It is currently 4:22 in the morning as I sit at my desk writing the first paragraph of this post. The house is dark other than the glow from the small desk lamp to the left of my laptop. The curious time of my writing schedule is due in part to a 4 day migraine that prevents me from lying down and to a completely whacked out sleep schedule courtesy of an addiction I suffer from. Like most people with addictions I'm embarrassed by it and haven't talked about it before today.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, why even try it? Why try something you know is scientifically proven to be addictive after even just one use? Why??
I can tell you exactly why; because you think you're different. You think you're stronger and smarter than everyone else. You think you're the one person in the world who can try it once, say "Meh. Sure that was O.K. but I don't need to do it again.", and carry on with your life the way you always have.
I thought I was that person. I wasn't. I tried it and I liked it and I wanted to do it again.
My name's Karen and the last time I used an Instant pot was about 3 hours ago.
I'm so embarrassed. I'm so weak.
If you read blogs, cooking websites or even your friend's Facebook pages chances are you've heard about the Instant Pot. It's this year's Spiralizer. If you believe the throngs of bloggers gushing over it, the Instant Pot now surpasses the previous most important revelations in cooking; fire and frozen Spring Rolls.
I thought for sure I was going to hate this thing. I was fully and completely prepared not to like it. In fact, I was kind of looking forward to being the Black Sheep of the blogging world. I mean I like cooking. It isn't a chore for me and I like doing things the old fashioned way. The right way. If that happens to take 12 hours and require a medieval cooking utensil you can only get by stealing it from a museum ... so be it.
I was not going to be suckered into this ... this ... this GADGET.
If you read the first paragraph in this post you know what happened. I kindda like this gadget. A lot.
BUT I'm reserving my review of it until I've used the Instant Pot for a month. Every day (or close to it) I'll be making something different in my Instant Pot. In case you don't happen to know what it is or what it does let me explain.
The Instant Pot is part slow cooker, part fry pan, part pressure cooker. And a few other things as well. It's a rice cooker, a yogurt maker, a food warmer and a steamer. This one small appliance does all of these things and from what I've heard, does them well.
Knowing all of this, I still didn't think I was going to like it. For one thing, who uses a rice cooker??? Who doesn't know how to cook rice in a pot? Why was cooking rice in this pot going to be any easier or better than cooking rice in a regular pot?
And yogurt. Well, making yogourt is easy too. I make it with my eyes closed and after doing it once or twice you could make it with your eyes closed too. I don't need a yogourt maker.
And pressure cooking? This was the one thing I could see the advantages in. But even so. Would a stew that had been pressure cooked for 30 minutes be as delicious as one that had been simmered for 3 hours? I had my doubts.
But I'm a tenacious little blogger, plus I'm curious, plus apparently I totally bow down to peer pressure so hopefully nobody will offer me crack in front of a police station today because I'll probably smoke it right there and then.
So with all this love in the world for the Instant Pot why did I think I wasn't going to like it? Was I just being contrary? Probably, 'cause being contrary is usually pretty fun. But the real reason I thought I wasn't going to like the Instant Pot was because of the horrors I found while Googling recipes for it.
Roast chicken? People were cooking "DELICIOUS ROAST CHICKEN!" in an Instant Pot? I doubt it. Steaming chicken in a pressure cooker isn't roasting chicken. It isn't roast anything. Just because you browned the skin beforehand doesn't make the mass of rubber encasing the bird any more appealing as it snaps back at you when you bite into it. You might be able to cook chicken in an Instant Pot but give your head a shake. The only way you can roast one in it is if you throw the whole pot and chicken into a kiln.
So that annoyed me to no end.
Then there were the "DELICIOUS CHILI RECIPES!". Browsing around at everyone's Instant Pot chili concoctions got me really worried. I wasn't seeing chili. I was seeing soup. Watery, thin, soup you would serve in a third world prison along with a side of a 3 legged cockroach.
Now I wasn't just annoyed, I was terrified for these people whose addictions had gotten so out of control they were willing to justify its use no matter what the actual outcome.
So that is why I didn't think I was going to be impressed with the Instant Pot. And why I'm still on the fence about it actually. Which doesn't explain why every night, at around midnight I start a new Instant Pot concoction. Instant Potting has replaced reading as my before bed sleepy-time routine.
In the 4 days since I've owned The Instant Pot I've made oatmeal, chili, rendered pork fat and yes ... rice in it. I have very definite opinions about how each of these things turned out compared to how they turn out when I make them my normal, old fashioned, grab the rare museum cooking utensil, way.
In one month I'm going to meet you back here to give you my full review of each and every thing I made in the Instant Pot and whether or not I think it's worth the approximately $150 price tag.
