Here is a great guide <https://cooking.nytimes.com/guides/46-how-to-use-an-instant-pot>; I'm so glad I read it as it made me realize that I do NOT want one - too heavy, take up too much space, wouldn't do what I want that much more easily than how I do things now.

According to that guide the only feature that would appeal to me is pressure cooking. Then again, I'm rarely if ever in a rush for time, so I guess it's not for me.

Lizbeth, I never thought that I wanted one. I didn't really want something that I might not use. I kept reading all the hype too, especially on Egullet. I finally caved but I bought the Breville rather than one of the super popular Instant Pots.

I read a lot of reviews first. Both were rated high. But the Breville came out on top and the fact that I really like the Breville line of small appliances, was the deciding factor. The Breville only comes in one size. The six Litre. But it is more than big enough. I don't know what I would have done with something larger.

I am actually really surprised at how much I have used it. Using the Pressure cooking setting, I have made beef stew. Meat cooked in 20 minutes once it was up to pressure. Cooked lamb shanks, and a pot roast. The lamb shanks only needed 40 minutes and the pot roast was 50 minutes. If you like beans, it is perfect for that. The bean setting is 20 minutes but I am now cooking them at 15 and they are perfectly cooked. Made risotto, which everyone raves about. I thought it was a nicer cheater version, but I would rather cook risotto the traditional way. I "roasted" a small pork sirloin. Browned and cooked on a rack in the PC. Turned out great.

I've used it mostly as a PC. But I have also used the steam function, using bamboo baskets to make a Chinese chicken with ginger and garlic, and the slow setting for chicken broth. I would in the future use the PC setting for broth, but I just wanted to try the slow setting at least once.

I did a blog post today covering just about everything that I have made in the Breville so far.

Here is a link to the post.

I have a Fagor pressure cooker that came with a 4 quart and an 8 quart pan (one lid, but a steamer insert included) that I got for less than $100 at an introductory sale. I use it all the time, but I seldom use my slow cooker, and so that lives in my garage, and I bring it out on the rare occasion that I decide to use it.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you could either buy the multi-cooker (if you need all of its functions) or just buy a pressure cooker. You definitely need a PC of some sorts, IMO.

Personally, I prefer just a simple PC, non-electric.

A so-called multi-cooker is bigger, and bulkier. for instance, a 6 quart simple one can be 3 lbs, compared to an electric multi-cooker, which is about 9 lbs.

A simple PC can be dishwasher safe.

I wouldn't want to use an electric PC for browning because it is mostly around 1,000 watts of power. An electric stove can be around 2,500 watts.

There is nothing to go wrong with a simple non-electric PC. Also, it can be used when there is a power fail.

dcarch

I have one of those old PCs, not electric, which I use regularly and have used for about 40 years now, I got it as a wedding gift in 1974. The husband didn't last but the PC did, LOL. I have replaced the gasket a couple of times.

Elery and I had just agreed that we wouldn't get any more electronic gadgets or kitchen "stuff". So, of course, his daughter buys him an Instant Pot for a combination Christmas/birthday gift. We haven't used it yet, I think he may make something in it tomorrow while I'm working at Dave's shop. Since I have not yet been able to successfully use the Zojirushi rice cooker, I'm not optimistic about the Instant Pot, but we'll see how that goes.

I'm not able to give you any reviews yet, though, as he just received it on Saturday and we haven't used it yet. Now I'm off to check AnnT's blog, to glean recipes!

Annie

Hi! I've been reading here off and on and this is something I can comment on because I've owned and used an iPot for several years. I really like and use it often. As much as the quick cook time, I like the hands-off factor. I can toss a pound of washed beans into the pot, set the timer and off I can go; after it finishes cooking, it will hold them on warm for up to ten hours. We have chickens and, as you know, fresh eggs are notoriously hard to peel. I cook day old eggs for four minutes and the peel rarely sticks.

I also make lots of soups for my husband to take to work and again, it's the quickness plus hands-off factor that works so well for me. I would replace mine in a heartbeat if it broke. For me, the deciding factor was the stainless steel inner pot. I really don't like cooking at high temps in a non-stick container. I've since bought an extra inner pot and a glass lid. I have a regular pressure cooker which I use when I need to cook more than my six quart iPot will hold, but I like this better because I don't have to mind it. I'm notorious for getting side-tracked.

