America's Test Kitchen

-Today on "America's Test Kitchen," we're pulling out our multicookers, Adam reviews multicookers, Becky makes Julia chicken in a pot with lemon-herb sauce, Lisa shares tips for how to use your multicooker, and Elle makes Bridget Hawaiian oxtail soup.

It's all coming up right here on "America's Test Kitchen."

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-I grew up to the sound of pressure cookers rattling in the background with those little tops that swung back and forth.

My oma used them, my mother uses them, and I carry on the tradition.

But I've upgraded from that stovetop version of my oma's to an electric pressure cooker.

But I've not yet graduated to the multicooker, which combines the action of a pressure cooker with a slow cooker and more.

-And more.

These things replace a lot of different appliances, and you may want to upgrade after this.

-Really?

-Everyone's heard of the Instant Pot.

There are a lot of multicookers out here, and they do a lot of different types of cooking, but the basic functions are rice cooking, or different grains, pressure cooking, slow cooking, and searing and browning.

We tested more than a dozen of these multicookers.

They were priced from about $77 to $250.

We tested six-quart sizes and eight-quart sizes.

We cooked white rice, which is one of the things that they do well.

We pressure-cooked and slow-cooked beef stew and baked beans, and we used their sear and saut function to brown the beef and soften the onions for the stew.

By and large, the pressure-cooked food came out a little better than the slow-cooked food.

In slow-cooker mode, the best models cooked the beef stew in seven hours and the baked beans in four hours.

Some of them took considerably longer.

We were curious why some of them took longer, so we actually put in measured amounts of room-temperature water and tracked the temperature rise and the timing with a wireless tracker.

So the ideal pressure-cooking temperature range is 236 to 245 degrees.

Most of them got there in about 25 minutes.

A couple of them got there faster, in about 20 minutes, and they held that temperature consistently.

Now, there are a couple of things about that.

Number one, these cook most efficiently in that temperature range.

Number two, the ones that had the greatest temperature fluctuations were the ones that were slower to slow-cook the beef stew and the baked beans.

-That makes sense.

-That totally makes sense.

In terms of searing, some of them did a great job, got a nice sear on the beef, got a nice fond, some of them could barely even soften onions.

The ones that did a better job got a little hotter, but they also had another difference.

I want to show you this one.

We're going to open that up.

You can pull out the pot there.

-Ooh, I like the handles.

-Yeah, the handles are helpful.

-Yeah.

-They had unlined stainless-steel pots, whereas the other ones had nonstick pots.

-Ah-ha!

-Nonstick, we know, limits fond development.

Easier to clean, but we're going for flavor and fond over ease of cleaning.

There are a couple of other factors to look for.

Number one, just simpler controls.

Some of them, like this one had, like, all these cryptic buttons and flashes, and it was just harder to use.

Number two, the pot makes a difference, as we said.

Number three, some of these you can lift the lid off completely, like this one, whereas this one, it just tips up.

-Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

-That sort of complicated cleaning and access, when you're going in there to stir the beef while you're sauting it.

-Yeah.

-And the last thing is steam release.

When you're in pressure-cooking mode and you want to stop cooking quickly, you have to release all that steam.

There's a steam-release valve.

On most of these, you had to keep it open.

-That's old school.

-You know, you could get in there with a spoon or some tongs or something, but testers were not psyched to stand there with hot steam rushing anywhere near them.

-Yep.

-On this model, it was one-touch operation.

It was just one switch.

You turn it off, you step away from the steam.

So they vastly preferred that.

And this, in fact, is our winner.

That's the Instant Pot Pro eight-quart multicooker.

It's 150 bucks.

-Hmm.

-Clear controls, that nice pot with the handles.

-Yeah.

-Did a great job cooking.

If you want to save a little money, there's also a best buy for about half the price.

That's this one.

It's $77.

It's the Crock-Pot eight-quart Express Crock XL pressure cooker.

The pot is nonstick-lined, so you don't get the degree of fond that we prefer, but it is easier to clean.

-Great information, Adam.

Thank you.

So there you have it.

If you're in the market for a multicooker, check out the Instant Pot Pro eight-quart at $150 or our best buy, the Crock-Pot eight-quart Express Crock XL pressure cooker at just 77 bucks.

If you've never cooked a whole chicken in the pressure cooker, you're missing out because the meat turns out so juicy and so tender, it nearly falls off the bone.

