[HN Gopher] Life in the slow lane: how the slow cooker changed t...
___________________________________________________________________
Life in the slow lane: how the slow cooker changed the world
Author : bryanrasmussen
Score : 74 points
Date : 2022-11-23 07:47 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (longreads.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (longreads.com)
| kazinator wrote:
| I would say that what actually changed the world was slow cooking
| on a large, industrial scale, and putting the food into tin cans.
| mdorazio wrote:
| Seems I'm not alone here based on other comments, so honest
| question for people who consider themselves good at cooking and
| also like slow cookers / pressure cookers: what are you making in
| them that you think is actually good? I gave away my crockpot
| years ago and am going to do the same with my instapot because
| everything I have tried except chilis and stews comes out
| extremely "meh" and definitely inferior to traditional cooking.
| For chilis and stews, all I'm really saving is some time since
| cooking on the stove still works just fine.
| ebiester wrote:
| The instant pot is great for grains. Rice comes out consistent,
| as do other grains. It also frees up a burner which can be
| useful.
|
| Stock is so much quicker to make and is completely different
| than store-bought.
|
| Otherwise the key for slow cookers is that anything that needs
| to taste fresh (like peas) are added in the last half hour. But
| it's about time saving otherwise.
| googlryas wrote:
| I haven't had much luck cooking just rice in a pressure cooker,
| but I make a mushroom risotto that everyone seems to go crazy
| for. No idea if it would be scoffed at by Tom Colicchio or not,
| but it only takes about 10 minutes before I'm bringing it up to
| pressure, and it is ready 20 minutes later without much work:
|
| Saute 1-1.5lbs sliced mushrooms + 1-2 onions w/ 4 tbsp butter
| until soft, add 2 tbsp chopped herbs(thyme, oregano, something
| like that). Add 2 cups arborio rice + 2 cups veggie or chicken
| stock, pressure cook for 6 minutes, quick release, stir in 1
| cup peas, big handful of spinach, a boatload of shredded parm,
| and serve with even more parm shredded on top.
| bearmode wrote:
| The slow cooker is a very handy appliance for people who feel
| they have little time to cook, but it's not one I ever find
| myself using. I have never had anything that could be described
| as a quality meal out of one.
| kkfx wrote:
| I suggest another thinking: ALL our appliances are designed with
| the idea of minimizing peak consumption preferring a constant
| load since that's the best for power grids.
|
| It's about time to do the opposite: offer aside appliances that
| maximize all possible energy production peaks for self-
| consumption. It's more neurotic than calm, far more expensive for
| various reasons, but far cheaper for those who have p.v. etc. So
| crafting a "two systems" it's needed in transition terms...
| [deleted]
| anjel wrote:
| 1800 watts x X hours of cook time is a comparatively ridiculous
| value proposition on its face
| martyvis wrote:
| The duty cycle is going to be 25% at most
| kmstout wrote:
| I find the slow cooker is most useful for making lots of food
| ahead of time. Two slow cookers, a good freezer, and a stack of
| cheap containers are excellent tools for keeping people well fed
| when time is short.
| stephen_g wrote:
| I got given a slow cooker for Christmas a few years ago, have
| only ended up using it twice or so since... It's actually the air
| fryer that really revolutionised my cooking, I use it almost
| every day.
| surfpel wrote:
| I bought one recently. It's a game changer for me. It's really
| just an oven that solves the main problem with ovens: being
| slow to heat / under powered. It's really mind boggling that
| these took so long to hit the market!
| twic wrote:
| That sounds like a halogen oven to me [1]. Those have been
| around for quite a while - although apparently only since the
| late '80s [2]. You can cook a good variety of things in them
| [3].
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halogen_oven
|
| [2] http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Spec%20Sheets/TH%20SP%20IR%20Th
| orn...
|
| [3] https://dengarden.com/appliances/Halogen-Oven-A-Review
| poloniculmov wrote:
| What kind of oven is underpowered? Most ovens for sale in the
| EU go upto 250C-300C. Sure, it takes 15 minutes to reach the
| max temperature, but that's to reduce energy use and the
| ovens I've seen have a setting for fast preheating.
| surfpel wrote:
| > Sure, it takes 15 minutes to reach the max temperature
|
| This means it's under powered. On top of that, the
| temperature might be high but energy delivery is not. That
| means the temperature right around the items actually
| drops, like how being still in cold water creates a static
| layer of warm water that keeps you warmer than if you're
| moving around in it. With fast moving air you get
| significantly more heat transfer.
