Would you recommend a pressure cooker?

[Hunnybears]

I’ve got a slow cooker and it’s ok, but I find that everything tastes the same. Like tins of soup, most of them have got that same generic flavour, despite being different flavours.

It’s certainly got its used such as pulled pork and a couple of others I’ve tried but it’s just not that nice tasting.

I seen an advert for a pressure cooker and I thought that would perhaps be better? Also I’m all for tasty quick food! Or does it have the same generic taste as a slow cooker?

I bought my pressure cooker largely for making stock for soup - cooking the chicken carcass from Sunday roast, or turkey carcass at Christmas to make stock initially, and then making the soup from there - or just using it for soup (I made potato & leek in it yesterday). . Come to think of it, I don't really use it to pressure cook anything else (dh uses it as a large pan/pot when he's making batches of fudge, as it's nice and big) but I don't cook anything else in it.

However, the one I have (Tefal Clipso - I've had it for over 10 years) came with both a pressure cooking lid and a glass lid (not sure if this is the case with new models), so it serves as a large pot/pan for general cooking which makes it quite versatile. It gets a lot of use in winter when I make soup every week, but less use in summer. If it was just a pressure cooker with no glass lid, i don't think I'd find it as useful.

Love my Tefal for stews - 40 minutes to fall apart beef that would take 8 hours in the slow oven/sous vide. Don't use it too often but wouldn't be without it.

I have had an Instant Pot for about 3 months. I am just getting the hang of it but I absolutely love it. Chicken comes out soft & tasty. I make Currys and fajitas every week in it. You tube has loads of videos to learn from.

I have just bought an instant pot. It’s a pressure cooker and slow cooker all in one. So far, so good. Like Quibble says, there are loads of recipes and suggestions online.

Instant Pot here too. Worth every penny

I have a Kuhn Rikon stovetop pressure cooker and it would be instantly replaced if anything happened to it. Brilliant for soups and cooking pulses - I do a big batch of beans and freeze them. It’s a zillion times better than a slow cooker and makes amazing macaroni cheese.
This site has loads of good advice and recipes:
www.seriouseats.com/recipes/topics/method/pressure-cooker

YES!!! But I'd only recommend an electric one! I grew up with my mum and nan using very old style stove top ones, and heard stories of aunt Vi having a whole potato pressure itself out the tiny hole and splatter all over the kitchen ceiling! This was long before the modern ones which now have multiple safety features. I tried a stove top one, but always felt scared using it, never knew the cooking times or if it would all be burnt!

An electric one is great. Mine has buttons on the front to help you choose the cooking time of various foods- rice, stew, fish, legumes etc. It cooks things so much quicker, uses less energy and you can buy cheaper cuts which come out so tender. It can be a little trial an error, and I have had the odd thing burnt onto the bottom, or not as well cooked as I'd like- but with practice, its rare now. Some of my favourites include:

• pork babyback ribs. Add 1/2-1 can of beer (or just water) and 1/2 tin hoisin sauce. Cook, and add the other half of hoisin over the top of the ribs a sticky coating
• beef or pork cheeks come out really tender
• ox tail soup
• dried beans/legumes are so much cheaper and come out really well. Chickpeas for home-made hummous, black beans for fajitas/burritos
• Gammon
• I've also cooked 2 things at once by using a metal trivet inside. I think it was sausages and on the bottom was mash when I first got the machine to try it out.
• you can also do cakes and puddings, but I've never tried.

I've had my Instant Pot for 2 years and absolutely love it.

Where did you all get the instant pots? I can only see them on eBay!

Ahh thanks very much for the replies ladies. So it’s certainly sounding good then.

I love the fact it cooks it so quickly but is still tender etc... with the slow cooker I have to be prepared on the morning and when I’m dashing out to work at 7.30 row kids in towe, it’s too stressful.

One last question-does the food taste like the slow cooker stuff? The generic taste?

I know what you mean about the generic slow cooker taste, OP! I got rid of ours because of it. You don't get that problem with pressure cookers, partly because you can still brown things for flavour, etc.

I’ve got two slow cookers.... and an Instant Pot.

My slow cookers get used at least once a week, and I’ve never had anything turn out ‘samey’. Are you using enough herbs and spices? Are you seasoning?

