(uplifting music begins) - [Narrator] We are Sorted, a group of mates who have your back when it comes to all things food. From cooking battles to gadget reviews- - Ben, it's not worth it! - [Narrator] And cookbook challenges to a mid-week meal Packs App. - [Jamie] Crack your eggs, and bake. - [Narrator] We uncover the tools that'll help us all cook and eat smarter. Join our community, where everything we do starts with you. (uplifting music fades out) (pop guitar music begins) - Hello and welcome to Sorted Food. - Today, we're putting the
Instant Pot gadget to the test to see if it deserves
a spot in our kitchen. - Now in the spirit of both fair testing and chef-y experimentation, I've already been playing
with this bit of kit at my own home for several weeks, and I've now picked five recipes for our normals to try. - Why do I feel like
it's not just the gadget that's being tested today? - [Ben] So the Instant Pot is a standalone plugin appliance that has many, many functions going on. So you've got slow cook, you've got steam, you've got pressure cook, you've got functions specific
for yoghurt or rice. We're going to test a whole bunch. - And if you're one of the first 50 people to order it right now, we'll give it to you for
a special discount price. - Yeah, you've got the job, mate! - [Ben] This first
recipe, one pot orzo lamb, and I've chosen it because
it's going to test sauté, high pressure, and slow cook. (jolly music) - First step, switch onto sauté mode, it's going to beep at you three times. Add some oil into the Instant Pot and then sear your lamb. Like any pan on the hob, you want to give it
plenty of time to get hot before you add the lamb, otherwise you run the
risk of stewing the lamb rather than searing it. - Did the dad check to
make sure the tongs work. Yep. - This as a recipe is
already a really easy recipe. I'm interested to see how
much simpler this makes it. - Have a look at that. - [Ben] Whip the lamb
out then, into a bowl and you're going to add
your sliced red onion. - If I'm searing off lamb in a frying pan where is all that fat and oil going? - All over the hob.
- Oh yeah, good point. - All over the hob, all over my kitchen. This has got such deep sides, it's barely come out. - Once the onions are softened, add in a sliced clove of garlic, paprika, oregano, a little bit of cinnamon, salt and pepper. Then a tin of tomatoes, about
an equal amount of water, and your lamb can go back in too. (jolly music) Whack the lid on, make
sure the vent is sealed, then cancel it. Pressure cooker set to high, 30 minutes, job done. The good thing is while
your lamb is cooking under pressure in a fraction of the time you can do whatever you want. (electronic rock music) Recipe number two, while our lamb pressure
cooks for half an hour, we're going to test the steam function by making a steamed
pudding, something sweet! - I've never made anything
like this before, Ben, so you get to really hold
my hand I think, here. - I'm going to be honest, I hadn't until a week or so ago. I tried a Sussex pond pudding, failure. Asked on Twitter for better option, Guard's pudding was suggested. Didn't know what it was, looked it up. This is a version of that. - Sussex pond pudding. - Yeah, it looks like this. - [Barry] Can't get any more
British than that, can you? - So, Guard's pudding, it is breadcrumbs in a bowl, that you're going to add sugar, flour, baking powder, lemon zest and vanilla to. This is a very, very thrifty pudding. - I've never heard of it before. - [Ben] Mix up your dry ingredients and then you're going to stir in melted butter, warmed jam, or we're going
to use ginger preserve, and three beaten eggs. I've got you a pudding
basin that has been greased and lined with greaseproof paper, so it's easy to get it out later on, and the whole mix goes in. - I think this really shows the difference between normals cooking and chefs cooking. Because if you say to me, "steamer", I'm thinking of steaming vegetables or maybe salmon, at a push. You go, "No, we're doing puddings." - No, that says more about Ben's diet than anything else.
- Maybe that's what that is. - So this little lining thing here, that's just to lift it out later. - [Ben] Tin foil over the top, so that in your steaming vessel you don't get any water inside of it. - Ebbers, is that a bonnet de douche? (Barry laughs) Did you bring that from home?
