{Pressure Cooker Update} I Made Flan!

I've pulled out my pressure cooker that isn't an Instant Pot three times this week. For kidney beans and to cook a roast for French dip sandwiches, which was kind of boring.

And to try One Happy Housewife's recipe for Flan, which was a lot more intimidating a whole lot more fun. 

Flan is one of those things I've been wanting to try forever. I've probably still got a couple of instant packets lurking somewhere in my kitchen. I pick up things like that with the best of intentions and then procrastinate.

This thing was from scratch. I cooked sugar into the caramel sauce (probably kind of badly, because although I was sure it didn't burn, it had that kind of taste to it) and pulled out the blender to mix my ingredients. Is there a reason I couldn't do that in the stand mixer?

I honestly don't know how to judge my results. It didn't taste like the flan I've had before, but that's always been pre-packaged stuff from the grocery store. Maybe this was what it should take like? The boys and I devoured the whole thing and I'll make it again, probably soon because I've got half a can each of condensed and evaporated milk left over from this one.

Still Learning to Use My Pressure Cooker

Since my last post, I've used the pressure cooker to make kidney beans, French dip sandwiches, banana French toast, unstuffed cabbage rolls, and chicken wings. Five recipes in twelve days isn't bad at all! And while I'm searching Pinterest to find out what I want to make, I'm finding things to do on the stove top or in the crock pot. (Yes, I know that the multi cooker also works as a slow cooker, but that afternoon it was easier to just stick with what I knew how to do.)

One lesson I'm learning from all of this is that I need to have a backup plan and be ready to try again. The beans were just on the edge of undercooked. If I'd brought the pot back up to pressure and cooked them just a little bit longer, dinner would have been better. Also, until I learn what I'm doing, I need to use it on nights that dinner can be a bit late. Hubby wound up eating a last minute sandwich while I added time to the chicken wings. He did get some before leaving for work that night, but I cut it way too close on that one.

Now that I've found it, I'm planning on following this step by step list from hip pressure cooking. I won't try all of the recipes, but at least I can read about the techniques and learn which buttons to push. I've got the "cook on high pressure" thing down, but there are other features to learn.

It really surprises me how angry many women in the online forums are at these machines. It's not the Instant Pot's fault that someone didn't like her spaghetti and had to order pizza. I'm wondering how bad the results had to be that it truly wasn't edible -- as awful at cooking as I sometimes am, we've almost never had a night that we couldn't/wouldn't eat dinner. There have been plenty of nights that dinner kind of sucked, but that's life.

Not Quite an Instant Pot, but Close Enough

I've been wanting an Instant Pot. A few years back, I mentioned it to my husband and he reminded me that we already have several pressure cookers I don't use. Those are his toys, not mine.

 Something must have changed, because for Christmas he ordered me a Zavor LUX LCD multi-cooker. Its not an Instant Pot, but his research convinced him that it was a better option. I don't know why. I just want to be able to dry beans and make a roast in a hurry and make a cheesecake. This will do all of that, plus a bunch of other things, so I'm happy.

In the week since Fedex  abandoned the box on my doorstep, I've used it to cook a batch of rice and to cook dry beans that I then used in taco soup. Next on my list of things to try are baked apples and French dip sandwiches.  I used the Kohl's Cash that we got when we purchased the cooker to buy a bundt pan and a spring form cake pan, which increases my options even more.

The only thing I don't love is that I can't find an online forum  or any videos about this particular multi-cooker. I want someone to hold my hand and show me which buttons to push. Do any of you have a Zavor brand multi-cooker? Or, regardless of what brand you own, do you have a recipe or technique I should try?