Anyone got an Instant-Pot?

[question everything]

Apparently was very popular during Christmas.

I did not, but enjoyed these stories:

Deryl Gallant regrets only skimming the manual for his Instant Pot.

He first tried to make spaghetti, but he didn’t use enough water and it burned. He looked online for ways to clean the scorched pot and followed the steps: Add four cups of water and turn the pressure-cooker function on high.

“Then, like a fool,” he says, “I did the quick release.”

Hot, watery sauce shot to the kitchen ceiling, splattering cupboards, his shirt, arms and the floor. “It was actually raining spaghetti sauce, like that movie my kids love,” says Mr. Gallant, an IT specialist in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.

(snip)

Linda Newell turned to her Instant Pot friends on Facebook for help after her yogurt boiled over into the machine and onto the stove. Sympathetic members advised removing the bottom of the device and cleaning the innards with Q-tips.

“I thought I’d come closer to being an Olympic champion than be able to fix this,” says Ms. Newell, a high-school teacher in North Richland Hills, Texas.

She got her Instant Pot in order, though it smells like burned milk. “This thing is still working in spite of me,” she says.

(snip)

On a chilly January day, Sharon Gebauer of San Diego set out to make beef and barley soup. “I filled it up, started it pressure cooking, and then I started to think, what happens when the barley expands?” she says. “I just said a prayer and stayed the hell away.”

When Ms. Gebauer turned the quick-release valve, soup shot across her kitchen, hitting the cupboards, curtains and window.

The mishap persuaded Ms. Gebauer to return her Instant Pot. “I’m retired,” she says. “A pressure cooker cooks it fast, but what’s my hurry?”

https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-instant-pot-anxiety-i-said-a-prayer-and-stayed-the-hell-away-1517500211

[herding cats]

1. How in the heck are they getting it to unlock?

I have one and it won't release until the pressure is down to normal. You have to lift an attached valve on the top and let it steam off/pressure down. Mine's not new, it's a couple of years old, so maybe the new ones suck?

[flyingfysh]

2. we use ours constantly, with no problems

But it is wise to remember what computer people often say: RTFM (Read The Fine Manual)

[procon]

3. I have written two published pressure cooker cookbooks.

While I don't care for the Instant Pot of the other electric models, todays modern stovetop pressure cooker are easier to use, safer and practically goof proof. I get similar emails all the time when people have problems with their new pressure cooker, and thing is due to user error and can be quickly remedied just by reading the instructions, and maybe a little coaching if asked.

Today I had 3 pressure cookers on the stove, one with a pork butt (45 minutes) for shredded BBQ sammiches. One with hard boiled eggs (3 minutes) and another with red potatoes (4 minutes) for the Potato Salad I'm making for dinner tomorrow.

I couldn't do without my pressure cookers and use them daily for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts.

[missingthebigdog]

5. WooHoo!

A fellow pressure cooker fan!

I discovered the joy of pressure cookers late in life- my mother was afraid of them, having bought into the hype about exploding metal and shooting steam.

I have several, a few of them 50+ years old, and they all work flawlessly. I always tell people that they are perfectly safe as long as you use them properly. People who are in danger of injury from pressure cookers really shouldn't be around knives or fire either. There are lots of "dangerous" things in the kitchen.

[OhNo-Really]

4. I have 3 Instant-Pots

The best ever. I will never use my stove stop pressure cooker again.

You are frustrated with the Instant Pot Safety Feature. Just release the steam, wait for the silver thingy on the cover to drop, and turn cover counter clockwise/lift.

The cover cannot be turned and lifted UNTIL the steam pressure is completely released.

There are zillions of recipes on line. Google is your friend.

Makes the best hard boiled eggs, pot roast, perfect rice, moong dhal, broths, etc.

I 💝 Instant Pots. They are 100% idiot proof.

[MissB]

9. I only have 2.

But I do have an extra liner so that’s kinda like having 3.

Love mine.

[NBachers]

6. I'm making lemon - ginger tea in mine right now.

I used to hand- grate a big chunk of ginger into my instant pot, but now I'm even lazier. I just put a big chunk of ginger, and half a lemon into my NutriBullet RX, and grind it up with water into a slurry. Pour it into the instant pot, fill it 2/3 to 3/4 with water, add a couple spoons of yerba mate tea, turn it on for half an hour, and just walk away and let it do its thing. Later on, after the pressure is down and it's been warm for a while, I'll just strain whatever I need, and leave the rest in the pot. Everybody loves my lemon ginger tea.

[hlthe2b]

7. Two lessons: don't overfill the pot if you are going to use pressure AND to be sure if you DO

or might have overfilled, especially with soups and stews... LET THE PRESSURE DISSIPATE ON ITS OWN. It might take upwards of an hour, but the stew is slow cooking during that time. I made vegetable beef soup and after 10 minutes of pressure cooking, let the pressure drop of on its own (50 minutes), opened and it was PERFECT.

As compared to 6-8 hours of slow cooking, that was really great to me.

I rarely use quick release because I tend to overfill the pot for that. AND, if I do, I carefully check it with a tea towel over the valve as I lightly start to release. If it starts to steam up big time with what appears to be less pure steam and more mixed soup contents, I STOP and let it just it drop off the pressure on its own.

I guess my caution (having never used a pressure cooker before) serves me well.

I use it twice weekly for yogurt, though and that, alone, has made this the most used appliance in my kitchen.

[Generic Brad]

8. I have one but no horror stories

It works wonderfully.