What is a multi-cooker?

[Omegaman 3.0]

What I mean by this, is those  multi purpose cookers and I electric powered and programmable, typically they can be used as slow cooker ; crock pots, pressure cookers, they can sometimes sear, make rice, yogurt, bake, sterize, canning and other things. a sample of what a few of them look like is below, but there will be more info in the coming days and weeks. I just wanted to get a quick first post in here for now, to busy to more more just yet.

 

[angels4u]

Also called an instapot 

[Omegaman 3.0]

I was not even aware of this genre of cooking appliance until a couple of weeks ago. I do not even recall, how I became aware of them, perhaps I was looking at ways to prepare a steak or something and ran across them on the web that way. I do remember watching a video on YouTube about that.

In any case, I was sort of intrigued, and started investigating them. It seemed that there was one, called the Instant Pot. It seemed to be the most common one, and almost to the point where it’s brand name is associated with this type of cooker, the away the Kleenex is associated with facial tissues, or Crescent is associated with adjustable wrenches.

Looking into these, I was attracted to their functionality and features. They looked like they were very good and efficient at doing many things well. Many people like using slow cookers/crock pots, for their ability to cook something unattended, with a sort of drop it in and forget it ‘til later convenience.

I bought a fancy, programmable and very large crock pot earlier this year, for that purpose. It is a nice machine, useful, and good at what it does. I have really, only one issue with it.  Let me give a little explanation though, before I get to my issue.

When you cook in a crock pot, it is done at a relatively low temperature, and that is what makes is slow. That is not a bad thing, it is intentional. Cooking long as slow has the advantage of making some foods, more tender. For example, I could make a stew with chunks of beef. Doing that using typical beef intended for stews is fine, the beef come out much more tender that if would have been if fried in a skillet.

That is all well and good, but it is also the source of my issue with crock pots. Some people like this sort of dish. What I do not like and what I object to, is that when you do this, the different ingredients in the stew, the meat, the vegetables all end up tasting more or less alike by the time they are done. To be honest, if I put carrot and broccoli into a pot with beef, I want the beef to taste like beef, and the carrots like carrots, and the broccoli, like broccoli. If the carrots taste too much like the meat, then I have lost something.

Additionally, I do not want the carrots, potatoes, broccoli, etc, to all have the same texture/firmness. In a crock pot, they all end up similar, and that is mushy. Some people might like them that way, I do not. Perhaps the elderly or people with no teeth (babies come to mind here) need soft food. I am not there yet. I prefer biting and apple, to having apple sauce; it is just a personal preference.

Of course, one can add the vegetable later in the cook cycle, so that they maintain more of their true flavor and texture. That works, and I do that. However, now I am back to extra work and attention, and time spent on that meal, somewhat defeating the reason why I thought I was using the crock pot to begin with.

I’ll let you in one a little secret. I am busy, and time is precious to me, perhaps more so as I sense that I have a limited time left (no, I am not dying, don’t worry). So, in an effort to use my time better, I am preparing a meal in my new multi-cooker. I do not know how it will turn out, if it turns out well, I will post a recipe here. The secret is that this post is being done, as I am preparing the meal. I have my laptop in the kitchen, and I am speaking the words out loud, and the speech recognition program is “typing” for me. I might have to do some minor corrections before I post this, but that won’t take long.

What I wanted to say here primarily is that while I bought that very nice crock pot, I wish I had not. It seems that the multi-cooker which I bought last week can serve as a crock pot, if I want that. However, the multi-cooker can prepare that same sort of stew, but, if I use the cooker in a pressure cooker mode, the stew will be done in a matter of minutes, not hours, and that means the ingredients will not be overcook, but will maintain more of their distinct flavors.

If I want that sort of meal, I can have it ready quickly, only a few minutes longer than the prop time would be with the crock pot, without the wait. There will be times, when I will still want to add ingredients separately in the multi-cooker, but I can do that in real time, in a sequence, and not have to break up my cooking session into segments.

If I want to have my meal, at a particular time, like when I come home from work (hypothetically, as I am now retired) and want it ready when I walk in the door, the programming will let me do that. Set it and forget it, prep now, eat later.

In fact, the meal that I am making right now, I am tossing ingredients in, and I plan to take the pot to my neighbor’s home, and turn in on there, so that after a few minutes of conversation, the meal will be ready and freshly made, ready to dish out.

