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How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

bbc.co.uk

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Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#301

Post by ydant »

bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #256
dahdum wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Japanese curry (beef or pork) comes out fantastic, it's a simple recipe to start and even easier in the Instant Pot. Freezes and reheats very well.

Do you have a favorite Japanese curry pressure cooker recipe that you'd like to share?

The store-bought semi-dry curry seasoning cubes ("Golden Curry") work great for this if you're ok with less "recipe" and more "combine a couple of ingredients".

A box of these:

https://www.wegmans.com/products/international-foods/asian-f...

Add about 6lbs of de-boned / de-skinned thighs, a few pounds of cubed potatoes, and and some onions chopped coarsely. You might want to add some salt.

Brown the chicken first, or don't - it'll be good.

Saute the onions first, or don't - it'll be good.

~20 minutes of pressure (40 minutes total) later and you'll have an excellent meal of quick and easy curry.

Most of the family-sized instant-pot meals we make are like this - one pre-made sauce or spice pack, chicken thighs, some simple vegetables and 20-30 minutes under pressure then served over rice. Pretty much any bottle of "Asian" sauce or small jar/can of curry paste (Thai, Indian, Japanese) works great.

The main variations are in the sauce, and the preparation of the thighs - the texture / experience difference between adding the chicken in pre-cubed / whole / whole then shredded is pretty significant.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#302

Post by pkamb »

lotharbot wrote: post #284
pkamb wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That one appears to be an old model and is out of stock everywhere. And from the reviews, it does not seem to actually seal the lid of the pot. No better than the cutting board I currently place on top of the pot to "seal" the lid. - "Lid is too big, not even close to sealing." - "very loose fit" - "This cover just rests on top of the Instant Pot liner. I was expecting it to "snap" on, similar to Tupperware, or somet…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K082HI4?psc=1 some reviews complain of fit, but a lot more say it's perfect. YMMV of course.

Good find; I don't think that product existed a couple months ago when I was looking. Purchased and fingers crossed that it snaps on tight!

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#303

Post by fencepost »

emcq wrote: post #276
mmanfrin wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hard or soft boiled eggs -- bonus is that when you pressure cook them, it makes the shell stupid easy to get off (crack a ring around the middle, then pull the shell off). 5mins for hard, 4 mins for softer yolk, 1 min for runny (like for eggs benedict), quick release pressure + put in to an ice bath when done.

I've never tried pressure cooking my eggs, but in minimizing prep my favorite way is to steam them. Put a little water in a pot (maybe half an inch), cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to low for 7 minutes and you have a perfect hardboiled egg. You should still have a bit of water in the pot when done, but not too much to delay boiling. End to end in about 8 minutes you have a cooked egg! The boiling is almost insta…

Unless you're using much smaller eggs than I do, 7 minutes must leave you with almost wet yolks. With standard US "Extra Large" eggs, 13 minutes is a fully-opaque yolk, down to around 9-10 minutes where the center of the yolk is much darker. It's been a while, but I think US "Large" eggs maybe only subtract about a minute from those times.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#304

Post by eddiecalzone »

huphtur wrote: post #216
shostack wrote: post #115

Have had one since Black Friday. I feel generally competent in the kitchen to the point where assembling a nice meal (dare I say gourmet?) from scratch without a recipe is relatively easy for me. That said, I've found the Instant Pot to have a steep learning curve. For starters, you can't easily check on the food while it cooks, so if you are experimenting with large batch sizes and timing you are kind of gambling an…

You can't just mention how it makes great oatmeal without providing us the recipe! Please?

