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Inside the Home of Instant Pot

nytimes.com

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Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#161

Post by baldfat »

daveguy wrote: post #111
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…

> anything doubles in sales for 6 straight years I think this kind of article is warranted. If they started at 1 sale the first year they would be at 64 sales. No matter where they started they doubling every year for 6 years is 64x (2^6) sales. 64x sales over 6 years is great if you're an investor, but it isn't news. Inability to buy one means they are having trouble with production. You can bet it is doing more tha…

> Makes me want to cancel my NYT subscription.

I think you should just do it. This is an article about a kitchen appliance and how the guy gave away 200 units and used Amazon Fulfillment to grow his company.

> Inability to buy one means they are having trouble with production.

Yes they can't make enough of them even though they are doubling production every year.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#162

Post by draw_down »

truffle_pig wrote: post #115

Also the most recommended pressure cooker on reddit: https://redditfavorites.com/products/slow_cookers When I made that site I remember finding it surprising that it was the top slow cooker and rice cooker.

Does anyone check what reddit’s favorite is before buying something? I don’t think I would do that, personally.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#163

Post by ghaff »

_ea1k wrote: post #154
ghaff wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'll not try to justify the pricing, but they're still relatively low volume niche products. It's also not really accurate to compare the thermostat to a toaster oven. For many applications, sous vide depends on very accurate (less than one degree deviation) temperature control. When I bought a PID temperature controller to do the standard DIY slow cooker thing before the less expensive circulators existed, I paid close to $100.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#164

Post by sjg007 »

leoedin wrote: post #63
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"…

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…

I heard the best way to cook rice is through a coffee filter. It basically gets all the arsenic out.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#165

Post by Bromskloss »

akgerber wrote: post #144
ghaff wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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. I don't know how deliberate it was but de-emphasizing its pressure cookerness was a smart move. A lot of people still associate "pressure cooker" with "explosions" and, even if they…

I have read an interview with the owner where he said he deliberately added & marketed a bunch of redundant safety features because Americans are afraid of pressure cookers.

I wonder how one properly make a safety valve that works even when smeared by food, or prevent the smearing from happening. Should the valve be really large in cross-sectional area, so that the force a food clot would have to withstand becomes large?

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#169

Post by gruez »

billfruit wrote: post #143
chrisgd wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often do you experience power outages? I don't think it does, but I don't think it needs to either

In the third world, an awful lot of times. But being an automated device, if doesn't deal with power outages, then I can't dependent on it to do cooking overnight, while I am asleep. Waking up and finding that machine didn't do its job, because power failed for a few minutes in the middle of the night, is not an ideal situation at all.

Use a UPS?
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