Hi Anita – you always need to use a thin liquid in the pot. If you’re cooking pot in pot, the liquid (water) needs to be under the dish with the liquid in it. Your pressure cooker will not come to pressure with just the liquid in the cooking dish, you need liquid in your inner pot as well. It doesn’t matter whether your cooking soup or chicken in the dish on the trivet, you need waters underneath the dish as well. 🙂

Hi Donna – I haven’t tried just 1/2 cup rice in my 3 quart, but you should be able to half this recipe without any other changes https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-white-rice/

Hi Melissa – are you leaving enough space around the sides of the pot for the steam to come up around it?

Since the PiP never attains pressure it never gets to the Normal release stage.

What on earth am I doing wrong?

Hi Carol – no, I don’t soak my rice before cooking. I typically cook rice for 3 minutes plus a 10-minute natural pressure release https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-white-rice/

The dish closer to the bottom cooks slightly faster than the dish above it. Although cook time will vary depending on the type of pan you’re using and whether the bottom dish is covered by the top dish or if there is a rack between the pans. A covered dish slows down the cook time.

Yes, you’ll add two minutes to both dishes and you’ll adjust the cook time so top and bottom are about the same. You can do this by cutting your meat into larger or smaller pieces so the cook time is similar.

If your trivet has handles and you can safely remove the hot pan without the foil sling, you do not need it. Some sizes of pans work better with the trivet than others.