|
| This is what convection ovens do but those are under
| powered in both heat and air flow, for my use case. Enough
| that I don't use them at all, while I use my air fryer
| multiple times daily. Mine actually has the form factor of
| a toaster oven, so it's a very easy comparison.
|
| It's literally just a stronger version of a convection
| oven, with different marketing.
|
| > reduce energy use
|
| I'm not so sure. It takes my air fryer much less time to
| cook things, so without doing the numbers I can't say which
| is more efficient. I'd say that's more about cost.
| TheCapeGreek wrote:
| I think it's less about being underpowered temperature wise
| and more in the results. You have to fiddle with a few more
| settings to get the results you want with an oven,
| especially when trying to make things crispy (or at least I
| do). Air fryer simplifies it down.
|
| I know nothing of the technologies involved but I suspect
| the air fryer makes things easier because it's easier to
| get the desired effects in a small heating area (the
| basket) than the oven.
| Kye wrote:
| My impression is an air fryer is an otherwise ordinary
| convection oven with better splatter containment for use
| with a basket. It's interesting how little changes like
| that can lead to such huge benefits.
| surfpel wrote:
| Yep, you got it. "Air fryer" is just a marketing term for
| a stronger convection oven. My "air fryer" has a toaster
| oven form factor and the splatter containment is awful,
| so the basket design really helps with that, from what
| I've seen.
| Ekaros wrote:
| Both use convection. But the difference is the
| circulation. Convection oven pushes it over the food
| where as air fryers push it on the top of food. Later
| being much more effective. It does actually make a
| difference.
| poloniculmov wrote:
| Yeah, to get things extra cripsy i put my food on a rack
| and use a pan on the bottom to catch the fat. That way
| the air hits the food on all sides and it doesn't get
| soggy because moisture is trapped underneath.
| ilyt wrote:
| Main problem with ovens is really that the "typical" size is
| just bad. I never used full size of it, I don't think I even
| used half the size of it, and it just makes it heat slower.
|
| Double ovens are a thing but you rarely see apartments
| outfitted with those and if you already have an oven, air-
| fryer makes more sense than replacing single oven with double
| oven.
| ip26 wrote:
| Toaster ovens are not new. Great for cooking a half pound
| of fish filet, for example.
| hyencomper wrote:
| Have you tried a toaster oven. It heats up almost instantly,
| and makes great toast so you don't really need a toaster
| either.
| surfpel wrote:
| Toaster ovens are too low power and don't have enough
| convection still, at least for my use case. I roasted
| chicken just last night, and got a beautiful golden crust
| with a thoroughly cooked interior... you can't do that with
| a typical toaster oven!
|
| My air fryer has a toaster oven form factor[1]. The fan is
| much more powerful however and it has extra heating
| elements. Otherwise it literally is a toaster oven with
| convection, even says so in the name!
|
| Conceptually all of these are very similar, it's just the
| balance of heating power and fan speed that make the
| difference, though marginal it may be from an engineering
| design standpoint.
|
| Typical air fryers have a basket design[2] that helps with
| splatter control, but they are otherwise again the same.
|
| 1 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CXM33MD/
|
| 2 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R6KMBQT/
| orev wrote:
| The typical comment about toaster ovens is that they're bad
| at making toast and they're bad at being an oven. Just
| learn to use the oven that's already installed in the
| kitchen.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| My toaster oven uses way less electricity and doesn't
| heat up my house like my big oven though. When I make
| cookies they are done in 12 minutes to perfection and it
| plugs into a normal 120v outlet. I doubt my big 240v oven
| with the thick cables for lots of amps is even preheated
| by then.
| Mistletoe wrote:
| They didn't take so long to hit the market, they are just
| convection ovens with a rebrand and marketing.
| surfpel wrote:
| Thanks kind-of the point, except standard convection ovens
| are weaker. See my other comments for details...
| ClassyJacket wrote:
| I've thought this many times.
|
| There's nothing about an air fryer that they couldn't have
| made them in the 50s. How did they take so long to exist??
| adgjlsfhk1 wrote:
| they existed with the name convection oven since 1945
| GeekyBear wrote:
| Give slow cooker pulled pork a try one weekend. The results are
| stupendous.
|
| I follow this recipe and cook for eight hours in the crock pot
| on low.
|
| https://www.kcet.org/food-discovery/food/weekend-recipe-pull...
| gadders wrote:
| What are you cooking in that? I see they are popular, but I
| don't really eat a lot of fried food.
| Jedd wrote:
| Not the person you asked, however I picked up a multi-
| function oven earlier this year - a benchtop model from
| Sunbeam, runs off a standard power point (AU - I think we
| have slightly more power available at the plug?).