Things I like to cook are steel-cut oats, eggs, soups, stews, chicken and dumplings, rice, tamales (one of my faves!), and lots of other things I can't think of off the top of my head.

One really useful thing is to use it as a double boiler. You can put water in it, turn to saute to heat, put chocolate in a bowl that will sit as a double boiler on top of the machine. Once that melts, turn it on warm and your chocolate will stay dippable for a couple hours.

Enough rhapsodic waxing, but I DO really love mine.

In addition to Anglophilia's link, I found this very helpful, especially the comment section:

https://www.thekitchn.com/i-tried-the-instant-pot-and-didnt-love-it-what-am-i-missing-242961

I just don't cook the right stuff the right ways to get much out of it.

Writersblock, that article is pretty much how I feel, I just don't see how it saves time significantly..

Elery has used his several times. A chicken paprikash was really good, but I still had to cook noodles and make a vegetable. A chicken and rice dish was not as good, the chicken was overcooked while the brown rice was still crunchy and had to be finished in the microwave, definitely cannot cook those two things together. A potato based soup turned out very nicely, but an eye of round roast should have been roasted in the oven, rare and thinly sliced. The Instant Pot version became dog food.

I think it's "fiddly". Elery loves it. Of course, I also only use the bread machine for kneading and have never tried any of the other buttons, and never did figure out the Zojirushi rice cooker. I also don't have the patience to grill, I always think I can walk away and do something else "real quick". Food is always black on the outside and raw in the middle as a result of that behavior, LOL.

It's apparent that I am not a big "gadget" person. The Instant Pot works for our house because it means Elery will cook in it instead of me, while I'm responsible for sides and accompaniments. Since I'm trying to clean out the freezer I can bring in a package of pork steaks or a corned beef brisket and he'll try to find some way to cook it in the Instant Pot. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, just like every other "appliance" we have.

So, do I think it's "life changing" or the best thing ever invented? Nope. If it were left to me, it would sit on the shelf most of the time. Elery loves it, though. I can see that it would be a great option for someone with limited space or few cooking options, as it is relatively versatile (with varying degrees of success).

Oh, and there's already been a problem with the silicone gasket, causing the machine to fail to come up to pressure, although I believe Elery fixed that issue for now.

Annie

Here’s my two cents worth…I had a crockpot and seldom used it other than to keep things warm for a buffet or to make 36-48 hour bone broth. I ended up giving it to my daughter. My major reasons for not using it were: I had to dirty another pan to brown the meat before putting it in the crockpot to cook. It scorched dishes on low. It’s lack of versatility.

I have a 6 qt. InstantPot and I love it.

1. No more 2nd pan required for browning. I have an electric glass top stove and the InstantPot browns just as well and just as quickly.
2. It works great as a slow cooker and you can adjust the time.
3. Low on the slow cooker setting is low not like the crockpot which scorched everything on low.
4. No more 48 hours needed to make beef bone broth. 4 hours on high pressure and voila, lovely gelatinous bone broth.
5. Chicken bone broth 3 hours high pressure and again a lovely gelatinous bone broth.
6. Same goes for cooking chicken for chicken pot pie or chicken salad. Chicken pressure setting cooks a whole cut up chicken perfectly with beautifu1 broth as a side benefit.
7. I made slow cooker mashed potatoes the other night and they came out perfect!
8. Love being able to serve a hearty stew in short period of cooking time using the pressure cook settings.

I have a manual pressure cooker but my go to now is the InstantPot.

My one tip is: Buy the glass cover to use when using slow cooker mode. It saves having to clean the pressure lid.

I was given the Breville about a year ago. I'm right handy with a regular ol' pot, though never had a pressure cooker, so it took me many months to even get it out of the box. I like it!

So, for me, the point is the slow cooker. I never liked my crockpot and slow cooked in my oven, which does have low enough settings. I don't feel like I can just turn my back on an oven however, which may be outdated superstition with a very fancy new electric oven, but there it is. I don't have qualms about going to sleep or leaving the house with a small appliance running.

One thing I never liked about the crockpot was how much prep had to be done on the stove. At that point, why bother transferring it to the crockpot? Other than that while you're out thing. The sear setting on the Breville is adequate for me for things like diced beef to flavor beans. Is the sear better in a screaming hot frying pan? Sure. But the difference in bean stew isn't sufficient to make it worth the extra pan.

