Cooking the same type of food regularly can lead to food boredom. After all, variety is the spice of life, so whether you're trying to impress friends and family with a variety of cuisines, or just want to spice up dinnertime, there are plenty of practical cookware out there. to help him.
The Instant Pot is perfect for this. Already a cult favorite, this multicooker offers a variety of cooking functions including slow cook, pressure cook, steam and sauté. It also speeds up cooking time so you're no longer chained to the stove.
Food bloggers and recipe creators from around the world continually bring us new and tasty recipes designed specifically for Instant Pots and alternatives from brands like Ninja and Sage. That means there's no shortage of inspiration and tips to help you get the most out of cooking on this appliance.
However, that doesn't mean you can completely ditch your oven or stove and cook everything in a multicooker, there are some foods that just don't work in an Instant Pot at all, and I'm speaking here from experience.
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Read on to find out what you really shouldn't use in an Instant Pot for cooking, or if you've already decided to invest in a multicooker, check out the best prices right now:
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My Instant Kitchen Disaster
I recently used an Instant Pot to bake cakes and cookies, but will never do it again even though there are several recipes online that say it works. I tried three cake recipes in my Instant Pot, a chocolate cake, a carrot cake, an orange cake, and even an oatmeal and raisin cookie recipe for good measure.
The only one that was good, or edible for that matter, was the chocolate cake. That's because if a chocolate cake doesn't rise and has a dense, chewy texture, just change the name and suddenly it's a delicious brownie. The rest came out dense and chewy at best or completely inedible at worst and the biscuit just wasn't a biscuit, it was a weird flat dry cake. I thought the Instant Pot was going to revolutionize my cake baking, so to say I was disappointed with the results would be an understatement.
You can call me naive for thinking I could bake a cake in a pressure cooker, but in another attempt to test my cooking skills in an Instant Pot, I made an Instant Pot cheesecake and will never go back to my usual method. Cheesecakes bake up brilliantly in an Instant Pot so all is not lost when it comes to baking treats in a pressure cooker.
What else doesn't work in an Instant Pot?
Unless you have one of the newer, more expensive models that can air fry, like the Instant Pot Crisp + Air Fry, don't even think about trying to bake bread in an Instant Pot. Bread should brown and develop a crispy crust, that's a big part of its appeal and is also important for flavor, but a crust is something that simply can't be achieved using pressure cooking or slow cooking methods.
If you're a regular baker, you might be interested to know that even if you don't bake your bread perfectly, you can still use your Instant Pot to proof the dough. The yogurt function is a low temperature setting designed for fermenting yogurt cultures and also works well for fermenting yeast in bread dough. Using the yogurt setting will give you a constant fermentation environment, which can help you perfect your method and make some of the best homemade breads.
De la même manière qu'un Instant Pot ne peut pas vous donner une croûte croustillante sur du pain, il en va de même pour all les autres aliments qui sont mieux servis dorés et croustillants, y compris les aliments panés ou panés comme le poulet ou fish. You'll be able to heat these foods in an Instant Pot, but there's no way to burn the breadcrumbs or batter, so it's unlikely you'll be satisfied with the inevitably soggy end result. Anything with dough should also be included in this slice, pale mushy dough is rarely anyone's goal.
As a general rule of thumb, if a crisp texture is important to the overall enjoyment of the meal, it's best to stick with other methods like grilling, roasting, or baking. Alternatively, when it's time to upgrade your Instant Pot, consider investing in one with an air fry lid, these models can brown and crisp foods and will take your Instant Pot to the next level.
Creamy dairy-based sauces can also be problematic in an Instant Pot. Depending on what you're making, milk-based cream, cheese, and sauces tend to curdle when pressure cooked. Most Instant Pot recipes recommend adding cream and cheese at the end of cooking. You can use the sauté function if a little heat is needed to melt the cheese and it allows you to keep an eye on the consistency and stir it regularly.
Slow cooking and pressure cooking work well for tenderizing tough meats and will give you great textures that fall off the bone. Both of these cooking methods allow you to make the most of cheaper cuts of meat. However, I wouldn't recommend putting expensive cuts of red meat in your Instant Pot, because to do those more expensive cuts justice, they should be served pink in the middle. And unless you're using the sauté function to fry a steak, you can't get rare or pink results on red meats when you cook them in an Instant Pot.
Likewise, very delicate foods like fish and shellfish don't work well in an Instant Pot. You will almost certainly overcook most seafood, whether you add it to a slow cooker or pressure cooker recipe. You can still create tasty meals like paella in your Instant Pot, in fact it's one of the best ways to cook rice, but you'll just need to add the cooked shrimp last.