|
| Anyway, it's great for crisping things in a way that frying
| (deep or shallow) might otherwise do, but with very little
| oil required.
|
| Examples - lightly cornflour'd chicken or pork to give a
| little crunch in sweet & sour pork / chicken. Butcher-
| prepared chicken kievs that would otherwise need a _lot_ of
| oil and be a mess to cook. (Sweet) potato wedges, usually
| heavily herbed. These can be done with a a very light coating
| of oil, typically sprayed rather than tossed.
|
| The carbohydrate aspect of these foods is a bigger concern to
| me than the oil, but nonetheless.
| tejohnso wrote:
| Air fryer owner here. Mostly used for not so healthy things
| like individual sized pizzas, french fries, burger patties,
| hot dogs. Works very well for quick, small meals.
| stephen_g wrote:
| It doesn't actually truly fry things, it's just a tiny fan
| forced oven really that cooks things faster than heating up
| my real oven.
|
| I do salmon fillets in it now instead of in the pan, or
| roasting up some chicken breast, even steak if you're in a
| real hurry.
| skrause wrote:
| From experience with my family members the common steps with
| an air fryer are usually these:
|
| 1. Buy an air fryer.
|
| 2. Try it a few times.
|
| 3. Tell everyone in the familiy, at the work place and on
| social media how awesome an air fryer is.
|
| 4. Never use it again.
| anjel wrote:
| GoodWill seems never to run out of abandoned auto bread
| bakers for sale. No similar 2nd hand air fryer glut in
| evidence (yet)
| bombcar wrote:
| This is the litany of most kitchen devices.
|
| The only ones for me that have survived the test of time
| are the pressure cooker and the toaster oven.
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| So this is all about one pioneering brand: The Crockpot.
|
| Is the subtext that this is marketing - the gifting season is
| upon us, and the competition from newer brands e.g. Instant Pot,
| fierce?
| benplumley wrote:
| I didn't really notice until the last paragraph, which was
| egregious. "Even if you've already got one that works fine, it
| might be a bit worn out, buy a new one".
| dtgriscom wrote:
| Oy. Consume for consumption's sake.
| smaccona wrote:
| We bought an Instant Pot two years ago because everyone seemed
| to be raving about them, but we only used it a handful of times
| - we tried recipes that came with it, recipes online, recipes
| from friends who had one. They were all hugely underwhelming.
| The one pot roast we tried was dry and flavorless. It didn't
| seem to matter what seasonings we tried, the result was subpar.
|
| We do have a couple of other crock pots / slow cookers which we
| use to make great dishes like pulled pork etc. It's just the
| Instant Pot which hasn't worked out for us.
|
| Other Instant Pot users: what am I missing? Is the main
| advantage supposed to be that you can prepare meals fast
| because it's a pressure cooker? Or should I pull it out and
| give it another shot?
| ska wrote:
| On pressure cookers: in general they are the most helpful for
| taking a recipe that you would simmer/braise for many hours
| and shortening the time. If your meat is coming out dry, you
| may have cooked too long, but more likely it's the wrong cut
| - stews can work really well.
|
| Other things: it will make a really decent stock in less than
| an hour. It can do wonders with dry beans. If you want to try
| again, these guys are mostly pretty reliable as a starting
| point: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-recipes.
| chpatrick wrote:
| I think the pressure is the best thing, you can just chuck
| food into it that normally takes a long time to cook and
| it'll be done in a fraction of the time, then it'll just keep
| it warm until you're ready to use it. It's great for rice and
| yoghurt too. I use mine all the time.
| charlieyu1 wrote:
| Instant Pot is great for Asian soups/broths, you can get a
| soup done in an hour where it would have taken 5 hours using
| traditional cooking. In fact I haven't really used it for
| anything else
| orev wrote:
| New tools should be looked at as opening up new things you
| can cook. Pressure pots excel at dry beans, soups, and stews.
| If you don't cook those, you won't see the benefits. 1 hour
| in a pressure pot vs 8 hours in a crock pot is a game
| changer.
|
| Pot roast seems like a bad fit since with a roast you'd
| typically want the roasted outside in the dry heat of the
| oven. You also need things that have enough water that will
| generate enough steam to build up pressure, so low moisture
| things won't turn out well either.
| d4rti wrote:
| I pressure cook with the Instant Pot, as well as using it as
| a rice cooker (which I consider to be worth it in itself, we
| eat a reasonably large amount of rice).
|
| Best sources are the pressure cooker recipes on Serious Eats
| [1], I especially recommend the Pho Ga [2], the Mushroom
| Risotto [3] and the Bolognese Ragu [4].
