Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Help! Instapot/pressure cooker overcooks

My kids got me a 12 cup Faberware pressure cooker a year ago and it overcooks no matter what I’ve done so far. All I cook in it is venison stew. The recipe book that came with it calls for 35 minutes cook time at pressure, for stew. I have cut that to under one minute, plus vent some steam to shorten the cooling time AND IT STILL OVER COOKS, producing mushy potatoes and carrots. It makes delicious over cooked elk stew.

Any ideas? How do you shorten the cooking time with a fixed pressure pop up? The pressure indicator is all or nothing. If it had a pressure gauge I would try running up less pressure. Having to watch it, turn it off the instant it reaches pressure, vent steam etc. removes any possibility of set and forget it till meal time.

Its not programable?

Google intstapot recipe,s I would cook meat first then add veggies. Use mine all the time I look up recipes on line then use one till I find one I like.

I’ve seen a few recipes that call for cooking the meat, depressurizing then adding the veggies and re-cooking.

To me, it defeats the purpose of using the cooker as you’re doubling the cook time - at a minimum once you figure in the depressurization and reheat to pressure.

I have made stew and I do exactly what Wannabbwana said. I cook the meat but stop it and add the veggies with about 15 more minutes to cook. I also do that with a pot roast.

For more info:

Yes, it is programmable, with ten preset programs, and an option to adjust the preset pressure cook time down to one minute. One minute is too long and overcooks carrots and potatoes cut into inch cubes. All the google I've found indicates many people have trouble with these cookers overcooking.

I started by following the at-pressure cook time in the manual that came with the cooker. Overcooked by a lot. Then started reducing cook time. It takes about 25-30 minutes from a cold start to heat up enough to pop up the pressure indicator. If I shut it off the instant it achieves pressure and let it cool/depressurize naturally, it takes another half hour or more for the pressure to drop and allow the lid to open. All that time the ingredients are cooking, during the pressure rise and the cooling.

Prep & cook details: I brown meat either in the cooker on brown setting, or in a skillet. Barely browned exterior. I slightly caramelize some of the chopped onions and carrots quickly in the cooker on the brown setting, then dump in the rest and set on the shortest preset. IME carrots take the longest to cook, potatoes second and meat cooks quickly. They all get done overnight in a slow cooker without over cooking.

There is no way I will take the time to cook one item at a time. Having to watch the cooker in order to shut it off as soon as the pressure indicator pops up and then relieve the pressure to reduce cooking time is already adding more hover and hassle than I want. I just won't use the thing if it requires that every time. Next I will try shutting it off the moment it achieves pressure, and then depressurize totally and open the lid within five minutes. Sure wish I could set a program and forget it till it is done. So far it is a time saving device that takes more time.

Been there, done that..........We now use our Lodge cast iron enameled Dutch oven.

Get an Instant Pot. They work waaaaay better than the knock off ones.

I have the instapot and I am amazed that it cooks everything perfect. I cook at least one soup every week.

Maybe that's the problem, that it is a knock-off, though Farberware is a pretty big brand. They are all just pressure cookers with some bells and whistles. I was hoping for an easy fix, some trick, but not likely since nobody seemed to solve it in my google searches, unless they put in a lot of minute by minute effort to thwart undo what the cooker is set up to do. Thanks for your input.