Why do cooks love the Instant Pot?
People have fallen in love with their Instant Pots.
They may like their blenders, cherish their slow cookers and need their food processors.
But the Instant Pot — a device that combines an electric pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker in one handy unit — sends even mildmannered cooks into fits of passion.
You find the “L” word over and over in the 15,000 or so product reviews on Amazon. And if you click over to Instant Pot’s Facebook community page, you’ll find more than 360,000 members sharing their undying affection alongside their recipes for chili. (A typical post: “I’m having an affair. My husband said he wished he would have never given me the Instant Pot for Christmas.”)
If you’re a cook and got through last year without bumping into people who couldn’t stop talking about their Instant Pots — or any of the other multi-functional electric pressure cookers on the market (Breville and Cuisinart both make versions) — then you won’t have to wait much longer.
So why do electric pressure cookers inspire such a devoted following? I bought one to find out. A confession: I already own a stovetop pressure cooker, the conventional kind that you would heat over a burner and then regulate yourself. It is currently supporting a colony of dust bunnies in the back of my highest cabinet, behind the panini press. I never got over my fear of exploding split-pea soup to use it with any regularity.
What makes this newest generation of electric pressure cookers different is that it is designed with a slew of self-regulating safety features, including sensors to monitor the unit’s temperature and amount of pressure. All you do is plug it in and tap a button, and it does everything else. It’s as user-friendly as a slow cooker — except that it gets dinner on the table a day or so faster.
The promise of a fast, fresh homemade meal is a pressure cooker’s greatest appeal, said Lorna Sass, author of four pioneering cookbooks on pressure cooking, including “Pressure Perfect.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re Paleo or vegan or just trying to eat better, pressure cooking is the answer for healthy fast food,” Sass said.
After cooking a pork shoulder in the electric pressure cooker, I could easily see why the appliance has struck a chord, with the Paleo community in particular: it cooks large hunks of meat superbly and speedily. After a mere 90 minutes, the meat was spoon tender and deeply flavoured, even before I covered the soft shreds with spicy barbecue sauce. The same recipe made in my slow cooker took seven hours, and the meat wasn’t quite as uniformly juicy.
It was that pork shoulder that turned me into a believer.
But the electric pressure cooker does have its shortcomings. The most notable failure in the meat category was the whole chicken. The recipes I tested came out with slack and soggy skin, and either stringy and dry white meat or undercooked dark meat. I did have more success with skinless chicken breasts.
I didn’t like it much for vegetables either, most of which don’t benefit from the intense pressure of high-heat steam (beets and artichokes being the important exceptions here). Broccoli, kale, zucchini, fennel, Brussels sprouts and mushrooms turned limp and unappealing.
The key to pressure cooker happiness is choosing recipes in which softness and succulence is the goal, and which traditionally take hours to get there.
For example, I’ll never go back to a Dutch oven for chili, which I made in the electric pressure cooker in an hour starting from dried beans.
Same goes for my favourite red lentil soup. Although I didn’t save any time when I tested it, I adored the convenience of not having to watch a pot on the stove. I could turn the pressure cooker on, then go for a run. When I got home, my soup was ready — a good thing since I was starving. And it’s amazing for chickpeas, which take an hour all told instead of the usual three to four hours for unsoaked beans.
“People want to use their pressure cookers for everything, but they’re better for some things than others,” Sass said. “Stick to soups, stews, beans and risotto. It makes fabulous risotto.”
I’d have to agree; Sass’s recipe for porcini mushroom risotto with peas is excellent, adaptable and about as easy as dinner gets (once you source the dried porcinis and Arborio rice, that is).
I also like the machine for polenta, which eliminates the stirring (and the splatters of molten blobs).
But perhaps the biggest pressure cooker joy I found was for something as simple as hardcooked eggs. They didn’t cook faster, but even fresh eggs from the farmers’ market peeled effortlessly, without ending up pockmarked and riddled with craters the way they do when I boil them in a pot. This is because the pressure helps inflate the air pocket between the cooked white and the shell, which makes separating the two go more smoothly.
I also tried out some of the other functions, including the slow cooker, rice cooker and yogurt maker settings. The unit worked as well as my separate, standalone slow cooker, though I can see a future in which I pressure-cook more, and slow-cook less; the results are similar, but one is a whole lot faster. For cooking rice, I preferred both the brown and white rice I made in my separate rice cooker. The pressure cooker was faster, but the rice a bit heavier and chewier. And for yogurt, which I’d gotten into the habit of making every other week on the stove, I have to admit that the machine worked like a dream.
So after all that cooking, did I fall in love with the electric pressure cooker?
It takes up a lot of space, it’s not at all intuitive, and I hate not being able to check on my food as it cooks. But even so, I don’t plan on giving mine up any time soon.
My friend Robin, who bought an Instant Pot six month ago, summed it up well.
“I’m out of the honeymoon phase,” she said. “Now we’re settling into a relationship. And I’ve accepted its limitations, like the fact that there’s no reason to ever make oatmeal or rice in it. But between the lamb stew and the butternut squash soup, I know we will be together forever.”