And that sauce left in the bottom of the pot is saturated with flavor.

Plus, it is incredibly easy.

-So easy.

It only takes about 30 minutes.

-Mm-hmm.

-This is just a perfect recipe when you want a whole chicken but you don't feel like turning on the oven and preheating and doing all that kind of stuff.

-Yep.

Yeah.

-All right, let me show you how to make it.

-Okay.

-So I have a teaspoon of vegetable oil in the multicooker.

I'm going to turn it on the highest saut function.

[ Pot beeps ] And we just want to heat that oil until it starts to shimmer a little bit.

Okay, so the oil is starting to shimmer just a little bit.

So I have one onion chopped fine.

Put that in.

[ Sizzling ] Here we go.

-Nice.

-I'm going to cook these until the onions just start to soften.

That'll take three to five minutes.

-All right.

-Okay, it's been about three minutes.

We can smell the onions.

I can tell they're getting a little bit soft.

So let's add some more flavorings.

Here is three minced garlic cloves.

I have 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary here, 2 tablespoons of flour.

So we just want to cook that for about a minute, until it gets nice and aromatic.

Okay, it's been about a minute.

Let's add 1/2 cup of dry white wine.

-Yes, please.

-Get ready for more amazing smells.

Oh, love it.

Cup of chicken broth.

All right, so that's our sauce.

That's going to make a beautiful ready-made sauce when this is cooking under pressure.

So we'll let that hang out for a second, and we'll get our chicken ready to go in the pot.

This is a four-pound chicken.

It's going to fit snugly in the kind of narrow multicooker pot there.

So let's get this guy ready to go in.

We're going to tuck the wings behind.

-Just get him out of the way.

-Yeah.

All right, so I have a teaspoon of salt.

I'm going to season all over.

And 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper.

Okay, so we're going to put the chicken in breast side up right into the -- into the pot.

And if you'll put the lid on for me, I'm going to run over and wash my hands.

-You bet.

-Okay, so we want to pressure cook this on high pressure for 30 minutes.

So the first thing I want to do is seal the vent.

-Yep.

-Click "seal."

All right, so I'll hit "pressure cook."

So we want 30 minutes.

[ Pot beeping ] All right, in 30 minutes, it's going to be time to eat.

-All right.

[ Pot beeps ] -All right, it's been 30 minutes.

I'm just going to turn it off.

And now we'll quick-release the pressure.

I just want to make sure I stand away from the steam vent here.

All right, let's see what's going on in here.

Ooh.

-Oh, goodness.

-All right, let's take this chicken out.

I'm using a spoon and a pair of tongs to help me lift this chicken out.

-Yeah, the chicken meat is so tender.

Sometimes the legs fall right off on me.

-I mean, look at that.

-Look at you.

You did a good job taking that out.

-Ooh!

Just one little wing that fell off.

-Nice.

So, you know it's tender.

-That's right.

Literally falling off the bone here.

All right, I'm going to cover this chicken with foil.

If you'll hand me that foil, that'd be great.

We'll just tent it lightly.

We're going to let it rest for about 10 minutes.

We want all those juices to redistribute and stay inside that chicken.

And we also want to let the sauce rest so I can skim off the fat a little bit.

-Yep.

-All right, the chicken's been resting for 10 minutes.

I'm just going to skim off a little bit of fat that has collected on the top.

-Yeah, a little of that schmaltz in the sauce is nice.

Too much is a bit greasy.

-Yeah.

We just want to take a little bit off.

And now I'm just going to finish off the sauce.

I have 2 tablespoons of cold butter.

I mean, you can't go wrong finishing with a little butter, right?

-Yeah.

Adds not only richness and flavor, but it gives a little texture.

-Yeah, that's right, a little bit of body.

-Mm-hmm.

-Two tablespoons of lemon juice and then 1/4 cup of chives.

-Oh, nice.

-Yeah.

So I just want to whisk that in until the butter melts.

Okay, the butter is all melted.

I'm just going to put this into a bowl.

Oh, look at that.

-Oh, beautiful.

-There's plenty of it, too, which is great.

-Yeah.

-All right.

Now, you're a master chicken carver.

So I've heard.

-I do like carving chicken.

-All right.

You want to do the honors?

-Sure.

