This isn't a really a new cooking appliance as we already had an electric pressure cooker. But this particular model adds a few more features. It has a "saute" mode so it can be used kind of like an electric sauce pan. It will also work as a rice cooker and a slow cooker. If you watch a lot of YouTube videos of full time RVers, they all mention the
Instant Pot. I suspect that the
Zojirushi rice cooker will make better rice but it is a uni-tasker.
On our road trip, a slow cooker and a pressure cooker would have been nice to have along but I didn't want to take two additional appliances. The pressure cooker would use less power than simply cooking on the induction burner as would pressure cooking rice. It does draw up to 1000 watts but that is about the same as the rice cooker.
I hadn't planned on picking one of these up but Bridget had ordered it as a wedding present but the couple already had one. So now I have one as well.
As a quick test, I boiled up some eggs. It took about 15 minutes total. 5 minutes to heat up, 5 minutes to cook and 5 minutes to cool down. And the shells practically fell off when they were done. This model has a program for making yogurt. Maybe I'll try that one of these days.
As another quick "test", I made up some steel cut oats. In the past, I had to pre soak them overnight. The recipe just said to saute them in oil or butter, then add 3x water and pressure cook them for 13 minutes. They came out great. Add some raisins and maple syrup and I had breakfast. I think that this will be a great gadget and addition to the kitchen. Both at home and in the RV.
People have been raving about these Instant Pots but I didn't know anyone that has really used one. I am glad to hear they really do cook that much faster.
ReplyDeleteIt has a bunch of preprogrammed options and two pressure settings so it has a shorter learning curve than a regular pressure cooker. Most things do cook pretty fast e.g. white rice - 4 min, brown rice - 22 min, most beans - 7-10 min (after soaking overnight). So for things that need a long simmer, it really is faster. No faster than a pressure cooker but being electric, it doesn't need to be watched like one on the stove.
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