- [Barry] Put this on top. (upbeat jazz music) Into the Instant Pot. (upbeat jazz music continues) Steam function. We are going for low pressure. - It's already set, it remembers what you did last time, on the theory that you often end up cooking the same things multiple times. - On, and we're off. We'll see you in two hours. - It says "on", Baz. - No, yeah, and we're on. But we're off as well. - It's like does an alarm
clock go off, or on? (high pitched beep) - [Ben] Quick release the pressure. (loud hissing) - Whoa! Should we have a look? - [Barry] Please. (electric guitar music) - [Ben] Add the orzo, give it a stir. - [Barry] What's the meat look like? - Uh, the meat is looking
very, very tender. - Does it need more water
in it, to cook the orzo? - Nah, mate, there's
tonnes of water in here. - [Barry] Is there? - [Jamie] Yeah. - And this is why Instant Pot recipes you kind of have to follow, because it's the right
ratio of ingredients based on pressure cook,
based on what's left, and it should all work. Lid back on, pressure cook for six minutes. - Six minutes. So thinking about how
we would cook this dish without the Instant Pot. The big thing that we're saving is time, because this would have bubbled
away for a couple of hours, just in a normal saucepan. Whereas we've done that in 30 minutes. - And theoretically, this
will also work nicely if you haven't got access to a hob, gas hob, regular hob, or whatever, because it's just a plug. It's a standalone thing. (melodic chime) - Victory. (melodic chime) - [Ben] Spinach and olives go in. Kind of stops the cooking, but also wilts the spinach. - [Jamie] Ebbers, I think we're there. I have to say it smells great. We've chosen a very lovely bowl, but it does look good as well. Shall we see how it is? (upbeat rock music) - Cheers. - This is a bit of me, this. (upbeat, funky music) - That is very tender lamb. - Tender lamb, well cooked pasta, and then the spinach last minute. I think it's got everything you want in a kind of comforting dish. - The process was incredibly easy. Like really, really easy. - Flavour wise, I love it. But do you feel like you're compromising on flavour at all, with time? - Far from, and that lamb is still... Because it's a nice, fatty cut that does take a long time to cook, under pressure you skip past that, but you still got that unctuous lamb and it melts in the mouth. - Well, first test as a
pressure cooker, it works! (quick hissing)
- [Barry] Oh my god. (loud hissing) I knew that was coming, it's fine. (upbeat, funky music) - [Jamie] And we're- (loud bang)
(all laughing) (banging continues) (all chuckling) - Okay, it's finished steaming. Off with the tin foil. (funky music continues) - [Jamie] Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. - [Barry] Ooh, okay! I am with you. I've made a steamed pudding. I never thought I'd do that. (funky music continues) - [Jamie] Cheers.
- [Barry] Cheers. (funky music continues) I'm gonna say a word I hate, but that is incredibly moist. - It's got the goo of bread pudding. Yeah. - Stodgy, sweet, the ginger and the lemon
keeps it kind of clean. Excellent. - As a steamer, there's no doubt that works really well. I steam a lot at home already, a lot of fish, a lot of veg. That's even simpler, but a bit over the top
for a steamer alone. (electronic guitar music) - Ebbers, what's next? - Beans! So this is the recipe from our cookbook "How We Cook", and it's
how to cook dried beans under pressure, without soaking the beans overnight. Into the pot, throw your beans. - [Jamie] What beans are these? - [Ben] Pinto. Pretty much any dried beans are good. Cold water, six times the amount as there are beans. Some flavours for aromats, that's onion, garlic, lemon, thyme. Generous glug of olive oil and a pinch of salt. (tropical beat begins) Get the lid on, and you're going to cook it at
high pressure for 45 minutes. - So this beans recipe
is from our cookbook that was not originally created in an Instant Pot. So, what do I have to
know to change the recipe to make it suitable to
cook in an Instant Pot? - Depending on what grains, multi grains, beans you're using, it's a different ratio. It's trapped inside, so you are cooking on a ratio. This one is 6:1. (loud whoosh) (old-time music begins) While the beans are on, are you ready for some thin ice? We're going to tread all over it and we're going to cook rice! - Oh, why do I have to
be here for this bit? (all laughing) - I think this is one of
the most commented things, is to use an Instant Pot to cook rice. Don't want to make anything up, we're going to go exactly as per the official recipe book that
comes with the Instant Pot for their perfect basmati rice. - Sounds pretty- - Bold.
