Cookbook Review: Milk Street Fast and Slow

 

I ended up finally getting an Instant Pot after our slow cooker died. My kid loves slow cooked meat. Pork. Chicken. Steak. If it’s falling off the bone, she’s going to love it. Pre allergies, we didn’t eat that much meat… but with dairy, peanuts, and some tree nuts out the window, our options were limited and I found myself hanging out in the butcher section a whole lot more. Turns out the weekly slow cooker meal finally did our Crockpot in. I thought about just replacing the slow cooker, but I had heard good things about the Instant Pot. From yogurt making to making meals quicker, it sounded pretty amazing.

The problem was, it’s a little bit intimidating. How do you know when your meal is done when is sealed up inside? How do you know you house won’t explode when you open something that is under high pressure? So I set out to find a good introductory cookbook specifically for the Instant Pot. I choose Milk Street Fast and Slow by Christopher Kimball because not only did it have a lot of reviews, but it had a wide variety of recipes.

Okay, so are the recipes actually good?

Yes. Yes. Yes. They are amazing. Everything I’ve made I’ve wanted to make again. The book is set up into seven sections- vegetables, grains, beans, one-pot pastas, chicken, pork, and beef. Some of the vegetable recipes are side dishes, but generally it’s just recipe after recipe of delicious one pot meals. Every recipe has how long the recipe takes with you actually prepping/cooking/standing by the Instant Pot, and how long it takes using the pressure cooker setting OR how long it takes if you use the slow cooking setting. Since everything takes different amounts of time for the pressure cooker to automatically reach pressure and release pressure, having the total time is super helpful. After getting over my fear of the pressure cooker setting, I haven’t done much slow cooking. It’s just too fun to set up the pressure cook and let the Instant Pot do its thing and then open it up and my food is magically, quickly cooked.

"Coconut Rice with Red Beans and Scallions"- no allergens!

Years ago, when Instant Pots were the hot, new thing, I almost bought one for one very specific reason: Indian food. I LOVE Indian food. And the thought of being able to make it at home, easily, was very tempting. Milk Street Fast and Slow has some Indian inspired dishes, sure, but it also has Italian, Mexican, Jamaican, Lebanese… there are dishes that I probably wouldn’t have chosen to make just scrolling through recipes- like "Vermouth-Braised Chicken and Potatoes with Fennel" (it’s not that I don’t like fennel… it’s just that licorice isn’t actually that yummy, you know?) that have a completely different (but still delicious) flavor profile than my normal rut of recipes. Okay, so the guy's white, and the recipes are inspired by his "travels" (white people be travelin'), so I'm not sure how authentic all of these flavors are. But, (as white person myself) I think they are pretty good for the average home cook.

It's also clear that Christopher Kimball (and Milk Street… which is apparently a cooking class/TV show/magazine that I hadn’t heard of but now want to know more about) put a lot of thought into creating each recipe. There are tricks in the introduction paragraph for each recipe- don’t worry there’s too little liquid, make sure you buy thighs not breasts, or remove the pot from the housing as soon as it’s done. There is also specific cooking you do on the sauté function before/after the pressure/slow cooking to make sure the dish is the right texture and as flavorful as possible.

So, is it good for people with allergies?

This wasn’t a cookbook I bought specifically for recipes for my kid with allergies, but rather a side effect of getting a new kitchen appliance. However, I’ve got to say it has been pretty easy to make a wide variety of food that is safe for the whole family to eat. Because you are making almost everything from scratch, it’s easy to avoid everything from milk to garlic for most of the recipes. There are some recipes that I don’t think I’ll be able to make-"Mashed Potatoes with Fontina, Asiago, and Black Pepper" sound great, but with butter, half and half, and 2 types of cheese, that just isn’t going to work. Other recipes I’ve been able to make with simple substitutions or just leaving things out. I was able to make "Chicken Rogan Josh" with vegan butter and vegan yogurt and I couldn’t tell the difference. "Spicy Collard Greens with Tomatoes and Peanuts" were delicious using Sunbutter. It’s not a cookbook made specifically for people with allergens, but the food is so good I don’t mind trying different substitutions.

 

"Two-Corn Chowder with Green Chili and Scallions" with vegan butter and coconut creamer- no dairy, still yummy!

Milk Street Fast and Slow was a great buy and I would definitely recommend if you have an Instant Pot!