This is the complete opposite of Juicero .
I am confused. How so?
Inside the Home of Instant Pot
31–40 of 206 posts
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#32This is the complete opposite of Juicero .
I am confused. How so?
One interpretation: Juicero is about making you reliant on them (the machine is useless without their packets), whereas this is about expanding what you can do as a home cook.
Technological inventions that fall in this latter category are where the real value for people is, even though the press and investors are a little too obsessed with the former at times.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
This fear of exploding pressure cookers seems to be a uniquely American phenomenon. Pressure cookers are used by pretty much every middle class Indian household and I have never heard of an explosion. They all come fitted with a 'safety valve' that pops to let out the pressure before it can reach a dangerous point. It also reminds me if this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
That's because if a pressure cooker explodes in America (or more generally, the West) and kills someone it's a national news item: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/mum-... You haven't heard about Indians killed by pressure cookers because it simply doesn't make the news.
Speaking as one who is American born married to a woman from the subcontinent ...
We’ve had accidents involving traditional pressure cookers 2 or 3 times. It’s not really an explosion though we’ve called it that. There’s a rubber emergency valve that pops out and a jet of high pressure steam rockets up. Usually our ceiling gets coated with gravy or orange colored lentils. Once this happened 5 minutes before dinner guests arrived so we all just went out to eat instead! With more experience we’ve avoided the issue (don’t cook lentils that clog up the outflow tube). But it’s still a worry.
Incidentally we’ve been using the instant pot for the last year now and it’s great. Bought them as presents for various members of the extended family too. It plays s cute little song when t starts and stops. No psuedo-explosions or orange colored ceilings either.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#34I use a Cuisinart pressure cooker like a chain smoker. I cook a vegetable stew that lasts 4 or 5 meals, then cook my next vegetable stew for the next 4 or 5 meals, and so on. No recipes. Basically what's fresh and in season from the farmers market with legumes (lentils, beans, peas, et), nutritional yeast, herbs or flavoring (usually ginger or jalepenos) and water. Then salt to taste, topped with nuts, and crispy veg…
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Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#35Great in theory, but I've just been reminded that I haven't liked anything that comes out of it. Things turn out kind of weird imho. For example, carrots we're too soft, spinach was completely crushed and an ugly green. The texture always put me off. Anyone else have a similar experience?
Most meals with varied ingredients you shouldn't just throw everything in at once. Also it's not uncommon to add things at the end (sliced almonds, french fried onions, scallions, etc) to vary up the texture. There are 'one pot' set it and forget it meals you can make if you want but you'll get more out of it if you use a variety of techniques for the different ingredients used.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#36I wonder what the statistics for Instant Pot explosions are. Are those independently tracked in any way? I've considered getting one of those, but have serious concerns about their safety.
Electric ones are safer than stove top ones that are manual. I've had the latter explode in my kitchen way back in 80s due bad luck. Food particle got lodged in pressure vent inside and its lit exploded open destroying overhead vent. Loudest bang ever and haven't used it much since. But electric ones are much weaker and have so many safety I would trust it.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#37We received one last Christmas. Use it regularly for beans and pot roast. The suggested cook times in the manual were a little too long though--and that matters in a pressure cooker. A couple minutes can make the difference between success and slop.
25 minutes for dry beans and 30 minutes for a decent-sized roast is more than enough time to get the job done.
Fantastic job, Mr. Wang!
edit: I'm just doing black beans. Larger ones may need more time.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#38I own an Instant Pot and I wasn't impressed. The rice sticks unlike a real rice cooker and the pressure cooking was slow. I followed some normal pressure cooker recipes and I had to double or triple the time.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#39thats so funny, i was just considering buying one of these after learning about their existence earlier today. these things are great because you can make rice, beans and baked potatoes. if you buy a nice bread machine too, all the essentials are covered and you are all set up to save a whole lot of money. after reading this article and these comments, i will definitely pull the trigger on one of these. the only problem is that there are so many models, i dont know which one to get.
Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot
#40I was under the impression that instant pot was not the inventor of the electric slow cooker / rice maker / pressure cooker hybrid, they were just the ones to import the concept from China and market it to North American audiences. Can anyone who lived in China in the late 90s confirm - was the instant pot style of pressure cooker popular back then, or is the instant pot brand truly the original I nventor of the hybr…
China since 2001 here. Most of the early rice cooker type pots didn't do 'pressure cooking' but obviously rice cooking in a confined space does have a pressure element potentially so it's not a huge leap. Not sure when the first ones with this leap appeared. Definitely before this guy named it in English. Given that he didn't have huge capital it's 99-100% likely he just rebranded and/or slightly modified an existing device and paid to get safety approvals for North American markets, thus making it import-capable. Note that they had a recall in 2015 which sort of implies they are not engineering in North America for the North American market. https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2015/Instant-Pot-Pressure-Cooke...