Inside the Home of Instant Pot • Hacker News Board

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#171

Post by soundwave106 » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:34 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #160

jasonlotito wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's not that much more detail, but a University of Waterloo article on them (https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2017/03/instant-pot-climbs-the-soc...) describes the name of the tactic described above: influencer marketing. It's interesting that they align the fact that cooking is often a social phenomenon, with the fact that influencer marketing seemed to work well for Instant Pot.

I gather from some of the articles linked (http://refineandfocus.com/when-brand-communities-become-cult... and https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/from-ottawa-to-world-domina...) that unlike other past influencer marketed products, Instant Pot largely utilized Internet space: big platform social media word-of-mouth to achieve their affects. Given that Internet social media space is growing, I would expect more of these type of marketing stories in the future.

Some of it's probably the product for sure. If I remember right, rice cookers like the Zojirushi models had pretty much everything Instant Pot has, except the pressure cooking part. But that's a pretty big "except", given the dodgy past of traditional stove-top pressure cookers.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#172

Post by ferongr » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:37 PM UTC

tecleandor wrote: post #57

unmole wrote: post #9

Earlier 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

Pressure cookers are quite common in Spain, and most fear from exploding pressure cookers comes from the 70s and 80s, when they had less security features, valves could get stuck, and people were careless ( i.e: opening the lid before pressure venting, forced cooling under the water tap...) I've checked on Google News for accidents in Spain, and haven't found anything more recent than 2012. Using modern pressure cook…

My Fissler pressure cooker recommends forced cooling under a stream of water for precise control of cooking time, as an alternative to venting steam through the valve, to prevent loss of flavor.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#173

Post by spodek » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:41 PM UTC

EADGBE wrote: post #138

spodek wrote: post #28

I 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…

> 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. I hope you change it up more often than that. Do you get sick of stew all day every day?

On the contrary, I have more variety than ever.

I keep telling myself to try recipes, but when you buy everything in season, every week I'm getting new ingredients with new flavors, textures, and so on. There's huge variety. I look forward to seeing what new tastes and flavors I'll find this week.

The stew I'm eating for lunch now has Lima beans, Brussels sprouts, kale, carrots, squash, onion, jalepeno, and a few other vegetables.

In August it would have had eggplant, broccoli, red peppers, and a mix of dozens of other vegetables.

In June it would have had spring vegetables.

In February it will have parsnips, beets, cabbage, and so on.

The legumes in my cupboard include Lima beans, split peas, and lentils, and some red/white striped bean from my CSA. In the past month I've used kidney beans, adzuki, pinto, northern, and I forget what other kinds.

(I should mention, I eat other things too -- oatmeal with fruit and nuts for breakfast, lots of fruit, nuts, uncooked vegetables, etc.)

If you work the combinatorics of one legume plus, say, three or four vegetables/mushrooms, nuts and other toppings, there's more variety than I'll exhaust in my lifetime.

I've never eaten this much variety.

That said, I've been meaning to make a Thai dish. I keep telling myself to try, but I keep enjoying what local farms provide.

Here are reviews from friends of the results: http://joshuaspodek.com/food-world-reviews.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#174

Post by EADGBE » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:42 PM UTC

tonyarkles wrote: post #159

saosebastiao wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Wow, wasn't aware of that issue. Perhaps that's why it isn't as mainstream.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#175

Post by mattmaroon » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:43 PM UTC

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…

But what was the original plan? Was it to make the same product Cuisinart and Presto were already making at the same price and hope? Why would someone invest $350k with such a plan?

How did those blogs settle on the Instant Pot when better known brands had functionally the same units at the same price (which the author seems not to know)? Why is it continually more successful than pre-existing brands from much larger companies? Crock Pot sells a unit for half the price. Almost all brands of electric pressure cooker have between 4 and 4.5 stars on Amazon because they're all about the same and admittedly a good product.

That's the story and it gives it short shrift. Not how Instant Pot invented something that actually existed for decades. Or how they don't explode, a problem solved before I was born.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#176

Post by mattmaroon » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:48 PM UTC

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 :)

Not every way. Flat bottomed woks suck. Gas is much better for a wok, and a wok is a considerably better tool than most westerners realize.

Induction also is easily breakable. That's why you don't see them in commercial kitchens much.

Also I have several large cheap Aluminum stock pots that I love and would have to replace. Try finding a five gallon induction capable stock pot at your local restaurant supply store.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#177

Post by mikestew » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:48 PM UTC

poulsbohemian wrote: post #166

Help the uninitiated out here -- what's the difference between an Instant Pot and a generic slow cooker? Looks like this thing just has more heat settings?

They are kind of the opposite of each other. Slow cookers are just that: set it in the morning before work, come home to a slow-cooked bit of meat and veggies. Instant Pot and pressure cookers in general rely on the fact that water under pressure boils at a higher temperature than at sea level pressure, so it cooks things faster. For example, lentils might take 45 minutes on the stove, 10 minutes in a pressure cooker.

In summary, slow cooker->I’ve got time to wait, make the meat fall off the bone; pressure cooker->45 minutes for lentils? Who’s got that kind of time?

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#178

Post by derekp7 » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 5:52 PM UTC

Bromskloss wrote: post #165

akgerber wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Pressure sensor that cuts off the electricity if pressure gets too high. No more electricity, no more heating, pressure drops. Another one I've seen on my mom's pressure cooker that she's had for probably 40 years or more, is a physical plug that will shoot out if the pressure gets too high and the release valve gets stuck. Of course, not sure what the potential damage from this plug would be (I've only ever seen it shoot into the pot when it was removed from the stove, and cooled too quickly). But better than the whole thing popping.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#179

Post by spodek » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 6:00 PM UTC

selimthegrim wrote: post #145

spodek wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First the caveats: My pressure-cooked bread tastes delicious to me, but I experiment so my results vary. Most batches wouldn't make it into a bakery. For one thing, I start with wheat berries that I turn into flour in my blender. I blend some to fine flour so it gets doughy, but some course, which gives more texture and, I hear, lowers the glycemic load or something like that. For another, I add flavors. I started wi…

I presume buttermilk works as well?

I avoid animal products so can't say.

Re: Inside the Home of Instant Pot

#180

Post by ghaff » Mon, Dec 18, 2017, 6:00 PM UTC

soundwave106 wrote: post #171

ghaff wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's not that much more detail, but a University of Waterloo article on them ( https://smbp.uwaterloo.ca/2017/03/instant-pot-climbs-the-soc... ) describes the name of the tactic described above: influencer marketing. It's interesting that they align the fact that cooking is often a social phenomenon, with the fact that influencer marketing seemed to work well for Instant Pot. I gather from some of the articles lin…

Modern stovetop pressure cookers are pretty safe these days but some people certainly worry and, as others have said, they can be a bit fiddly. You certainly don't fire them up and leave the house.

Influencer marketing is a big deal in many product categories these days. The details vary by B2B or B2C, product/service area, etc. But reviews by people who may not be full-time writers and reviewers can be very important, especially for product categories that don't have a lot of trusted expert review sources.

With money and goods often changing hands there can be a whiff of payola about the whole process. But most people who have a trusted following really are giving honest opinions. You may be able to get me to write a review if you send me something I'm interested and qualified to have an opinion on. I'm not going to be positive just because because I got some freebie though.