While we were initially late to the party, we are now 100% on board when it comes to electric pressure cookers—specifically The Instant Pot. The electric pressure cooking trend looks like it’s here to stay. We now teach Instant Pot cooking classes at Red Stick Spice Company and find ourselves turning to this handy gadget daily.
On this episode of Smidgen, we chat with chef and author Bruce Weinstein. Bruce has authored two pressure cooking cookbooks with a third book on the way. We talk specifically about the Instant Pot brand of pressure cookers and get Bruce’s advice for cooking success and how to avoid common pitfalls. Anne gets to the bottom (literally) of her recent “barley incident” and her Instant Pot’s rude “burn” readout warning. She also admits that she did not read her Instant Pot’s user guide. (To be clear, she threw it away.) Pro tip: read your manual!
After talking with Bruce, Anne heads to the Red Stick Spice test kitchen with store staffer Cameron where they make a big pot of Smoky Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice.
Here's a shopping list for ya:
Here’s a list of the links we mentioned in the podcast:
- First, there are many electric pressure cookers on the market. We use both the 6 and 8-quart Instant Pot brand cookers.
- Among Bruce’s many books, he covers pressure cooking in The Instant Pot Bible, The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book and From Freezer to Instant Pot. We turn to them all regularly. We’re also in love with Bruce’s book Sheet Cakes & Slab Pies. Yum!
- Bruce and his partner Mark host a lively cooking podcast called Cooking with Bruce & Mark. Their blog is equally as informative.
- Anne & Cameron cook up Smoky (and vegan!) Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice. They use our Smoked Extra Virign Olive Oil along with salt-free Red Bean Seasoning and Smoked Sweet Paprika for that cooked-all-day deliciousness. They also cooked up a very tasty, four-minute Instant pot of rice.
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