I'd be happy to.

-Okay.

-All right, so first I'm going to take off the wings here.

They pretty much fall off.

Sometimes I like to use a towel because the chicken is still pretty hot.

Just protects your hands.

You can basically just pull off the leg meat.

-Yeah, I asked you to carve it, and all you have to do is pull it apart, right?

-Yeah.

Happy to carve it.

It doesn't need me at all.

-Yeah.

-Cut the thighs and the drumstick.

[ Laughs ] It's so tender, the drumstick bone just comes right out.

-Oh, look at that.

Yeah.

-I know.

So there's all your dark meat in one.

I'm going to do the same on the other side.

Ready?

A little twist.

-Yep.

-So I'm just going to peel the skin off.

Then I'm going to take the white meat off the breast.

Just carve right to the center, right by that keel bone.

And it's really kind of pulling and cutting.

Right, I'm just going to cut the meat into nice big slices.

Okay, I'm going to load up our plates.

-Oh, yeah, absolutely.

-There we go.

-All right, let's get some sauce on there.

-Yeah!

-Ooh.

-Oh, you can bathe it in sauce as far as I'm concerned.

All right.

Mmm.

[ Laughs ] -Mmm.

-We made the same mom noise.

-Yeah.

-Like, "Oh!"

I think this is better than any rotisserie chicken you could find at the supermarket.

It has that same fall-off-the-bone texture but so much more flavor and so much cleaner.

And plus, you can use a good-quality chicken.

-You're exactly right.

Yeah.

And I just love that sauce.

I mean, be, like, using a spoon to go at that in a couple minutes, that's so good.

-Little more?

-Yeah.

-Becky, this is terrific.

Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-If you want to make the easiest and best chicken, use the multicooker.

Make a sauce base with a few aromatics and some white wine, add the chicken to the pot breast side up, and cook under high pressure for 30 minutes before quick-releasing the steam.

From "America's Test Kitchen," a foolproof recipe for multicooker chicken in a pot with a lemon-herb sauce.

This is in regular rotation at my house.

-Oh, yeah, I believe it.

It's so good.

-Yeah.

-So you finally got an Instant Pot or other multicooker?

you can make tender meat, cook one-pot pasta dishes, shellfish, rice, beans, even desserts.

It's an amazing vessel.

Before you begin, there's a few things you need to know.

The biggest thing most people use their Instant Pot for is pressure cooking.

In that sealed pot under pressure, the boiling point of liquid gets higher.

There's also very little to no evaporation, so you get flavors that are more intense and concentrated, not watered down.

So there's some things you want to know when you're cooking in the pot.

First, make sure the silicone seal under the lid is clean, or the pot won't seal properly.

Take care of this seal, and it's going to take care of you.

There's a heating element under the pot, so you can use the "brown" and "saut" functions to brown foods like onions or meats before you seal up the pot and cook.

That makes food much more flavorful and only uses the one pot.

Now, some models have preset buttons labeled things like "chicken."

Avoid those, because if you're following a recipe, those pre-programmed cycles don't always match up.

You're going to see recipes call for high or low pressure.

Low is for more delicate foods, and it's important to use the level that recipes call for.

At the end of cooking, you're going to see recipes calling for natural or quick release.

Natural release is just that -- do nothing.

The pot will cool down gradually and lose pressure.

Quick release just means you're going to manually release the pressure by using the valve on the top of the cooker.

It's for delicate foods.

On the Instant Pot, you just want to flip the switch.

[ Steam hissing ] On other models, you can hold down a valve so steam can escape.

Don't be scared of the jet of steam.

It's kind of awesome when you get used to it.

But don't go near it.

It's hot.

Sometimes you're going to see a notice that says "burn" while you're cooking.

That's because multicookers have sensors that report when the bottom of the pot is getting too hot.

Don't worry.

First, just check that everything on the pot looks in order.

Is the silicone seal in place?

Is the lid aligned right?

Then check your food.

You may have some scorched food on the bottom of the pot.

Scrape up all those brown bits and then add a little bit of liquid.

You can add like 1/2 to 1 cup of water.

And then seal it back up, and you should be all set to keep cooking.

If your food seems slightly underdone at the end of cooking, here's what to do.

Leave the pot open and finish cooking by switching to the highest saut or browning function.

And bonus -- there's a cool little hook on the rim of the pot for holding the lid.

