I love to cook. I love my pots, my pans, my range, my knives, my cow-patterned Bialetti stovetop espresso maker (that I haven’t used in 3 years), my unidentifiable kitchen gadgets…but I especially love my slow cooker. My slow cooker and I have been through a lot. Chili cook-offs, St. Paddy’s Day corned beef, chicken tacos that make the house smell warm and spicy. My husband used the slow cooker to make the best baby back ribs I have ever tasted in my life. I married him for those ribs.
Slow cookers are evidence that anything good is worth waiting for.
The content below may contain affiliate links, which means if you by any chance decide to spontaneously buy a $130 Instant Pot while you’re reading my post, I’ll get maybe a penny. Which I would still very much appreciate.
And then my bestie Charlotte got an Instant Pot. Charlotte is a die-hard foodie. She is just as comfortable and familiar in a 3-star Michelin restaurant as she is in a hole-in-the-wall diner. Her palate has traveled to the ends of the world. This very same Charlotte was gleefully crying out: “Hard boiled eggs! Ribs! Chicken wings!” I scoffed.
Then she bought a second. And a third. Finally, my husband got sick of me stalking Instant Pot recipes and got the 7-in-1 for me. Because if I’m going to get a pressure cooker, then I want it to make yogurt. (I don’t even like yogurt).
The first night I had it. Perfect, easy-to-peel hard boiled eggs in less than 15 minutes. Chinese chicken congee, which normally takes 3-4 hours on a slow simmer under constant threat of explosion, took less than an hour in the Instant Pot, and was the best I’d ever made. Then I did ribs. Kmet ribs are a process. They slow cook all day in our house rub, and then finished off by preference. My husband sauces them and throws them in the broiler or on the grill for a caramelized crust, I prefer mine unsauced so I can savor pure and unadulterated meat. Yep, we made those in an hour in the Instant Pot. Maybe not quite as good as the all-day slow cook, but we just turned them into a weeknight meal. Incredible. Spaghetti squash. Done to perfection in less than 15 minutes. I was a convert. Charlotte was right again.
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