Or whether ... it's just another gadget.
A great big, gadget you wanna crush up and snort the Instant you get it.
Will you be sharing your Instant Pot recipes also?
Well part of my criteria in reviewing the Instant Pot Jessica, will be that you can use your own tried and true recipes. :) I will link to/include some of my own recipes that I try in the Instant Pot for sure. ~ karen!
There are articles that help you translate your recipe into IP. Here's one, from a useful site.
https://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-recipe-converter/
Love it, use it all the time. Rice, ribs, lasagna - yes it was as good as in the oven, chicken, soup, chili, going to try a ham - Hubby found recipe - wrap ham in tinfoil and "steam" it....let you know after Easter how it goes. The 1st thing that goes into the RV when we leave to go camping!
My Crock-Pot had it's 42nd birthday last Christmas. It's still working great (did I just jinx it?!) but am looking for a good replacement when the time comes to give it the old heave-ho. I'm all for multi-purpose appliances...if they are worth the price and do what they say they will do.
I bought one, over a month ago. Since then, I've been making Bone Broth, Stews, Soups, and all kinds of things. Love it more than my microwave!! I cooked fresh green beans to perfection. And barbeque ribs...cook in the IP and then transfer to the grill for a little bit of char! 20 minutes until ready!!! I love it!
I had an instant pot in my house. A gift from my mom. I returned it. It looked too complicated. They said you could make hard boiled eggs in it quickly. But how hard is it to boil eggs on the stove? I look forward to your review.
I'm very happy that you are doing this (even if I have to wait a month, you tease), and I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of recipes you make and like. I haven't read a lot about the IP, but I do see it popping up everywhere.
I'm actually not really a fan of the slow cooker. There are a couple things I make in mine, but overall I find most slow cooker recipes look pretty gross. I don't want a big pot of gloppy stuff with cream of something soup in it. Even when I look for healthy slow cooker recipes, none of them actually looks good enough to try. So, I am hesitant to rush into an IP because I'm afraid I'll get it and be all excited and then discover that what everyone has been raving about making in the IP is just another hunk of casserole or chicken with rubber skin. Anxiously awaiting your thoughts!
Now somebody needs to make a migraine cure that can go in the IP.
Hi sf. Part of my criteria is that I have to be able to use my own recipes in the Instant Pot. If I can't, then I have no use for the Instant Pot. I've spent years developing some of my best recipes and I'm not about to alter them or come up with new ones just to use the IP. I will try new recipes for things I don't normally make, but if I make a stew in it, I'm going to be making my own stew recipe, not some weird stew recipe that comes in the IP recipe book. ~ karen!
I agree and I'm able to use my own recipes in my pressure cooker and slow cooker. I usually just look up a pressure/slow cooker version of my dish to get an idea of cook times, and that seems to work out well most of the time. You might need to use a little less liquid as there won't be any evaporation. I would love to trade in my two appliances for one Instant Pot, especially if it also works as a rice cooker and yogurt maker, so I'm looking forward to your review!
Yup that's what I've done. Just look at recipes for cooking times (and you don't even really need that with a lot of stuff with the Instant Pot because a lot of cook times are pre-programmed) and reduce my liquid by a bit. Since the Instant Pot also sautes if something is too liquidy at the end you can just hit saute and boil it for a couple of minutes to reduce. So that is a definite plus for the Instant Pot. ~ karen!
Omigosh, I lied.
If you count the little one that makes warm dip, I have 5 crock pots! :)
Yes!!! I am not the only one!!!!
To be fair I only bought one of them!
The original is a stunning example of early 1980's kitchen decor....a wedding present.....that might actually have been regifted as it is beige with brown and burnt orange stripes!
The second one is the only one that I actually made a conscious decision to buy.....at a silent auction fundraiser where no one else had bid on it...at the end of the event mine was still the only bid.
The third and fourth came quickly. My mother decided she didn't need hers and donated it to me for the family event and then said she didn't need it back....then my son's fiancée said they wanted a bigger one and I could have their smaller one.
Honestly, I have no clue where the tiny one for warm dips came from!
But I don't see me getting rid of any of them cause when the whole family does come over there are 18+.... and multiple crock pots are the easiest ways of cooking and feeding a crowd!
I probably don't need an Instant Pot but it's an interesting idea....I don't suppose it deep fries too?
Migraines, so sorry Karen.
Menopause is actually good for something!
I too have 4 crock pots and have, mind you only once, used them all at the same time to cook, keep warm and serve food at a buffet style family gathering.
So, I won't reduce the number of crock pots I own but if this instant pot lives up to the hoopla I might be tempted.
But I'll have to get rid of something....my kitchen is not that big!
