So I ordered one of these million in one things aka Instant Pot..

[Frozen Smoke]

Wife hands me a $75 Amazon gift card and tells me to order something. I said what do you want? She says I don't care get something you want you order Amazon all the time I don't know anything about it. She got the gift card for Christmas from her brother or something.

So I started to go through my Amazon wish list to see what I had for pending purchases when I remembered she asked me awhile back what I knew about these Instant Pot things. At that time I said it was a new kitchen gadget that's supposed to do 10 or 20 things but in reality isn't probably much more than a crock pot.

So remembering she asked about it I ordered a 6 qt. Duo Instant Pot. Should be here Thursday. After the gift card the thing cost me a little over $8 so if it takes up cabinet space too long without getting used and we give it away we are not out much. Been on their web site and looks like tons of easy recipes with beautiful photo's of all the finished dishes that comes out of one. My life long experience has taught me to be highly skeptical of new gadgets that claim to do the same thing 10 other gadgets will because they always seem to fall woefully short of their claims but I am willing to give this thing a honest try.

Stay tuned.

[barelfly]

My wife enjoys using the instapot. Has made some great meals out of it.

Ive used it once, made Pho in about 2 hours total time, and it was as good as any Pho I’ve tried.

Hope you have have some fun with it!

[Frozen Smoke]

Thanks barelfly I guess I shouldn't be so skeptical I will go through their recipes and pick a couple out to try and see how we like it.

[barelfly]

I used Alton Browns pho recipe. I think Kenji has a few as well.

[Errol Wayne]

If you like boiled eggs it's perfect. Doesn't matter how fresh they are peeling is a breeze!

[treesmacker]

Agree on the boiled eggs - that's how I do them from now on!

[Donw]

I’m too thought the Instant Pot was another gimmick that would soon fade away but we got one this last Christmas because my wife got tried of dealing with our old style pressue cooker. However for us it does a fantastic job preparing beans, soups and stews in short order.

[RonB]

Congrats. I'd get one except for the fact that we have no place to store it.

[fzxdoc]

Aw, FireMan , go ahead and get one and store it in the garage. It won't get its feelings hurt. You'd be surprised how many times you'll use it. I have tons of storage in our home but still wouldn't hesitate to store it in the garage if necessary so I could have it and use it. That's how much of an Instant Pot fan I am.

Kathryn

[ddmcwhirter]

All y'all need a man cave...mine is evolving...an extra room, finished, and large off the garage. I had to clear out thirty years of stuff that never got thrown out...but now I have a golf simulator and a microwave and, wouldn't you know, an Instapot as of Sunday.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

For us it was the same, the problem is... it gets used often enough that it has a permanent home on the counter. It's paid for it's use of space by time saved on tins of dinners. It's not a do it all device like some sell it, but what it does it does very well and better or close enough but faster than the things it replaced. The sauté function saves on a lot of dirty dishes and we have tried tons of new thing we would never have had time to do during the week before.

[Skip]

Our Daughter brought hers home at Christmas time.I smoked a Pork Butt for a couple hours then She finished it in the IP. It turned out very good. Now I'd like to try it with Beef Chuck Roast. Have fun with it!

[grantgallagher]

I do that exact thing with chuckie for pulled beef. Its great and in all honestly probably more moist than most of the ones ive done straight smoker.

[Troutman]

So it gets cold in Minn and you ditch the smoker for an instapot. Hmmmm

[FireMan]

Yup Backroadmeats ! It’s skillet & oven indoors!

[Troutman]

Barbeque - it's why I live in the south !!!

[Backroadmeats]

Troutman days like this make me wonder why I stay here.. it is supposed to be -29 in the morning then be 38 with drizzle on Saturday..

[Larry Grover]

Congrats. My Williams-Sonoma store has tons of braising starter sauces reduced 60-75%. I bought as many as I could carry out...3 huge bags full. Shown in picture are a few.

It's a great way to get started. Click saute to brown meat then deglaze with some wine (leave a little to help bring to pressure. How much depends on sauce thickness.) Add sauce then meat & pressure cook. My wife has been impressed with the quickness & simplicity.

[Troutman]

Tell me about that Apple Cider Pulled Pork. I use apple cider vinegar with the mother included along with a sweet bbq sauce in my pulled pork. Be interested in knowing what's in theirs.

[Hulagn1971]

Congrats on your purchase. Here is a recipe that is extremely easy and makes the best carnitas I have ever had. Make sure when the process is done to toss the pork in a hot pan to crisp the outer layer a bit. I add about a tsp of coriander to the ingredients before pressure as well.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24...essure-cooker/

[Frozen Smoke]

Thanks! Carnitas was one of these recipes I wanted to try!

