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| Instant Pot in its 'storage' location, but with the display activated for the picture |
What is an Instant Pot?
Fundamentally an Instant Pot is an electric pressure cooker. However, this appliance has many more features. The manual calls this a "10-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Cooker". According to the manual, the "Ultra combines the functions of a Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice/Porridge Cooker, Cake Maker, Yogurt Maker, Sauté/Searing, Steamer, Warmer, Sterilizer, and, truly new and unique feature, the Ultra program. The ‘Ultra’ provides complete custom programming for pressure and non-pressure cooking"
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| Different temperatures for different features |
Yea, software engineers!
That is probably marketing overkill, but it is a techy toy that makes cooking fun. It was designed by a non-foodie, laid-off software engineer...yes, really! Yea, software engineers!
I have fond memories of the pressure cooker Mom used often when I was growing up. The weight on the top that controlled the pressure jingled happily as steam escaped the entire time it was in use. I was blissfully ignorant at the time, but they were probably not the safest things in the world. The Instant Pots are nothing like the pressure cookers of old and, according to the Instant Pot website, are equipped with at least ten new safety features. Most of these safety mechanisms interact with the built in software to shut the pot down to prevent any dangerous conditions. (Remember...designed by an engineer!)
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| Figure from the Instant Pot website |
New business model?
As interesting as its "techiness" is the way its popularity has grown in only a few short years. More than 215,000 were sold on one day, Amazon's Prime Day, last year. It is the number one selling item on Amazon. That is incredible for a product that only became available in 2010 from a small company that only started in 2008 and has no advertising. Everything is through word of mouth, which really means online. It all fits into its business model as described in an NPR article, so-called "sleeper"marketing. People use it and talk or post about it, thus spreading the word. Much of this success is based on the many different Facebook groups devoted to Instant Pots. The main authorized Facebook group now has nearly 1.2 million members, up from about 900,000 when I joined just after Christmas.
Transitioning from Clueless to Fanatic
But back to my pre-Instant Pot days. Even I had encountered Instant Pots as I surfed the web. IPs (I'm getting tired of typing 'Instant Pot') had been appearing frequently in numerous blogs and other locations I encountered online. It seemed like many folks thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, or perhaps even better. A recent article in Inc about the growth of the IP company describes it this way:
At this point, readers of this article will separate into two (and only two) categories. There are those who, like me, last heard the phrase "pressure cooker" mentioned either in the context of people being too stressed or when some terrorist puts together an improvised bomb. (No links for that one, for obvious reasons.)
Then there are those whose reaction is more like: Yes, no kidding, the Instant Pot--here are the first seven things you should make with one when you buy it.
Even though I had not used a pressure cooker for decades, I thought an IP would be an interesting complement to my on-going gardening and cooking interests, so I asked for one for Christmas. The Frog remained skeptical (he had apparently not come across IPs in his web surfing) but he humored me. Under the Christmas tree was a 6 quart IP Ultra and lots of neat accessories.
Water Test
I was anxious to give it a try, but the manual is really bad and makes using the IP unnecessarily confusing. (Remember...designed by an engineer.) Fortunately I was prepared for the confusing manual based on many comments I had read online. In my online searching I found the excellent Instant Pot Ultra Beginner’s Manual | Quick Start Guide on the Paint the Kitchen Red website. It explained everything about setup and showed how to do a simple pressurization test with only water, the so-called water test.
5-5-5 Eggs
Everything worked beautifully with the water test, so I was next on to hard boiled eggs. I am not sure that an IP is necessary for hard boiling eggs, but it supposedly makes them much easier to peel and they are an easy (and cheap) thing to practice on. Although there is not general agreement to the best "recipe", I used the 5-5-5 method. The "5-5-5" refers to 5 minutes of pressure cooking, 5 minutes of natural pressure relief (NPR), i.e. letting it cool on its own, and 5 minutes in an ice water bath. Success!! It worked great.
Meal prep
I was now ready to take the plunge and begin to fix real food, but what to fix? I decided to start with the Kālua Pork recipe in the IP recipe booklet. (Note, that is kālua, which refers to the Hawaiian cooking method of underground cooking, and NOT Kahlúa coffee liquor.) Gwen and Paul had made that for us over Christmas and it was excellent, so it seemed like a good place to start. Indeed it was great and with only the two of us, we had plenty leftover for tortilla soup with pork (not in the IP)
We also tried beef pot roast from my new recipe book using the slow cooker since it seemed particularly easy. With a 9 hour cook time, it was an all day adventure but great for New Year's Day with the Rose Parade and football games on tv. It also allowed us to use the glass (non-pressurizing) lid. Everything worked great and provided plenty of left over roast beef for beef barley soup.
