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Inside the Home of Instant Pot

nytimes.com

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Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#81

Post by jstewartmobile »

dd36 wrote: post #73
jstewartmobile wrote: post #37

We 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.…

Also depends on altitude.

I read something along the lines of +5% cook time for every 1,000 ft above 2,000 ft.

Apparently it's adjustable in their Ultra model: https://instantpot.com/portfolio-item/ultra-2/#toggle-id-15

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#82

Post by DanBC »

wheresmyusern wrote: post #42

another cool kitchen appliance with a cult following is the panasonic flashxpress. its a toaster oven that uses ir light instead of typical heating elements and convection. there are really good, cult-worthy toaster ovens and pressure cookers but unfortunately there are no such bread makers. we really need a better bread maker on the market.

What features would turn a bread maker from an ordinary appliance to an extra-ordinary appliance?

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#83

Post by toomanybeersies »

gambiting wrote: post #60
mrarjen wrote: post #59

Been using a rice cooker for some years now, it's already a huge step up from cooking it in a pot. And it seems almost nobody uses rice cookers here (NL). Fun fact, people from Asian countries are rather unlikely to know how to cook rice in a pan. I'll very likely get one of the IP's, as cooking ribs and other slow cooked meats do take a lot of time now, and pressure cookers are like playing with a bomb.

I just don't understand the point of a rice cooker, I really really don't. Cooking rice is the simplest thing in the world - throw rice in a pan with water and some salt, turn the gas on, wait 10-15 minutes. Done. Why would I buy a separate device taking precious space in my kitchen for what has to be the easiest cooking task imaginable? When you say "people [..] are rather unlikely to know how to cook rice in a pan"…

I lived in a house with 6 other people at one point when I was at university. Rice was the cheapest form of carbs you could buy, so rice was our staple food.

With the amount of rice we ate, it just wasn't practical to cook rice on the stove. We always had rice in the rice cooker (we didn't keep it warm though), if someone finished the last of the rice, they'd just add more rice and water, and turn the rice cooker on. We'd cook rice 2 or 3 times a day, it probably helped that we ate rice for 3 meals a day. Even when we moved down to 5 people, it was still so much more practical to use a rice cooker.

Anyway, my point is that if rice is your staple food, it makes sense to get a rice cooker. It's just that much easier, and saves a space on the stove. Just add rice, salt, and water, and press the start button. It means you can worry about cooking the rest of the meal, or even just go off and do something else and forget about the rice.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#84

Post by solipsism »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #69
leoedin wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your recipe only applies to certain types of robust rice. Basmati rice is not simple - if you just boil it for 15 minutes, you'll destroy it. At the very least, good basmati is steamed - you only add enough water to cook the rice (you don't drain it afterwards), then bring it to the boil before simmering it at a very low heat. It's pretty hard to reliably get right - every time I use a new stove or pan or try to cook…

This is so true. I usually only buy the one type of rice, a short grain brown rice from SunRice in Australia, and usually only when it's on special. Anyway, point being: I know I can cook this one particular type of rice to perfection in a saucepan with 1 volume-unit rice to 1.5 volume-units water. Bring it to a rapid boil for one minute, then wrap the whole pot in two dry cotton bath towels (hotbox), leave it for ~4…

People with their crazy rice strategies. I found the secret to perfect rice every single time and it's as easy as can be. The secret: cook it like pasta. Plenty of water so it won't evaporate away, test it now and then (you don't even have to taste it, you can tell by the texture), and when it's ready strain it. No other strategy has been so consistently perfect, not to mention stress-free. No ratios. Any variety. No problems.

Side bonus: a lot of that nasty arsenic washes away instead of sticking to the rice and going in your body.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#85

Post by jemfinch »

dd36 wrote: post #73
jstewartmobile wrote: post #37

We 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.…

Also depends on altitude.

