We had a few people that attended the RV Cooking seminar at the FMCA rally earlier this month ask questions afterward that we didn’t know the answers to. We told them we’d dig into their questions and provide answers here. Thank you for your questions!
Here we go!
When making yogurt, do you set the Instant Pot to seal or vent? How long do you set the timer?
I haven’t made yogurt in my IP yet but after researching this, I’m definitely going to try it! I looked and looked for an easy answer and wowzer, I learned just how vague the IP instruction manual is. One website that was easiest to follow along with a super easy looking recipe for making yogurt was AMindfulMom.com. Her blog post about the whole process for making yogurt, including detailed instructions, was the best I found.
She says it doesn’t matter if you set it to sealing or venting. She cooks the milk to 180° then lets it cool on the counter for one hour before adding the yogurt starter. Then, she puts the inner pot back into the IP, presses the YOGURT button and sets the time for 8 hours.
My Instant Pot doesn’t come to temp when I use it as a slow cooker. I’ve talked to the IP people and they tell me everything is working fine.
During the seminar I talked about how some friends have gotten rid of their Crock Pot because the IP does just as good of a job. Full disclosure, I LOVE my Crock Pot and don’t think I’ll ever abandon it. But, this question intrigued me. I called two friends who’ve not had the issue this attendee did. Time to dig into the internet.
I did learn some interesting things about using the IP as a slow cooker. One was the interesting way the temperature settings are configured. This may help to get the temps closer to what you’re getting with the Crock Pot. See the three buttons under the number 7 in the picture, Less, Normal & More? Those are your temperature settings for the slow cooker function. Those numbers translate like this from the IP to the Crock Pot:
Less = Keep Warm
Normal = Low
High = Normal
When using the IP as a slow cooker and you need to cook on the HIGH function, you need to add 15 minutes cook time for every hour you plan to cook. For example, if you’re cooking it on HIGH for 4 hours with your Crock Pot, it would be 5 hours in your IP using the slow cooker.
To use the IP as a slow cooker, first press the SLOW COOK button. Then adjust to heat setting and cook time.
You can use your regular IP lid or buy a glass IP lid or, I’m excited for this one because it saves money, you can any of your pot lids that fit! I checked and the large pot lid from my pots & pans set works.
Can you provide links to some of the accessories you’ve talked about?
I sure can! I’m going to give the links to Amazon, not because I’m pushing Amazon but because I like to read the reviews both good and bad. For me, their give a good snapshot of how people really feel about a product. Click on the blue underlined hyper link to see them.
IP Basket – I use this the most and personally think every IP should be sold with one.
Oven safe dish that fits inside the IP. I talked about this dish and how I remembered it when we crossed into Alabama on our way to the rally. The hyperlink takes you to the dish I bought. You may choose a different one, I wanted a prettier clear glass dish.
Silicone Baking Mat. I bought two sets of three, putting the smallest size in our RV and using the others at home. I like that they are easy to use, nothing sticks and they are easy to clean. There are a lot to choose from, you can pick what works best for your RV micro-convection oven.
Two items attendees talked about being their “must have” IP accessories are listed below. I bought them as soon as we got home and can’t wait to try them.
Silicone Trivet. Several attendees raved about how nicely the handles stand up and are easy to grasp to pull out of the IP. The description says this is a perfect holder for eggs when you hard boil them in the IP. I chose this one on price and color. I do love red.
Steam Release Accessory. When at home in the kitchen, I use a wooden spoon to manually release pressure. In the seminar I talked about how I use the IP outside since the ceiling in the coach is much lower than in our house and I don’t want to clean up any steamy mess off the ceiling. One attendee talked about a steam diverter and how much better using the IP in their camper was with it. I picked this one purely on price but you can choose a dragon, a fire hydrant or whatever your heart desires.
Click here if you’d like the handout.
Thank you again to all that attended the seminar! We hope to see you again in July in Gillette, WY at the next FMCA Rally!
We didn’t attend the FMCA rally, but I hope I can piggy-back on this Q+A. On the Instant Pot, do the Less, Normal, and More buttons only cone in to play for the slow cook function?
On mine they do.