This is an installment of Pandemic Purchases, a special series of personal essays about the items bought in the past year that brought the most value and joy to our lives and work while living in lockdown.
I had, of course, heard of the Instant Pot before the world shut down.
I was a latecomer to this kitchen appliance, despite the glowing testimonials online. That’s a side effect of the cynicism of my profession. I’ve heard countless evangelists sing the praises of various gadgets, only to find, when I got my hands on one, that it was all sizzle and no steak. That has proved especially true, I’ve found, for kitchen gadgets.
So when it came to Instant Pot, I was hesitant, but as stay-at-home orders loomed and it became apparent I wouldn’t be going to a restaurant again anytime soon, I figured, “What the heck?” It turned out to be a beacon of creativity and sanity in a dark year.
I’m a pretty good cook. Over the years, I’ve assembled a variety of recipes and learned new skills. And as the pandemic loomed, I made sure I had an adequate supply of various meats in my freezer. For the first few weeks of lockdown, I leaned into old favorites for my daughter and I: homemade pizza, chicken and pasta dishes, an occasional roulade. When those started to get old, I shook it up with some low and slow items on the grill: Texas-style brisket and authentic Southern BBQ.
It didn’t take long, though, for us to tire of our favorite dishes. That’s when I got serious about the Instant Pot.
I wanted to do more with a 7-in-1 pressure cooker than just make hard-boiled eggs (which is as far as my eightysomething parents had progressed). I was looking forward to its fabled rice-cooking properties, but that was far from enough, as well.
I checked a few cookbooks, but nothing wowed me. I consulted my neighbor, who is something of a wizard in the kitchen (and was one of the many advocates singing the appliance’s praises). He suggested short ribs (and brought some of his over, which, admittedly, was a convincing case), but I felt making ribs anywhere other than the grill was a betrayal of barbecue, my first love.
Ultimately, I began to scour the Internet for things that might appeal to me. The trick was not being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options.
Ultimately, it was carnitas that made me an Instant Pot convert. A Food Network recipe I stumbled across was tender and flavorful and plentiful enough that I could freeze leftovers for a later day. A little while later, I found a recipe on Delish for meatballs and sauce that looked fairly easy and sounded promising. The finished product blew me away. (I strongly recommend swapping crushed fire-roasted tomatoes in for the regular kind in the recipe.)
My daughter, who had sworn she didn’t like meatballs for nearly 13 years, devoured them. They were amazing with pasta and even better on a hoagie roll.
Before long I expanded into chicken enchiladas, potato soup, chili, risotto, and much more. I began experimenting with the best way to convert a former colleague’s slow-cooker chicken tikka masala recipe, which had become a favorite a couple of years ago, to the Instant Pot. (Still working on that!)
Did the Instant Pot help my waistline? Hell no.
Did it help my mental health? Absolutely.
First and foremost, I find solace in cooking. It’s a chance to be as creative as you want, while still having a guideline if you don’t know what you’re doing. I like the smell of a food coming together to permeate my house. I love it when whatever I happen to be making is enough to lure my teenager away from FaceTime and her fortress of solitude/bedroom to ask, “What are you making? That smells good.”
It’s also something I can share, and would give me an excuse for porch visits with friends or to have them over for a socially distanced gathering. Most important, though, it introduced variety into days that quickly began to bleed together. I might not have been able to tell you what day of the week it was through much of the past year, but when I tried something new in the Instant Pot, I was entirely in the moment.
My experiments in baking? Those were hit and miss. And they’ve since been relegated to an every-once-in-a-while activity. Instant Pot meals and experimentation, though? Those are still going strong. And, somehow, I’ve become one of those evangelists I once tried so hard to tune out.
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