Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

To prepare for this review, I was browsing the book after some time away from it and was surprised by the number of recipes I’ve tried. Below are all the recipes I’ve followed (including the number of times I’ve made it) so now I can feel qualified to give my thoughts. Tortilla soup x2-3 Spicy Moroccan-style chicken and lentil soup Wild rice soup w coconut and lime Chipotle pork and hominy stew Indian vegetable curry x2-3 Easy beef stew x2 Braised chicken breast w tomatoes and capers Spanish-style chicken and couscous Braised chicken thighs w white beans, pancetta and rosemary Teriyaki chicken thighs w carrots and snow peas Glazed meatloaf Macaroni and cheese x3-4 Braised sausage w lentils and kale Shrimp and Parmesan farrotto Soft pork tacos Greek-style stewed zucchini Parmesan risotto x2 Overall, my experience with this cookbook was positive and it will be staying within my collection. Although this cookbook was designed for 6-8 qt pressure cookers, I was able to make most recipes work in my 5 qt Lux model without major adjustments. One trick I’ve learned for soups is that I can leave out some of the liquids if it’s approaching the maximum level and add the liquid back after it finishes cooking. That also helps to cool down the soup quicker. On exception was the beef stew, which didn’t cook fully after 1 run. I don’t believe the pressure cooker came to the proper pressure, although it did start counting down. This was an issue with overfilling the pot, not the recipe itself, which I enjoyed very much. I was able to make it work by running the timer again and found the beef was properly cooked. Unlike some reviews here, I did not experience the burning issue both times I made it and believe this could be user error. If theres a layer of gunk at the bottom of the pot, the roux was likely not dissolved properly. I added the broth slowly into the roux while whisking vigorously to made sure it was fully dissolved. Despite ATKs efforts to make their recipes foolproof, they can’t control how closely their readers will follow the techniques. I didn’t find that ATK was biased against the Instant Pot at all and was amused by some people taking offense to their review of the Instant Pot. Their data showed that the Instant Pot simply cannot reach proper slow cooking temperatures and certain recipes cannot be made using the Instant Pot slow cooker function (such as the beef stew) so it kind of fails being a multicooker. I’ve found this to be true in my experience and you will find this documented in other reviews of the Instant Pot, although this fact is often ignored due to the cult following and the Instant Pot mostly being used as a pressure cooker rather than slow cooker. Thanks to their findings, I decided to purchase a separate slow cooker and found that I enjoy the slow cooking lifestyle better. It is worth noting, they do give specific instructions for Instant Pot users if the slow cooking time differs from other models. One of my favorite recipes is the Indian vegetable curry. It was very quick to pull together after a long day and satisfying to have a ton of vegetables incorporated into my meals with little effort. Just sauté onions with a couple of spices, dump some chopped vegetables, canned tomatoes and chickpeas, and you have a healthy meal after setting the timer for just 2 minutes! A couple of recipes didn’t work for me including the teriyaki chicken thighs. I wasn’t a fan of the sauce, which became too goopy as it cooled. I would have preferred a thinner and less sweet sauce, so maybe teriyaki sauce is not for me. I also thought the 3 lb of pork was too much in the chipotle pork and hominy stew. It might be my preference to have the ratio of meat to other ingredients to be on the lower side. I haven’t revisited too many chicken recipes since I don't like the chicken fat splattering all over my counter. Unfortunately, the Frywall doesn’t exist for this type of pot yet so I prefer to fry chicken on a sauté pan. Again, this is personal preference and not a problem with the flavor of the recipe itself. Other recipes I would like to try are the chicken in a pot with lemon herb sauce, braised beef short ribs, brown rice with shitakes and edamame, drunken beans, mussels in white, and flan. I’m sorry I don’t have photos, but it’s really the last thing I want to do after a day of working and cooking. ATKs recipes are generally reliable so my food did match the photos in the book--no surprises there. There is one photo for each recipe if that matters to you. Lastly, I found that there are just enough recipes and variety without being too overwhelming. Once I learned how long it takes to cook certain ingredient, I was able to swap and substitute ingredients to positive results. Thanks for reading. I hope this review helps with your purchase.