Digital Pressure Cookers ... Recs?

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Instant Pot. Don't be fooled by cheap imitations. 6 qt will be able to handle a chuck roast in the 3-4 pound range, so you can judge if you need larger accordingly. I have a 6 qt and can cook a 4 lb. hunk of a Boston butt for pulled pork and have room for a half rack of ribs above it and it's done in an hour and a half or so. It's not barbecue, but it's a damned good fake for something you can cook after you get home from work on a Tuesday night. That's where I think the Instant Pot shines: you can cook things that normally take hours of time after work. It probably won't be as good as doing it the right way, but can be pretty damned close and make those dishes available mid-week.

Pros:
-Quick.
-Absurdly quick, so you can have pulled pork and ribs or a pot roast on a Wednesday night.
-The saute function allows you to brown meat right and sweat vegetables right in the pot so you don't need to pull another pot or skillet out to brown everything before the hot tub gets turned on.
-The fond stays in the pot and dissolves into the cooking liquid. You can then use the saute function to simmer the cooking liquid and reduce down after cooking for a sauce or gravy.
-Frees up the stove for you to focus your attention on and handle side dishes while the main dish is cooking on autopilot. Or you just sit on the couch and have a beer or five instead of tending a pot if that's what you prefer.
-Performs well as a slow cooker and a rice cooker (once you dial in the procedure), so it can replace those two appliances and open up some counter or cabinet space.
-The risk of explosion is much lower than stove based pressure cookers. It doesn't have to vent steam during cooking to limit pressure buildup like a stove based cooker will. The stove based cooker has to because the burner is usually a little hotter than necessary and the slight leakage maintains the pressure by getting rid of the excess heat. So, the stove based cooker can run dry if left on the burner long enough and that can be dangerous. The Instant Pot monitors the conditions inside the pot and turns its heating element on and off to maintain the proper pressure and prevent excessive heating that could be dangerous instead of venting steam. It does have an emergency safety valve ask a backup that should open if anything goes wrong, though.

Cons:
-You're going to have to reduce every time if you want a sauce or gravy from the drippings and cooking liquid. No moisture leaves the pot after it seals, so the remaining liquid is watery and doesn't concentrate the flavor.
-You usually put around a cup of liquid in with the food and end up with that cup plus whatever comes out of the food during cooking, so it might be significant.
-You're kind of stuck with always having a watery cooking liquid. It's got to be able to produce enough steam to generate enough pressure without running dry and scorching the liquid or the food.
-I find that for certain things (some soups, for instance) the pot cooks TOO quickly for flavors to really mingle and develop and the traditional stovetop way is far superior.
-If you start getting well above sea level, the performance begins to drop off. At sea level, it can produce significantly higher pressures than it can at altitude (it basically just produces a pressure 15 psi above your local atmospheric pressure), so if you're high up, the temperatures will be lower and cooking times will be longer.

Overall, I love the thing but I know what I like to use it for and what I don't. Using it for slow cooker recipes and rice cooking is a no-brainer. If I want a pretty good fork tender pot roast in an hour and a half with potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, etc., I'm pulling the Instant Pot out and not thinking twice. On the other hand, if I want pot roast on Sunday and have the time, I'm pulling my black iron out and doing it the slow way without a moment's thought to using the Instant Pot because it just can't produce the same results.

If I was at home I'd send mine to you in the mail.

No use for it

Corn starch is definitely something to always have on hand when using an InstantPot to thicken pan sauces.


I still haven't found anything I really love from the InstantPot, but I do enjoy the convenience of it. Been meaning to try a tri-tip roast in it.