PiP Cooking

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Pot in pot cooking, otherwise, known as PIP cooking is a great alternative to clay pot cooking and without the fuss of maintaining a clay cooking vessel. PIP ensures that nutrients are locked into the food due the method of cooking that it involves, i.e. a sealed vessel, pot, or bowl within a pot. This creates a good amount of pressure and helps not only your food to cook faster, but locks in the nutrients. To put it simply, PIP Cooking is pressurized cooking at its finest (and you don’t need an instant pot to do it…any pot, dutch oven or pressure cooker will do).

One of the Best Stovetop Pressure Cooker for the Job

When it comes to stovetop pressure cookers, the Viking Stovetop Pressure Cooker, is one of the best stovetop pressure cooker for the job. No need to worry about using electricity or having your pressure cooker tethered to one place or touch pads or buttons failing. Or better yet, getting an error message rendering your electric pressure cooker useless.

A stovetop pressure cooker certainly has the most pros than cons when it comes to electric versus stovetop pressure cookers. Not mention it simply cooks way faster and if you like searing your meat and not wanting to use a different pan or pot to do so, then stovetop pressure cooking is the way to go. Plus it simplifies one pot cooking and ensures simpler and faster meal preps.

The Viking Stovetop Pressure Cooker is our prime choice for stovetop pressure cooking and we are loving all the meals we dole out with this bad boy (check out our video below, it’s not PIP cooking, but just an example of the type of meals you can create with this pressure cooker). Check out the video below for more details on our impression of this pressure cooker and check out our youtube channel or homepage for more videos using this cooking vessel. This pressure cooker made it easy to sear meat and get it to the perfect golden sear, locking in moisture and flavor which was further amplified by the cooking process.

One of the Best Electric Powered Pressure Cooker

In our book, this is one of the best electric pressure cookers out there and it has plenty of alluring features, that come quite close to the bells and whistles that the instant pot offers. If you were in search of an electric pressure cooker instead of a stovetop pressure cooker, then by all means, consider the Mueller line of pressure cookers. In particularly, the one pictured below. It is affordable and has plenty of features that are sure to please.

What Do You Need for PiP Cooking?

A big enough pot will do, but you get the best results with a pressure cooker. Now of course, water is needed to prevent any scotching of you main cooking vessel. So simply fill the main cooking vessel with enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, but low enough to not immerse the bottom of your inner pot in water. A little under a cup of water will be plenty to create enough steam.

Next place your trivet, stand, or steamer rack into your cooking pot or pressure cooker, then place the inner pot onto that stand and start the cooking process. Please note that there is NO need for water in this vessel (the inner pot) – the water and surrounding cooking pot acts as a moisture infuser and an insulation, respectively, and will cook the food to your required doneness.

The level of heat used typically depends on whether you are using open flame/ gas, induction, or ceramic stovetop. If you are using an electronic cooking vessel, then settings and heat achievable will vary. Note: please remember to reference your manufacturer’s manual when using any of the aforementioned cooking devices for appropriate use and cooking time information.

Perks of Cooking Using the PIP Method with a Pressure Cooker

Even though this method gained traction from the Instant Pot craze, it is a method that has been around for quite some time and is a great way to save time when it comes to cooking.

One of the major perks of cooking using the PIP method is that nutrients are sealed or locked into foods due to the pressurized cooking method. And the added method of using an inner pot further increases the effectiveness of locking in those nutrients.

Also, cooking time is even faster, because the effect is like an oven and a steam bath combined. This increases the cooking temperature rapidly, ensuring meals get cooked much quicker.

Since this method is much like using an oven, it can be used as a substitute oven for baking food on the stovetop or countertop if you are using an electric pot or pressurized pot like the Instant Pot, for example.

A wonderful and fantastic reason for using the PIP method with your pressure cooker  is that this method of cooking is a great way of reheating foods, especially if you choose not to use a microwave.

Steaming vegetables and other foods are best done this way as well, since there is less nutrients lost when food is steamed in a pressurized vessel, as opossed to a regular ‘ole pot.

Another perks of cooking using the PIP Method with a pressure cooker is that you have the option of making more than one meal all at the same time and in the same pot – one pot meals without having to limit yourself to just one meal…literally.

One more perk of using pot in pot cooking method is that you don’t have to worry about cleaning your pressure cooker, especially if you have an industrial or commercial sized pressure cooker, i.e. less of a hassle cleaning up.

Summary

We hope our quick rendition of pot in pot cooking helps you better understand this method of cooking and consider using it in your everyday cooking ventures or at least on a weekly basis, it truly is a time saver and you will not regret it. Do keep in mind, that you can use this method without a pressure cooker, so do sweat it if you have not venture down the road of pressure cooking – you will just need a little patience and some finessing to make it work as best as possible, hint – use a dutch oven or a tri-ply pot. If you have a favorite pressure cooker you like to use or will simply like to let us know your preference for pressure cookers – stovetop versus electric – be sure to let us know in comments section below.