacation and it's surprisingly great, def cheaper than takeout. I also want to add that I have a rice cooker and an instant pot that complement each other for the exact issues that you describe. This top rated one is $30 on Amazon right now.

Ahh, awesome! I've made that recipe once and it was indeed delicious. If you haven't tried the chicken thigh version, IMO it's better: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/04/pressure-cooker-fast-and-easy-chicken-chile-verde-recipe.html

edit to add: Have you considered a smaller burner like one of these? https://www.amazon.com/Iwatani-Corporation-America-ZA-3HP-Portable/dp/B006H42TVG/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=portable+gas+cooktop&qid=1566313614&s=gateway&sr=8-3

I agree with /u/soDakcat, boil water first just to verify everything is good.

My recommendation is a shredded chicken taco recipe that comes from this cookbook.

I don't have the book in front of me right now, so I'm just remembering the recipe off the top of my head:

• Boneless chicken thighs (I've cooked anywhere between 2 and 6 pounds with this recipe with great success)
  
• 1 tbsp oregano
  
• 1 can (12oz) of beer, preferably a lighter colored beer, I use Kirin 100% malt.
  
• the recipe calls for onions, tomato, jalapeno, and green chiles, I just use one 16oz jar of Herdez salsa.
  
• 1 stick of cinnamon
  
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
  
  I think the cook time was 18 minutes on high pressure for 2 pounds, I always cook mine from frozen, so I let it go a little longer. I believe it's natural release quick release, pull out the stick of cinnamon, shred the chicken and serve with fixings (tortillas, sour cream, avocado, cheese, whatever...)
  
  I've boiled the drippings down to concentrate the flavors (with the shredded chicken still in the IP) before on sauté mode, either way it tastes great.
  
  I'll correct the recipe later tonight if my memory is wrong.
  
  edits are in bold

I think as a new cook you would benefit from How to Cook Without a Book. It's not about pressure cooking, but it's about mastering the techniques that will make you feel comfortable improvising in the kitchen. It's a fantastic book that taught me a lot. As of now you can get a used copy for four bucks on amazon.

I bought a cook book for this that really helped. Here is the link to it - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01CIYURJE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493335553&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=instant+pot+cookbook. I've used it to also figure out my own recipes by finding one that is similar and then adjusting what I want to put into it. I've also found this site to be incredibly helpful - http://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/recipe-index/. Good luck and have fun exploring new recipes!

Sorry for the delay; been out of commission awhile but better now.

Here's the silicone steamer basket I have. It has slightly taller legs than some of the other steamer baskets:
http://www.amazon.com/Trudeau-Silicone-Vegetable-Steamer-Handles/dp/B001GBL9X4

It actually won't matter though if any baskets, trivets, or other risers touch any foods underneath them (e.g., chicken breasts), so those things can just be "sat on top of" the foods below them and foods on those "food risers" will work just the same as regular risers, baskets, etc.

OR, you could just find or fashion your own risers/trivets/etc from crumpled aluminum foil, small glass/ceramic/metal/silicone cups or dishes or even utensils, small bamboo steamer baskets, wood dowels or skewers (across other risers or just lashed), etc, etc....just anything at all you can come up with that's heat safe. Start looking at everything as a riser or trivet or other "tool!" :-)

Sorry I was referring to the fagor reviews on Amazon. I love the Instant Pot and I'm sure it has great reviews.

Fagor 670041960 LUX Multi Cooker, 8 quart, Silver https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ULHPXYA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8sAAzbXK491NA