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Inside the Home of Instant Pot

nytimes.com

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Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#151

Post by azurezyq »

dogruck wrote: post #114
nichtich wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty weird when you consider how food trends go. In China, back in the 90s, my parents use a pressure cooker and a wok for everything. And it's the norm as for most families I know both parent work and they have to come home at 5:30 and put food on the table at 6:30, with no easy option like frozen pizza. Now with supermarkets and food delivery you don't need to cook if you don't want to, and if you do choose…

I really liked this comparison. You might be right! Can you say more? For example: 1. Back in the day, in the US, easy pre-made home meals were the rage. Frozen meals. Microwave dinners. Meals from a can. I don’t mean, “yeah, sure, we still have those today.” I mean, “This is the new society, this is the future, and this food is delicious and amazing!!!” Was that ever a trend in China? 2. Is there a “Blue Apron China…

(as a Chinese)

1. I don't think there was a trend like that except for instant noodle soups. Actually we are proud of being able to cook and generally frozen meals never worked well for Chinese stirfry things. After staying in US for several years I'm still not convinced those meals are "delicious".

2. Nothing I am aware of. At least noting at that scale. Premium food delivery is ubiquitous so you don't need blue apron for speed. Buying veggies is also not hard. Also be apron only saves you for preparation, which is the easiest part in Chinese cooking.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#152

Post by saosebastiao »

EADGBE wrote: post #141
rbobby wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> much slower than a gas stove There ya go right there! Electric stoves are "slow" to heat up and "slow" to change temperatures. You're used to the gold standard :)

So many people are afraid of gas ranges. It's ridiculous. My wife is literally terrified she'll burn the house down. Yet we use a giant gas-powered pressure cooker in the basement to take warm showers and somehow that's okay. We used our gas range even when the power was out, to toast tortillas (that's a bit tricky though, but worked well), and even in a pinch during a multi-day blizzard as an emergency heat source (…

I’m not afraid of them, but I won’t ever get one. Induction ranges are superior in every possible way :)

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#153

Post by dagw »

rbobby wrote: post #135
mattmaroon wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Idk, my grandma has a similar unit she got a couple decades ago. It was cheap though I don't know how cheap. (I do know my grandma though.) Lots of competition that's similarly priced. The main benefit of the stovetop units (I have both) is speed. The heating element on the cheaper electric is drastically underpowered and can't even get a good Mailliard. The higher end ones can but they're still much slower than a ga…

> much slower than a gas stove There ya go right there! Electric stoves are "slow" to heat up and "slow" to change temperatures. You're used to the gold standard :)

Electric stoves are "slow" to heat up and "slow" to change temperatures.

Unless you have an induction stove.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#154

Post by _ea1k »

ghaff wrote: post #149
slantyyz wrote: post #147

FWIW, Instant Pot now makes a sous vide circulator too. I bought one on Black Friday, and it works pretty well (although that's from the perspective of a n00b). It's cheaper than the Anova and other big names.

It looks to be about the same price as Anova. They're both in the $120-$130 range. It's amazing how these circulators have come down in price. Wasn't that long ago your choices were DIY or about $800 for a Polyscience.

I think it is amazing that so many are still so expensive. It is just a heater, a little motor turning a fan, and a thermostat/timer. There seems to be less involved in most of them than a $30 toaster oven.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#155

Post by slantyyz »

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…

>> People with their crazy rice strategies.

You're making assumptions that your definition of "perfect" is the same as everyone else's. There are cultural differences with respect to the preference of the actual texture and stickiness of the rice.

For example, my Chinese parents basically don't like the stickiness or texture of rice made by any other culture. It might be close minded, but it does illustrate that different cultures have different standards for what makes rice "perfect".

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#156

Post by EADGBE »

saosebastiao wrote: post #152
EADGBE wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many people are afraid of gas ranges. It's ridiculous. My wife is literally terrified she'll burn the house down. Yet we use a giant gas-powered pressure cooker in the basement to take warm showers and somehow that's okay. We used our gas range even when the power was out, to toast tortillas (that's a bit tricky though, but worked well), and even in a pinch during a multi-day blizzard as an emergency heat source (…

I’m not afraid of them, but I won’t ever get one. Induction ranges are superior in every possible way :)

I haven't used induction, but it could be a game changer if and when it ever comes to the mass market.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#157

Post by slantyyz »

roel_v wrote: post #70
gambiting wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 is the simplest thing in the world" Yeah, for us in the west that's what it looks like, also many of us think 'rice is rice is rice'. But there's a huge variety all with different cooking needs, and there is a large difference between well-cooked and just-boil-until-it-looks-done rice. But, as with most single-purpose appliances, rice cookers only make sense when you use it daily so that you can leave i…

>> I've never been to a Chinese home that didn't have a rice cooker (huge selection bias in there but still).

That's a pretty fair statement. I'm of a Chinese background, and the only people I know who don't have rice cookers are people who don't cook rice often enough to merit one.

Also, I don't think I know any Chinese people who even bother cooking it the traditional way in a pot. My parents taught me how to do it when I was 10, but the only time I would ever do it that way these days is if I want the burnt crust at the bottom of the pot (sooo good when eaten with soup).

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#158

Post by slantyyz »

ghaff wrote: post #149
slantyyz wrote: post #147

FWIW, Instant Pot now makes a sous vide circulator too. I bought one on Black Friday, and it works pretty well (although that's from the perspective of a n00b). It's cheaper than the Anova and other big names.

It looks to be about the same price as Anova. They're both in the $120-$130 range. It's amazing how these circulators have come down in price. Wasn't that long ago your choices were DIY or about $800 for a Polyscience.

The Instant Pot models are on sale regularly. I paid $90 Canadian for mine.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#159

Post by tonyarkles »

saosebastiao wrote: post #152
EADGBE wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many people are afraid of gas ranges. It's ridiculous. My wife is literally terrified she'll burn the house down. Yet we use a giant gas-powered pressure cooker in the basement to take warm showers and somehow that's okay. We used our gas range even when the power was out, to toast tortillas (that's a bit tricky though, but worked well), and even in a pinch during a multi-day blizzard as an emergency heat source (…

I’m not afraid of them, but I won’t ever get one. Induction ranges are superior in every possible way :)

Every possible way except being able to take the pan off the heat temporarily without having the range freak out. At least that's my experience with the induction hob that I have (and generally just ignore the electric range).

I'm with you though. Induction is absolutely amazing. But I'd love to be able to lift the pan off to spread my crepe batter around without the hob beeping at me angrily (and shutting itself off if I take too long before putting the pan back on)

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#160

Post by ghaff »

jasonlotito wrote: post #150
mattmaroon wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'd love to know if it was intentional.

FTA: > In 2010, after several months of sluggish sales in and around Ontario, Mr. Wang listed the Instant Pot on Amazon, where a community of food writers eventually took notice. Vegetarians and paleo dieters, in particular, were drawn to the device’s pressure-cooking function, which shaved hours off the time needed to cook pots of beans or large cuts of meat. > Sensing viral potential, Instant Pot sent test units to…

Yes, but it seems as if it was starting to gather a fair bit of attention on Amazon before they sent out the test units. I suspect that the initial answer was some combination of Amazon + good product + smart positioning + good luck.

Overall, it's an interesting story about a product that succeeded largely through viral marketing but I'd have liked more detail than you're likely to get from a general interest article.

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