It comes in handy.

And that's it.

Have fun with your new multicooker.

-Back in the 19th century, Hawaii's sugarcane and pineapple plantations attracted immigrants from all over the world, including China, and they brought their recipes with them.

Now, they were looking for ways to re-create some of their dishes from home, including the long, slow-cooked soups that often featured pork or chicken.

And they turned to another industry in Hawaii at the time, which was beef, and Hawaiian oxtail soup was born.

So Elle's here, and she's going to show us an amazing version, and she's got some tricks up her sleeve.

-Yeah.

My favorite food writer, Lynette Lo Tom, has a cookbook all about her family's favorite Hawaiian comfort foods.

-Mm.

-And this oxtail recipe is one we have in common.

-Oh, I'm in good hands.

-Oh, yeah, it's my favorite.

And it starts with, guess what?

Oxtails.

-Oxtails.

-That's right.

Now, oxtails are typically a tough cut of meat, right?

-Yes.

-So they need a long braise to reach its tenderness.

So we have here three pounds of oxtails, and they need to be trimmed.

As you can see, they're quite fatty.

-Yes.

-It needs to be trimmed to about 1/4 inch of this fat or less.

-Okay.

-So I'm just going to start by trimming here.

All right, so that looks good.

Pretty trimmed.

-Looks great.

-All right, so I'm going to cook this in our multicooker.

It's going to save us about three to four hours of cook time.

The other great thing about the multicooker is that it doesn't boil violently.

So any foam that would accumulate at the top is going to stay in place, and that makes it easy for us to skim.

So I'm going to go ahead and put this in the multicooker.

-All right.

[ Pot beeps ] -Now, the next most important component of this Hawaiian oxtail soup is ginger.

It is really the base flavor of the broth.

Very warm, very spicy.

So we have eight ounces of ginger here.

And I'm just going to finish these off.

And you just have to slice it.

You don't have to worry about peeling it.

-Oh, I love this recipe.

-Oh, yeah.

We have a lot of other aromatics that add to the flavor of this soup.

And one of them is star anise.

It's little, but it packs a lot of flavor.

-Super potent.

-So there are five of those that are going to go in the soup.

-Ooh, that's flavorful.

-There's also what is called Chenpi.

And it's age-dried mandarin peels.

-Mmm.

-Yeah.

And this has, like, a bitter floral profile to it.

Right?

So we're really building a lot of flavors here.

And to put them all in is going to be easy because we're going to create a sachet for all of these aromatics.

Easy in, easy out.

-Really easy out, yeah.

-Yes.

Okay, so I have eight ounces of ginger here.

This is 1/4 ounce of Chenpi.

-Okay.

-Five star anise.

-You're not fooling around.

-No way.

One single layer of cheesecloth.

Tie it into a tidy satchel.

All right.

Will you do the honors?

-Oh, sure.

Let's go this way.

-Okay.

-And then I'll go this way, and you can put it down.

-All right.

There we go.

-There we go.

-Make sure it's secure in there.

All right, I'm going to cut this because we don't need all that string.

-We do not.

-And this is going to go into the multicooker with our oxtails.

-Okay.

-Okay, so we just have a few more things to really build out this traditional Hawaiian soup.

We have eight jujubes.

These are kind of firm on the outside, tacky on the inside, like a marshmallow.

They're also called red dates, Chinese dates, Indian dates.

You can find them all under that name.

And they are going to go inside the multicooker with the oxtails -- eight of them.

I also have one ounce of dried shiitake mushrooms.

-Serious umami.

-Serious umami.

We have 1/2 cup of raw peanuts.

These are going to give our soup a creamy texture in the end.

-Mm!

-All right, and we have 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 1/2 teaspoon of table salt, and, finally, 8 cups of water.

I'm just going to give this a little stir, make sure everything is distributed well in there.

So this is going to go on a high-pressure setting for one hour.

-All right.

-So the lid is on.

And before we start, you always want to make sure that your pressure valve is closed.

Mine says "seal," so it is closed.

-You're in business.

-Yes.

So I'm going to set it to high pressure cook for one hour.

All right.

[ Pot beeps ] Okay, Bridget, so it's been an hour and a half.

The oxtail has cooked for an hour, and then I used 30 minutes to slow-release the pressure in the pressure cooker.

