Surprise! Surprise! I have finally joined the group of Instant Pot (aka IP) owners. Did you know they have been around for 10 years? I know, I couldn't believe it when I read it doing research. Oh, well, better late than never - they often say.
The funniest thing I keep reading is comments from people saying "I have had an (IP) since Christmas and have never used it?" It seems like people either LOVE it or are so intimidated with it that they never use it or at least used it once.
I started out in the latter group, but was determined I wasn't going to waste the $59 + tax that I paid for mine several days ago at Costco. (Let me say right from the start - I am not being paid by Costco or Instant Pot for what I am saying in this post. It just happens that that is what I bought and where I bought mine.)
As soon as I put it in the buggy, I sent my DIL Sara a text letting her know I was buying one. (Sara has two and is in the group that LOVES them.) She immediately started sending me texts with recipes, video links, and even said she would invite me to join a group on Facebook for IP Beginners. (I told you she LOVES hers.) Before I got out of the store, I had received my "invite" and had accepted it.
I opened the box immediately after getting home. With only two booklets one on safety, maintenance, and warranty book and one called Getting Started Guide, I told Sara I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into. My intimidation had started.
Sara was such a sweetheart through my first couple of days and tried to be so helpful which she was. It was just frustrating because some of the things she would tell me, didn't seem to match up with what I was seeing.
She sent me pictures of hers.
Since I didn't have a manual in the box, I told her I guess I would have to go online since that is what it said on the box - the word "manual" wasn't used though.
I found/find the FB group very helpful because of the comments from the intimidators and the LOVERS even though so often what the LOVERS say is like what Sara was saying - it just doesn't match up with what I see when I look at mine.
Finally last night I googled Instant Pot Duo Gourmet again, but this time saw a link that indicated it was a style exclusive for Costco that apparently just came out as the article was dated recently so I chose to click on it. I had already discovered in the past few days that there were numerous different models. WHO KNEW? I thought an Instant Pot was an Instant Pot! I guess in the ten years though since they have been out, the manufacturers have improved and come up with other features. Just knowing this kinda cleared my mind and I have a little bit better feeling about it.
Saying that though I have learned some things about it that I didn't read in the "online" manual and I thought I would share them with you (just in case you have one that you got last Christmas that you haven't opened yet OR are thinking about buying one - they are coming down in price especially with Christmas quickly approaching.)
Sara had suggested (while I was still in Costco) that I should try cooking rice or boiling eggs first. I definitely wasn't there yet since I was having difficulty just getting the pot out of the box and then reading the two small booklets that came in the box and trying to understand them.
Here is one example of what I was experiencing - "Sara, it this thing supposed to come off?" sending her a picture of what she said was the sealing ring.
My problem was there was a red sealing ring (turns out to be an extra sealing ring included with my purchase) inside the pot and
the picture in the booklet showed a red ring so I thought I was supposed to remove the clear one already on the top and put the red one on. Since Sara didn't get an extra one in her purchase, all she could tell me was what I was showing in the picture was the sealing ring. I finally decided everything the booklet was telling me to place on the underside of the lid was already placed. Sara suggested I go online. 😄
So I went online as suggested on the box. That only increased my frustration and intimidation because at this time I didn't know my Instant Pot Duo Gourmet was a Costco Exclusive. The videos I watched were several years old and while some of what I saw was useful and apropos for my pot, much wasn't. Turns out I needed to go specifically to Instant Pot Duo Gourmet for cooking instructions. I had done that earlier and had printed off the pages I wanted from the online manual, so that became my focus.
