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Inside the Home of Instant Pot

nytimes.com

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Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#121

Post by ghaff »

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.

The problem is that bread comes in different shapes and sizes and a lot of us like bread with a good crust. Not that I've used one in years but my recollection is that bread makers didn't handle any of that very well (nor did they really knead effectively).

They were fairly popular at one point but they've pretty much fallen off the radar--I expect because they don't really make very good bread.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#122

Post by kitcar »

bigtex wrote: post #105

If you get the bluetooth enabled version, you can have delicious steel cut oats ready for breakfast. You just set the time you want it finished and wallah! https://instantpot.com/portfolio-item/smart-bluetooth/

Another tip - if you just let the steel cut oats soak overnight they will cook in ~50% of the time the "old fashion" way

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#123

Post by anonu »

I thought this was going to be an article about the marijuana industry and the rise of e-cigs. In fairness, there's an interesting article to write there too..

EDIT: Great idea to write an article like this right before the holidays. Sometimes I wonder if the author owns stock in the companies they are basically promoting...

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#124

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

unmole wrote: post #9
pmoriarty wrote: post #4

I 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.

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

I mean, incidents do happen:

https://pics.onsizzle.com/why-im-not-allowed-to-cook-dinner-...

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#125

Post by ghaff »

mattmaroon wrote: post #107
baldfat wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When anything doubles in sales for 6 straight years I think this kind of article is warranted. When it is a top 5 item across stores on Black Friday. The story is how a small Canadian company has such religiously loyal customers and evangelist. I think it is a far article. I bought myself one in September. I love to cook and cook 70% of meals. Almost everything is from scratch and takes over an hour. I now use this I…

I think to OPs point, is not that articles in general aren't warranted. It's just that this one was useless. It doesn't tell me what instant pot did to make it beat out rivals other than some nonsense about sensors. And sending units to reviewers is paid advertising. I'd like to hear more about that. Was that his plan from the beginning? Make the same device everyone else does at the same price but get blog reviews?

The article does get into the viral marketing etc. but, like you, I would like to hear more. I'm honestly not sure why the Instant Pot took off when (admittedly mostly much more expensive) electric pressure cookers have been around for ages. Though, reading the article, it's also not clear to me if the founder really knows why it became so successful either.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#127

Post by Rezo »

Lots of people seem to be wondering why Instant Pot has become a hit while electronic pressure cookers have existed as a category for quite some time.

I personally think it's a great case of tipping points, networking effects and branding all working together.

The Instant Pot is a genuinely good product, so it didn't have a trouble finding early users. These people then produced recipes, books and videos not for pressure cookers, but for the Instant Pot specifically. There's 1600+ books for Instant Pot on Amazon, everything from how to cook Keto meals to Indian food. If you have a Breville Fast Slow, and I have a Cuisinart CPC-600 pressure cooker, the cooking times, settings and pressure levels aren't transferable between the two, and may produce quite different results. Hence the networking effect of everyone having the same brand and model of cooker, combined with the tipping point of reaching a certain mass of Instant Pot users, causing an explosion of recipes and guides, which again drives further adoption.

So why don't people create "Breville Fast Slow Pressure Cooker" recipes in the first place? I think it's because of the branding. The Instant Pot name itself is already fun and self-describing, and the marketing downplays the pressure cooking aspects. Pressure cooking has a negative association historically from a safety point of view. So while everyone tries to sell electronic pressure cookers, I think most people who buy this product aren't interested in pressure cookers at all, instead they're specifically getting an Instant Pot. And while technically they may be the same, the customers don't necessarily perceive it that way.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#128

Post by hirundo »

pjc50 wrote: post #51
lighttower wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need two lids and pots? I understand the pot, you can store it in the fridge. But why the lid?

I'm guessing one in the fridge and one in the cooker, so once you've cooked multiple days of meals you don't have to have the same thing continuously.

Just so.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#129

Post by saltmanisacuck »

bunderbunder wrote: post #112
mattmaroon wrote: post #106

This article glosses over the real story which is how did Instant Pot win when their product is functional similar to ones that have existed for a long time? (And no, it's isn't sensors, they all regulate heat and have a valve that prevents explosion.) This is the same as when people write articles about AirBnB and act as if they invented the space when VRBO was there for years. I have no problem with stories about a…

I only skimmed, but I don't think it does. As an owner of an Instant Pot that gets regular use, and another pressure cooker that lives in storage now, I think I can take a stab at it: Compared to stove top pressure cookers, it's just easier. Stove top ones require constant attention and fiddling to manage the heat an pressure properly. With the Instant Pot, put food in, close lid, set time, go watch One Life to Live…

I bought one last year, when my slow cooker died, thinking it would be similarly useful. I did so mostly because I'd had a few friends who raved about theirs.

It turned out that it was better at pressure-cooking than my pressure-cooker, and the bluetooth model (which I assumed would be a dumb gimmick) was actually helpful. Turns out it was handy to be able to check on dinner while hanging out with the family.

My only wish is that they were a little more straight forward about how simple it really is. I'd love a variant that just had pressure and temperature controls, instead of the dozen named preset buttons. Or if they put the presets in a distinctly separate section of the panel or something.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#130

Post by ghaff »

runj__ wrote: post #92
jaytaylor wrote: post #17

Great 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?

I'd argue that's just how stews are. It's quite rare that they have an interesting mouthfeel or look particularly appetizing. I can understand making a stew out of tough beef but I'd rather rather spend money on a nice cut of meat or just eat chicken. This is of course 100% subjective, sautéing is to me a much more interesting way to cook food (boiling things that needs to be boiled beforehand), I'll probably get can…

This is probably the reason I don't use my stovetop pressure cooker all that much. I just don't make a lot of the one pot stews and such that they especially excel at. I have a few recipes that I make now and then but it isn't a go to appliance for me. It's also the case that I work from home a fair bit of the time so getting a meal on the table with a short cooking time isn't major consideration.
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