-Okay.

-But before I take the lid off, I just want to make sure that any extra pressure that might be remaining is out.

So I'm going to just hit the "vent" button.

So I think we're in the clear to take the top off.

-Okay.

[ Pot beeps ] -Always open it away from yourself.

Just a little steam.

-Ohh!

-Yeah.

It's beauteous.

-Ohh!

Oh, that smells so good.

-Yeah, it does.

And since we are done with this satchel, we're going to take it out.

And I'm just going to take everything out of the pot except for the stock.

-Okay.

-All right, so we got everything out of here.

I'm going to just tent it with foil so the meat doesn't dry out.

-Okay.

-All right, we're going to strain out the broth.

We got all of our broth strained.

As you can see, the jujubes are still there.

-Thank you, jujube.

-Thank you, jujube.

We don't need you anymore.

And so, now we have left a little layer of fat on the top of our beautiful, clear broth.

But we need to let it settle for about five minutes, just to get a clear distinction between broth and fat.

And then we'll skim it off.

Okay, so it's been five minutes.

And as you can see, there's a little layer of fat on top.

I'm just going to skim that off just using a spoon.

-Okay.

The multicooker did a great job of not really incorporating that fat into the broth, because down here, it is gorgeous.

-It did.

Yeah, that's the clear broth that we are working for, and we shall get it.

All right.

That looks amazing.

I'm going to return it to the multicooker.

Okay, so now I'm going to return this to a simmer by using the "saut" feature.

There we go.

-That's the multi part of the multicooker.

-It is.

It does multiple things.

All right, so while that's coming to a simmer, we're going to prep some vegetables that will go into this soup.

-Great!

-We have some gai choy here.

-Mmm!

-Looks really good.

We're going to cut this into two-inch pieces.

-All right.

-So this is about a pound of gai choy.

Okay, so now we're going to deal with those cooked shiitake mushrooms that we had in the pot with our oxtails.

We're going to cut these shiitakes.

And this is optional.

I mean, if you like whole mushrooms, you can certainly keep them whole.

-Okay.

-But I think cutting them is prettier.

All right.

Okay.

It's simmering, so I'm just going to turn it off.

[ Pot beeps ] And now I'm just going to go in with the gai choy.

All right.

Now, it's only going to take three minutes, and it should be ready.

Okay, it's been three -- Are you anxious?

It's been three minutes.

And it's ready.

So I'm going to just give it a little taste, see if we need to give it any extra love.

-All right.

-Oh.

Uh-oh.

-Uh-oh.

Is it too good to share?

-Oh, man, it's too good to share.

You're out of luck today.

I'm going to add a little bit of soy sauce.

-Okay.

-Just a little.

All right, so we're ready to build out our soup.

And we're going to start with the oxtails.

Oh, man, this is my favorite part.

-Mmm.

Oh, the little peanuts.

-Little peanuts, yeah, for creaminess.

Little mushroom?

-Yes, please.

-Yeah.

And now for some broth.

Friends first.

-Ah!

-Oh, that's perfect.

-[ Gasps ] That's beautiful.

-I'm going to top with a little cilantro.

We have some accouterments.

-Okay.

-Right?

And we have some scallion.

A little extra soy for you?

-Please.

-All right.

-Mmm.

-And how about a little ginger?

-Yes!

-Yeah, right?

We've worked so hard to get this good, clear, gingery broth.

-I'm gonna load that up there.

-Yes, indeed.

-Mmm!

Mmm.

This is one of the most vibrant-flavored soups I've ever, ever had.

-It does have, like, a very, very subtle sweetness that doesn't linger over that came from those jujubes.

-I'm loving the hit of the fresh Ginger at the end.

-Yeah.

-Soup perfection.

-I think so.

-Warms my heart, and so do you.

-So sweet.

-Well, if you want to make this beautiful soup from Hawaii, it starts with cooking the oxtails with flavorful ginger, Chenpi, and jujubes.

Naturally release the pressure first for the most tender oxtails.

Wilt the gai choy in the hot broth to retain freshness.

From "America's Test Kitchen," multicooker Hawaiian oxtail soup.

You can get this beautiful recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with product reviews and select episodes.

And those are all on our website, americastestkitchen.com/tv.

Big mahalo to you.

Mmm!

-Let us help you with dinner tonight.

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