I will start by admitting I am a gadget-lover and am lucky enough to have a husband who is also a fantastic home-cook. I also am a fan of slow-cookers for their convenience. Often, I want to cook something in the slow cooker for its ease & convenience, but don't have 8 or 12 hours to wait. That's where this 6-in-1 Electric Pressure cooker comes in. It actually can work as a slow cooker; there's literally a slow cooker function on it. However, the real beauty of this is it's functionality as a pressure cooker. They also include two spoons and a measuring cup; and the spoons fit into the spoon holder built into the pressure cooker.
For our very first use, we decided to take a stab at making a bone broth - which is great for general use in cooking, and well-documented for its nutritional benefits. Bone broth is a fantastic way to get the most use out of all of your ingredients, and it's a fantastic source of gelatin, collagen, calcium and more! Bone broth is thought to mitigate the effects of less healthful foods (per some nutritionists), and it's described as "bio-available" (which just means it take no effort for the body to break down/digest it in order to get the nutrients). Unfortunately, bone broth requires 8-12 (or more) hours of cooking - UNLESS, you have one of these! More on that in a minute...
For context, it was about 5 days after Thanksgiving and we had some turkey thighs and bones leftover. We simply threw them in (meat, skin and all), added celery stalks, baby carrots, an onion, fresh garlic, a splash of white vinegar, a generous dash of salt, and a sprig of rosemary before covering it with water. Then, we put the lid on by lining up the arrows and twisting it to the left (when facing it). This seals it securely. We plugged it in, and turned on the pressure cooker per the instruction booklet. After a few beeps and notifications by the LED display, we knew it was working. We went and watched a movie and after about two hours, we turned it off to let it cool. When you're cooking mostly liquids in the pressure cooker, it's best to let it naturally cool down some (about 30 minutes) which relieves the naturally occurring pressure. This is important because you risk burning yourself with hot liquid that may come out of the pressure valve.
Right away, my husband and I took a scoop out and tasted it when it was cool enough. Yum! Remember though, we still had all those veggies and bones and pieces of meat in it. So, we used a round metal strainer (it's actually a sifter but we use it as a strainer), and poured the contents through the strainer/sifter into a large pot. We picked at the meat and ate it as a snack right out of the sifter/strainer, and put the pot in the fridge. The next day, we scraped the fat that had coagulated on the surface (we threw it in the trash, don’t put it in the disposal), and now we have bone broth for days! We just make a cup or a bowl, add some extra salt, and sip it. You can also use it with rice (which remember, this device also works as a rice cooker), you can use it in risotto, or anywhere in place of chicken broth. The photos that look like stew are actually photos of our bone broth right after cooking.
We also decided to do a video review of a more traditional dish, which is now live and posted here. Suffice it to say, I love this thing! It's SO user friendly, the instruction manual is great for pros and newbies alike, and it works exceptionally well without any concerns over safety. I ordered mine at Amazon & recommend this as a unique gift idea for any home cook! #Review
No comments:
Post a Comment