Starting to get re-interested in the IP.
Cooks Illustrated did not give a rave review of Instant Pots. If you haven't it might be of interest to read.
I like their un-biased (no adverts) reviews. Tho I was sort of wanting one of these before reading theirs, so beware.
I have had my IP for almost one year now and it is undoubtedly the best cooking appliance I have ever purchased. Throwing some frozen chicken into the pot, along with other ingredients and within an hour dinner is ready is really some kind of magic. One of my favorite things to make is clam chowder. One of the most magical things to make is potato salad. Cooking both potatoes and eggs at the same time, potato salad made from start to finish in about 1 1/2 hours and that includes pealing the potatoes and cooling them before mixing all together. One of The best things, in my opinion, is that while your food is cooking, you can clean up the kitchen so when it's time to eat your kitchen is nice and clean. I'm looking forward to the next 30 days to see what recipes are your favorites and if you have any "fails".
Gee, the more I read, the more I'm ready to order this thing and two hours ago, I'd never heard of it! I have to invite two really good cooks (gulp!) to lunch next month - I've stalled them long enough. I really hate cooking but the I.P. might be my new best friend!
I'd never heard of the VegTrug either but went on Lee Valley and would LOVE that!! I loved gardening, have a green thumb but am now in a condo with no more room on the balcony. What a great idea, though, when you have physical problems but still want to grow veggies!
I learned so much this morning, Karen!
Got one last fall; was in the market for a pressure cooker anyway after too many failed pots of chickpeas. Half hour after unboxing the IP I was tucking into a fine dish of spinach dal and congratulating myself. Finding I use it 2-3 times a week (not a meat-eater though).
Hm. The jury's still out, so since I trust you, I'll wait to hear what you say first. I've bought so many gadgets for this and that, then end up dumping them at my local Goodwill. And as I get older, I'm becoming more and more of a technical Luddite (by choice!). I mean, how are we supposed to do ANYTHING when the electricity goes out, huh? Tell me that! Can we use that thing as a tiny counter-top brazier when that happens? :)
I think half the joy of cooking is the aromas that fill the house when ox tails, or beef daube, rice pudding ... anything really, is slowly cooking or baking. How does the Instant Pot fulfill that requirement?!
Love savoring the smell of something delicious slowly cooking, nourishing the soul.
It doesn't. Which is why it isn't for everyone and why I thought I'd hate it immediately. When I didn't it was a bit of a shocker, lol. Full review in a month. ;) ~ karen!
Was expelled from Luddite Univ. when I got an Ipad and will await your IP review. Would happily replace many kitchen appliances with one (as long as it didn't didn't need the equivalent of the OED and a phD to learn to use it...). But will keep a crockpot handy to for that olfactory daylong hug.
I've never heard of this handy dandy gadget, so I'm eager to see what concoctions you come up with. Don't get crazy now!
I don't own a pressure cooker or a crock pot.
Or a rice cooker.
Or a yogurt maker.
I will be very interested to see the final verdict. I may be able to cover all the bases in one fell swoop... of the credit card. :)
I will not give in to the siren sound of yet another gadget! I have run out of space for all the appliances I just had to have over the years, and I can't justify any more. My last purchase sits on top of my soap cabinet in the den-all the rest of the hiding places are full. Please give this thing a bad review so I'm not tempted.
Soap cabinet? Your soap has its own cabinet all to itself? Lucky soap.
That cabinet is only for finished product- soap supplies have a humongus cabinet in there too, and I took over a small cabinet in the hall for drying. Don't even get me started on my canning stuff.
I love the saute feature: you can brown your meat in the same pan or use it to render down a dish that's too soupy after cooking. Also, it has a delay feature which is awesome! Instead of turning my slow cooker on & having the food sit at warm for a few hours until I get home I can delay the start. And boiled egg perfection! How many times have I looked at a pot of boiling eggs & tried to determine how long ago the water started boiling?
Oh...and perfect brussel sprouts! Sorry, Karen!
Sometimes living off-grid is a bummer.
Let me know if they come up with a LP gas or wood fired version!
LOL! Will do. ~ karen!
Except for making a few soups in my Instant Pot, I haven't used it much, but absolutely love that it is a dream to clean!
Reading all the great comments above, I will pull it out again today. What I really need from you, Sunshine, is your 30 days of recipes! Please! Looking forward to them. Could you keep us updated, weekly, with just a sentence or two?
On a different note, IT WAS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT that I ordered a Vegtrug with the cover! I am a horrid gardener (but did have a small patch of flowers last year thanks to following you on Facebook - my neighbors were ecstatic, so were the squirrels who ate them). But, reading all the gardening posts here, I so want my own herbs, tomatoes and cabbages.
