This was a bit of an impulse buy really.....I saw it on offer in Costco and seeing as I'd finally had to part with my old pressure cooker I decided to buy myself a new toy. I got into pressure cooking after rescuing my
mother in law's old pressure cooker (she was going to bin it), the only problem was that after a year or so it became obvious that the rubber seal had perished and as we couldn't see how to remove and replace the seal and couldn't even identify a manufacturer to try to find any instructions I sadly had to give up.
According to Instant Pot's own blurb:
"
Instant Pot Lux 60 is a 6-in-1 programmable cooker combining the functions of a pressure cooker, sauté/browning, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer and warmer. Using 10 built-in programs, your favourite dishes are within the reach of pressing a button. To tailor for varying tastes and food conditions, the programs come with 3 adjustable modes. Special features include 3 temperatures in Sauté for browning or thickening, and 3 temperatures in Slow Cook to complete the tasks of a common slow cooker.
A 24-hour timer allows for delayed cooking. Automatic keep-warm holds the temperature of the food until you are ready to eat. It works as a perfect porridge maker allowing you wake up with a fresh made porridge."
The 10 built-in programmes are: Soup, Poultry, Meat/Stew, Bean/Chili, Sauté, Rice, Multigrain, Porridge, Steam, Slow Cook. I still haven't managed to get my head around all of these and have to admit that I only normally use the Sauté, Slow Cook, Steam and Manual functions.
Sauté is really useful for browning meat or reducing liquids without having to use a separate pot - with a traditional slow cooker you'd normally have to brown the meat in a separate pan first but with the Instant Pot you can do it all in one. Anything that reduces washing up is a good thing in my view! There are 3 heat levels on sauté depending on your needs - it would be nice if you could switch between the heat levels without having to cancel and re-start the programme, but that's only a minor niggle.
Slow Cook is basically what it says: it transforms the Instant Pot into a slow cooker. Again there are 3 temperature levels available and again it would be nice to be able to more easily switch between them. I sometimes find it difficult to know which level to choose for a particular recipe/volume of food as you can't see through the lid to check how the quickly its bubbling. You can buy a glass lid which would fix this issue, but its pretty expensive. Despite those issues, it does work well as a slow cooker and I get good results using this programme.
The Steam function transforms your Instant Pot into a steamer (with or without pressure). It doesn't come with a steamer basket though so you'll have to buy one. I don't use this function much because I don't steam things very often. But it works well enough when I do use it.
I did try the Rice programme a few times but each time (despite following the instructions exactly) the rice came out mushy and overcooked. Since reading a few reviews of this particular programme it seems that the general consensus is that this is one to be avoided. Its not a problem though: its just as easy to cook rice on the manual programme and it comes out perfectly every time. I still need to try some of the other programmes as they do seem to get good reviews online.
Manual is the function I use the most: I use it for joints of meat, dried beans, boiled eggs, rice, ribs, stock, stew and lots of other things. It works as a normal pressure cooker except you programme the length of time you want to cook at pressure and then just press start. That's it. No need to keep watch until it comes to pressure and then keep adjusting the heat to maintain it. The Instant Pot heats up and once it comes to pressure it starts the countdown of how many minutes you have programmed. During the programme it heats when needed to maintain the pressure and once the programmed time has finished it beeps to let you know its done and then switches to "keep warm" mode and starts counting how long since the pressure programme finished. If you just leave it on keep warm mode you'll have "natural release", if you need "quick release" there is a little lever to do this.
Keep Warm is not an official function, but you can turn it on manually and I have found its great to keeping mulled wine at the perfect temperature. I've also read of people using it to create the water bath for sous vide cooking though I've never tried that.
At first I was a bit worried that food might stick to the stainless steel inner pot - but the only time I have that issue is when cooking rice. Rice sticks a little but it doesn't burn, and it comes off easily when soaked in a water so its not a problem. I never use the delay timer - but I can see how it might be useful for some people.
After almost 2 years using the Instant Pot I'm very happy with it and would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking for an electric pressure cooker or a multi cooker. Like all electric pressure cookers the Instant Pot doesn't reach as a high a pressure as a stove top pressure cooker: stove top pressure cookers normally operate at up to 15 PSI, whereas the Instant Pot only reaches 11.6 PSI which means cooking takes around 10-20% longer than a stove top version. But on the other hand its easier to bring up to and maintain pressure so for me the convenience outweighs the
extra few minutes cooking time. It seems to be well made and robust - I don't expect it to last as long as a stove top pressure cooker, but if it were to break down I'd definitely be replacing it with another Instant Pot. It doesn't come with many accessories: only a trivet, a measuring cup and two plastic spatulas/spoons. I have bought a second stainless steel inner pot for extra flexibility: last night I did slow cooked honey chicken, took that inner pot out and covered it with foil whilst I cooked the rice in the second pot. You can also buy a plastic storage lid for the inner pot and a glass cooking lid - both could be useful but are too expensive in my opinion.
I have the IP-LUX50 model which is the slightly smaller 5 litre version, there is also an IP-LUX60 with a 6 litre capacity. Most of the time the 5 litre pot is fine for us, but it does mean that I can't pressure-cook large joints in it as they won't fit. Having now seen the larger 6 litre version (same footprint, but taller) that would be my recommended version. There are also other models available: a 6 litre Duo model with high and low pressure which also makes yoghurt, and an 8 litre version too. I don't think I'd use the extra functions for those ones so the basic Lux model is fine for me.
no. If anything done of this should be pulled out to be a piece on cooking at altitude and how it affects the choice of equipment or gives you a headache. I know I've often had issues with equipment both at altitude and in much comet conditions. Sometimes water had appeared to be boiling but you don't get even vaguely like warm water. It's hard.
