Instant Pot in Professional Kitchens?

[BakerAunt]

I know that we've had some discussions about the Instant Pot. I came across this article about how some chefs are using them in professional kitchens:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-27/the-only-people-who-aren-t-using-instant-pots-chefs

One of my sisters has bought an instant pot, but due to lack of time, she had yet to use it last time we talked. She was excited about being able to make yogurt. Oddly enough, stores that carry the Instant Pot do not carry the accessories--such as a holder for individual jars for yogurt. The accessories have to be ordered directly from the company.

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[Mike Nolan]

I don't see the Instant Pot as being high on my list of things to buy right now. I haven't used a pressure cooker in a good 20 years.

[Joan Simpson]

I have a pressure cooker 6 qt.I hardly use it either.

[bakergirl]

I have three pressure cookers, two 2 qt. and one 4 qt. I use the smaller ones almost weekly for vegetables and the larger one is used for meats, especially cooking chicken, beef for stew, etc.

[RiversideLen]

Some years ago I bought a yogurt maker and made yogurt once. I didn't see any difference in it from the store bought yogurt. I'll make bread, cookies etc but yogurt is one of those things I can buy.

I have a pressure cooker taking up shelve space. Used it a few times to make broth, that's about it.

[Mike Nolan]

My older son uses his pressure cooker to make stock, but I prefer to do it the old fashioned way, roasting then slowly simmering 10 pounds of bones in my big 24 quart pot for 10-12 hours, then straining that, refilling the pot with water and doing the second wetting for another 12 hours. After I combine the two, I let them cool overnight so the fat solidifies, then I reduce it to the point where it starts to jell, and it's ready to use in recipes.

I've gone one step further to make Espagnole sauce, combine it with the stock and reduce it to demiglace, but that's REALLY time-consuming, 3-4 days worth of cooking.

[cwcdesign]

I remember my mom having one when I was younger. I think she may have used it once or twice. I sort of remember gray meat and then the fear of explosion is what I think made her abandon it.

[BakerAunt]

Let's morph this thread into a discussion of specialty appliances.

I've never owned or used a pressure cooker. For people with large families or very busy schedules, I can see that it would be a timesaver. Anyone who does low-acid food canning must have one. The canning I do is jams and pie filling (acidic), so I have not had a need for a pressure cooker. I did buy the Ball electric water kettle that I use for canning those. (And, I did buy that Ball jam maker--the one that does the stirring--which saves my arm and is great for small batches of four or five jars.)

I have an old 3 1/2-quart crock pot, but I don't use it that much, as I prefer to do roasts in the oven, and it is too small for most soups. I just make them on the stove when I know that I will be home for a longer period of time while they simmer. Most crock pots have hot spots, and the food does not cook evenly or sticks.

Yogurt makers are not built for the long haul, so if used frequently (every week or two), the wiring starts to fail, and some of the individual containers do not get warm enough. I wore out two yogurt makers, as the wiring tends to stop working around individual cups--something that has frustrated my sister who makes yogurt now as frequently as I once did (weekly or every two weeks) for perhaps three years or so. I do have a new individual cup one (from Tuesday Morning) that I will probably start using here (once it gets unpacked!) because I cannot get plain yogurt easily (much of it has fruit or at least vanilla in it, and that means added sugar), and the store that carries Stonyfield, my brand of choice, is in the larger town where we do shopping runs every three weeks or so. I have a yogurt maker that makes a large 1-quart batch, but I'm not sure that it works anymore, and the yogurt does not keep as well as the quart of yogurt I buy in a container.

I find that I cannot get along without my rice maker, but I've written in another thread about the frustration of the non-stick pot getting scratched--and that replacing it would cost as much, if not more, than buying another. (I've started using a "spoonula rather than the plastic paddle that comes ith it, as I think that helped scratch it when dislodging stuck rice.) The simple rice cookers also tend to have the rice stick a bit on the bottom, and I find that I need to pull the container out immediately once the cooker switches from cook to "keep warm." I'm hesitant to spend a lot for an upscale rice maker that only makes rice. I've noted that when I search on store sites for rice maker, more often than not, the Instant Pot or Multi-Cooker comes up.

My sister's idea is that the Instant Pot will allow her to consolidate most of these appliances into just the one. I'm skeptical that one pot can truly "rule them all," and anything electronic has the potential for failure, and the more complicated the machine, the more probable that a glitch will occur, especially if used frequently.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

I've got a Zojirushi rice maker that I probably paid $50 for, but that was many years ago. It has a simple on/off switch. I've used it to make pudding a few times, but for the most part it just gets used for rice. The rice sticks a bit, but it soaks clean fairly easily.

We have a slow cooker that a griddle surface that you set the 5-6 quart pan on. We've never used the griddle separately.

Speaking of complex gadgets, our 48" dual fuel range has 4 gas burners plus a grill and a griddle, though we seldom use either of them. Both ovens get used frequently though. We also have as separate 4 burner electric cooktop and an induction cooker. (There's also a 2 burner electric cooktop in the downstairs kitchenette, but I don't recall the last time we used it.)

Both the kitchen and the kitchenette have warming drawers, which we've probably used less than a dozen times combined in 20 years.

There are 2 microwave ovens in the kitchen and another one downstairs, all 3 get used regularly.

And the instant hot water taps (one in the kitchen and another downatairs) both get used a lot.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Wow. I would love a warming drawer. I miss my old pilot light ovens because they could warm things. They even had very low settings that our current oven cannot match. My old range also had a big, 36 inch, stainless griddle that I was just starting to use when we bought a new range. The new range has a much smaller, two burner sized, cast iron griddle. With the old range I realized what I could cook on it and now I use it at least daily. We use both ovens frequently as well, especially when making pizza.

I almost never use my mixer. It's too small and not worth the effort to clean. I may scale down some batches of rye bread dough to see if machine mixing will give me a little more loft. I used to use it several times a week but not since I began hand mixing most things. I really need an 8 quart mixer or bigger but even used those are very expensive.

I have a panini press and I used to use those but now I use the griddle and a cast iron pan.

[BakerAunt]

Unless I'm baking bread or a double batch of cookies, or a recipe that calls for a balloon whisk, I usually reach for my Cuisinart hand mixer.

I will add my small Belgium waffle maker to the list of appliances that I would not want to be without.

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