So I cook the beans in the Breville (usually slow, but I've used PC when I was in a hurry--you have to be more precise about the amount of water with PC, or they'll over hydrate), drain them in a colander, sear the meat on the sear setting and transfer to a dish or the top of the drained beans, sauté the veg mostly to steam out some of the water on the sauté setting, then put the beans and meat back in and add spices and other ingredients. It slow cooks merrily away. At the end, I use the reduce setting to steam off excess water, rather than having to resort to the stove. I just love that there are settings for everything I want to do.

I've made other slow cookery things in it as well, like caramelized onions. Again, the best reason for it is to forget about them. It's not like caramelizing onions, for example, is any major chore, but in the Breville they never need to be stirred, and there's no shifting the pot around because it's in the way.

It would also be excellent in an RV or on a patio in lieu of an oven.

It also doesn't heat up the kitchen, like the oven does.

I’ve had my instant pot for about two years and though it was a LONG learning curve, I use it repetitively for things I like. As an aside, if you’re in the honeymoon phase check out the community facebook page for instant pot owners.

A couple of things I learned along the way:

1. Thickness matters. I don’t know why it took me so long to understand this concept; that it isn’t necessarily how many pounds of meat but also how thick. Lorna Sass, aka Queen of Pressure Cooking, in fact highlights this fact in her "Pressure Perfect", as does an exhaustive cooking blog pressurecookrecipes. When I make barbacoa now, I actually have written how thick my pieces are to correlate with the correct time.
2. Take notes if you want to replicate (which is kind of the way I cook at this point). I have my brown rice down to a science for what I like (grams of brown rice, rinsed, water, bit of olive oil, time, npr#) . I just made black-eyed peas (see Hoppin Johnthread) and it took me two tries to get them the way I like.
3. If you need to cook a bit longer, you can repressurize. I found if you rinse your lid in cold water, the lid will go back easily.
4. If you want your vegetables to retain some structure (some tooth) in your soup or stew, you may not want to cook them in your pressure cooker with your soup or stew. Often times when I’m making minestrone,ribollita, stew, etc., I’ll keep out some of the carrots, zucchini, etc. after sauteeing (or I’ll microwave them separately), refrigerate and add when I open the lid. The ones left in the soup or stew add to the
   flavor. If potatoes are used, I do them separately for four minutes and add
   at end. I’ll also reseason at the end cause I’ve think herbs can become muted.
5. Lastly, I have to share kind of cheez whiz confession. My son and I absolutely love the pasta with jarred sauce in the pressure cooker. You know the one – pasta mixed
   with jar of sauce, jar of water for half the time? Good grief, I it is like an adult version of spaghettios, and I love it. So, I wrote down the exact amounts and time:)

Bottom line: when you hit that sweet spot, the food is really exceptional; it just took me a long time to find it. PS – I may have to go back to that honeymoon phase cause
folks are posting about using yogurt setting to proof dough:)

I bought a Power XL about a year and a half ago and let it sit until last month. I guess it was I just didn't have the courage to use something new. I have a pressure cooker my late mother-in-law gave me years ago but never used it for fear it would blow up on me. Ironically, I've pressure canned in both my large and small canners for more years than I like to admit with no concerns. I finally dumped a load of frozen chicken drumettes in the Power XL and in no time at all, I had juicy tender treats. I did stick them under the stove broiler for a bit to crisp them. The next thing I tried was chicken noodle soup starting with a whole chicken that was literally falling apart when it came out. Did corned beef with potatoes, carrots and cabbage for New Year's Day. Last night was Beef Stroganoff. All delicious and quicker than other methods. My favorite is the fact that you can set it and leave it. It does have safety precautions built in like if it would ever overpressurize, it automatically activates the exhaust feature. I am not afraid of it at all. Looking forward to making other things in it like cheese cakes and creme brûlée.

Madonna

Thanks everyone for your response to my question. I'm still on the fence, but have lots of info to think about now.

Well I haven't used the Instant Pot so I can't compare. But I have not found there to be much of a learning curve with the Breville. So far everything cooked the way I expected it to based on the automatic settings. The only thing I had to adjust was beans that were soaked before cooking. They do cook more quickly than the 20 minute setting. I reduce the time to 15 minutes for soaked overnight beans.

I've only used the slow cook once and probably won't use it again. But only because I've never been a fan of crockpots or slow cookers.

Lizbeth-gardener, I don't think that you can go wrong with whichever one you buy.