Why would it depend on the altitude? It's a sealed vessel that holds (iirc) 7 psi on low, and 11 psi on high. It seems like these pressures should remain the same regardless of altitude, unless the outside atmosphere is somehow involved in the pressure release valve, which is hard to imagine.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#86

Post by akvadrako »

teddythetwig wrote: post #74
mrarjen wrote: post #59

Been using a rice cooker for some years now, it's already a huge step up from cooking it in a pot. And it seems almost nobody uses rice cookers here (NL). Fun fact, people from Asian countries are rather unlikely to know how to cook rice in a pan. I'll very likely get one of the IP's, as cooking ribs and other slow cooked meats do take a lot of time now, and pressure cookers are like playing with a bomb.

Any suggestion as to where to buy one? amazon.de?

Sure or any of the Chinese shops. The really basic ones work just as well as the expensive ones; they just might not last as long.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#87

Post by akvadrako »

gambiting wrote: post #60
mrarjen wrote: post #59

Been using a rice cooker for some years now, it's already a huge step up from cooking it in a pot. And it seems almost nobody uses rice cookers here (NL). Fun fact, people from Asian countries are rather unlikely to know how to cook rice in a pan. I'll very likely get one of the IP's, as cooking ribs and other slow cooked meats do take a lot of time now, and pressure cookers are like playing with a bomb.

I just don't understand the point of a rice cooker, I really really don't. Cooking rice is the simplest thing in the world - throw rice in a pan with water and some salt, turn the gas on, wait 10-15 minutes. Done. Why would I buy a separate device taking precious space in my kitchen for what has to be the easiest cooking task imaginable? When you say "people [..] are rather unlikely to know how to cook rice in a pan"…

Cooking rice on the stove is not the easiest thing ever. First you need to boil the water, then turn it down, then wait X minutes, then turn the stove off.

With a rice cooker you turn it on and forget about it; it always comes out perfect. When you do that every day, it's so very easily worth it.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#88

Post by felipeerias »

b1gtuna wrote: post #75

I don't know why Instant Pot became such a sensation when pressure cookers have been around for ages....

While you can't leave a traditional pressure cooker unattended, with the IP you just put the ingredients in, select the time, and forget about it. Once the timer goes off, the IP will lower the temperature and keep the food warm.

I often prepare stews right before I leave the house, so I can come back to a hearty lunch/dinner a few hours later.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#89

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

solipsism wrote: post #84
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true. I usually only buy the one type of rice, a short grain brown rice from SunRice in Australia, and usually only when it's on special. Anyway, point being: I know I can cook this one particular type of rice to perfection in a saucepan with 1 volume-unit rice to 1.5 volume-units water. Bring it to a rapid boil for one minute, then wrap the whole pot in two dry cotton bath towels (hotbox), leave it for ~4…

People with their crazy rice strategies. I found the secret to perfect rice every single time and it's as easy as can be. The secret: cook it like pasta. Plenty of water so it won't evaporate away, test it now and then (you don't even have to taste it, you can tell by the texture), and when it's ready strain it. No other strategy has been so consistently perfect, not to mention stress-free. No ratios. Any variety. No…

Oh, I should probably mention I have a bit of a penchant for hotboxing cooked food in general. So it's more of a crazy good-cook strategy than a specifically crazy rice cooking strategy.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#90

Post by gambiting »

solipsism wrote: post #84
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so true. I usually only buy the one type of rice, a short grain brown rice from SunRice in Australia, and usually only when it's on special. Anyway, point being: I know I can cook this one particular type of rice to perfection in a saucepan with 1 volume-unit rice to 1.5 volume-units water. Bring it to a rapid boil for one minute, then wrap the whole pot in two dry cotton bath towels (hotbox), leave it for ~4…

People with their crazy rice strategies. I found the secret to perfect rice every single time and it's as easy as can be. The secret: cook it like pasta. Plenty of water so it won't evaporate away, test it now and then (you don't even have to taste it, you can tell by the texture), and when it's ready strain it. No other strategy has been so consistently perfect, not to mention stress-free. No ratios. Any variety. No…

Yep, that's my strategy and that's why I don't understand the complexity people talk about. I only cook long grain rice though. I throw it in a pan with a lot of water, boil until it's done, strain. Like you said - just like pasta.
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