Instant Pot - Worth the Hype?

moonangel12 wrote: »

whoami67 wrote: »

I bought one on a Black Friday deal last year. I'm trying really hard to start using it, but really it was a waste of money for me. I don't like the texture of chicken cooked in it. I spent an hour cooking a spaghetti squash in it yesterday (I had to cook it twice as the first time it didn't get done at all). It would have been much faster in the oven and it tastes better made in the oven. I have enjoyed it for making bone broth and yogurt, and the sweet potatoes I "baked" came out perfectly.

I wonder if it was the squash?? I have cooked spaghetti squash in 8 minutes in mine, which, in the summer beats heating up the house for an hour with the oven (we have one room AC unit and it can’t keep up).

The lack of oven use is a big part of why I use it so often in the summer... saves a lot of heat in the house!

Yes, pretty much all instructions I read were in agreement that it should be cooked 7-9 minutes. It was not a large squash. I cooked it for 8, did natural release for about 15 minutes. It was hard as if I hadn't cooked it at all. I even rechecked to verify I hadn't left the vent open. I repeated the process and it was cooked, but didn't, of course, have that nice flavor it gets from the oven where the edges of the cut squash start to caramelize just a tiny bit.

Then the large volume of steam from the water in the pot when I opened it heated up the house anyway.

I also add a little baking soda so the bean soak, I read a while back it can help with the “side effects” of beans.

Dried beans, peas and natural cat food are are well prepared in a pressure vessel.

(Hmm...MFP ate my comment, it appears..Hopefully this one posts..)

If you make a lot of curries, rice, or soups (and I make all of the above), the IP is a beautiful invention. I'm so happy with mine, and I rarely bust out my crockpot anymore. Just be forewarned if you're concerned about the counter space,though...once you start the IP obsession, it won't just be the IP taking up space, but also all of the pans/lids/inserts/extra special crap you'll want to go with it..LOL

I've never been tempted to get an Instapot because I hate that stringy pulled texture of most braised meats. The pulses I cook most often are lentils which don't take that long to cook conventionally.

However, I am a huge fan of my Anova sous vide set up. It is a wand that is 12 inches long and 2 inches in diameter so takes as much room to store as an immersion blender in a drawer. You don't need a vacuum sealer these days as ziplock bags work well enough for cooking sous vide. Cheap cuts of meat are tender after a very long low cook (talking 24 hours or so) but retain a meaty steak-like texture. The hubby doesn't agree for all dishes because he insists curries should be braised because that stringy texture holds more sauce.