Pressure cookers are stove top tools, they are great and we don’t have to pay a premium just so that it can be plugged in to the outlet 
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Garlic is huge over here, I do so much with it. Have a lot of garlic I pickle too which is great to munch or to add to dishes
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I’m a stovetop pressure cooker person all the way but honestly, if Instant Pot added even one or two more features it would be hard for me not to recommend them over stovetop.
I mean, from what I’ve read they can pressure cook, make decent rice, yogurt, and I think a few other features that whole appliances are dedicated to. If they improved the sous vide function (which I heard is not good currently) and were better at searing it would be a pretty indispensable appliance for a small kitchen.
I do like that I can run my pressure cooker under the tap to depressurize, though. I would miss that function for sure.
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Hmmm… good information.There’s a reason some home cooks are addicted to them. The small kitchen thing is a good point too. I hate clutter, but never thought about an appliance that actually helps save space.
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You can release pressure manually on an Instant Pot. It doesn’t do as good a job on rice as my rice cooker does. I use it almost exclusively for pressure cooking.
Yeah, but I frequently depressurize under water rather than quick release so it doesn’t agitate the contents. I’m not super concerned with the clarity of stock but if I’m cooking something delicate and/or starchy (beans, potatoes in stew, etc.) I try to avoid the boiling action you get from a quick release because it effects the integrity of the ingredients and viscosity of the gravy.
That said, it saves, like, 15 minutes compared to just naturally releasing pressure so…
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A normal pot cooks rice, slow cooks things, fries etc. it’s only the pressure cooking that’s a difference maker and that you can take it to a stupid work potluck.
According to Dave chang it makes the absolutely worst rice possible. I don’t know why regular covered pot is hard for people for rice. I can help. Comes out right every time
30 minute soak
15 minute cook
15 minute rest
Zero issues with yogurt either. Leave out overnight. I mAke it
#normalpot
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DC’s Instagram stuff has been great. love #normalpot
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He’s cracking me up in the podcast about instapot.
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His product reviews are the best! Lol
I can’t wait for his line of MSG lol. He said he’s just warming people up to the idea of umami with his salts for now
Zojirushi is the gold standard for most people in terms of cooking perfect or close to perfect rice and their top of the line rice cooker uses pressure cooking as well. So I don’t really get why would DC think that pressure cooking makes the worse rice possible. There’s obviously some disconnect there.
FWIW, the instant pot makes great rice as long as I put in the proper water/rice ratio and not use the pre-presets to make rice. There is certainly a learning curve as well as some trial and error in dialing in the perfect amount of water/rice ratio, pressure used, cook time, and natural release time.
Update: I just read DC’s reasons on why he doesn’t like the IP. He doesn’t like the interface and prefers a stove top pressure cooker. But I think he fails to account for IP’s convenience of not occupying a stove nor having to ever worry about it once it starts cooking. It can be left on indefinitely and it’ll either keep warm or turns itself off once it finishes cooking. You simply can’t with a stove top version even though it cooks faster than the IP.
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Yeah I think it depends on the pot. I have a very sturdy, medium size pot (Calphalon I think). To cook rice I tightly seal foil over the top before putting the lid on and the rice steams perfectly. But the pot is in storage right now and I’m using a regular stainless steel sauce pan and my rice sucks.
Side note: I also think it depends on the rice. Japanese rice is a little trickier and probably does better in a rice cooker.
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Does anyone know where to buy whole Aji Amarillo Peppers or the paste/sauce (not Amazon)? Thanks!
Northgate carries aji amarillo paste, but not whole pepper. It’s in their “international” aisle, not with other hot sauces or chile products. The NG here in San Diego had several brands from which to choose, and I knew nothing about any of them. 
So I chose the mid-priced one and have been very happy with it so far. It has nice heat and floral notes.
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Thanks @DiningDiva. I think I prefer a jar of the paste or sauce as opposed to fresh. I’ll get more use out of it.
And like many condiments, it keeps for a really long time in the fridge
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Vallarta often carries the fresh peppers, and they have the paste.
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Do you have a favorite shiro (white) miso paste? I’ve used Miso Master Organic which is a little too sweet for all uses (good in salad dressings & sweet marinades) and currently have Shirakiku Miso which is not sweet enough, a little too dark and very salty. Any recs?
Have you tried Hikari?
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