Instantly in Love with the Instant Pot
I hate gimmicks. I also hate kitchen appliances that serve only one function. When you come visit my house, you'll see that my counters are bare save for my electric tea kettle (which gets used several times a day) and my stand mixer (because she's a queen). I don't even have a real toaster oven, just a little two slice toaster that goes into hiding after use. So I was real eye roll-y over the Instant Pot craze. It just seemed like another unnecessary gadget that marketers were pushing, albeit rather successfully.
I started researching.
I would never use this to make yogurt. I would never make a cake in it. But I would like to make better hard boiled eggs. It seems to be good at rice- oooh risotto.... And you can make meats and meat based dishes (think pot roast, beef stew, pulled pork) in a fraction of the time. I started thinking about all those nights when I'd wanted pulled pork or a hearty, meaty dinner but it was already four thirty, I had no groceries, and it wasn't happening.
But then the sticker shock set in. Right now the Duo Plus Six Quart model is the only one reliably in stock and within the realm of being affordable at $120. If you're like me, though, $120 is a significant commitment to a kitchen appliance. I couldn't do it. But I could buy a "like new" used version from Amazon Warehouse Deals for $75 with Prime two day shipping. That I could get behind!
She arrived and she was beautiful. Until she wasn't. I set her on the counter and discovered a sizable dent. Of course I wanted to send her back, but there were no other used models in "like new" condition at that $75 price point. To replace it, I'd have to buy an actual new model. No no no, that would not be acceptable. Thankfully my father has equipped me with a rather impressive set of tools. All it took to disassemble the Instant Pot was four screws. Her bottom was off in a few moments and I simply pushed the dent out. She's dimpled still, of course, but as Dan says, she now looks distinguished.
Up first were hardboiled eggs. You pour one cup of water in the bottom of the Instant Pot, drop in the steamer basket, and place your eggs in. Lid on, turn on, and eleven minutes later (this includes the time it took for the Instant Pot to build pressure, six minutes, and actual steaming time, five minutes) my eggs were chilling in an ice bath. The cooking time is cut down a little bit from the traditional method of stove top cooking, but the real improvement comes when you go to peel the eggs. These little guys peeled so easily. If you were making egg salad or deviled eggs and had to peel a ton of them, this would be the way to go.
For dinner that same night, I made pulled pork. Unfortunately my grocery store only had enormous cuts of bone in pork butt, so I opted for a smaller boneless pork roast. Not as flavorful, not as tender, not as fatty, so I was prepared for different results. I seasoned the roast with some paprika, onion powder, black pepper, and salt. I used the sauté feature to sear all sides of the roast. I then removed it, and added one cup of water and one cup of my favorite bbq sauce to the pot. I stirred and returned the meat to the pot. After securing the lid and setting to "sealing" and not "venting" I selected the meat option on high, which is a pressure cooking time of 60 minutes.
Now before cooking begins, the unit must pressurize. This time changes depending on how much food is in the pot. I believe it took about fifteen minutes before it actually beeped that it was starting to cook. After an hour it beeped again, letting us know that it was done. We decided to let it naturally release some pressure for a bit (about ten minutes) before we released the rest of the steam and dug in.
It was incredible. Dan, the constant skeptic, was impressed. My mom, so intrigued by my play by play, begged me to order one for her too. (It arrived yesterday and she's so intimidated we're going over tonight to teach her how to use it.) Thursday night was beef stew night at my house and again the Instant Pot made some of the tastiest stew I've yet to eat. Dan was a little less enthusiastic that night because, as I learned when I was serving us dinner, he doesn't like stew. Men are funny sometimes.
Up next will be turkey chili for lunches this week. Usually it takes me over an hour on the stove as it's one of those meals that tastes better the longer it simmers. But the recipes I've collected tell me it could be a matter of minutes!
Have you fallen in love with the Instant Pot yet or are you still hovering out in the land of skepticism? Will the Instant Pot pros share their favorite recipes? Whatever your preferences, I hope you're staying warm in this frigid weather with some soothing cooking. And cookies, of course!
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| The Instant Pot Duo Plus Six Quart |
I started researching.
I would never use this to make yogurt. I would never make a cake in it. But I would like to make better hard boiled eggs. It seems to be good at rice- oooh risotto.... And you can make meats and meat based dishes (think pot roast, beef stew, pulled pork) in a fraction of the time. I started thinking about all those nights when I'd wanted pulled pork or a hearty, meaty dinner but it was already four thirty, I had no groceries, and it wasn't happening.
But then the sticker shock set in. Right now the Duo Plus Six Quart model is the only one reliably in stock and within the realm of being affordable at $120. If you're like me, though, $120 is a significant commitment to a kitchen appliance. I couldn't do it. But I could buy a "like new" used version from Amazon Warehouse Deals for $75 with Prime two day shipping. That I could get behind!
 |
| Look at this sad little dent |
Up first were hardboiled eggs. You pour one cup of water in the bottom of the Instant Pot, drop in the steamer basket, and place your eggs in. Lid on, turn on, and eleven minutes later (this includes the time it took for the Instant Pot to build pressure, six minutes, and actual steaming time, five minutes) my eggs were chilling in an ice bath. The cooking time is cut down a little bit from the traditional method of stove top cooking, but the real improvement comes when you go to peel the eggs. These little guys peeled so easily. If you were making egg salad or deviled eggs and had to peel a ton of them, this would be the way to go.
For dinner that same night, I made pulled pork. Unfortunately my grocery store only had enormous cuts of bone in pork butt, so I opted for a smaller boneless pork roast. Not as flavorful, not as tender, not as fatty, so I was prepared for different results. I seasoned the roast with some paprika, onion powder, black pepper, and salt. I used the sauté feature to sear all sides of the roast. I then removed it, and added one cup of water and one cup of my favorite bbq sauce to the pot. I stirred and returned the meat to the pot. After securing the lid and setting to "sealing" and not "venting" I selected the meat option on high, which is a pressure cooking time of 60 minutes.
Now before cooking begins, the unit must pressurize. This time changes depending on how much food is in the pot. I believe it took about fifteen minutes before it actually beeped that it was starting to cook. After an hour it beeped again, letting us know that it was done. We decided to let it naturally release some pressure for a bit (about ten minutes) before we released the rest of the steam and dug in.
It was incredible. Dan, the constant skeptic, was impressed. My mom, so intrigued by my play by play, begged me to order one for her too. (It arrived yesterday and she's so intimidated we're going over tonight to teach her how to use it.) Thursday night was beef stew night at my house and again the Instant Pot made some of the tastiest stew I've yet to eat. Dan was a little less enthusiastic that night because, as I learned when I was serving us dinner, he doesn't like stew. Men are funny sometimes.
Up next will be turkey chili for lunches this week. Usually it takes me over an hour on the stove as it's one of those meals that tastes better the longer it simmers. But the recipes I've collected tell me it could be a matter of minutes!
Have you fallen in love with the Instant Pot yet or are you still hovering out in the land of skepticism? Will the Instant Pot pros share their favorite recipes? Whatever your preferences, I hope you're staying warm in this frigid weather with some soothing cooking. And cookies, of course!
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