|
| Another good source is hippressurecooking (I use the book[5]
| rather than the website [6]) - the book is worth it for the
| of method and time alone for e.g. beans, and the recipes are
| not as good as the Serious Eats ones, but many are good (I
| like the Filipino Chicken Adobo). I've used it in combination
| with other sources, as a way to adapt to the faster pressure
| cooking times (Urad Dal, using the ingredients from
| Ottolenghi, but method from Hip Pressure Cooking. Mind you if
| I have the time, I tend now to make the Dishoom House Black
| Dal).
|
| 1: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-
| recipes-5117325 2: https://www.seriouseats.com/30-minute-
| pressure-cooker-pho-ga... 3:
| https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-mushroom-
| risotto... 4: https://www.seriouseats.com/pressure-cooker-
| ragu-bolognese-s... 5: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hip-Pressure-
| Cooking-Laura-Passagli... 6:
| http://www.hippressurecooking.com/
| aqfamnzc wrote:
| The main thing is the quick pressurized cooking. But for me,
| and I use mine regularly, it's the repeatability. Boiled eggs
| are super easy once dialed in, and rice cooking too. The slow
| cooker part has worked better for me after buying a slow-
| cooker style lid for it (rather than the locking pressure
| lid, or no lid.)
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| This is exactly my worry: My heart says "get an instant pot,
| they're so cool, so versatile, you could cook so much with so
| little effort"
|
| But I don't get one, since my head says: "Where would you put
| it in the small apartment? And anyway you're well fed
| already. It doesn't fill a gap."
|
| I guess if you're really busy and/or have a lot of mouths to
| feed then they're better value?
| nickd2001 wrote:
| Its particularly useful for a time-starved family. We often
| put a whole chicken or piece of brisket (beef) or turkey
| drumstick in it in the morning, with a load of herbs out of
| the garden such as bay leaf, rosemary, sage, chives, then
| leave it all day and its magically cooked by dinner. Can be
| PITA to wash the pot afterwards that's the only caveat.
| Main benefit is when you got a family, doubt I would've
| bothered when single. One more thing- you can cook liver in
| it and that tastes good that way especially with something
| acidic like tomato or onion added. Liver is something dirt
| cheap that a number of UK school kids were traumatised by
| as fairly disgusting, but done in a slow cooker that way,
| we all enjoy. ;)
| nickd2001 wrote:
| Its all too easy to overcook meat in it. hence why
| flavourless. Have you tried Brisket? That's more difficult to
| overcook, simply because it takes longer to cook so if you
| put it in in the morning, by dinner you'll be hungry before
| its overcooked ;)
| walthamstow wrote:
| My IP is used solely for cooking soaked beans, which it is
| brilliant at. It also does brown rice very well, better than
| my rice cooker.
|
| That's it, though. Don't use it to cook real food.
| dools wrote:
| So far I've done a brisket in the instant pot with good
| results, made a whole chicken stock, and use it regularly as
| a rice cooker. I haven't expanded beyond that yet but so far
| it's served me well in the instances I've used it just by
| looking up a couple of quick recipes
| causi wrote:
| I gave up on trying to do anything useful with an Instant Pot
| when I realized I couldn't see the food cooking inside
| without opening the lid.
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| That seems like a drawback, but not a showstopper to me?
| askvictor wrote:
| It's a different way of cooking; closer to baking than
| stove-top cooking. You need to get the quantities right. If
| you follow some recipes for a bit you get the hang of the
| ratios required for a lot of things, or just continue to
| use recipes.
| gwd wrote:
| Baking at least you can open the oven to take a quick
| look, and even use an oven thermometer to see how well
| done it is. (I've recently discovered that you can use an
| oven thermometer when baking bread, which has been
| amazing!)
|
| With a pressure cooker, it takes several minutes to
| depressurize, and the required seal precludes using a
| wired oven thermometer. So you just have to kind of guess
| and hope, which often means things are slightly over-
| cooked (since that's safer than slightly under-cooking).
| SideburnsOfDoom wrote:
| > Baking at least you can open the oven to take a quick
| look,
|
| I find that baking falls into two categories:
|
| 1) Pie or roast - No closed cast-iron pot in use, so you
| don't need to open the oven, you can see in through the
| glass.
|
| 2) Baking bread in the closed cast-iron pot with the lid
| on, do not open the oven or raise the lid during this
| phase!
|
| In neither case do you "open the oven and take a quick
| look"
| gwd wrote:
| > Other Instant Pot users: what am I missing? Is the main
| advantage supposed to be that you can prepare meals fast
| because it's a pressure cooker? Or should I pull it out and
| give it another shot?