Anyway, I wanted to get this post here, so that those not yet familiar with this kind of cooking will understand the “why” of it, the advantages. I am new at this, so not know yet what I am doing, but I think that is good, as it allows be to write this from the stand point of a beginner, and to a degree, that is part of the “audience” that I want to write this for, so that people can decide if they want to get into this, and can learn some of the ins an outs of the concept, before deciding to take the plunge.

I am not going to write a review of my cooker (but feel free to write one if you have one), but I will be listing some of it’s features so you may get a better idea of the capabilities of these machines. I couple of weeks ago, I only knew of one of these, now I realize that there are many manufacturers. And that most of them, have several models with different features/options, and different sizes, that is all for now.

[New Member]

On 10/17/2018 at 12:58 PM, angels4u said:

Also called an instapot 

Or probably an instant pot. Instapot sounds like it would be a brand name. When I Googled Instapot, I did not find any results.

Edited November 6, 2018 by New Member
spelling

[Omegaman 3.0]

I think I have become addicted to cooking with this thing. It might ultimately lead me to spend more on ingredients, but I do not think it will cost me any more on average. When I buy groceries, I usually buy too much, the portion sizes my grocery store sells are too large for one or two people to eat. Too much of my food ends up getting spoiled in the refrigerator, now I seem to be using things up, in different meals, not that cooking and clean up are faster and easier. I find myself now, eating a lot more vegetables, and liking them better besides.

It is a shame I do not have a larger family to cook for, maybe one day, I will become more involved in acts of hospitality.

Just thought I would add this post while waiting for my latest culinary creation to cool!

[Pencil24]

On 10/17/2018 at 1:59 PM, Omegaman 3.0 said:

What I mean by this, is those  multi purpose cookers and I electric powered and programmable, typically they can be used as slow cooker ; crock pots, pressure cookers, they can sometimes sear, make rice, yogurt, bake, sterize, canning and other things. a sample of what a few of them look like is below, but there will be more info in the coming days and weeks. I just wanted to get a quick first post in here for now, to busy to more more just yet.

 

I have been seeing these I have considered getting one. I am not sure if I should do instant pot or another brand. I like the idea of getting a instant pot duo   

Because you can make yogurt.

 

 

[angels4u]

49 minutes ago, Pencil24 said:

I have been seeing these I have considered getting one. I am not sure if I should do instant pot or another brand. I like the idea of getting a instant pot duo   

Because you can make yogurt.

 

 

You can make yogurt all kinds of other ways too, you don't need an instant pot to make yogurt

I make mine in a little yogurt maker which hold 6 little servings.

https://www.thebay.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524441760572&&site_refer=CSE_GGLPLA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzIWj8YjU3gIVyUwNCh3kkQKlEAQYAiABEgIU8_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It looks like this but its not the same machine, you can also make yogurt in the oven with the oven light on or in a thermos

 

[Pencil24]

3 minutes ago, angels4u said:

You can make yogurt all kinds of other ways too, you don't need an instant pot to make yogurt

I make mine in a little yogurt maker which hold 6 little servings.

https://www.thebay.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524441760572&&site_refer=CSE_GGLPLA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzIWj8YjU3gIVyUwNCh3kkQKlEAQYAiABEgIU8_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It looks like this but its not the same machine, you can also make yogurt in the oven with the oven light on or in a thermos

 

Oh thank you I will check that out

 

[Pencil24]

5 minutes ago, angels4u said:

You can make yogurt all kinds of other ways too, you don't need an instant pot to make yogurt

I make mine in a little yogurt maker which hold 6 little servings.

https://www.thebay.com/main/ProductDetail.jsp?PRODUCT<>prd_id=845524441760572&&site_refer=CSE_GGLPLA&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzIWj8YjU3gIVyUwNCh3kkQKlEAQYAiABEgIU8_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It looks like this but its not the same machine, you can also make yogurt in the oven with the oven light on or in a thermos

 

Which yogurt maker do you have? There are like 5 and I noticed there is a Greek one our family likes Greek yogurt

 

[angels4u]

5 minutes ago, Pencil24 said:

Which yogurt maker do you have? There are like 5 and I noticed there is a Greek one our family likes Greek yogurt

 

I have one which make the normal yogurt , you can make normal yogurt and strain it ? Yummy!

This is the one I have:

https://www.usedmontreal.com/classified-ad/Salton-Yogurt-Maker-IN-BOX-Model-GW-7W_29606422