So I was watching a “Power Pressure Cooker XL” infomercial as I was cleaning up the kitchen, and, well, they did market the item well — all manner of stews and roasts cooked lightning fast, and pasta casseroles cooked from raw pasta, and the item doubling as a rice cooker and a slow cooker too. Supposedly the Instant Pot does this all, too.
But I picked up an electric pressure cooker from Aldi some time ago, and read the instructions, and returned it, because it seemed like a lot of work to pressurize and de-pressurize it, which also added a lot of time to the promised super-low cooking times — on top of which, the electric pressure cookers seem to take a lot more time than traditional ones. And, since I work at home and can easily get a crock-pot started at breakfast or lunch, that works well for me when cooking, say, round or chuck steak or stew — and it’s actually the hour or so before dinnertime that’s more of a hassle, when I’m taking kids to a karate or an art class or a band practice.
But, on the other hand, if the pressure cooker actually produces meat or stews that are more flavorful than what you get from a crock pot, well, that would make it worthwhile even so.
So — what do you think?
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