|
| I don't like to use the pressure cooker for meat, for exactly
| the reasons you state. For one, higher heat of an oven
| produces different chemical changes, which generally taste
| better; for two, with pressure cooking, a lot of the fat
| seeps out of the meat and ends up in the broth, leaving it
| tough and tasteless. I feel the same way for potatoes and
| sweet potatoes -- I much prefer the flavor which the higher
| temperature of the oven brings.
|
| That said, my wife actually prefers chicken / potatoes /
| sweet potatoes cooked in the pressure cooker; so when we buy
| a chicken, if I get to it first it's baked, and if she gets
| to it first it's pressure cooked. :-)
|
| Where the pressure cooker shines is cooking grains and beans:
| quinoa, freekeh, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans,
| lentils, etc. They all take a really long time to cook on the
| stovetop; but take quite a reasonable amount of time on the
| pressure cooker. (In fact, we bought our pressure cooker when
| we were experimenting with a "plant-based" diet.). But then
| you're not done: you still have to add fat and flavoring.
| Ekaros wrote:
| It also depends on the cuts of the meat. Pressure cooking
| is good for those that you would anyway simmer for long
| time. Thus shortening this time.
|
| Workable alternative would be Sous-Vide which allows lower
| temps but much longer times. Even up to days.
|
| One meat I have sometimes done as apartment dweller is ribs
| and then oven for glacing.
| askvictor wrote:
| This instant pot is for when you haven't got enough time to
| slow cook your slow-cook-meal. Also really good for rice,
| grains and legumes. Depending on the model, can be good for
| fine-temperature control things like sous-vide. I use mine to
| make yoghurt a lot (paid itself off within a year just from
| that)
| nickd2001 wrote:
| As an owner of a Crockpot, I'd recommend a different brand! The
| first one failed and was replaced under warranty. The second
| one, the "time left" LCD is broken. My parents have same model,
| same fault. when you think how people have 30-yr-old
| calculators with working LCDs, failure after 2 yrs on a
| Crockpot is unacceptable. 15 yrs ago though, we had a Morphy
| Richards. The element on that failed, probably just put of
| warranty. I don't know if there's actually a quality make of
| slow cooker. Seems like to some extent they're throwaway
| devices like kettles or toasters. which can negate electricity
| cost savings to some extent.
| kieckerjan wrote:
| I understand the attraction of slow cooking. It ties neatly into
| our desire for authenticity and even mindfulness. However, the
| last piece of kitchen machinery that changed my life is the
| opposite: the pressure cooker. It allows you to go from raw beef
| or even dried (unsoaked!) beans to a meltingly soft stew in less
| than an hour. It saves time and energy and, by doing so, opens up
| whole swaths of culinary possibilities.
| GeekyBear wrote:
| Slow cookers are good for people who plan ahead. Pressure
| cookers are better for people who like to put things off until
| the last minute.
|
| Low and slow yields better results for dishes like a pot-roast,
| but for many other things, a pressure cooker is a must have. I
| never buy canned beans anymore.
| ska wrote:
| There are very few things you can do in a slow cooker without
| compromises that affect the taste, mostly because of the
| limited temperature range (mostly they don't get hot enough)
| and the fact that most of the time you don't want all of your
| ingredients in for that long. This can be mitigated of
| course, but once you are pre-cooking some things and adding
| others later, you lose the primary appeal of them.
|
| Most low-and-slow is better done in an oven, so the main
| thing you are left with is fire safety (e.g. if you want to
| leave it going and go to work). If you aren't careful you
| trade that off for food safety, anyway.
|
| I see the appeal for convenience if the mediocre results
| don't put you off.
| GeekyBear wrote:
| > Most low-and-slow is better done in an oven, so the main
| thing you are left with is fire safety
|
| You also gain the ability to cook without heating up the
| whole house.
| ska wrote:
| Fair point.
| nickd2001 wrote:
| +1 to pressure cookers. We find owning both pressure cooker and
| slow cooker to be very useful. Pressure cooker is particularly
| good for pulses that would otherwise take ages to cook. Seems
| to reduce cooking time by roughly 2/3 .e:g beetroot takes 15
| mins at pressure instead of 45 to boil. Only problem with it is
| its all too easy to overcook stuff. needs timing carefully.
| xattt wrote:
| The marketing around pressure cookers (MAKE TANTALIZING MEALS
| IN 15 MINUTES!) always overlooks the time it takes for prep
| (~ 45 minutes), the times it take for the vessel to come up
| to pressure (~ 30 minutes) and time it takes to depressurize
| (~15-30 minutes).
