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Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

The Instant Pot came on the market with perfect timing, just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve. The fawning press articles claim that it was Instant Pot that took pressure cooking from niche to mainstream, but I don't buy that -- I think it would have happened anyways.

It's a good pressure cooker. A good stovetop one will be faster, but it's only significant if you've got a gas or induction range. And of course the stovetop models don't have any automation.

And it's half the price of a good stovetop model.

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> just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve.

It's really really weird to read that, in europe pressure cookers have been mainstays of most every kitchen for decades, especially after SEB's "super cocotte" (released in '53, they'd sold 10 million by '69).

Exactly.

"Most people have some concept of urban legends of exploding pressure cookers in their grandmother's kitchens," says Mr Qin.

Am in Europe, literally everyone has a pressure cooker, never heard about them actually exploding.

Water heaters have many times the risk of exploding, and nobody blinks. Its strange how cookers got that reputation.

Was wondering the same thing. I had an old one and the pressure relief mechanism looked pretty foolproof. Basically just a weight sitting on top of a vent tube -- when the pressure got high enough, the weight was lifted and the pressure released.

Presumably it's because people typically don't stand near water heaters, so there's less risk of injury in the event of an explosion.

http://citywideplumbingpros.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/w...

There are some things like pressure cookers exploding that are just "known", despite them not really being true. Ford cars are less made in America than Japanese brands; an electric blanket won't burn your house down; no one is hiding metal pins in Halloween candy to hurt children.

"Urban legend" describes these sort of thing, but how do you even begin to fight them with marketing in some form.

If Mr Qin had wanted to do marketing at the beginning, some segment of the market is going tune out the instant pressure cooker is mentioned.

>There are some things like pressure cookers exploding that are just "known", despite them not really being true.

Umm... It would have just taken you a simple Google search before writing that comment...

The first time I ever encountered a pressure cooker was when my science instructor had to take a week off to recover from the injuries she sustained when hers ruptured.

I'm an American and I just bought one and I've been kind of wary around it, even going into the other room while it cooks. I know it's irrational, but I find I keep thinking about the Boston bombings.

> I know it's irrational, but I find I keep thinking about the Boston bombings.

It's worse than irrational, unless you've filled your pressure cooker with explosives and plugged the pressure relief valves it's not going to do anything except boil empty.

That seems to fall under the category of irrational?

Am in Europe, haven't seen a pressure cooker in use since the '70s.

Maybe because the newer ones are different and you don't identify them as such?

Old:

https://lasrecetasdecasa.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/ollapre...

New:

https://www.worten.es/i/10acef2d003a99a785ece3ca0a0281ef4dd9...

Happened to my parents and me, back in the mid-90s. Luckily, nobody was in the kitchen the moment it happened. All I remember is that it left a decent dent in the vent hood above the stove, and Gulasz... Gulasz everywhere.

Then again, I was also right next to an exploding Mokka / Espresso stovetop cooker, so maybe I am simply unlucky :)

I still own a pressure cooker and use it regularly - a cheap one from IKEA at that.

I remember somethin similar with spagetti bolognesa, but it wasn't the pot fault, but a friend that mistakenly thought it was already cold enough. She had some burns and instead of a feast, the guests had to become an emergency cleaning squad.

Fortunately the dessert was saved: a condensed milk can also made in the pot into delicious toffee.

Yikes. I hope your friend did not suffer any permanent damage.

Thanks for telling me about the recipe! I never knew Dulce de Leche could be made in a pressure cooker - that's on my to do list for tomorrow now.

>Am in Europe, literally everyone has a pressure cooker, never heard about them actually exploding.

Happens frequently with cheap ones in 3rd world countries.

Pressure cookers used to be a mainstay in the US as well, but fell out of fashion and are now coming back. I'm not sure pressure cookers are that popular in Europe either at the moment.

> I'm not sure pressure cookers are that popular in Europe either at the moment.