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| Using the IP as a slow cooker--8 hours and 40 minutes to go. I really love the silicone mini-mitts, particularly useful for holding the inner pot while stirring (during sauteing) and for removing the inner pot when it is hot. |
Now finding recipes became more challenging. With one million members on the Facebook group, there are many many recipes. However, many are confusing and difficult to follow or just plain wrong for the IP. Many one-off recipes may be fine, but it quickly became apparent that there are several sites that are generally trusted within the IP community. There are probably others, but I am listing these here so I can refer to them easily in the future.
- Pressure Luck Cooking, http://pressureluckcooking.com/ OR https://www.facebook.com/PressureLuckCooking/
- Amy + Jacky, https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/
- This Old Gal, https://thisoldgal.com/
- Pressure Cooking Today, https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/
- Adventures of a Nurse, https://www.adventuresofanurse.com/
Yogurt
By far the most fun thing (and maybe the easiest thing) I have made so far is Greek yogurt. It really is easy, made even more so by the tons of info online. There are lots of good online sources, but the best info I have found so far is as follows (two links, but by the same author):
- Instant Pot 10 Steps to Easy Yogurt, http://www.friedalovesbread.com/2016/07/no-powdered-milk-pressure-cook-greek.html
- Instant Pot Dairy Yogurt for NEWBIES Complete Guide, http://www.friedalovesbread.com/2017/07/instant-pot-dairy-yogurt-for-newbies.html
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| Yogurt almost finished after 7 hours and 53 minutes of incubation. Due to incorrect time estimates and poor planning, this was just after 4 am. |
At this point it is actually yogurt and would probably have been fine just refrigerating. However, I really like the thicker Greek yogurt, so I filtered the yogurt in a Euro Cuisine Greek Yogurt Maker with Stainless Steel Strainer while refrigerating for 4 hours. It is merely a container with a mesh filter and lid.
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| Euro Cuisine Greek Yogurt Maker with Stainless Steel Strainer prior to assembly |
The filter holds exactly two quarts, making the process really convenient for this size batch.
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| This was the yogurt after dumping it from the IP pot. Some whey has already begun to collect in the bottom. |
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| After 4 hours of filtering in the refrigerator, transferring the yogurt into half pint jars. Note the whey (yellowish liquid) in the bottom below the filter. |
Since the IP handles all of the temperature control, the overall process is really really easy. The only tricky part is planning the rest of my life around the activities. I did the initial heating of the milk and started the incubation before bed (only ~45 minutes, not counting an additional ~30 minutes for the milk to warm slightly by sitting on the counter--I thought all of this would take longer), transferred the yogurt to the filter first thing in the morning, then transferred the filtered yogurt into half pint mason jars in mid-morning.
This batch produced 6 cups (not very precisely measured) of yogurt and 3 cups of whey.
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| The final product--6 cups of Greek yogurt and 3 cups of whey |
Probably most importantly of all, the yogurt tastes absolutely wonderful. I may never go back to store bought yogurt again.
Since this is a lot of yogurt for me (the Frog doesn't like yogurt) and it will only keep for about two weeks, I used 1.5 cups to make fro-yo frozen fruit bites, i.e. fruit frozen into yogurt that has been flavored with honey and vanilla. You can't see them in the pic below, but there are raspberries and blackberries in the yogurt.
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| One batch (1.5 cups) worth of fro-yo fruit bites prior to freezing. |
One batch (1.5 cups) almost exactly fills four of the eight cubes in the super large size ice cube tray. The taste of these is wonderful, but they are so hard when they are frozen that I had to soften one considerably in the microwave to be able to eat it. That is not exactly a failure, but maybe it would be better with smaller sized cubes.
What have I learned so far?
Overall the IP is fairly easy to use. Since I do not have a kitchen island, the IP must sit below the cupboards. I don't want to ruin the cupboards when releasing steam, so I turned the IP 90 degrees and worked primarily from the end of the counter.
That works, but is a bit awkward. As an additional step towards addressing this, we found that a 45 degree bend 1 inch PVC pipe fits perfectly over the steam outlet on the Ultra. I only put it on when I am ready to do a Quick Release. That helps direct the steam out into the room away from the cupboards. (BTW, there used to be a silicone version of this available on Amazon for about $15--apparently now discontinued--but I am more than happy with this less than $1 item from Lowe's.)
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| 45 degree bend 1 inch PVC pipe over the steam release--still plenty of room for the pop-up valve to the right. The manual release on the Ultra (different from earlier models) is the separate knob to the right of the pop-up valve. |
Most recently I have also begun placing the IP on a lazy susan. I can position the IP for more convenient use while sauteing and other processes, then turn it 90 degrees if I need to vent the steam.
I am just beginning these Instant Pot adventures, but I am having loads of fun. I have no intention of trying to make everything in the IP as some people online seem wont to do, but I am having fun trying different things. Tonight is pressure cooker pork chips in mushroom gravy in the IP and cornbread made with the last of the Great Smokey Mountains cornmeal and some of the whey as a substitute for buttermilk. Assuming these are not a total disaster, they are good indoor activities while hiding from the inclement weather. It is mid afternoon and only in the mid-20s outside. The low tonight is predicted to be 9 F.
