Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/04/06/im-cooking-everything-i-can-2.html
…
4 Likes
The Instant Pot has a pretty good interface, browning mode (labeled “saute”) and defaults to starting whatever cook cycle if you’ve hit any buttons and haven’t hit any modifying (extended time/pressure) buttons after that for a few seconds. Easy to back out and reprogram. Similar pricing.
3 Likes
Probably the 3nd time you’ve posted about this electric pressure cooker and i feel compelled to extol its virtues every time. I bought one for my mom a few years ago on a whim, before you’d posted about it, and she uses it a few times a week. A few years later after heavy use and it still works perfectly, so much so that a cousin that recently got married was trying to borrow it to make lunch… i took that as a cue and i bought her one as well.
It cooks foods way faster than by regular means 
highly recommended.
6 Likes
I bought a virtually identical model (maybe the same model) branded with some cooking show name. $10.00 at Goodwill!
I found an instruction book online for a slightly fancier model that touched on all the vital points.
The cooker is incredibly sturdy, easy to clean, and functional.
I actually gave it its first real test (rice doesn’t count) over the weekend. I used the Brown mode to brown the sides of cubed beef, then dumped in the usual chopped vegetables, a can of diced tomatoes, and a can of string beans (undrained; that supplied the liquid). I had a half a container of Chinese take-out rice, so I tossed that in.
15 minutes on high pressure did the trick. The 1/2 cup or so of rice kind of half-dissolved, half-expanded and made it all really thick. No need to serve over noodles or rice.
6 Likes
A few months ago I found one of these Instapot clones at Home Depot for $25 as a blowout After Xmas sale.
I love this! It has replaced my rice cooker, my veggie steamer, and my slow cooker. AND I can actually get the advantages of a pressure cooker. One of these days I’ll have to dig into the recipe sites because these are amazing. Far more use than when I built my sous vide machine!
8 Likes
Instant Pot wins, hands down.
3 Likes
Can we send in suggestions? This could be the new “Will it blend?”.
3 Likes
Gotta get those sweet, sweet referral dollars.
2 Likes
I bought this at boingboing’s suggestion a couple of years ago. It slow cooks fine but a wider surface area on the bottom would be nice. The pressure cooker works initially, but I rarely use it and despite that the plastic bit that makes it pressurize broke off after about a year. Also, the issues mentioned above about ‘did I actually press the correct buttons to actually start this process?’ can waste a lot of time in the kitchen and I HAVE to have the manual on hand for this reason.
Rice is a problem as you often need to go through multiple rounds. The process of depressurizing, checking, closing, re-pressurizing is much more complex than simply setting a basic $12 rice cooker and only slightly faster.
I do use it for slow cooking all the time and it was indispensable during my kitchen remodel: healthy cooking without an actual kitchen is awesome. The fact that it locks is great for making bone broth, since my dog can’t get into it when I leave the house.
I got it because I had a small space, but I still find I prefer a separate rice cooker so it didn’t really serve its purpose for me. Since I can’t use the pressure cooker feature, I’d have been better off with a $30 slow cooker and a $12 rice cooker. This unit is also tall and doesn’t fit well in many shelf/cabinet arrangements.
It’s really not for everybody. If somebody knows where I can buy a replacement for the 12 cents worth of plastic let me know.
4 Likes
I don’t really mind, though i do like to give BB shit about it
1 Like
My experience with Fagor has been very good for obtaining replacement/repair parts
http://www.fagoramerica.com/shop2/replacement_parts/lux_multi_cooker_6_quart
They list 4 or five different multi cookers, so check the size and label.
I got an instant pot and have been using it 10x more than my old slow cooker, probably 5x more than my slow cooker and pressure cooker combined. Trendy or no, it has helped me do more cooking for my family and less eating out.
4 Likes
Think of Libertarians. Think of a whole pile of crabgrass. Think of an adorable kitten. I love the word “everything!”
2 Likes
Thanks!
1 Like
Everything Mark?
3 Likes
PSA:
8 Likes
I’m cooking everything I can think of in my Fagor multicooker
Have you thought of cooking an equally sized Fagor multicooker in it?
5 Likes
I was deeply distressed that my George Foreman Grill wasn’t big enough to grill George Foreman’s cat, much less George Foreman.
4 Likes
What if you want to make several different things at once without mixing them all together? I like having my rice cooker separate from my slow cooker, for instance. I might want to make rice for lunch sometime during the six hours the slow cooker is in use making supper.
2 Likes
I think that’s a fair question to pose, but i think of it as a bonus. The electric pressure cooker is able to do more than just the one thing. Granted so can the rice cooker, but having appliances that can fulfill more than one role is an advantage.
1 Like
But this is also where pressure cooker function can shine, shave off a lot of time compared to the slow cooker, usually with same results.
