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Thread: Crock pot wisdom

  1. #11
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I never owned a crock pot--I don't like leaving something cooking for hours--and I'm not sure I've eaten anything cooked in one, either. But I'm all over my Instant Pot.

  2. #12
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    People have been trying to convince me that an Instant Pot is incredible.

    What can it accomplish for me? I normally now cook the boring old-fashioned way.

  3. #13
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    People have been trying to convince me that an Instant Pot is incredible.

    What can it accomplish for me? I normally now cook the boring old-fashioned way.
    I don't want to twist your arm; you're probably fine with what you're doing. I like mine because:

    It makes perfectly peelable hard-cooked eggs.
    I don't have to baby-sit my food anymore.
    It replaces several bulky appliances (slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute' pan...)
    It speeds up the process--especially with foods like stock/bone broth. artichokes, and meat dishes.
    Clean up is fast and easy.
    I hear customer service is responsive (based in Canada, I think).
    Reviews are uniformly good--even those written by skeptical foodies.
    I've had mine for years, use it several times a week, and have had nary a problem.

  4. #14
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    What sorts of things to you routinely cook in it?

    I ask, because I am a sucker for cool-sounding new kitchen appliances/gadgets that seem useful, but find I end up using them rarely as they end up being too specialized and not worth hauling out for the 2-3 things they do well.

    I have an 18 year old rice cooker that has earned a place on the countertop, and gets used very often though. I have been expecting it to die at some point, and was wondering how well the Instant Pot manages rice.

  5. #15
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    I bought a bread Machine and used it for about a year and got sick of it. The thrift stores are full of bread Machines. I rarely use my device that cuts all the vegetables fast but when I do use it the time saving is huge.

  6. #16
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    What sorts of things to you routinely cook in it?
    ...
    I do a lot of soups/stews. I cook the afore-mentioned eggs, warm food up, make custard, brisket and other meats, broths...I have made rice and pasta dishes, artichokes. The last dish I made was Thai green curry with chicken and peas and a peanut garnish.

    I know about the impulse-bought appliances. I've bought at least three contact grills in the last twenty years...

  7. #17
    Senior Member SteveinMN's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    I am a sucker for cool-sounding new kitchen appliances/gadgets that seem useful, but find I end up using them rarely as they end up being too specialized and not worth hauling out for the 2-3 things they do well.
    (Disclosure: already owning a pressure cooker [two, actually], a steamer, a frying pan [more than one], and a slow cooker and having no need for a rice cooker, I do not own an Instant Pot.)
    The virtue of an Instant Pot, it seems to me, is its ability to serve as more than one countertop appliance. Some people who are uncomfortable using a "non-automatic" pressure cooker or slow cooker also seem to like the set-it-and-forget-it versatility of an Instant Pot. I can't speak to the Instant Pot's performance, I would guess it falls between at-least-basic competency at all of its proposed uses and "it's a miracle it can do it at all". I hope others who can make the performance comparison will do so.

    If you regularly use more than two or three of the appliances an Instant Pot replaces, and can live with the constraints of having your rice cooker occupied with, say, stewing meat instead of cooking rice at that moment, then it might be worth checking out. They're well under $100 on typical sales days.
    Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. - Booker T. Washington

  8. #18
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I've used a manual pressure cooker, and couldn't get rid of it fast enough. They provide higher pressure than most of the IPs (Later models provide equivalent pressure, I think), but I didn't like the fiddliness of it. They were a big hit with my grandmother, though.

    I've done away with the "constraints" mentioned in your post by having a couple to cover any contingency.

  9. #19
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    What sorts of things to you routinely cook in it?

    I ask, because I am a sucker for cool-sounding new kitchen appliances/gadgets that seem useful, but find I end up using them rarely as they end up being too specialized and not worth hauling out for the 2-3 things they do well.

    I have an 18 year old rice cooker that has earned a place on the countertop, and gets used very often though. I have been expecting it to die at some point, and was wondering how well the Instant Pot manages rice.
    our rice cooker gets heavy use also.

    Our instapot, one I stumbled upon at a thrift store, seems to do ok at cooking rice. I say “seems to” because it lives at our weekend house and I hsvent used it a lot, it took a few tries to get measurements right.

    I am not a gadget girl and while I suppose
    I could toss out the slow cooker that also lives at our weekend house to use the i stapot exclusovely, that means I would have to read directions and learn new crap. Ugh. Nope.

  10. #20
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by iris lilies View Post
    ...
    I am not a gadget girl and while I suppose
    I could toss out the slow cooker that also lives at our weekend house to use the i stapot exclusovely, that means I would have to read directions and learn new crap. Ugh. Nope.
    There is a learning curve involved with the IP, and I boiled everything I cooked for the first year or so, but I don't mind learning new things--especially when the incentive is good food with minimal effort. I'm far from an expert, but I joined a couple of helpful FB groups and did some homework, so I'm pretty competent now.

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