They're as popular as ever, they're not trendy but it's something you normally get once you're beyond a pair of pans and pots, the smaller models (4~5L) may even replace/obviate a large pot.

Was thinking about writing the very same thing, a pressure coocker has always been a common implement in every kitchen I've seen. I realize that there is much more to the marketing, final implementation and other details of these Instant Pots, but all these comments read to me like everybody just discovered that eggs are awesome and you can use them for so many things.

> just as the pressure cooker started to go from "geek" to "mainstream" in its adoption curve.

Pressure cookers have been around for a long time: first manufactured in 1864 according to wikipedia (1). It's just that they have been out of fashion for few decades - possibly supplanted by the microwave oven in the 1970s and 80s.

So maybe the time was right for a better design to come back. The older designs had a reputation for very occasionally exploding, or the lid flying off and getting embedded in the ceiling. Not common, but it did happen and that puts people off.

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_cooking#History

The lids on older models like my mother's were physically capable[1] of being removed while under pressure, which would be entertaining. Still use it, though.

[1] The amount of force required is large, though. I'm not sure I could do it without tools.

I think that it wasn't so much a 'geek' thing as it was that a complete generation or perhaps two forgot that they existed - and now the next generation is [re]discovering them.

I bought an old-school pressure cooker last year when my rooftop garden unexpectedly produced way more tomatoes and hot peppers than I had expected. Started to get into canning and pickling as a result.

Sadly, I no longer live there thanks to a breakup but I'm looking forward to buying my next place with gardening space so I can pick up where I left off. Do these things work for canning or is it mostly just a matter of available volume?

I don't usually post, but please don't use a pressure cooker for canning as it can cause botulism if the food isn't sufficiently acidic. The only safe way to can non-acidic foods is with a pressure canner, not a pressure cooker.

Having now looked up the difference between the two (I've only ever seen pressure canners, with the locking lids and real pressure gauges, but which everyone I know calls a pressure cooker), I'm now curious what in the world you would use a plain pressure cooker for? It seems like a strictly worse piece of equipment.

To cook things faster.

Takes an hour or two off of a pot roast.

You'd use a regular pressure cooker for things like cooking a roast or chili in 45 minutes instead of 4 hours.

You can do that in a canner too. A canner can function as a pressure cooker, but a pressure cooker can't function as a canner.

For one thing, I don't see any electric pressure canners, only stovetop models.

I am aware of this and I follow the official guidelines for adding citric acid if needed. Also I was using a pressure canner and not a pressure cooker so my question was more whether this device was similar in function (as I know nothing about them). Looks like you answered my question and it's not the same thing/comparable, so thanks!

As I understand it, the electronic ones are not recommended for pressure canning because you can't be absolutely, positively sure they reach a certain pressure. Best stick with your old-school model for pressure canning.

Great, thanks for the info. I'd have surely looked into this at some point before attempting such a thing but figured I'd ask since it was on topic.

If you already have a pressure cooker which you are happy to use, and are content with making soups in a soup pot, are there any advantages to buying an Instant Pot?

Compared to stovetop ones:

1. No need to fiddle with getting the heat right to get to pressure, and then lower the heat. Just seal the lid and tell it to get to pressure. It will control the heating.

2. Timer. It will drop the heat once the timer runs out. A lot of people set something to cook for, say, 30 minutes. Then they go out of the house for an errand that takes over an hour. They don't need to worry about overcooking/explosions. It will turn the heat down after 30 minutes and keep the food warm.

That's really about it. I own both a stovetop one and an instant pot. Most of the raves I've seen for the instant pot apply equally well to other pressure cookers. Having said that, the two pros above are really, really nice. If people can afford it, I would tell them to buy this instead of a regular pressure cooker.

Thanks. I guess that's a no for me then. Point 1 is never an issue for me: turn the heat up to medium (or full, if you're in a hurry) until the pressure release "whistle" blows a couple of times, then turn it off. And while I never ever leave the house with the stove or oven left turned on, I guess I could see the convenience factor of point 2.

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