AND as I said earlier reading posts and comments on the Facebook group helped a lot also. I ran the water test that the pot recommends successful, but when I tried to cook the brown rice as Sara had suggested, I wasn't! The rice stuck to the bottom of the pot (Sara said it sounded like I didn't have enough water) and it wasn't cooked. My cooking instructions said the water to rice ratio should be 1:1; Sara said hers said 1.5:1. My instructions said to let the pot vent (natural release) which meant I wouldn't turn the vent release lever. Sara had said to vent it for 10 minutes so I thought at 10 minutes it would end but I read somewhere it might take the natural release 10 to 40 minutes. So at 42 minutes, I sent Sara a text apologizing for being a moron, but it hadn't stopped.
She sent me this picture. I eventually came to realize that I just needed to open the lid after 10 minutes. (She said she never pushed the "cancel" button.) Some of it made sense and some of it didn't.
Whatever, the rice was not what I expected it to be. Wayne ate it - said it tasted like what I cooked on the stove but had taken me easily twice as long to do it in the IP as when I do it on the stove. (12 minutes for the IP to pressurize + 30 minutes to cook + 44 minutes before I realized I needed to take it out of the pot and turn it off)
Determined that I was not going to be one of those people who used the pot once and put it away or donated it to a thrift shop, the next morning I woke up on a mission. I opened Facebook on my phone and the first post I saw on my newsfeed was one from the "group". Lisa had posted her frustrations with trying to use her IP and wanted to know what the LOVERS (my term) secrets were. She went on to talk about trying to cook rice and it stuck to the bottom... etc, you get the idea. Just what I had experienced. One of the comments was from Steph saying she thought that was the most common question on the page. She went on to describe her experience and included suggestions like 1) not stirring the ingredients and 2) (this one was a big one for me) that the measuring cup included with the pot was for the rice not water. So if you used that for the liquids you definitely would not have had enough. And then - "Don't give up!!"
Guess what I had done. Sara was right when she said it sounded like I didn't have enough water. I didn't. I had also used the measuring cup for rice for water also. I even replied to Steph's comment explaining my experience and frustration and she replied quickly replied back saying she completely understood. She said she had learned so much from the group. She had gotten a burn notice (so many talk about this - I'm still not sure about this since I haven't experienced that - yet.) She also said she didn't know what her manual said, but that she always follows the instructions to the tee that she gets off the internet and so far 9/10 had turned out great. She went two years without using hers because of frustrations. She ended by telling me to "Hang in there!!".
I ended up reading some more comments with suggestions like "wash the rice before putting it in the inner pot", "spray the inner pot with cooking spray", and "add a little salt and a tablespoon of butter" but mainly armed with Steph's "Hang in there!!" encouragement, Saturday morning I tried it again.
I shared a picture of my finished second attempt at cooking brown rice with Steph on the post with the words " Success!" She replied back, "That is freakin awesome!!! So proud of you" and then four emojis. She will never know how much her 0encouragement helped me that morning. The brown rice was perfect. Wayne said it might be the best, definitely second best brown rice he had ever eaten although he couldn't remember where the best was.
I am still learning and haven't tried anything else, but I will be adding a new label for my posts. So you will have to check back and see what recipes I find and use. In the next few days I will be sharing Paula Deen's recipe for Rice Pudding that I made with a cup of the brown rice I cooked the second time. (In all honesty I must admit to making the rice pudding twice. I made some using the first rice I cooked even though it wasn't great. Then after I was successful with the second try, I made the pudding again. I'm eating rice pudding for breakfast every day, even took three servings over to Friend Fran's.)
I have to use it - it takes up a lot of room on my kitchen counter. Oh, did you notice the lid isn't "right" on the top? I read a comment to not put the top back on it when finished. That sealing ring I mentioned earlier apparently (from comments I have read) can take on food odors from what you are cooking. Someone thought this might help. Lots of people suggest using one ring for "food" and the other one for desserts. Will consider that since I was given a bonus one in my purchase.
Well, buying an IP has definitely given me something else to think about these last few days. Distractions are good. We continue to be safe, wear our masks out, and keep our social distance. We go to the grocery store when we must, but otherwise mainly stay in. Distractions are especially what this time is called for.
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