Social Media/FB/Instagram and The Rise of the Instant Pot

[BG2008]

I belong to a group on Facebook that shares recipes on Instant Pot.  It's me and 100,000 other housewives.  I cook a lot and grew up in the food business.  My takeaway is that Instant Pot would not be the runaway success if Facebook did not exist.  The speed that it grew and how quickly features and functions and most importantly recipes are shares is unlike anything that I have seen before.  I think a brand like Hamilton Beach is being quickly eroded and becoming irrelevant as the search cost has dropped dramatically.  Let's discuss.  We can talk about the Peloton as well.  Would love to discover other products that have an active FB following as well. 

[doc75]

I know this isn't what you wanted from this thread, but...

 

Do you like the Instant Pot?  It'd be nice to get an honest assessment since I my instinct is to be skeptical of rave reviews through social media.  They always give me the same feeling as the infomercial of old.

 

Interesting idea for a thread, sorry to bastardize it from the get-go. 

[Jurgis]

I just bought Instant Pot on Amazon. I'm mad since I overpaid. It dropped $XX more on Black Friday. Interestingly, Amazon allows to return and rebuy at cheaper price, but does not allow just getting price difference. Which makes sense, since I just let it slide. OTOH, I used that via mental bias ("Revenge!!!") and did not buy some other stuff. So there.  8)

 

 

 

Also, when I received it, it did not have any weed. I thought I'm gonna get insta high, but it was just an empty casserole. So I guess I'll return it and mark it down to deceptive marketing.  ::)

 

 

[John Hjorth]

... Would love to discover other products that have an active FB following as well.

 

BG2008,

 

Roses, produced by specific rose nurseries :

 

British David Austin Rose Nursery Ltd. comes to mind here, as a stellar example of a company, that most likely has got a lot of business advantage of Facebook user groups. [Company website] There are "grass root" grown user groups on Facebook [not run or administrated by the company], that are basically World Wide. [The fascinating part is, that wild roses did not originally exist in nature in the Southern hemosphere of the World. Despite that, there actually exists a particular Australian user group of rosarians, that are fans of David Austin roses.]

 

German Kordes Roses also comes to mind here [Company website] with an active usergroup of passionate fans, discussing everything rose related, sharing photos, growing and maintenance tips and so on.

[Spekulatius]

So it seems that the marketing has moved from TV/print celebrity endorsements to social media. This seems like a very nice talewind for FB.

 

I have also noticed that the opinion now in social media and message boards really counts more and more. In some cases, there are products which seems to have a strong following that is much strong than one can expect just based on market shares. It’s often it’s higher end products (where user engagement tends to be  higher) but not always.

[rb]

The instant pot is a miracle to those that don't know how to cook, don't know about food, don't care about food, cook unhealthy things. For certain Asians with soupy cousine such as Viet and Thai I figure should be great. But then they also fall into the unhealthy part.

 

Can't speak about the Peloton since I'm not a workout geek nor am I about to drop thousands of dollars on an exercise bike.

[BG2008]

I know this isn't what you wanted from this thread, but...

 

Do you like the Instant Pot?  It'd be nice to get an honest assessment since I my instinct is to be skeptical of rave reviews through social media.  They always give me the same feeling as the infomercial of old.

 

Interesting idea for a thread, sorry to bastardize it from the get-go.

 

As someone who grew up in the food business and have been cooking dinner for my family since I was in my teens, I would say that the Instant is the highest return on dollar of any kitchen equipment that I have bought.  It won't do everything well.  It is very good for braising, soups, oxtails, and general wet cooking methods that would take way too long.  By insulating heat inside a pot, it also means that you don't run a hot kitchen.  It's utility is in the set it, leave it, and forget it functions.  Many of the functions you have to learn and you need to experiment a bit.  If you have a "general understanding of food deliciousness" (trademark), you can really use it to your advantage.  You can't cook steaks in it.  It won't get that nice browning.  But it will turn your oxtail into a rich and delicious gelatinous piece of meat in about 45 minutes of cooking time.  Some of the functions that I use it for are:

 

1) Making oatmeal - Set to delay start the night before and set to cook one hour before you wake up and you will have delicious oatmeal for breakfast

2) Oxtail soup - parboil oxtail and wash oxtail under cold water to clean off any residual (do this on stove top).  Add carrots, celery, and tomatoes to Instant Pot and cook under high pressure for 40-45 minutes.  It's a very hearty soup for the winter.  Serve with some rice and you have a whole complete meal basically.

3) Chicken soup - parboil whole chicken and wash under cold water.  Add carrots, celeary, and tomato to instant pot and cook under high pressure for 20 minutes.  Shred chicken and eat. 

4) Cook beans in instant pot and throw in a bunch of kale into the hot bean mixture.  The residual heat will cook it.  Now you've got beans and kale. 

5) Steamed eggs - Beat eggs and add some water and mix well.  Steam for 6-7 minutes. It's a great savory egg custard.

6) Steam sweet potatoes - 20 mins or so.  Depending on size. 

7) Sterilize baby bottles using steam function - 2 minutes (use this if you have a newborn, cut outs having to boil everything)

8) Pot roast, never made them, but apparently very good

9) You can cook rice and etc.  But I am Chinese, so we have a separate rice cooker.

10) Quinoa - cook in high pressure for 10 minutes

 

In general, any cuts of meat that is tough and require a lot of cooking time can be cooked quickly and in its own juice with aromatic vegetables. 

 

I have attached my graphic resume.  It wasn't made in the instant, but you can. 

 

[DooDiligence]

I miss Thai street food.

 

Nothing like a big hot bowl of Tom Yum on a nice steamy night.

(The best vendors are near the police stations.)

[rkbabang]

The instant pot is a miracle to those that don't know how to cook, don't know about food, don't care about food, cook unhealthy things. For certain Asians with soupy cousine such as Viet and Thai I figure should be great. But then they also fall into the unhealthy part.

 

Can't speak about the Peloton since I'm not a workout geek nor am I about to drop thousands of dollars on an exercise bike.

 

Even those who do know how to cook.  I've never owned a pressure cooker before, it is amazing that you can cook potatoes from raw to soft in 10min.  I've tried rice, but it comes out dry, I like how it comes out cooking it on the stovetop better.  But you can cook a roast in a fraction of the time that it would take in an oven or crockpot, and it comes out tasting the same as it would have in the crockpot for 12 hours.  I've also tried a New England Clam Chowder recipe that was quick easy and came out excellent.  I bought the instapot on primeday last summer and got a pretty good deal on it.

 

Another cooking device that I 1st heard about on social media that I absolutely love is my Joule Sous Vide cooker.  I've made the best steaks and pork chops that I've ever had using that.

https://www.chefsteps.com/

 

I cook the steak to 130 degrees F. Using a half chafing pan I already had, then sear it using either a cast iron pan or my searall with a propane tank from the plumbing department at lowes.  Pork chops are the same only cook to 150 degrees F for medium.

[LC]

Instant pot is great because it is a slow cooker, pressure cooker, and sous vide all in one.

[rkbabang]

Instant pot is great because it is a slow cooker, pressure cooker, and sous vide all in one.

 

The Instant Pot doesn't have the precise temperature control for sous vide, unless you are talking about this ( https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-SSV800-Accu-Circulator/dp/B07898VZN9 ), but that won't do pressure cooking.

 

[TorontoRaptorsFan]

I also highly recommend the Joule.

It does a very good job cooking chicken, turkey, and steak.