- [Jamie] You know, bold. - Foolproof. Two cups of rice, soak in cold water for 15 minutes. At which point we drain, and then add to the pot with
three cups of cold water. (jazzy music begins) - So, rice going in. - If it's properly drained. (Jamie laughing) - Do a zhoosh-y. Do it up, down, up, down. No, no, just.. No, no. - What are you talking about? What's it- - [Ben] Yeah, see how much
water is coming out of it? Oh my god. - Oh, Barry.
- Seriously?! Put it into the pot. All of the rice. - Oh, he's getting really pissy, isn't he? - Seriously, every grain! Do you want a spatula? - Well that's step one. (all laughing) - [Ben] Three cups of water. Lid on. - [Jamie] Here we go, Baz. - Pressure cook for four minutes, then keep warm for 10, then release. - So how does the Instant Pot
differ from a rice cooker? - This does it quicker because
of the pressure cooker. - Mm, okay. - Right, that's been
keeping warm 10 minutes, release the pressure. Rice is ready! (loud hissing) (Jamie chuckling) Now as a little experiment, when you closed the lid and set it to go, I set a stopwatch. Because although it says it's
pressure cook for four minutes that actually took 22 and a half minutes to come up to pressure, cook for four minutes and then keep warm for 10. - I'm not sure exactly
what I'm looking for but it's a little
stickier than I'd expect. I'd say it's overcooked. - So typically for basmati rice, I would prefer individual grains. Each one long, fluffy, identical. Here, some are soft and squidgy and mushy, some are longer, but still very sticky. I'm not sure about this. You shouldn't be to do that with basmati rice. - Well, you shouldn't play
with your food either. - I think you've lost all
the beautiful fragrance of basmati rice. - Yeah. That is not good basmati rice. But that is their perfect basmati rice. - In the official Instant Pot cookbook. For me, and I know I'd say this, but I prefer our method of how to cook rice with the absorption, because you can do that with
a single portion of rice or 10 portions of rice. This two cups really is the minimum, you could do a lot more, but it's very difficult to
cook smaller portions of rice in that. (uplifting music begins) - Ebbers, you're in! What are we doing now? - I know what you're thinking. This video is only got
one classic pudding in it. Let's do another one you haven't seen for a decade or two. (crickets chirping) Crème caramel. The point of this is I wanted to test, because a lot of the
Instant Pot blogs and stuff had desserts, and flan, or créme caramel,
was a very popular one. And I thought, "That can't possibly work in an Instant Pot,
because you're supposed to have very gentle bain-marie cooking." Well, let's see! Heat up cream, milk, sugar
and vanilla in a pan. Once that's warm, I'm going to pour it
over three beaten eggs as I whisk. (uplifting music) The caramel part of crème caramel, I've made a caramel and
I put it in the bottom of four ramekins. Pour it in, remove the air bubbles from it. Best way to remove the air bubbles? (heat gun flickering) Gone. Gone. (uplifting music continues) That's the rack that comes with the pot, so you keep things off the ground. It can either go in that way and then you can always lift
things out nice and easily. A little bit of water in the bottom, ramekins go in. - The reason Ebbers loves
these experiments so much is because in the past he wouldn't be allowed to make a flan. - Lid goes on, high pressure, nine minutes, and then natural release, and then you can take them
out and leave them to chill. So you can literally just walk away and leave that. The Instant Pot has
control over your custard, you don't need to worry. Okay, so, this has been pressure cooked, natural release and chilled. And why I love this dessert
is it's a make-ahead dessert that's really quite impressive. But like a molten lava cake, there's only one way to
find out if it's worked. - Oh, fantastic. (Jamie gasps)
- [Jamie] Ooh. So that's the- - [Barry] What do you want? - [Barry and Jamie] Whoa! - I'm pretty chuffed with that. The process was really easy. I guess the proof is in the pudding, or the eating of. Now, apparently there's
a crème caramel challenge floating around the YouTubes. And Jay, do you remember this? (Jamie slurping)
(all laughing) - Oh, but this is far
more of an adult jelly than that ever was. Cheers! (loud slurping)
