Month: November 2018

When I make spaghetti sauce with meat I usually start at 3:30 in the afternoon. I want the sauce to simmer for at least 3 hours. If things at work get the best of me and I can’t make it home in time…I punt on the process and make something else. I’m not sure anyone else in the family is as picky as me, but I like a sauce where the meat dissolves in your mouth, and time is the only way I’ve known to achieve this.

Enter the Instant Pot. If it can cook a savory stew in 30 minutes, surely it can make a nice red sauce quickly as well, no? I gave it a try to find out.

I started using the saute function to brown 1 lb hamburger (ground sirloin), and threw in 1/2 diced onion, 1/2 – 1 tsp salt. The onion and meat cook together without any problem. Once the meat looses its water and you’ll know the browning is finished. The bottom of the pan was getting a little rough. At this point I throw in 1 Tbl of tomato paste and stir it around in the meat, then some red wine to deglaze the pan and provide liquid for the steam. After 30 seconds I throw in a jar of sauce – it doesn’t really matter what brand, just pick something you like. My wife likes Ragu, I like Rao’s. I put the sauce on top, I don’t even stir it, then I put the lid on, set it to 25 minutes (meat/stew setting), and voila! I let it do natural release for at least 10 minutes before opening it up and giving it a good stir. The consistency is fine as is, or you can thicken it using the saute function and stirring. It’s a great way to have a delicious sauce that tastes as if it’s been cooking for several hours in basically a single hour start to finish.

Last year I got an Instant Pot for Christmas. The IP Lux model. I used it for our annual tamale party and it was great for getting the tamales done in record time. But it’s been sitting on the counter for the last 11 months, essentially unused. I did cook one thing it, but I remember not being impressed, and haven’t taken the time to figure it out, or experiment with it. Plus, I’ve been a little skeptical luddite-wise, as in how can something cooked quickly be as good as something that simmers all day long?

But today my question was answered. Now that my teaching schedule is over, I’ve been enjoying the lovely fall weather, and taking time for things I’ve been putting off.

1 lb of stew meat
toss with 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper
2 Tbl olive oil in Instant Pot on simmer
add a few sprinkles of soy sauce 
Simmer the meat for a few minutes then remove
1/2 to 1 chopped onion w/another Tbl olive oil
deglaze with 2 Tbl balsamic vinegar
add some beef stock ti finish deglazing
add back the meat

add 2 diced potatoes
3 diced carrots
3 diced celery stalks
a bunch of quartered mushrooms
1 Tbl tomato paste
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
the rest of the stock (total of 2 cans)
1-2 Tbl soy sauce
whatever flour mix was left over form breading the meat.

cover with lid and cook for 30 minutes
took 15 minutes to get up to temperature
then 30 minutes for natural steam release
so total cook time was 1 hr 15 minutes
after opening the lid, turn to saute and add cornstarch mix
stir for 2 minutes
add 1/2 cup of frozen peas

It was really good!
The meat was fall apart tender.