How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following • Hacker News Board

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#21

Post by SideburnsOfDoom » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 1:58 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #16

The Instant Pot came on the market with perfect timing, just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve. The fawning press articles claim that it was Instant Pot that took pressure cooking from niche to mainstream, but I don't buy that -- I think it would have happened anyways. It's a good pressure cooker. A good stovetop one will be faster, but it's only significant if you…

> just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve.

Pressure cookers have been around for a long time: first manufactured in 1864 according to wikipedia (1). It's just that they have been out of fashion for few decades - possibly supplanted by the microwave oven in the 1970s and 80s.

So maybe the time was right for a better design to come back. The older designs had a reputation for very occasionally exploding, or the lid flying off and getting embedded in the ceiling. Not common, but it did happen and that puts people off.

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_cooking#History

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#22

Post by koolba » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 1:58 PM UTC

AlexB138 wrote: post #2

This is pretty funny for me to read. As the article mentions many people apparently did, I picked up an Instant Pot on Prime Day last year. I had no idea there was such a following around it until reading this, I just wanted a pressure cooker. I received it, and stuck it in my closet expecting to pull it out when I needed to pressure cook something. My wife discovered it pretty soon after and began using it for sever…

What's an example of a task you didn't think it was capable of?

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#23

Post by GrinningFool » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:02 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #16

The Instant Pot came on the market with perfect timing, just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve. The fawning press articles claim that it was Instant Pot that took pressure cooking from niche to mainstream, but I don't buy that -- I think it would have happened anyways. It's a good pressure cooker. A good stovetop one will be faster, but it's only significant if you…

I think that it wasn't so much a 'geek' thing as it was that a complete generation or perhaps two forgot that they existed - and now the next generation is [re]discovering them.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#24

Post by technological » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:02 PM UTC

Indian here living in US. We used always get pressure cookers from india since they used to last longer and it's hard to find good ones here. But last prime day I brought one and I feel this is better than one which we use in India . Better - Cleaning this is a easy , ease of use and safety

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#25

Post by gervase » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:03 PM UTC

iambateman wrote: post #8

rajadigopula wrote: post #7

I have been using one for more than a year. It makes cooking so easy and quick and the flavor stays inside and food turns out really delicious. Best part is it doesn't even make slightest of the sound or smoke.One of my best buys.

I'm having dinner tonight from an instant pot but it hasn't lived up to the hype for me. What do you cook in there that you've really enjoyed?

My go-to recipes are pot roast, chicken soup, phở, and bolognese sauce. Basically, any recipe that requires boiling or simmering for a long time (and/or can be made in a slow cooker) can be made faster and (more importantly to me) tastier by the Instant Pot.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#26

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:03 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #22

AlexB138 wrote: post #2

This is pretty funny for me to read. As the article mentions many people apparently did, I picked up an Instant Pot on Prime Day last year. I had no idea there was such a following around it until reading this, I just wanted a pressure cooker. I received it, and stuck it in my closet expecting to pull it out when I needed to pressure cook something. My wife discovered it pretty soon after and began using it for sever…

What's an example of a task you didn't think it was capable of?

[deleted]

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#27

Post by oh_sigh » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:03 PM UTC

I see so many articles like these. Honestly they all read like one of those pages that is advertised at the bottom of a CNN article.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#28

Post by soylentcola » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:07 PM UTC

GrinningFool wrote: post #23

bryanlarsen wrote: post #16

The Instant Pot came on the market with perfect timing, just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve. The fawning press articles claim that it was Instant Pot that took pressure cooking from niche to mainstream, but I don't buy that -- I think it would have happened anyways. It's a good pressure cooker. A good stovetop one will be faster, but it's only significant if you…

I think that it wasn't so much a 'geek' thing as it was that a complete generation or perhaps two forgot that they existed - and now the next generation is [re]discovering them.

I bought an old-school pressure cooker last year when my rooftop garden unexpectedly produced way more tomatoes and hot peppers than I had expected. Started to get into canning and pickling as a result.

Sadly, I no longer live there thanks to a breakup but I'm looking forward to buying my next place with gardening space so I can pick up where I left off. Do these things work for canning or is it mostly just a matter of available volume?

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#29

Post by SideburnsOfDoom » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:07 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #22

AlexB138 wrote: post #2

This is pretty funny for me to read. As the article mentions many people apparently did, I picked up an Instant Pot on Prime Day last year. I had no idea there was such a following around it until reading this, I just wanted a pressure cooker. I received it, and stuck it in my closet expecting to pull it out when I needed to pressure cook something. My wife discovered it pretty soon after and began using it for sever…

What's an example of a task you didn't think it was capable of?

I have a different rice cooker / multi-function electric cooker which doesn't sell itself as a pressure cooker, though I think it does build up a slight steam pressure when in use.

If you buy a pressure cooker for "when I needed to pressure cook" you might not notice that it's also capable of being a multi-function electric cooker.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#30

Post by masklinn » Tue, Mar 07, 2017, 2:07 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #16

The Instant Pot came on the market with perfect timing, just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve. The fawning press articles claim that it was Instant Pot that took pressure cooking from niche to mainstream, but I don't buy that -- I think it would have happened anyways. It's a good pressure cooker. A good stovetop one will be faster, but it's only significant if you…

> just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve.

It's really really weird to read that, in europe pressure cookers have been mainstays of most every kitchen for decades, especially after SEB's "super cocotte" (released in '53, they'd sold 10 million by '69).