My Instant Pot has largely been a disappointment after two and half years. I brought the slow cooker lid as I initially thought it would replicate my slow cooker, but it doesn’t- the high function is less than a slow cooker low setting. I tried twice to make a biryanis and failed, plus two desserts and yoghurt. The only things I’ve made successfully are risottos which I love but DH doesn’t and a key lime cheesecake pie. One of my lockdown goals is to get some use out of it, but at this stage if it broke, I wouldn’t replace it.

@whatdoyoudonow take a look at Amazon. They have Instant Pots in stock.

I will say that Maria Bravo on the U.K. Instant Pot Facebook group does give great customer service.

@TaleOf

Fab- sold! Thank you.

I was about to say I’ll be off to buy one tomorrow..... not in this life we’re living right now I won’t 😫 can’t even nip to Argos

Amazon, currys, appliances online and John Lewis also sell them.

Yes! Much better than a slow cooker for casseroles etc. So much tastier!

Get an electronic one like Pressure King Pro or if you're feeling extravagant, get the instapot.

It will serve as a slow cooker as well.

I follow iFOODreal on you tube, great recipes and easy to follow.

You can also buy accessories on Amazon for your instant pot.

I had a slow cooker. Everything tasted dandy. I got an instant pot. It has both slow cooker and pressure cooker functions and I just use the latter and the food tastes great.

I've got both a s.c. & p.c. & use both regularly.
There's no comparison, they are used for different purposes.

I don't understand negative comments about s.cs.
Who would blame a saucepan if the contents were bland, or always tasted the same?

@handbagsatdawn33

When I make a stew for example or a casserole it just tastes generic. My kids don’t enjoy it and neither do I. Its not worth the hasstle.

If I make one in the oven it’s so much tastier. Perhaps I’m doing it wrong bug someone suggested jacket potatoes in the SC and even they had the same generic taste and they didn’t taste like over baked ones.

It’s definitely got a place mind and they are quick. I suppose it’s liked my tinned soup example. It doesn’t matter what flavour I have, there’s a generic undertone taste. I suppose it’s like cakes from a supermarket. Yes they’re nice but they have that generic taste too and you can tell they aren’t home made.

I keep saying generic 🤣

@hunnybears I totally agree with your comment about soups they do all have the same generic taste.

I was given an instant pot for Xmas and haven’t really got on that well with it. I’m a bit of a ‘bung it all in and hope’ cook and generally my food turns out really well! However the IP needs you to do things a very specific way, everything has to have lots of liquid in and then be thickened up afterwards so you don’t get the ‘burn’ notification. I have found stew and bolognese etc aren’t as tasty as my usual ones, but maybe I just need new recipes?

I’ve made a lovely butter chicken and it’s great for rice pudding too. Lots of people make porridge in it, setting it up on timer the night before with a big bowl inside, so it’s ready for the time they come down. I’d rather just make Oats So Simple in 2 mins in the microwave when I want it, plus you only need one bowl.

One thing to bear in mind is the pressure release timings. I cooked a beef joint using the ‘4 minute beef’ method. Wow 4 minutes sounds amazing!! However, you set it for 4 mins, it takes 20 mins to get up to temperature/pressure, 4 mins at high pressure then you leave it for 40 mins to one hour on natural pressure release/keep warm. Then get it out to rest for up to an hour. It would have been ready in half the time in the oven and been a nice juicy pink inside, whereas this was clearly in for too long, but without being able to open it and check, you’re relying on other peoples experience to inform you. Clearly others had had success with these timings but I didn’t!

Same with ‘0 minute chicken’ - clearly it’s not going to be cooked in 0 minutes, it comes up to pressure for 20 mins, then cooks while the pressure releases for another 20 mins. You then have to put it in the oven for 15-20 mins if you want crispy skin. May as well just spatchcock it and have it cooked in 40 mins total in the oven.

I’m sure it has its uses but for me I think that will be curries and soups rather than stews, as I like dumplings so have to transfer it to an oven container to cook the dumplings in it, causing double the washing up!

I work at home so I guess speed isn’t the biggest issue for me. I often prep dinner at lunchtime as I’m home anyway. For anyone working out of the house, it would be well worth trying some of the tried and tested recipes to get the most out of it.

I've not seen a pressure cooker for years. The ones I remember hissed and spluttered and belched out steam as if they would explode any minute. So not keen.