(Barry laughing) That's tasty Ben, well done. - Jay, you wouldn't notice, but as you cut into it, it's soft, it's wobbly, it looks perfect in my eyes. - Strong P word, but I'd agree. That is a very good crème caramel. - What P word are you going for, just out of interest? - [Barry] Wow. - My beans have had 45 minutes
cooking under pressure. They then had 30 minutes just relaxing. Should we? - [Barry] Please. (jazzy music) - [Jamie] That wasn't as exciting as I was hoping it was going to be. - [Ben] Well it's already
had sort of a natural release of half... Well, 32 minutes. (jazzy music continues) - Oh, that smells amazing. What's next? - [Ben] Scoop out the bits
you don't want to eat. The lemon, the garlic, we
can squeeze the flesh in but you don't want the whole peel, and the thyme. Season, ladle and serve. (jazzy music continues) We're going to serve it
with some salsa verde. Just give it a little bit of a zhoosh, because basically you're going
to stir it in as you eat it. (jazzy music continues) - Ta-da! I have no reference point
to know whether these- - [Barry] Jay, Jay, this is that puddle dish, the pond dish, that he was talking about. - [Jamie] Is this the Sussex pond? - [Barry] It's the Sussex pond. (Jamie and Barry laughing) - Cheers. - Cheers. - Cheers. (mellow electronic music) - I mean, I know most of the day has been me shoe-horning in classic old things that
I would never otherwise get to cook on the channel, but I love this. - It's a very heartwarming dish, isn't it? Really warming. - The reason I picked it is because in the Instant Pot, simple pressure cook with natural release, means you can cook dried beans, or dried chickpeas, without overnight soaking. And therefore it shaves quite
literally 12 hours at least off of this recipe. - Whilst two out of the three of us have absolutely no idea what
it is that we're eating, I think we can competently say that the pot has cooked
unsoaked beans very quickly, very well. - Five recipes in, now given that an Instant
Pot will set you back just shy of 100 pounds, about 96 at the moment with variable pricing online, what do you think? - Now that's the first
time I'm hearing the price, but I'm not surprised. It feels like that should
be about 100 pounds. It doesn't appear to
be a great rice cooker, but it does have three
or four other functions that we've not tested today, that'll be good to look into as well. - Does it have a place
in the Spafford kitchen? - If I hadn't bought a
new slow-cooker last year, yes. But I can't see the
reason for having both. - So for me, I think 100 pounds is okay, because I'm paying for the most
important thing in my house, which is safety. It's a very good pressure cooker. And if I've got that I would never need to get a slow-cooker as well. - Having now lived with this machine, testing a whole bunch of stuff, It's kind of changed my viewpoint in it. Because I think it is the safest and best pressure cooker I've ever used. And because it was there, I also used it for a bunch of other stuff that I probably wouldn't typically. But it was there, so I did. I wouldn't go out of my way to get one, for six of the seven functions. But I would for the pressure cooker and then you get those thrown in, and because they're
there, I would use them. As always, now it's over to you guys. Have you used an instant pot before? Would you like to? Tell us your thoughts, yay or nay? - Also what gadget should
we be reviewing next time? Let us know, tweet us @sortedfood, with the #sortedgadgets. - We love a challenge. (loud beep) (abrupt bang) - [Barry] Couldn't help
yourself, could you? - No, I couldn't help myself. It's really good fun!
I love this video because it inspired me to get more creative with my instant pot. I got it in Christmas of 2019 but I barely use it. The shows me I just have to get creative!
I will say I disagree with them somewhat about the rice cooker function. I love using my instant pot to cook rice, but it does take a little finagling to dial in the right time.
Do they post the actual recipes anywhere? I want to try the Guard's pudding just as they made it.
edit: I've found this, which looks reasonably similar. I'm planning to try these ingredients with the method from the video!
Anyone know if they modified the lamb and orzo recipe they posted a while back to put it in the IP? I found that recipe and want to make it, so I have the times from this video, but I need to know if I need to alter the liquids especially or if it will turn out.
did they really steam that pudding for 2 hours? the timer on my device wont go past an hour for the steam function