Pressure Cooker Chocolate Pudding
Makes 6 servings
1½ cups heavy cream ½ cup whole milk 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 60 to 65 per cent), chopped 5 large egg yolks 1/3 cup light brown sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or 1 tablespoon dark rum or bourbon ¼ tsp ground cardamom or cinnamon (optional) 1/8 tsp kosher salt Crème fraîche, or whipped cream, for serving Chocolate shavings, for serving (optional) Total time: 40 minutes, plus at least 3 hours’ chilling
1. In a heavy saucepan, bring cream and milk to a simmer. Remove from heat; whisk in chocolate until melted and smooth.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together yolks, sugar, vanilla, rum or bourbon, cardamom or cinnamon (if using) and salt. Whisking constantly, pour hot chocolate into yolk mixture. Strain through a very fine mesh sieve into a large measuring cup or bowl. This can be made up to two days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
3. Pour into a 1-quart, seveninch soufflé dish, or divide chocolate mixture among six (four- to six-ounce) custard cups, espresso cups or small ramekins. Cover with foil.
4. Place steamer rack in pressure cooker, and fill cooker with 1½ cups water. If baking the larger pudding, place dish on top of rack. Cook on low pressure for 18 minutes. Wait five minutes, then manually release pressure. If making the individual servings, place three custard cups on top of rack. Cook for five minutes on low pressure, then manually release pressure. Repeat with remaining three cups.
5. After cooking puddings, remove foil covers to allow the steam to evaporate, and cool to room temperature. Cover puddings with plastic wrap, and chill at least three hours and up to three days before serving with crème fraîche and chocolate shavings, if you like.
Pressure Cooker Spicy Pork Shoulder
Makes 10 servings For the pork: 5 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane or minced 2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey 1 tbsp Korean chili flakes (gochugaru) or other chili flakes (Maras, Aleppo or crushed red pepper) 1 tbsp kosher salt, more to taste 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into two or three pieces For the sauce: 1 tbsp peanut oil 4 garlic cloves, grated on a microplane 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger root 1/3 cup gochujang (Korean chili paste) or other chili paste or sauce such as sriracha ¼ cup soy sauce 2 tbsp ketchup 2 tbsp mirin 2 tbsp honey 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 tsp Asian fish sauce 1 tsp sesame oil For the sesame pickled cucumbers: 6 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (about 4 cups) 1½ tbsp rice vinegar 2 tsp sesame oil 2 tsp brown sugar ½ tsp fine sea salt ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion 2 tsp sesame seeds For serving: Cooked rice or toasted slider rolls Kimchee (optional) Total time: three hours, plus marinating
1. To prepare pork, combine garlic, honey, chili flakes, salt and pepper. Rub marinade all over pork. If you have time, cover and refrigerate for one hour to up to 24 hours. Otherwise, proceed with recipe.
2. Set electric pressure cooker or slow cooker to sauté (or use a large skillet). Add pork in batches and sear until browned all over, about two minutes per side. Add ¾ cup water to pot (or to skillet to deglaze, then move to pot), cover, and set to cook for 90 minutes on high pressure or five to seven hours on high in a slow cooker.
3. While pork cooks, prepare sauce: In a small pot, warm peanut oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger, and sauté until fragrant, one to two minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, one to two minutes. Set sauce aside. (It can be made up to one week ahead and stored in the refrigerator.)
4. If using a pressure cooker, manually release steam. Let pork cool until you can handle it, then shred it into bite-size pieces. Pork can be made to this point up to three days ahead.
5. While pork cools, strain liquid from bottom of pot. Pour off fat (or chill liquid, then scoop off solidified fat with a spoon). Reserve.
6. Prepare cucumbers: In a small bowl, combine all ingredients except sesame seeds, and let sit, tossing one or twice, for at least 20 minutes. Stir in sesame seeds.
7. When ready to serve, heat broiler. Toss pork with sauce and 1 to 2 tablespoons cooking liquid — just enough so pork is evenly coated but not wet or runny. Spread mixture on a rimmed baking sheet, and broil until crisped on top, two to three minutes; it will char in places, and that’s fine.
8. Serve pork over rice or on slider rolls, with cucumbers and kimchee, if desired.
Pressure Cooker Beef Short Ribs with Red Wine and Chili
Makes 6 servings
3 to 4 pounds bone-in beef short ribs 2 teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed 1 tsp coriander powder 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon olive oil or other fat (like bacon fat or duck fat), more as needed 3 leeks, whites only, chopped 2 large fennel bulbs, diced 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 tbsp chipotle chili powder 1 tbsp tomato paste 1 cup dry red wine ½ cup pitted prunes, diced Fennel fronds or sliced scallions, or both, for serving
Total time: One hour, plus another hour or more marinating time (optional)
1. If time permits, rub salt, coriander and pepper all over beef and let marinate in refrigerator for at least one hour or, ideally, overnight.
2. Set electric pressure cooker to sauté function and add oil (or use a large skillet on the stove over medium-high heat). Sear beef until evenly browned on all sides, about two minutes per side. You’ll probably have to do this in batches. Transfer to a plate as the pieces brown. Or if using a skillet, transfer them to pressure cooker or slow cooker.
3. Add leeks, fennel and pinch of salt to hot pan and cook until soft, about eight minutes, then add garlic, chili powder and tomato paste; cook until fragrant, one to two minutes. Pour in wine. Add prunes and beef (or add prunes and fennel-wine mixture to the meat in the pot).
4. Cover, then cook for 35 minutes on high pressure. Manually release pressure. If sauce seems thin, pull out beef pieces and reduce sauce using sauté function. Serve with fennel fronds or scallions, or both, for garnish.