Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Like so many other people, I recently acquired an Instant Pot and wanted to get a great cookbook to explore. HOW TO INSTANT POT by Daniel Shumski seemed like an interesting place to start. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed in the recipes I tried for this review. First, the good. There is a nice and thorough introduction that explains a lot about how to actually use the Instant Pot. If you have an Instant Pot, you know that the manual that comes with the machine is lacking. This makes up for that. The book is broken up into sections based on the function used (pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer, etc.). The recipes are not just the basics, which appealed to me. Yes, items such as Meat and Potatoes Beef Stew and Quick Barbecue Pork Shoulder are here, but more “exotic” offerings such as Quick Chorizo and Tortilla Chip Chili and Gingered Sriracha Squash Soup are included, too. Most recipes call for ingredients that can be found at any grocery store. The color photos are lovely; just know that there was not a picture for every recipe. Now, the bad. I picked out several recipes to try and made them exactly as written. Lickety Split Whte rice (p.213) I made the basic recipe that is more about technique than ingredients. The rice came out perfectly cooked, though too salty for my taste, and this is now my go-to way to cook white rice. Thai-Spiced Beef Stew (p.34) I expected this stew to be thick, rich, and full of spicy Thai curry flavor. Instead, it came out very soupy thin and bland. It needs much more curry paste, some veggies to fill it out, and maybe a bit of sugar to balance out the flavors. We did not eat the leftovers. Curried Acorn Squash Soup (p.83) First of all, acorn squash is difficult to peel; use butternut squash instead. This needed much more seasoning than called for, and it still tasted flat. Leftovers were equally disappointing and not memorable. Marvelous Basil-Parmesan Meatballs (p.123) I had higher hopes at the onset of making this. However, as I assembled the meatballs, I feared that the meat mixture would be too wet and not keep the meatball’s shape. I was correct, and the meatballs came apart when touched with the spoon. They had an unappealing greenish cast (due to the pesto) and too much bread crumbs, which led to a mushy texture that was unpleasant. In addition, all of the oil from the pesto made gross greasy puddles. Overall, the flavor was ok, but too high in fat to be worth it. We did not eat the leftovers. There were other recipes that I marked to make, but after three failures out of three tries, I decided not to spend any more money. I give HOW TO INSTANT POT 3 stars for the information about the machine but only 1 star for the recipes. I cannot recommend this cookbook. I received an ARC of this title through NetGalley and voluntarily shared my thoughts here.