I don't think the Instapot is a fad, just the overuse like making cranberry sauce in it. Quick, tender meat can't be beat. I bought some veggies yesterday to try. I'll let you know if I like them better than oven or stovetop.

I cooked corned beef recently. I like the flavor of meat, etc cooked in the instant pot, but I am not sure how fast it is. Mine takes at least 10 mins. to get to pressure, cooks, then 10 mins to cool down, add veggies, 10 mins back to pressure, cook, release time again and so a lot longer than recipe indicates. Am I doing something wrong? Then when I tried to release pressure manually, I had fatty steam all over my counter!

that sounds fast to me! It really isn't "Instant" but your times sound about right. How long would it have cooked on the stove? I cooked a roast tonight for 100 minutes. I let it release totally. When I am in a situation like yours I do a controlled release. Just open the valve a bit at a time and you won't have the spray.

My understanding is that meat should be allowed to do a natural release. When I've done that, it was much more tender.

. That is generally true except if you want to open it to put in some
vegetwbles then you would do a controlled release and then reset and at the end natural release

Took me a bit to fully appreciate my slow cooker, microwave, convection oven and now instant pot. But now I wouldn't cook without any of them! As for a fad, I would nominate the bread baker. Remember those from years ago? Now you can't give them away at yard sales. Another fad from the 70's is back again....fondue pots. Wonder what's next?

I have never had a bread maker, but I do have and use fondue pots. We have fondue, cheese, beef broth and chocolate every Christmas Eve and a couple other times a year. I have 3 fondue pots. They also work great to keep gravy hot if you are having a buffet. Or beef dip broth.

I was regifted an instant pot, Mum was given one for Christmas, used it once and passed it along to me. I used it once to make a recipe from a Taste of Home Magazine. Yuck, it was awful, so much that I wrote to the magazine and complained that they could not possibly have tested the recipe. It was supposed to be for an apple dessert. We cooked as instructed and it was mostly raw. I had to cook it for another 40 minutes in the oven, but it still tasted nasty. Way too much sugar.

I may use it again, but for now it is back in the box.

I wouldn’t blame the Instant Pot for a bad recipe! I’ve been using mine over a year and haven’t had anything bad. Some things we like better than others but everything has been good. I look for tried and true Instant Pot recipes and have gotten a feel for it and what we like and cooking times. It is really pretty easy to get a good meal out of it.

I love mine so much that I bought a second one (the 3 quart mini) for our camper. For me, it's worth it just for the simplicity and speed of cooking dry pinto beans, hard-boiled eggs, mashed potatoes, and roasts. Just plop the food in, set the number of minutes, and walk away. :) I use the slow cooker function often, too. The other features are "gravy". For example, I've never used the yogurt function, but it's there if I decide to try it sometime (and I probably will).

I definitely don't consider it to be a fad. In fact, if it ever breaks, I'll have another one ordered that same day. :)

Some people mention that they're intimidated by it. I was, a little, at first, but after doing the "water test" and seeing what to expect, I quickly became comfortable with it. My grandmother's pressure cooker was the stove-top kind, and it was so terrifying to a little kid. I avoided her kitchen whenever she had it going, because there was no doubt in my mind that it was going to explode! :shock: It never did, but boy was it scary! ha ha

Love my instant pot!

Just cooked corn beef and cabbage. Great and no ordor. 2.5 lb brined beef, rinse, place on trivet in pot add 3 cups water and sprinkle spices on top, seal and set timer for 90 min on high pressure. Quick release and add quarted cabbage. Seal and Cook for another 3 min, quick release.