Publisher's Synopsis
The instant pot has seven different functions combined into one. But how did they do this? The first step is making the instant pot programmable. The instant pot uses state of the art micro-processing to turn subtle nuances of heat, pressure, and time, into press-of-the-button affairs. Much like hitting "enter" on your computer could send a message, open a document, start a paragraph, or play a movie depending on what program you are using, with the instant pot, hitting enter you can adjust times and plans will have a different effect depending on which instant pot function you are using.
The main function of an instant pot is pressure cooking. Pressure cooking involves combining heat and intense pressure to help food break down, speeding up the cooking process massively. The pressure is controlled by a valve which can be used to build or release pressure manually if needs be. However, they have also incorporated the other great kitchen gadget, the slow cooker, into the instant pot's functions. Slow cooking involves applying slight heat for a longer period of time to cook food through, meaning you can put all your ingredients in the pot in the morning and have a stew by lunch or dinner.
It only took some tweaking to turn the slow cooking function into a perfect rice cooker. A rice cooker gently heats water around rice, encouraging it to absorb the hot water and cook perfectly. This is better than cooking rice in a pot as it prevents sticking and water excess, resulting in a fresh load of perfectly cooked fluffy rice every time. For the truly healthy experience, you can steam in your instant pot. Your instant pot includes a Steam basket. Simply place your food in the Steam basket, add water to the body of the pot, and set to Steam for freshly steamed food. You can even cook bread and cakes using this trick!
You can also braise and fry in your instant pot. Keeping the lid open you can set the temperature nice and high, add some oil, and simply cook your food in the base of the open pot, just like you would with an ordinary frying pan. This trick lets you prepare meats and vegetables for a stew or cook down onions before beginning to assemble a larger dish. Yoghurt fans will be pleased to find out they can make their own yoghurt in an instant pot. The Yoghurt setting takes a process which normally involves hours of work and many different pots and bowls, and makes it fast, easy, and one-pot only!
Finally, a function all of us can appreciate, the instant pot can safely warm your food. Food needs to be warmed quickly, and to a certain temperature, otherwise the warmth can encourage bacteria to breed. Like the top setting on a microwave, the instant pot's Warm setting heats food up just right, although it is still not recommended to leave food warming too long!