|
| Ultimately the results are better, but it's lead to a couple
| of one hour delays on meal time in my household because I
| forgot to take into account the extra time. These often
| involved a "rapid depressurization procedure" of taking the
| Instant Pot to the deck, and holding the release valve up
| with a long wooden spoon.
| iamthepieman wrote:
| I just put a towel on the pressure release valve, turn it
| away from the underside of any cabinets and let it rip.
| pengaru wrote:
| I've been using an ikea stove-top pressure cooker for
| cooking bean soups and it takes very little time to
| pressurize and de-pressurize, your numbers don't reflect my
| experience at all.
| ska wrote:
| Stove top pressure cookers generally heat up faster, and
| certainly can be cooled faster by pouring water over
| them. They also typically cook a bit faster (because of
| slightly higher pressure)
|
| It's still true that your "15 min cook" is actually
| time_to_get_to_pressure + 15 min + time_to_cool
| AlotOfReading wrote:
| It's going to heavily depend on how much water needs to
| be heated and how the vessel seals. Mine needs a strongly
| rolling boil to seal. I use as little water as possible
| to minimize heating time. It's still 10-15m to pressure
| buildup at anything below max heat with our giant cooker
| and another 10-15m to 15psi for sterilization temps.
| nickd2001 wrote:
| We have a 14-yr-old Tower 6 litre stainless steel pressure
| cooker that sits on the hob like a normal saucepan. You can
| google that and in the UK there's a model on Argos for
| about PS45. So not crazy posh or anything. Been very happy
| with it. To come to pressure, it takes a few mins just like
| bringing a pan to the boil. Bear in mind (a) shouldn't be
| all that much water in it, doesn't need anything like what
| you need for boiling or steaming (b) need to keep it all
| clean or this will affect it coming to and staying at
| pressure (c) rubber ring can perish affecting performance,
| having said that we haven't replaced that in years. Taking
| it off the hob it'll come off pressure in 2 mins or so. A
| trick of course with the older and/or inferior pressure
| cookers is you can simply run cold water from a tap onto
| the lid, for instant depressurisation. works a charm :). So
| I don't know why yours takes so long, but I think it
| shouldn't . something seems wrong to me. As for recipes
| with a lot of prep time, yes that can be true of recipes,
| same as for slow cooking. However , certain things cook
| really fast with barely any prep e:g beetroot, pearl
| barley, lentils. I'm. a big advocate of pressure cookers as
| both a time and energy saver. Good luck and bon appetit :)
| xattt wrote:
| The InstantPot is a plug-in appliance like a slow cooker
| that locks as a unit when under pressure, so no running
| it under water to get it to cool off.
| IanCal wrote:
| I'm not sure I've ever had it take half an hour to come to
| pressure, but you can speed up liquidy things by putting
| them on the stove while putting the ingredients in. I can
| heat things up much faster on my gas hob than with the
| heater in the instant pot.
|
| Meal prep depends on the meal as well. Try a Colombian
| chicken stew - cut a few potatoes, some tomatoes and onions
| (rough, just into quarters) and chuck them in the pot with
| some chicken legs/thighs and bay leaves (and salt and
| pepper). That's minutes to prep, and doesn't have to be
| done just before dinner. 25 minutes and then release the
| pressure. I'm not sure why you carry it outside and use a
| spoon, you can turn the valve then leave it for a few
| minutes.
| compsciphd wrote:
| most instant pot devices have a manual release that you
| dont have to hold. (or at least the few that I've ever seen
| / used)
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| Buying an Instant Pot was life changing. I filled it up with
| chopped sweet potatoes, set it for an hour, and they were
| perfectly cooked to make mashed potatoes. Dry beans cook so
| fast. It makes rice as well as a rice cooker does. I love it
| zdragnar wrote:
| I'm going to have to dispute the rice - my instant pot has
| never produced rice at the same quality as my rice cooker.
|
| That said, it makes a better pork shoulder than anything else
| I've ever done!
| satvikpendem wrote:
| You need to use a pot-in-pot method for rice, not raw rice
| in the pot [0]. This ensures even cooking of the rice
| because the water around it gets hot first and then
| distributes that heat to all layers of the rice, not just
| near the bottom.
|
| This is what I do and I get perfect rice every time.
|
| [0] https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/how-to-use-the-
| pot-in-p...
| ska wrote:
| I think the rice cooker is about as good as a generic cheap
| rice cooker of the north american variety, but not as good
| as a good japanese/korean/etc. one.
|
| Obviously YMMV
| zdragnar wrote:
| The trick in America at least is to go above the $20
| price point. Most of the $40 aroma rice cookers will do
| just as good as the $200+ zojirushi for a simple long
| grain white / jasmine rice.
