Meal Review – Carne Guisada
The Best Laid Plans
I had good intentions. I packed all of my dutch oven gear. I had my Camp Chef cooking table, a lid lifter, whisk broom, charcoal, charcoal chimney starter, and of course both of my dutch ovens. I thought that my afternoons in the campground would be pleasant and quiet while the girls were away that this would allow me to prepare fabulous summer camping meals! I had plans to cook this in my dutch oven, letting it simmer away and smell fabulous.
The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. I could pretend that the reason I didn’t use my dutch oven was that I didn’t have time. I did. I could pretend that I didn’t use my dutch oven because I hadn’t set it up. While this was true, setting up my outdoor cooking tools is something that I enjoy, and it really doesn’t take much time. But, it was ridiculously hot at the start of summer, and if I didn’t have to be outside in the humid air melting over an even hotter fire, I wouldn’t. The air conditioned RV was much more inviting. Yes, I know. This is not real camping. But, we were not here for camping to begin with. We were here to take care of my daughters mental health needs, so that could be used as another excuse!
Realizing that I needed to cook this meal because I had already purchased all of the ingredients, I decided to get out one of my other favorite RV Cooking Tools, my pressure cooker!
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Converting the Recipe to a Pressure Cooker
According to A Mindful Mom there are a few things to consider when converting a recipe to be cooked in a pressure cooker. (An Instant Pot is one brand of pressure cooker, there are many.) First, there should be enough liquid in the recipe. The original recipe should be something that requires quite a bit of time because the pressure cooker reduces that time by cooking under pressure. Her rule for converting cooking time is to take the time that it would have cooked over heat (two hours) and reduce it to one third. I know… math… AND fractions. But you CAN do it! Just divide the original cook time by 3 to get the number of minutes in the pressure cooker. So, armed with everything I needed and a lack of energy to cook outside, I proceeded to make Carne Guisada in the pressure cooker!
Dutch Oven Madness is the original source for this recipe. Toni, the creator of the website, decided one day that she needed to learn how to use the dutch ovens that were in her basement. In order to do this, she thought it would be best to cook in them for 365 consecutive days and to post about it. Through four seasons, she cooked outside and faithfully recorded each recipe, and later categorized them. She gave them each a grade based upon how much her family, including 7 children, liked them. Her website has been an incredible source of dutch oven recipes for me! You may want to go and check it out. It was started in 2010, but lives on still! She made carne guisada on day 131.
Following her recipe, and the pressure cooker conversions from A Mindful Mom, I got started. Here is my modified recipe:
Carne Guisada
- 1 lb. beef cubes (sirloin steak or even stew meat)
- chopped onion
- cumin, to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 (8 oz) cans of tomato sauce
- garlic powder to taste
- 1 can Ro-Tel
- 1 package instant mashed potatoes
Brown the meat in a small amount of oil, add the onions and spices, and let the onions cook down. Add the tomato sauce and lock the pressure cooker lid. Cook under high pressure for 40 minutes. When time is finished, allow to release pressure naturally. Heat water and make potatoes following package instructions. Serves 4.
It doesn’t get much easier than this! And it tasted fantastic! Toni’s family rated it an “A” and my family agreed!
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