The Apple Sauce Volcano
Pressure cookers can be scary. I know this as I get so many questions from really skilled home cooks who've managed to do the 'water test' for their brand new Instant Pot, but have then put it away again after the shock of that gush of steam. I get it. It's a tough introduction to this new (old) way of cooking.
But here's the thing, pressure cookers these days have so many safety mechanisms that it really is ok to trust them a little, and trust you a little. You've got this. Treat everything as an experiment and where things go wrong, well you'll learn something and that's what it's all about.
I've been cooking with various Instant Pots for years now but still, disasters happen now and again. This year I had a massive apple harvest and decided to start making some apple sauce one night,a little too too late for my tired brain to think straight. It was all going well but then I heard the beep and flipped that steam release button without thinking. And then this...
You see some things are not made for Quick Release. Some need the 'slow and steady wins the race process' called Natural Pressure Release. And Apple Sauce is one of them! So now we know.
And you know what - even with that sticky mess bubbling all over the place, I knew everything would be just fine. I just made a mistake. So I threw a damp tea towel over it from a distance and made a cup of tea while I waited for it to be over. Everything is super cleanable in the Instant Pot - a few hours later, it was all up and running again, clean and ready for the next disaster...err recipe!
So that's how I created an apple sauce volcano. If we don't make mistakes, we're not trying hard enough right? I wish I'd filmed my cleaning up process so you could see how easy it all is, but it wasn't top of mind in that moment as I'm sure you understand. I don't want to repeat my apple sauce disaster but if you'd find it helpful, I'll have a think about messing up the IP up with yogurt or something and get my camera out for a YouTube walk through of the clean. Let me know if you'd find that helpful. In the meantime, happy experimeting with whatever you're cooking today.
