Instant Pot Initial Impressions
I wouldn't do a curriculum review after only two uses, but I am so impressed with my boyfriend's Christmas present to me, that I've decided to share my first impression of the Instant Pot cooker.
My VERY first impression was, "This thing is HEAVY!" John got me the 8 quart Instant Pot, and carried it up to his third floor apartment to wrap, carried it back down to his truck, then carried it from his truck to my living room Christmas morning. I felt a little guilty when I saw how large the box was. However, the Instant Pot was well packaged in Styrofoam, and wasn't AS big as it first appeared. It is about the size of my largest slow cooker when out of the box, and easy to carry.
My second thought was to be slightly intimidated by this thing. It has many functions, but it is first and foremost a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers mean...high pressure. I've never cooked with high pressure, so I was a little scared. I followed the manual exactly, though, including "cooking" 3 cups of water to do a trial run, and ensure that not only does everything run well, but that the user becomes familiar with the process. I was glad I took the time to do this step, as it took much longer than I expected. Yes, the Instant Pot COOKS food much faster than any other way I've tried, but COOK time doesn't count the warm up to proper temperature time, and cool down time to release steam.
I finally actually USED my Instant Pot to cook a real dinner a few days ago. I first tested chicken and rice. We used chicken leg quarters, and I cooked them 30 minutes. I tried to use tongs to lift them out of my pot, but the meat really WAS fall-off-the-bone tender. John got all the chicken out of the pot using a slotted spoon. While he deboned all the meat, I made rice in the broth. I believe the rice setting called for 8 minutes. Total time, however, between warm up to full pressure and cool down until I could open the cooker, was a little over twenty minutes.
All told, the chicken and rice meal took about two hours start to finish, but the chicken was the tenderest I've ever had, and the rice was cooked perfectly. John and I enjoyed the meal. Emma, liked the chicken, but doesn't like white rice.
The next night I made beef stroganoff, using ground beef. The Instant Pot Sears and sautes too, so I just browned the beef, then added all the other ingredients, including egg noodles, and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. This is where I ran into my first "problem". Because I can't open the pot during pressurized cooking, I couldn't stir the noodles, so they stuck to the bottom of the pot. That interfered with the heat sensor, so the pot kept flashing "burnt" . I released what pressure there was to check. The mixture was boiling, but not under pressure. I figured since I had to boil the noodles anyway, I'd just let it continue. I reset the cook time, but it did the same thing. By this time, though, the beef stroganoff was fully cooked, so I just served it that way, without it ever getting to high pressure.
The beef stroganoff was very good, but honestly, I could have made it in just as much time in two standard pots on the stove. John and Emma both had two helpings. I ate one, and worried over how to clean all the burnt pasta off the bottom of my beautiful new stainless steel pot. I was really scared I'd ruined it on my second use.
Much to my surprise, I had it clean and shiny again in less than three minutes! I decided just to at least wash it as normal in regular dishwasher to get off the normal, unburnt, food. I was shocked when all the brown, burnt pasta ALSO slid right off with no scrubbing. John probably thought I was a little overboard with my joy when I showed him the pot, shining like new after simply washing it. That MIGHT be because I didn't share my fear with him over possibly having ruined his Christmas present to me, so he didn't KNOW the bottom was caked with burned pasta....
All in all, I LOVE my Instapot. It cooked chicken better than any other way I've ever used. It cooked RICE better than any other way I've used. It cooked beef stroganoff about equally to any other way, and yet it was all in one pot, and the pot cleaned like a dream. I followed the user manual exactly, and although the cook times fooled me into thinking dinner would be quicker than they actually were, dinners were still quicker than if I'd made them conventional ways, and MUCH faster than if I'd used a crock pot or slow cooker. The chicken and rice took two hours start to finish, and the beef stroganoff was only an hour start to finish. Learning to cook with a pressure cooker was only intimidating until I actually tried it, and with only two uses, I now feel confident and will be using my Instant Pot to make lots of meals. I may even get brave one of these days and make homemade yogurt, which is also one of its functions....