|
| If you want sticky rice, congee or a korean style
| multigrain blend, then yeah, most cheaper American
| cookers will fall short.
| [deleted]
| klyrs wrote:
| I'm with you on the beans, but mashed potatoes take about 20
| minutes on a plain old electric stove.
| kzrdude wrote:
| And sweet potatoes are even faster to mash
| IanCal wrote:
| They'll have been done well before that. An hour is a long
| time in a pressure cooker.
|
| With kids, I sometimes do things in the instant pot I could
| probably do quicker outside, I'm happier leaving it on the
| counter rather than leaving a burner on.
| ak217 wrote:
| The instant pot's value is the automation. Yes, you can
| achieve the same results with a stovetop pressure cooker or
| even a regular pan/pot. You will be spending more of your
| time on it because if you don't pay attention, adjust the
| heat, turn it off after 20 minutes, etc. you will end up
| with a mess or worse on your stove. Regular induction
| cooktops and ovens are starting to get similar features
| where they can be set on a timer, sense the temperature of
| the food, etc. It may not seem like much, but it's very
| important because it saves people time and makes more of
| the manual housework optional.
| bombela wrote:
| 11 minutes in the microwave!
|
| Use a bit of water in microwave safe dish with a lid almost
| closed. This is like steaming and microwave cooking all at
| once.
| akira2501 wrote:
| I put the potatoes in a paper bowl and then set another
| paper bowl inverted over the top of that. It traps just
| the right amount of escaping steam to effectively do the
| same thing.
| ska wrote:
| > I filled it up with chopped sweet potatoes, set it for an
| hour
|
| FWIW I have trouble imagining needing more than 10 minutes at
| high pressure for anything like potatoes. Maybe even a few
| less.
|
| Cooking them for an hour would be similar to boiling stovetop
| for 3+ hours!
| gautamdivgi wrote:
| The pressure cooker has been an Indian cooking staple for a
| really long time. However, it does get noisy :). The instant
| pot has been an excellent improvement. We use the instant pot
| for everything - meat gravies/curries, beans and my wife even
| found a recipe to make jam from frozen strawberries and chia
| seeds.
|
| We've never owned a slow cooker. But I'm pretty sure I'd be in
| a load of culinary discomfort without my instant pot (or the
| back-up Indian pressure cookers).
| hinkley wrote:
| My ex befriended her Indian coworker and then his wife. Turns
| out the pressure cooker is the secret to some Indian cuisine
| as well.
|
| It and this reminded me of a different hack I heard about at
| one point, using whip cream dispenser to do herbal infusion.
| Seems the pressure helps transfer the flavors. Just open a
| window unless you want to get high while cooking (sharp
| instruments and hot surfaces are better employed by a clear
| mind)
|
| The slow cooker entered into a world of working mothers, it
| was a Have Your Cake and Eat It Too invention, because like
| the automatic timer on a coffee pot it let you be elsewhere
| while the food prepared.
|
| The instant pot partly solves that problem but also solves
| another: The slow cooker requires forethought and stable
| dinner plans. The instant pot lets you make last hour
| decisions. For long commuters, the person stuck at the office
| can tell you they're on their way home and the food is hot
| shortly after they get there (though to be fair, slow cookers
| have a forgiving window of edibility). If you're a space
| cadet you can still prepare a fancy meal even if you didn't
| think about it in the morning. And even if have to run to the
| grocery store for ingredients.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| Does the pressure cooker get rid of the bean toxins?
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| Croc pots have their place, but I'd also encourage people not to
| underestimate the simple cast iron dutch oven in your well...
| oven. It's more versatile than a croc pot while being nearly as
| hands off.
| bell-cot wrote:
| For many dishes, dutch ovens work pretty well on the stove top.
| You gain more & faster heat control, lose some evenness of
| heating (important for some dishes, meaningless for others),
| and may need to fiddle a bit more with the heat controls to get
| a really slow simmer. And it easily does things like browning
| onions or searing meat, where a crock pot is useless.
| marssaxman wrote:
| Dutch ovens also make great bread.
| kzrdude wrote:
| Adam Ragusea's brief recipe for that
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI2-6Ps2Hcc (video)
| papandada wrote:
| I haven't used a slow cooker for years once I got a dutch oven.
| First a Lodge, then a used Le Creuset 5.5 quart for less than a
| quarter of the price new. It looked like it got used on
| campfires, but it cleaned up nice. I have no reason to believe
| the LC won't last the rest of my life, but if it didn't, I
| wouldn't hesitate to pay full price to replace it, for the
| versatility and sheer joy it brings me. (I can't compare it to
| the other big names, but compared to a Lodge the straight
| sides/larger cooking surface are a "no going back after having"
| improvement.) It may be my favourite physical thing in my
| possession.
