4 ms·

> one off appliances I have an instant pot as well. If I have to cook myself, I put everything I have got rice, lentils, chicken bullion powder, frozen chi

by mcny 3y ago

> one off appliances I have an instant pot as well. If I have to cook myself, I put everything I have got rice, lentils, chicken bullion powder, frozen chicken breast, frozen vegetables, cut pieces of carrot, red chili powder, ginger powder, garlic powder, black pepper, the works everything goes in the instant pot and I go to my MS Teams meetings. Food cooks and goes into "keep warm" setting. In fact, that's quite literally what I did almost every morning for a bit last year when I was by myself. However, "normal people" in my family refuse to eat this even though I assure them it is perfectly edible. It is perfectly rational to want to minimize the amount of time you spend cooking. Edit: the rice cooker inner pot that I have is non-stick and is scratched up beyond all recognition but still they prefer using that to cook rice over my instant pot (with a superior stainless steel inner lining).

mmastrac 3y ago
Are they concerned about bacterial growth? As long as you hit the critical temperature and time during cooking, extended warmth should be fine, right? You might need an agar plate experiment to convince them, hah.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  It's probably more about texture. I'd assume at least some of those ingredients are overcooked, unless OP carefully chose that particular combination (and used frozen chicken). The "OG tv dinner" / "what can be cooked in the same time" problem has always fascinated me. I expect somewhere on the Internet there's a list of combinations and cooking methods.
  - pfranz 3y ago
    I had the same issue with crock pot meals and instant pot meals. The biggest culprit for me is a homogeneous texture (I have the same annoyance with making stuff in higher end blenders). You'll notice "high end" recipes suggest something to change up the texture; like add something crunchy after cooking. I think that makes a huge difference.
  - mcny 3y ago
    The whole point of this exercise is to be ideally no effort or if not low effort. Cooking multiple dishes is out of scope here. The chicken is indeed frozen chicken breast from Sam's club or Costco depending on which membership I have. Interestingly enough, the longer I cook, the dryer the chicken feels. At some point, the whole thing becomes one mess except the chicken withdraws and feels very dry. It isn't supposed to be a fancy feast. All I'm saying is it is an option for when we don't want to actually put effort into cooking.
- drjasonharrison 3y ago
  In some households, rice cookers are somewhat of a religious / commitment based relationship. The one that has always provided the cooked rice will continued to be trusted to provide the cooked rice. And it shall not be tossed aside when a more complex or shinier model is available. Almost like a favorite cup or bowl. A colleague described to me after his time living in Japan encountering wonderful single-box puddings that could be prepared in a rice cooker. Unfortunately the rice cooker in a Japanese household is for cooking rice. Not for cooking puddings. The product probably failed.
lm28469 3y ago
s/bullion/bouillon
Incipient 3y ago
Semi off topic. If you have really ripped up non-stick. Probably worth getting rid of it especially if you have kids (not saying you do). The risk of chunks of stick coating being carcinogenic seems to be trivially mitigated by replacing the object.

by mcny 3y ago

mmastrac 3y ago

Are they concerned about bacterial growth? As long as you hit the critical temperature and time during cooking, extended warmth should be fine, right? You might need an agar plate experiment to convince them, hah.

ethbr1 3y ago
It's probably more about texture. I'd assume at least some of those ingredients are overcooked, unless OP carefully chose that particular combination (and used frozen chicken). The "OG tv dinner" / "what can be cooked in the same time" problem has always fascinated me. I expect somewhere on the Internet there's a list of combinations and cooking methods.
- pfranz 3y ago
  I had the same issue with crock pot meals and instant pot meals. The biggest culprit for me is a homogeneous texture (I have the same annoyance with making stuff in higher end blenders). You'll notice "high end" recipes suggest something to change up the texture; like add something crunchy after cooking. I think that makes a huge difference.
- mcny 3y ago
  The whole point of this exercise is to be ideally no effort or if not low effort. Cooking multiple dishes is out of scope here. The chicken is indeed frozen chicken breast from Sam's club or Costco depending on which membership I have. Interestingly enough, the longer I cook, the dryer the chicken feels. At some point, the whole thing becomes one mess except the chicken withdraws and feels very dry. It isn't supposed to be a fancy feast. All I'm saying is it is an option for when we don't want to actually put effort into cooking.
drjasonharrison 3y ago
In some households, rice cookers are somewhat of a religious / commitment based relationship. The one that has always provided the cooked rice will continued to be trusted to provide the cooked rice. And it shall not be tossed aside when a more complex or shinier model is available. Almost like a favorite cup or bowl. A colleague described to me after his time living in Japan encountering wonderful single-box puddings that could be prepared in a rice cooker. Unfortunately the rice cooker in a Japanese household is for cooking rice. Not for cooking puddings. The product probably failed.

lm28469 3y ago

s/bullion/bouillon

Incipient 3y ago

Semi off topic. If you have really ripped up non-stick. Probably worth getting rid of it especially if you have kids (not saying you do). The risk of chunks of stick coating being carcinogenic seems to be trivially mitigated by replacing the object.