I believe that this unit will stop the squirrels from eating the veggies, stop those moths, hinder the weeds and I won't have to dig up the stones at the side of the house to find soil. I will have to find your post on drilling into bricks so I can bungee cord it to the house. It is very windy here. The Vegtrug is being delivered next week. Expect questions. I will desperately need your help.
Lee Valley is calling me back today to tell me how much dirt I need to fill it. Ace has a sale on 40 lb. bags of top soil this Saturday.
Because of this ultra-friendly group, I am not ashamed to admit that I am both excited and scared.
No need to be scared... Nature does a lot of the work! Just remember to water or set it up on a timer. Good luck!
I wish I could remember how much soil I used to fill my mothers! I had it all worked out. :/ I filled hers with a combination of coco coir and my homemade compost. I'll be going over to her house this weekend to plant it already! I've grown Swiss Chard, green onion and kale seedling that are ready to be planted out. By the first long weekend she'll have a ton of food already. :) Ask me any questions you have and you know I'll do my best to help. ~ karen!
I don't have any compost. Wouldn't know where to get any.
Would it be wrong to add the soil that has Miracle Grow on the label...or is that not a good thing?
And, top soil is ok, right? I see soil marked "for vegetables."
I will be Googling coco coir.
Look at this...not even started and I don't even know what dirt (sorry..I was corrected by the Lee Valley rep...what type of soil) to use. Seedlings haha - they are on my "learn to do" list for next year.
Thank you, Karen, for your patience, and thank you Marie Anne for your moral support.
Hi Susan! Meh. Soil, dirt, whatever, lol. No to the top soil. It isn't for growing in. Just get plain old potting soil and the Miracle Grow stuff is fine. I'm not a purist about that sort of thing. Miracle Grow is a great product for people who aren't going to make their own compost or be weird, inventive and diligent with fertilizers. The MOST important part of soil is the nutrients in it. Microbes too, but the nutrients are what your plants feed on. So that means, you can't use the same soil every single year because your plants will have taken all the nutrients from it. What that means is you can use your Miracle Grow soil for the first year, but after that you'll have to add fertilizer to the soil so the plants have nutrients to take in. You can add nutrients to your old soil in following years just by watering in Miracle Grow as directed on the label. ~ karen!
Great! Thank you. By next year, I'll have gone through your past posts and have discovered how to make my own compost! Once upon a time, I Googled "compost", and vaguely recall a drum thing. Neighbors are close, so I have to be carful about any odors of rotting vegetables. Thanks, again!
Susan, ours is just four poles and chicken wire and doesn't stink. Can big as small or big as you want. Also, at least in MN, there are compost sites run by the Counties where you can go buy some. Ours is actually free, you just need to bring a bucket and shovel it yourself. It's at the same place you can drop off your leaves/wood.
Hi Mary,
We drop off our leaves/wood in a "recycle container" on the curb, weekly.
We aren't offered a site to take them to, nor a place to get compost.
But, thank you for the suggestion! I really appreciated it.
Susan.
I've never had a stinky compost pile, and I've been composting for almost fifty years now. I think the trick is to not put any animal products (meaning meat, milk, cheese, etc.) in the pile. Except egg shells and pet hair. If I'm wrong about this, somebody else here will tell you. My intent is to keep you from being fearful of making a big steaming pile of smelly stuff that will bother you and your neighbors. Compost has a distinctly nice, earthy odor.
Don't forget local farms/dairies if ya got 'em...guarantee they got plenty of fertilizer for ya!!!! :)
Now if only I could figure out a way to have a garden and keep the blasted bratty moose (aka dogs) that live with me out of it
Grammy,
I thought any food items went into a compost pile! So, only vegetable scraps.
Huh! Learn something new every day. Thank you, Grammy!
Hi Brandy,
The only farms we have are a pumpkin farm and a woman who sells honey from her peach trees, and a few fresh eggs. Thank you for your suggestion, though. I appreciate it.
Susan.
I will believe you:)
Afte over 40 yrs of baking..cooking etc..I have too many gadgets.Crock pots..processors and yes the Spiralizer:)
I make rice..all kinds ..spot on..yet caved in to a mint condition Zojirushi rice cooker used once for $24.00 it's about $250 on Amazaon.ca..
so far only the sushi rice is spot on..my traditional..even microwave methods seem to do a better job..mind you the cup was missing..but I researched..and figured it out..
Not sure I would use this new thing..I am looking forward to reading what you think.
Sorry re the migraines.
:(
It's worth it alone for the steel-cut oats. I make a pot on Monday morning, and it serves me through the week. I have never found the perfect way to peel a boiled egg without making a chippy mess...until now. Love.