Today was one of those days where my lack of health dictates my decisions large and small more than most. Despite my best efforts at times somethings gotta give and today that was was in the kitchen. Dealing with multiple health issues including severe allergies means I don’t eat anything I haven’t prepared myself in my own home. With bone broth being a regular part of my dietary routine that helps me I invest a lot of time in getting a desirable result. The past six months or so this task has become increasingly unmanageable. After some failed treatments leaving me worse off than I started I have been struggling with meeting this particular dietary need.
My preference is the stove low and slow usually ten to fourteen hours plus straining and bottling. A task I have been unable to complete in far to long and my digestive health has suffered. As much as I appreciate the help and support of my family lets face it what twenty something wants to have to ask for help for every little thing? Or asking someone to give of their time for a full day cooking event?
Most people my age are out on their own, embarking down their chosen career path, likely with a ring on their finger and little ones to come home to….and I’m needing help handling a pot on the stove to avoid burns and fire damage. Hence after a day of frustration and appliance breakdown I have upgraded to the Instapot 7 in 1 Six Quart Pressure Cooker. Not only does this help reduce the time investment in bone broth but its a multi-function machine giving me back some of my favorite kitchen pastimes with less physical exertion.
Lets take a moment to compare on broth. For the stove its a minimum ten hour investment once the ingredients are assembled and the pot has come up to temperature. Plus the time to strain, bottle, seal, cool, and freeze my backup supply its a day long event all said and done. In a pressure cooker at high pressure (generally 15 PSI) its an average of two hours cook time after coming to pressure plus the pressure release, straining, bottling, sealing, cooling, and freezing. That’s a significant difference more so when you account for needing to rely on others for help such as lifting the water to fill the pot at the beginning of cooking and emptying the pot to strain at the end.
Aside from broth I think the feature I’m looking forward to the most and the reason I went for the seven function over the six function is yogurt! Though I do not consume cows dairy at all and only infrequent amounts of goat or sheep milk products I do enjoy some fermented non-dairy creaminess. The joy of the Instapot being able to scald and incubate the “milk” is thrilling for a Spoonie foodie.
This product also functions as a slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute/browning, warmer, in addition to pressure cooking and yogurt settings. It comes standard with a 18/8 dishwasher safe stainless steel pot to avoid chemical intolerance’s that can be of issue with non-stick coatings. Numerous predetermined one press cooking selections such as soup, meat/stew, bean/chili, poultry, saute, steam, rice, multi-grain, slow cook, keep-warm, and yogurt. Two pressure settings and three temperature selections for the saute or slow cooker options.
All in all though I am disappointed in another bodily failure to sustain an activity I need I am happy to have such an accessible solution. I hope to have many happy evenings in the kitchen once it arrives.