Multitasking appliance finds way into kitchen
Busy Grafton mom discovers cooking tool online that can whip up meals slow or fast
The stove in Catharine Han’s Grafton home hasn’t been used much lately. Han, a busy mom of three, discovered the Instant Pot last summer and has been using it ever since.
The Instant Pot is a popular kitchen appliance that’s captured wide interest on the internet; when Han saw it online, she immediately became intrigued.
“I learned I can use it to cook foods quickly for my family and I don’t have to spend so much time in the kitchen,” she says.
With a sleek black design and hightech, user-friendly control panel, the Instant Pot packs the power of seven kitchen appliances into one pretty package. It functions as a slow cooker, a pressure cooker and a rice cooker. It can sauté and steam food; it’s also a yogurt maker and a food warmer.
This multitasking kitchen tool has become the workhorse of many kitchens. According to Instant Pot founder and CEO Robert Wang, more than 2 million Instant Pots have been purchased since the first generation was introduced in 2010.
Han fits the profile of an Instant Pot user to aT: a busy parent who wants to prepare quick and healthy homemade meals for her family. In addition to her full-time job as mom to 5-year-old Caleb and 3-year-old twins Brayden and Aiden, Han owns and operates a wedding planning business and a craft business. She and her husband, Jay, own two other businesses, Wasabi restaurant in Brookfield and Number 1 Sports in Milwaukee.
The speed and convenience of the Instant Pot helps Han manage the demands of her extremely full life. Calling Han “Instant Pot obsessed” wouldn’t be an understatement; she liked her first one so much that she ordered a second.
In her spare time, Han started a blog, the Hangry Family, where she offers recipes, tips and inspiration to Instant Pot newbies. Han recently shared some of her favorite recipes and tips she’s picked up through her experiences with the pot over the past 10 months.
The Instant Pot comes with three important elements: a metal liner that holds the food for cooking, a metal trivet that sits in the liner, and a condensation cup to collect water that drips out of the back of the pot. It also includes a rice measuring cup and paddle and a soup ladle.
Replacing pasta with veggies is a growing trend for people with gluten issues or anyone who wants to avoid the dreaded “carb coma.” Nothing works better as a pasta replacement than spaghetti squash, but it can take up to 45 minutes to bake in an oven. The Instant Pot cuts that time to 14 minutes: 7 minutes of cooking time and 7 minutes for the pot to “come to pressure.”
After you put the food in the pot, waiting for the Instant Pot to come to pressure is a bit like preheating an oven. You set the panel to the appropriate setting and wait for the signs from above and for the angels to sing.
OK, they’re not exactly signs from above, and it’s more of a bubbling sound than angel chorus. When the pot reaches pressure, a silver pin on the exterior pops up; at this point the countdown to eating begins. There’s a beep when the food is cooked and then the pot automatically switches to the food warmer setting.
Depending on your time constraints and on the recipe, you can let the food sit at the warmer setting and let the pressure naturally release; this is highly recommended when cooking meats.
If time is an issue and if you’re not cooking meat, you can do a quick release by turning the valve on the top of the pot; just be careful as the steam sprays out of
the valve. The silver pin drops when all the pressure has been released. Now it’s safe to open the pot and CAREFULLY lift the hot food out (two words: oven gloves).
The lid won’t open if there’s still pressure in the pot, a safety feature Han appreciates.
“You hear horror stories about stove-top pressure cookers,” she says. “My husband once bought me (one) and I was afraid to use it.”
The Instant Pot solves a common problem faced by working people on a regular basis who end up singing the “I forgot to take something out of the freezer this morning” blues.
“One of the best things about the Instant Pot is that you don't have to thaw food before you cook it,” Han says.
To prepare a frozen salmon fillet, Han grabbed a packaged fillet out of the freezer and, with minimal preparation, put it in the pot, poured in water, pressed the “steam” button on the control panel and set the digital timer to 3 minutes. When the pot beeped, Han manually released the pressure, opened the pot and the salmon was ready to eat. “You can do four frozen salmon fillets at one time,” she adds.
Glendale resident Toby Colton asked for an Instant Pot for a Hanukkah gift after watching her son and daughter-inlaw use it to make delicious meals quickly.
“I like that I can experiment with new ways to prepare things,” she says. “It’s great because it cuts down on energy usage and frees up my time.”
Colton loves the sausage and pasta recipe that her daughter-inlaw, Jessica Crouse, created.
“This recipe is very basic and could include sautéed vegetables such as onions, mushrooms, grated carrots, etc.,” Colton explains. “It’s a perfect recipe for a busy working mother because you can make it, add a salad of your own and both are done in less than half an hour.”
Wang attributes the popularity of the Instant Pot to its ability to meet the needs of families like hers.
“It solves some common problems that all of us are facing daily: lack of time, striving to eat healthy and wanting to be energy-efficient.”