Dear Instant Pot,
Maybe it’s because you came to me on my birthday when I was expecting someone else (an Air Fryer, to be precise). Maybe it’s because either way you’re a kitchen appliance, which doesn’t make for the most exciting birthday surprise. Or perhaps it’s because you’ve been hyped up more than the Super Bowl. But I have to confess, Instant Pot, I’m not in love with you.
Don’t get me wrong; I like you. There are certainly factors of convenience that make you useful. But so far, I’ve struggled. Of course, it feels blasphemous to even suggest that you, Instant Pot, aren’t the greatest thing since Harry freed Dobby. But despite the fact that I will honor my commitment to help you find your place in my kitchen, I’ve got a few issues:
- You’re like the Hallmark Channel of kitchen appliances; everything you touch turns out mushy. And while that’s great when it’s cold outside or I could use a little comfort, I just can’t swallow it day after day.
- You’re a bit of a braggart. It’s great that you’re popular, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with overselling your good points. One of your fanboys claims you can make chicken wings, but seriously, if I have to take out a baking sheet and broil in the oven, I think you ought to admit you can’t do it all.
- You make me waste so much time before I can even get you to do anything for me. I spend at least an hour online finding the perfect recipe every time, and then there’s prep work. And here I thought you were supposed to make my life easier.
- For all your gadgetry, you really only keep relying on the same couple of moves.
- You never talk. Sometimes, I don’t want to talk to Alexa or Siri. For all you can do, you’re surprisingly mum.
- I know you’re listening, but since you say nothing to me, I can’t help but wonder who you are talking to? Are you gathering information and reporting it back to your alien overlords? We’re priming for an invasion, and the more we integrate these gadgets of “convenience” into our lives, the easier we’re making it for them. Welcoming you seems a mighty big betrayal.
- Instant Pot doesn’t equal Instant Gratitude. I can cook. And I sometimes even like to cook. Not so much when I’m forced to, only to have my kids hate on it. But they’re too busy to do the cooking so I’m stuck with the thankless job of figuring out what wholesome food to subject my kids to, and wanting to put in as little effort as possible considering the payoff. I thought maybe you would be this miracle appliance that would make things better, make it easier to just put forth minimal effort and hopefully hit upon some good dishes (there’s a recipe for Mango Lime Shredded Chicken that is divine, despite the 10yo’s complaints). But so far, all I’m getting is grief.
- My old friends don’t get along with you. My attempts to recreate existing recipes have so far failed. There’s a level of tweaking required that I haven’t mastered, and as we’re already in the midst of our busy season, I don’t exactly have the time to sit around and supervise. If I did, I’d just be hanging out with my regular old pressure cooker!
- Everybody loves you! We make the perfect couple. Just you wait, they say. You’ll love it, too! So I play along, share the witty comments on Facebook about how much we’ve been hanging out. But… and I hate to break it to you, but I’ve been faking my enthusiasm. I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.
So, I’m sorry, but I’m just not that into you. We can still hang out sometimes, but I’ve been neglecting my other kitchen friends, and we really need to cool it.
Maybe we could just be friends?
I think the problem is that they couldn’t market an automatic pressure cooker. That’s all it is, really, and why I’m a fan. Most people don’t “get” pressure cooking but they love beeps and buttons and stand-alone appliances. Most of what I use it for is stock and beans, and for those, it’s a big convenience over a stove-top pressure cooker.
Well, there are models that are a _little_ more than a pressure cooker. Some can actually double as a slow cooker (Crockpot). I find my pressure cooker convenient for cooking meats quickly, especially chicken for shredding. I tried a chili recipe, but it didn’t quite work. I found “Dad Cooks Dinner” a helpful site for some recipes for pressure cookers, complete w/ pics/videos at times to complement the recipes. He’s also somewhat realistic about what he’s putting into a PC so it’s not trying to make wings or something to bake – or he’s up-front about the couple of times he does something like that to finish.
They are convenient over stove top PC’s, but not for everyone. I agree that you have to really look for recipes. Finding a good PC recipe is difficult as people stayed away from them for so long.
Thanks! I’ll be sure to check out that website. I agree, it does work marvelously for chicken for shredding. Which means we’re eating more chicken than usual here (just so I can use it).
Funny. U don’t have prep time when you cook on the stove? When you cooked on the stove at first, didn’t have to look through cook books or online for recipes? You already knew how to cook? I found your blog hilarious
To each their own. All recepies don’t become mushie like in a crockpot. Wonderful tasty, nurtitonal and good looking food can be had. However, there is a learning curve. In my household, my husband uses the Instant Pot the most for making dinner once home from office and on weekends for his longer cooking projects. Not one dish has turned out mushie. I use the IP alot for making stock and broth in large quanities to freeze. Yummy!!
Try the website: Hip Pressure Cooking, for delicious accurate adapted receipes for the IP. Very thorough with reviews of pressure cookers both IP and otherbrands with pro and cons. Rrmember too pressure cooking is just that. Food is not cooked by temperature but pressure and time. Therr is a new IP model that has a built in pressure and a temperature gauge for some recepies.
The issue goes much deeper. I LOVE my Instant Pot and I can say there are stretches I use it every day. Seriously.
But Instant Pot is a more than a little full of itself.
They made, and I unfortunately purchased, a BlueTooth version of the DUO 6 which costs about $80 more. The bill the device as allowing you to create your own pre-programmed recipes that you can share with friends and download from Web sites.
Well for starters, other than a few recipes on hippressurecooking.com, which I’m pretty sure they paid for, I have been unable to find any “scripts” for the device.
I have found creating my own scripts virtually impossible given there are so many options you never have to even think about when doing the recipes manually.
So the value of the BlueTooth? Virtually nil.
Then there’s the fact that the first unit I bought didn’t work. I spent time over two weeks with their customer support team sending them pictures and even videos before they finely sent a replacement for the base. Now some have told me my expectations were unfair but based in part with my dealings with companies like Apple and Amazon, I thought IP could have done something as compensation for all the trouble I had to go through.
But alas, nothing. Barely more than one brief apology.
The REAL problem where?
They don’t have to. They have basically spent zero dollars in marketing and promotions and quite frankly what little customer service they provide shows it.
The darn thing is so popular, and I would argue effective, they don’t HAVE to really support the product mostly because right now they can’t make them fast enough.
But like with all good things it WILL come to an end. Either the buzz will wear off, some other company will build a better mousetrap or the market will simply get saturated and it’s at that point the glaring blemishes of their God-awful customer support will become apparent.
And then they will pay.
Still love the tool but shame on Instant Pot for selling a unit that has had a litany of problem, including a recall of the original release, and which they barely support.
Sixth to last paragraph should read The REAL problem here (not where)