Are you ready to take your Instant Pot to the next level!
Join our Instant Pot Beyond Beginners group on Facebook! We can introduce you to some recipes and tips to use your pot to its fullest potential! C’mon, join us!
We have the answer right HERE!
HOW and WHY WE LAYER FOODS in the PRESSURE COOKER 
A pressure cooker works by boiling liquid [broth, water] to create steam in order to pressurize the cooking vessel. In doing this, the pressure cooker raises the temperature of boiling water, which speeds up the time it takes to cook, boil, braise, or steam. This is WHY your pot NEEDS a thin, watery liquid to pressurize the pot.
WHY do we layer ingredients? Well, simply put, when you add a bit of water or broth to a thick liquid (like a cream soup) and stir it up, it is no longer a thin, watery liquid. So, we try to keep them separate by layering.
CAN I just keep adding broth or water until it’s thin enough to pressurize? You could, but that isn’t always best for your desired outcome. You may not want your result to be soupy or watery or watered down.
HOW do I use layering when I pressure cook my food? The process is called ‘layering’. When you are pressure cooking and want to keep the thick foods separate from the thin watery liquid so that the liquid can boil to create the steam required for pressure cooking. Thick liquid will bubble and boil a bit (and maybe even burn or scorch), but it doesn’t have the evaporation needed to create the steam to pressurize the pot. (Step-by-step info below photo).
BASIC LAYERING PROCESS:
- You want to put your meats, aromatics, and hearty vegetables on the bottom of the pot. This is going to create a barrier.
- Thin, watery liquid like broth or water will go into the pot next. This is the liquid you need for your pot to pressurize.
- Thick liquid or things like tomato sauce will be on top. This is why you DO NOT STIR. Don’t mix it all together. This would ruin your ‘layering’
- While the pot heats up and the thin liquid comes to a boil, the pot will begin to pressurize.
- During the cooking process, all that bubbling and boil will start to mix in in your thick liquid with the thinner liquid. That is OKAY. It will introduce a bit of both liquid and sort of ‘stir the pot’ while it’s cooking.
- When you open your pot, then you can stir and you will have a successfully prepared dinner that didn’t get a ‘burn’ notice and isn’t too watery or watered down.
You can use this technique when converting family recipes, using cream soups for your sauces, making spaghetti or chili. There are lots of ways you can make this technique work to your advantage when pressure cooking. www.grandmabehrendt.com
