bpathome, the Instant Pot does release steam out the top. Mine never makes a mess, though--it's just steam that goes upward, there is no water or residue on my counter that I've ever noticed. terriks, the IP is a pressure cooker that can also be used as a slow cooker and a rice cooker. I've had one for a year now and I use it multiple times per week. It is great for soups, cooking dried beans without presoaking, making mashed potatoes and hardboiling eggs so they are very easy to peel. I love that I can make soup really fast after I come home from work and I can steam a whole sweet potato for the baby in under 15 minutes. I feel like the IP does save time but for me the primary advantage is that it takes no supervision. I put the soup ingredients in and close the lid, set it for 15 minutes and walk away. Since I am often multi-tasking while I cook, it has saved me time in not having to go back to check if the soup is simmering, adjust the temps, adjust the lid, stir, etc. I've also made mac and cheese in it but did not feel it was any easier or tastier than the traditional way--it was the same and took the same amount of time. We do not cook meat but I can only assume that it comes in very handy for meat dishes, too. Here are the down sides: 1) the steam does vent straight up. If you don't have an island, I think the steam frequently venting under/in front of your cabinets might not be the best thing for them. If you are standing there when it vents you can divert it, but that negates the "no supervision" benefit. 2) It is big-ish and heavy-ish; unless you leave it on the countertop, you will be lifting it. My favorite large soup pot is a Le Creuset, so it's not a lightweight option, either, but if you have carpal tunnel or something, you might want to consider the weight and where you will store your IP.

A pressure cooker isn't best, or even good, for everything. As far as meats go, I think that a it is best for those meats/cuts that generally take a long time to cook. So I'd more likely use it for a stew or short ribs than a chicken breast. I'm not sure what your inlaws were cooking in it, d_gw, but I don't notice any difference in texture between a pressure cooker beef stew and one cooked the traditional way. We are pretty serious cooks, and use our pressure cooker (not an instant pot, but another brand of electric) mostly for beans, soups and stews. And hard boiled eggs, for the reason someone mentioned above. For soups, it is really amazing to be able to make a complex-tasting stock in no time, or a soup that tastes like it has been simmering all day in a matter of minutes.

From what I read on the Instant Pot community FB site, you shouldn't have opened it until it released the pressure itself - NPR / natural release. That seems to be especially important for meat. It continues to cook while it is releasing the pressure. on things like pasta, you do a QR / quick release - often in several quick, short releases. pasta that stays under pressure once it beeps, will get mushy. I've been reading on several IP FB sites this past month and there is a wealth of info on them on how (and what) to cook in the IP. I've read on there of numerous users who have cooked a small chicken whole in their pot. It depends on the size of the chicken and the pot. I bought a 3 qt and some have cooked a whole chicken in that size! That's not something I'll ever do. I'd only do 2-4 chicken breasts and most of that would be cut into strips to freeze. There's a recipe for I think it's called Mississippi pot roast that many just rave about and so I'll try that - maybe with a very tiny piece of roast. More so than meat (I don't eat that much meat), I got one for making yogurt and possibly cottage cheese. Many say they use the plain yogurt sometimes in place of sour cream. I also want to be able to cook beans without soaking them and make my own refried beans (no more canned beans). For those who make bread, you can proof it in the IP if it has the yogurt button. I think the LUX is the one that doesn't have it. It can still be used to make yogurt, but not to proof bread. hard boiled eggs usually take 5 min cook time and 5 min of release time and then 5 min in cold water. From what I read, the shells easily slip off of the egg. you can go to the site and read. I think you need to 'join' (which is no big deal to do) in order to ask questions or comment on posts. I had to join on other sites just to read the posts. They also post links to many of the better recipe websites. I'll post a few in a bit if I can find them. It's a fast moving site but most questions are asked frequently by those who have just received their new IP (and answered by those who are seasoned in using it) . You can just scan down the pages and look for things you might want to cook. I skip over a lot of them because they aren't things I'd ever make for myself. In the past week they had a lot of posts on making dog food in the IP - that's something I am interested in for my furgirl. tomato products can easily cause a burn notice as can sugary sauces / liquids. and if you're making something like spaghetti, there's an order to how you layer them in the pot for pressure cooking. Always water on bottom, then any meat (on the trivet), pasta is spread out over that with the sauce poured over that. they often say to then add the water around the edge of the inner post / food so that it reaches the bottom of the pot (which is why I listed it first - it needs to be on bottom in order to heat and create the steam). And do NOT stir it or mix them together. here's one sample on cooking chicken that I copied out (making pages of notes for myself) - Moist, Sliceable chicken breast using a 6 QUART Instant Pot 1 minute per oz This recipe is for a 9 oz breast..Manual 9 minutes with a 10 minute NPR 4 to 6 ounce breasts..1 minute per ounce with a 5 minute NPR 7 to 11 ounces breasts.. 1 minute per ounce with a 10 minute NPR Ingredients Fresh or frozen 9 ounce chicken breast 1 cup of water Steps Add 1 cup of water to your pot Put your trivet in with the breast on top. You'll need to know the weight of the breast Close and seal your pot Set your pot to manual 9 minutes Allow for a 10 minute NPR sites often posted as good and safe recipes are Amy and Jacky, this old gal and pressureluck. and I think all 3 of those have videos for newbies on how to use the IP - things to know before you start cooking. I'll be watching those in the next few days before I even run the water test. there are many more recipe sites listed on it also, I just don't remember them all. it's also a great source for when things go wrong - like the burn notice, steam coming out from under the lid, it won't come to pressure, etc.

I have a funny story to share re instapot. Two years ago we started a massive kitchen renovation - I got my 6 burner Bluestar range, a walk in pantry, wall ovens - heaven ! Well, in the midst of it, DH discovers IP and started testing out Asian Indian cooking in it. Since we were kitchen-less for a longgg time and his engineering sense of precision to cooking naturally lent to IP cooking, I went along. Well here we are two years later and now we have 2 IPs (and threatening to buy a third small one ... for "those times when you we might need one ! LOL ".DH is turning into a IP-dictator whereby he automatically assumes that any cooking I do can be done faster and taste better in IP. It doesnt help that HIS instapot recipes are really yummy and a great hit with our boys and with friends ! I was half joking to him that instead of upgrading to bluestar rangetop, we should have bought 6 IPs for a fraction of the cost :) If anyone wants to try good IP dishes for Asian Indian cooking I highly recommend https://ministryofcurry.com/top-10-instant-pot-recipes/ Note: No relation to the author, just a blog DH swears by for his IP recipes. HTH