My VERY first impression was, "This thing is HEAVY!" John got me the 8 quart Instant Pot, and carried it up to his third floor apartment to wrap, carried it back down to his truck, then carried it from his truck to my living room Christmas morning. I felt a little guilty when I saw how large the box was. However, the Instant Pot was well packaged in Styrofoam, and wasn't AS big as it first appeared. It is about the size of my largest slow cooker when out of the box, and easy to carry.
My second thought was to be slightly intimidated by this thing. It has many functions, but it is first and foremost a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers mean...high pressure. I've never cooked with high pressure, so I was a little scared. I followed the manual exactly, though, including "cooking" 3 cups of water to do a trial run, and ensure that not only does everything run well, but that the user becomes familiar with the process. I was glad I took the time to do this step, as it took much longer than I expected. Yes, the Instant Pot COOKS food much faster than any other way I've tried, but COOK time doesn't count the warm up to proper temperature time, and cool down time to release steam.
I finally actually USED my Instant Pot to cook a real dinner a few days ago. I first tested chicken and rice. We used chicken leg quarters, and I cooked them 30 minutes. I tried to use tongs to lift them out of my pot, but the meat really WAS fall-off-the-bone tender. John got all the chicken out of the pot using a slotted spoon. While he deboned all the meat, I made rice in the broth. I believe the rice setting called for 8 minutes. Total time, however, between warm up to full pressure and cool down until I could open the cooker, was a little over twenty minutes.
All told, the chicken and rice meal took about two hours start to finish, but the chicken was the tenderest I've ever had, and the rice was cooked perfectly. John and I enjoyed the meal. Emma, liked the chicken, but doesn't like white rice.
The next night I made beef stroganoff, using ground beef. The Instant Pot Sears and sautes too, so I just browned the beef, then added all the other ingredients, including egg noodles, and set it to high pressure for 15 minutes. This is where I ran into my first "problem". Because I can't open the pot during pressurized cooking, I couldn't stir the noodles, so they stuck to the bottom of the pot. That interfered with the heat sensor, so the pot kept flashing "burnt" . I released what pressure there was to check. The mixture was boiling, but not under pressure. I figured since I had to boil the noodles anyway, I'd just let it continue. I reset the cook time, but it did the same thing. By this time, though, the beef stroganoff was fully cooked, so I just served it that way, without it ever getting to high pressure.
The beef stroganoff was very good, but honestly, I could have made it in just as much time in two standard pots on the stove. John and Emma both had two helpings. I ate one, and worried over how to clean all the burnt pasta off the bottom of my beautiful new stainless steel pot. I was really scared I'd ruined it on my second use.
Much to my surprise, I had it clean and shiny again in less than three minutes! I decided just to at least wash it as normal in regular dishwasher to get off the normal, unburnt, food. I was shocked when all the brown, burnt pasta ALSO slid right off with no scrubbing. John probably thought I was a little overboard with my joy when I showed him the pot, shining like new after simply washing it. That MIGHT be because I didn't share my fear with him over possibly having ruined his Christmas present to me, so he didn't KNOW the bottom was caked with burned pasta....
All in all, I LOVE my Instapot. It cooked chicken better than any other way I've ever used. It cooked RICE better than any other way I've used. It cooked beef stroganoff about equally to any other way, and yet it was all in one pot, and the pot cleaned like a dream. I followed the user manual exactly, and although the cook times fooled me into thinking dinner would be quicker than they actually were, dinners were still quicker than if I'd made them conventional ways, and MUCH faster than if I'd used a crock pot or slow cooker. The chicken and rice took two hours start to finish, and the beef stroganoff was only an hour start to finish. Learning to cook with a pressure cooker was only intimidating until I actually tried it, and with only two uses, I now feel confident and will be using my Instant Pot to make lots of meals. I may even get brave one of these days and make homemade yogurt, which is also one of its functions....
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