[MBMorgan]

We got a Duo 8-qt for Xmas. I've used it a few times and have found that it generally does a pretty good job. Here's a few observations so far:

• We already own a very good stove top pressure cooker (Fissler), an equally good rice cooker, and an almost new (and very good) crock pot. None of those are going away anytime soon.
• As a pressure cooker: The Duo is quite good. It doesn't reach quite the high pressure that the stove top does but the trade off is that, while it takes a little longer (not much, though) than the Fissler, the Duo doesn't require watching.
• As a saute pan: The normal saute setting isn't hot enough ... it's more like the temp you'd want when sweating onions without browning. I use the high ("More") saute setting and it works quite well.
• As a crock pot (observations from America's Test Kitchen): Unlike a real crock pot, the Instant Pot heats very rapidly. Once you've adjusted your recipes accordingly, it works OK.
• As a rice cooker: It's nowhere near as good as the dedicated rice cooker. Instant Pot rice tends to be a little on the gummy side.
• Cleanup: MUCH easier than either the real crock pot or the stove top pressure cooker ... a definite bonus.
• Accessories: At a minimum, get yourself a vented glass lid and a trivet/egg holder. A few extra silicone rings for the pressure lid are a good idea, too. You can use one of those "flower petal" steamer baskets instead of the rinky-dink gizmo that comes with the Duo.
• Bottom Line: Since we already had pressure, rice, and crockpot cooking covered, I doubt that I would have ever bought one for myself. That said, I've been reaching for the Instant Pot for everything except rice lately ... mainly for the easy cleanup and because it's "good enough".

[Larry Grover]

MBMorgan Didn't know a glass lid was available as an accessory. Thanks and great comments!

[mnavarre]

Any 10" glass lid will work just fine, I just use the one from my stock pot.

[fzxdoc]

The Instant Pot is the Pit Barrel Cooker of pressure cookers. Makes great food and cleanup is a breeze.

I prefer it for a slow cooker over my fancy schmancy slow cooker because I can brown stuff in it and use the same pot to slow cook in, besides the fact that it heats up faster, always a concern for a food safety obsessed cook.

Kathryn

[fracmeister]

Mine does sous vide. I was surprised how well. Now I use it as often for that as my Joule rig.

[shify]

As long as you don't consider it the right tool for everything, it is a great product.

I started using it for my Texas chile and don't think i'll ever go back to dutch oven. Same for chicken stock. I've had decent success with rice (I don't have a rice cooker) but so far haven't had luck with grits. And I can guarantee I'll never use it for spaghetti and meatballs or roasted chicken, etc. I'll use my own judgment on what will work and won't work before choosing a recipe but so far I'm pretty happy with it.

[fzxdoc]

Quote from shify "And I can guarantee I'll never use it for spaghetti and meatballs or roasted chicken, etc. I'll use my own judgment on what will work and won't work before choosing a recipe"

I'm with you on this. I don't bake cakes in it either. For some things there are simply better tools out there. But there are many things that an IP does extremely well.

Kathryn

[Buck Flicks]

I've had a hard time convincing myself to cook chili in it. I think the long slow simmer does something for chili that a pressure cooker can't do.

[FireMan]

Kathryn, Kathryn, Kathryn, ( fzxdoc ) , what you have done here worked me out of my mental maze. I have toyed around with gettin one of them Insty-Pots & my wife has repeatedly said we do not have the room, which we don’t. But, our garage is attached & right outside the kitchen & the cleanup info you talked about, well, I’m going to get one. Then, show her your posts in this thread. Thank you.

[fzxdoc]

Happy to be of service, FireMan . I bet your wife will love it.

Kathryn

[Spinaker]

Lots of folks are jumping on this train. The only thing I don't like about then is that they are bulky. My sister-in-law uses one for making rice and she's loves it.

[Craigar]

FireMan we make yogurt every other week in ours. It is soooo easy and basically idiot proof as I am living proof of it.

[Spinaker]

Hahahaha Craigar

[Buck Flicks]

Yeah, stove top rice is easy and I don't have to worry about futzing with different water amounts. My attempts at rice in the IP haven been sub-standard. But it's perfect on the stove top every time. Takes a little longer, but usually not longer than cooking the rest of the meal takes.

I am interested in making yogurt, though.

[Larry Grover]

Troutman Here you go, I'll let you know how it tasted after the cook. Loaded with food so might be a little while.

[Troutman]

Good grief, I'm all out of sauteed carrot stock and malic acid so I guess I'll have to forego that recipe