Cook Multiple Dishes in One Pot With Clever Use of Coasters
The Instant Pot can be a multicooker, but most of its functionality is focused on one product at a time, often with great results. This is fine, but you can actually cook two different foods at the same time – for example, starchy and starchy, for example. You just need a stand.
Unfortunately, the pan that comes with the Instant Pot is not high enough for this purpose, but you can order slightly higher heights online. I ordered this set and the taller one worked great. If you have a dish rack, you need to choose two products that will look good in a pot. This chart lists many common pot-ready instant foods and their respective cooking times, so go through it and play cooking, keeping in mind that these are guidelines and a few extra minutes won’t necessarily ruin tough, fibrous roots. or meat with collagen. Some pairs you can try, depending on their cooking time:
- Chicken thighs with broth
- Whole quail and (soaked) northern beans
- Roast pork and beats
- Ham and cabbage
You get the idea. For my first stand run I settled on short beef ribs and pomegranate yam because it’s so damn cold right now and I wanted something to tuck in the ribs.
The great thing about this method is that you don’t have to follow any exact recipes. However, there are two main configurations for rack cooking:
- Protein on the bottom, side on top: Great for meats that stew well in liquid and sides you want to keep intact, such as root vegetables.
- Side Bottom, Protein On Top: Choose your side is beans, rice or other grains and get an extra container for protein .
Once you know what to do, find the recipe. If you want to start with short edges, I suggest you use mine:
- 1 1/2 lb. short beef ribs, sliced to fit in a saucepan
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped (I used mandolin for nice little semi-circular slices)
- 1 chopped shallots
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons of Umami Trader Joe’s pasta
- 2 teaspoons of cooked horseradish
Press the sauté button on the instant pot and the butter will begin to foam. Season short ribs with salt and sauté on both sides, then set aside. Place the onions and shallots in a saucepan and cook until they are translucent and lightly browned.
Add garlic and cook for another minute. Whisk all remaining ingredients in a bowl, then pour this tasty liquid into a pot of onions and scrape off any toasted pieces with a wooden spoon. Turn the Instant Pot off, add the short ribs again and stir until they are nice and covered with the wine mixture. Place the pot holder.
Then place some sweet potatoes or yams on the rack (punch holes in them first).
Close the Instant Pot lid, make sure the pressure relief valve is in the seal position, and press the manual button. Use the “+” and “-” buttons to set the cooking time to 35 minutes. Do something else. After the cooking time has elapsed, allow everything to cool for another five minutes, then release the pressure by switching the valve to the “vent” position. Open the pot and collect your reward.
In terms of “readiness”, both items came out pretty well. The yam was cooked through and the short ribs — oh, short ribs — were literally falling off the bones. I actually had to replace the tongs of the mold with a pebble spoon, as every piece of meat I grabbed fell back into the pan when I tried to pull it out. In short, it was quite successful and I was able to enjoy a warm, soothing meal without turning on the oven or soiling more than one dish.