| mettamage wrote:
| How is it more hands on? Not fully following, not an amazing
| cook either :)
| jasonwatkinspdx wrote:
| I think there's a fair number of people ok with leaving the
| house when a croc pot is going vs a gas stove. Otherwise
| they're the same, but with the oven+dutch combo giving you
| better temp control as well as a wider range of temps. Like
| when I make carnitas I do it at 325F so that it fries off in
| its own rendered fat. The croc pot version is tasty but can't
| duplicate that.
| bowsamic wrote:
| I'm not a fan of the flavour of food cooked in a slow cooker. I
| feel like it has a specific quality to it. Like, I can tell it is
| slow cooked, and everything loses its definition of flavour. If I
| cook a stew in a dutch oven the carrots still taste like carrots,
| but in a slow cooker the carrots kind of taste like the rest of
| the stew in a vague way.
|
| I don't know how to describe it but there is definitely a
| noticeable "slow cooker flavour"
| i_am_proteus wrote:
| The substantial difference is that slow cookers use a
| ceramic/porcelain vessel, and dutch ovens are made (usually)
| out of enameled cast iron. Gives a different kind of fond.
|
| A dutch oven on a standalone induction "burner" is a fine slow
| cooker.
| bowsamic wrote:
| That is absolutely not the reason. It's because slow cookers
| generally cook at a high temperature for far longer,
| resulting in far more muted flavours. People generally don't
| leave a stew to cook for that many hours when using the
| stovetop, since they pull it when it's ready. The weird "slow
| cooker flavour" is simply due to overcooking.
| i_am_proteus wrote:
| Try cooking with similar temperatures and times with both
| types of cookware (I have done this) and see if you still
| feel the same way.
|
| The fond-friendly nature of the enameled-cast-iron dutch
| unit is one of its best qualities.
| bowsamic wrote:
| I don't have enameled cast iron dutch oven I actually
| only have an aluminium thick base saucepan and my old
| slow cooker was some kind of coated metal, like teflon
| i_am_proteus wrote:
| You probably know this already, but teflon (for the same
| reason it prevents sticking) essentially prevents good
| sears and good fond. The price one pays for ease of
| cleanup.
| bowsamic wrote:
| I wouldn't say it prevents good sears but of course it
| prevents good fonds. Anyway I don't have it anymore since
| my wife became a vegetarian and honestly I enjoy cooking
| directly too much. I don't want to leave it to cook when
| I can get better results on the stove
| micwag wrote:
| As an ESL speaker I always incorrectly assumed "dutch oven"
| referred to clay pots:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_pot_cooking#In_European_c.
| ..
| kzrdude wrote:
| Thanks for the clarification. It turns out I have a dutch
| oven, exciting! :)
| Havoc wrote:
| I've stopped using slow cookers. Partly because I don't have the
| time but also I don't think safety around them is adequately
| communicated to users. e.g. FDA specifically warns that they
| don't get up to sufficient temp to make dry kidney beans safe
| (Phytohaemagglutinin toxin). Only found out about that years
| after I got mine (pure luck that I never made a dry bean dish)
|
| Pressure cookers on the other hand are awesome. Fast, energy
| efficient and results in a similar outcome for the most part.
| mosquitobiten wrote:
| Just want to add that slow cooker does get to boiling point,
| albeit very slowly(3-4h on high setting). So a dry bean dish
| would need to be cooked for at least 5h.
| jononomo wrote:
| One thing that has dramatically simplified my entire
| cooking/eating/kitchen routine has been switching to only eating
| beef. I just eat exactly the same thing, a steak, for every meal.
| I never have to go grocery shopping (I have a freezer with scores
| of steaks), I never have to chop vegetables, I never have to
| clean up more than the one cast iron pan that I seared the steak
| in. And since steak is so satiating I only eat twice a day. The
| time and money savings have been absolutely extraordinary, but
| even they pale in comparison to the benefits to my health since
| I've begun this diet. I feel alive again. It is so fantastic when
| you stick to only eating the most nutrient-dense food on Earth.
| slothtrop wrote:
| You hijacked this to talk about the carnivore diet?
| dsr_ wrote:
| The cultures which survived on all-meat diets did so by eating
| organ meats along with muscle; they usually had either seafood
| or dairy, as well.
| quickthrower2 wrote:
| I am guessing you are fussy about where you get your steak,
| what it wad fed and which cut.
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