Quote:
Originally Posted by badgoodDeb
I don't bother sauteing onions; garlic is only ever the dried stuff from a bottle. (I'm not a fan of garlic.) The only thing I bother to brown is ground beef (or, actually, ground turkey). I brown a few pounds in a large wok pan, and freeze it in a large flat freezer bag. Break off a hunk when I want some.
So, you can go significantly lazy. But ground beef (or substitute) really needs to be browned. That does NOT have to be done in the Instant Pot, though it can be.
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Depending on how you feeel about presentation, (as well as some arguments about preserving the "juiciness" of meat), arguably, all meats should be at least browned/seared, prior to being cooked in a slow-cooker, dutch oven (sometimes!) or IP.
I am not a fan of the sort of overboiled "grey" meat that you can get if you plop cubes of beef into a slowcooker for something like stew. I prefer some browned edges, visually (and texturally). However, if you don't mind that, you really do not have to sear the meat. You can just plop it in there and cook away.
You could do a variant on a simple beef stew--throw in cubed beef and potatoes, corn/peas/whatever frozen veggies you wish and or some baby carrots, stock and hit the button. That would work.
Same with stroganoff, although again, my preference is to sear the meat AND to saute the onion a bit. You could substitute dried onion (or throw in a Lipton's Beefy Onion soup packet and water), the meat, shrooms and stock (depending on the Beefy Onion option), and hit cook.
You can do the same thing with chicken soups, stews and other dishes (like Hungarian Paprikash made with Chicken). You wouldn't sear the raw chicken; you'd cook it in the sauce. For a paprikash, which really calls for onions, you might want to cook it a bit longer to ensure that you don't have a raw onion taste to the 'kash. Then, when the main cooking is done, allow it to depressurize and then using the lowest-possible temp, lightly simmer it whilst adding the sour cream. (Same technique works for Stroganoff, obviously).
So, to answer your question, yes, it
CAN be done. Personally, I prefer the results I get with 5 minutes of additional prep, but you CAN do it.
Hitch