I have a WMF stovetop pressure cooker and love it. Haven't tried an IP before, so YMMV. I make oatmeal for the week on Sundays using Apple/Cinnamon or dried fruits:

Ingredients

  1 tablespoon butter
  1 cup steel cut oats
  3 1/2 cups water
  1/4 cup sliced raw almonds
  1/4 teaspoon salt
For Apple/Cinnamon:

  1 large apple, peeled, cored and diced
  1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For Cranberry/Cherry:

  1/3 cup dried cranberries
  1/8 cup dried cherries
  2 tablespoons light brown sugar
Directions

Add butter to pressure cooker and set to sauté. When butter is melted add the oats and toast, stirring constantly, until they start to darken and smell nutty, about 3 minutes.

Add water and rest of ingredients.

Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes (stovetop) or 10 minutes (electric).

Turn off pressure cooker and use a natural pressure release for 10 minutes, then release any remaining pressure.

Stir, cover and let thicken for 5 to 10 minutes.

Top with milk, nuts and additional brown sugar, if desired.

Adapted from: http://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-cinnamon...

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#306

Post by dahdum »

ydant wrote: post #301
bostonvaulter2 wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a favorite Japanese curry pressure cooker recipe that you'd like to share?

The store-bought semi-dry curry seasoning cubes ("Golden Curry") work great for this if you're ok with less "recipe" and more "combine a couple of ingredients". A box of these: https://www.wegmans.com/products/international-foods/asian-f... Add about 6lbs of de-boned / de-skinned thighs, a few pounds of cubed potatoes, and and some onions chopped coarsely. You might want to add some salt. Brown the chicken first, or…

We use the curry cubes too, and usually buy the "beef for curry" packages from the market, so it's doubly easy.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#307

Post by janfoeh »

narag wrote: post #282
janfoeh wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happened to my parents and me, back in the mid-90s. Luckily, nobody was in the kitchen the moment it happened. All I remember is that it left a decent dent in the vent hood above the stove, and Gulasz... Gulasz everywhere. Then again, I was also right next to an exploding Mokka / Espresso stovetop cooker, so maybe I am simply unlucky :) I still own a pressure cooker and use it regularly - a cheap one from IKEA at tha…

I remember somethin similar with spagetti bolognesa, but it wasn't the pot fault, but a friend that mistakenly thought it was already cold enough. She had some burns and instead of a feast, the guests had to become an emergency cleaning squad. Fortunately the dessert was saved: a condensed milk can also made in the pot into delicious toffee.

Yikes. I hope your friend did not suffer any permanent damage.

Thanks for telling me about the recipe! I never knew Dulce de Leche could be made in a pressure cooker - that's on my to do list for tomorrow now.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#308

Post by lightlyused »

Cult member here.

When I got mine after black friday, I made an chicken curry (my own spice blend) and it was fantastic. Total time from start to finish was about 30 minutes and only 10 of that was prep time, cutting onions/meat, blending spices, sautéing and roasting the spices. I think I did 8 minutes on high pressure, then natural pressure release. I've also made steel cut oats, jambalaya, rice, chili, and bean soup from dried beans. Clean up is easy which is a big plus in my book.

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#309

Post by robocat »

alphakappa wrote: post #75
rnernento wrote: post #65

It's great to see the Instant Pot on Hacker News. A couple of key takeaways: - There's no marketing magic here, this is just a great product. - It's ugly, and the interface is weird. Doesn't matter, it gets the job done. - Pressure cookers have been around for a long time, they're a really great cooking technology marred by some serious safety and inconvenience issues. There are a bunch of companies competing in Sous…

Use the Breville version, and you will not complain about the user interface. The whole thing is gorgeous.

I chose my microwave by searching for a nice UI (knobs not keypad).

Breville was it.

Do they work especially hard at making devices usable?

Re: How the Instant Pot cooker developed a cult following

#310

Post by kriro »

How open and hackable/interfacable is the Instant Pot? I own a Thermomix which is pretty locked down and closed. I'd love a machine with that functionality (good blade+heating pot in one basically) and the ability to build my own tools to interact with it. The guided cooking of the Thermomix is pretty neat (essentially a touchscreen with instructions and preloaded recipes). I'd love that in open (use my own recipes etc.).
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