Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

For all the work involved in each recipe, the results are decent but not worth the extra trouble. So far I have made the Korean Chile-Braised Brisket and Kimchi Slaw--22 ingredients, a ton of prep, tedious post-cook reduction while the meat gets cold, decent but not amazing results, the Moroccan Chickpeas and Kale--19 ingredients including such pantry staples as "preserved lemons," good but not something I'd be likely to make again without a lot of modifications, and the Creamy Macaroni and Cheese. Here's where I started to get really annoyed and suspect the author was just adding work for the pure sake of it. She admits that this recipe does not save any time, so there does not seem to be any particular reason to use the Instant Pot for this, but okay whatever. First we must "brush" half of the softened butter onto the bottom of the pot. Then, she wants us to whip out the blender to combine the rest of the butter, milk, cream cheese and seasonings and mix this substance and the macaroni in the pot, which would obviously negate the brushing on of the butter, stirring it into the rest. Rather than waste my time with blending and cleaning the blender, I put the pot on the saute setting and combined the ingredients in the pot like a normal person while they heated and melted the butter and cream cheese so they easily mixed in with the milk. I continued on with the recipe as printed. Unlike some other reviewers, mine did not burn or stick to the pot and the result was good. It would have been better had I put it under the broiler and browned the cheese as a final step (not that the book suggested this), but it was a decent stovetop type mac and cheese. There was no discernible advantage to using the Instant Pot unless washing a larger pot than would have been necessary is something you enjoy. Edit: I’m knocking this down to one star now. The Steamed Lemon Pudding includes only 2 cups of water, triggering a BURN alert once it has all evaporated in the 20 minute steam. With no way of knowing how long the food had cooked, I scrambled to add hot water and restart the cook, spilling water in my attempt to pour it into the pot into the narrow space between the soufflé dish and the side. Probably the pudding is ruined and the pot will explode, killing us all. I have now begun to despise Melissa Clark.