Caution: contents under pressure.

Hello, December! October and November were a whirl of travel: two and a half weeks in Hong Kong and China (Nick is still processing the photos, but I think the original count was over 200 pictures of food alone -- blog post to come), a dear friend's wedding in Chicago, and an early-observed Christmas in Seattle with the family. Though the travel has been great, between work and a seemingly steady stream of "grown-up" problems (e.g., our furnace and car both protesting the sudden winter temperature drop within two weeks of each other), the constant planning and rushing means I often find myself wishing more things were "set it, and forget it."

FORTUNATELY, as of my birthday this fall, I am the proud owner of an Instant Pot, a seven-in-one pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sautéer, yogurt maker (I didn't realize that was a thing) and warmer. Never having been a fan of single-use appliances and kitchen tools, and having done much hand-wringing over whether or not to get a Crock Pot and/or pressure cooker, I was excited to find this little gem. For those of you unfamiliar with the cult following of Instant Pot, it's taken the cooking world and Pinterest by storm due to its versatility and efficiency (e.g., cooking one-minute quinoa, sterilizing baby bottles, making a day-long braise in under an hour). You can sear pretty effectively right in the pot, and then the pressure cooking provides enough steam such that browned bottoms melt away in the second step for easy clean-up.

I haven't fully familiarized myself with my new toy yet (see paragraph 1), but I did christen it with an Internet balsamic pork tenderloin which, while quite tasty, I should have guessed might be a tad dry for the technique (searing, then pressure cooking)...next time I'll try it with regular pork loin for a bit more fat, perhaps with more sauce. All told, including the sauce and resting time, the cooking time was about 25 minutes. For pork tenderloin, that's competitive with oven time, but mostly due to the time it takes to build pressure in the cooker (~5-6 minutes for me). The pork itself took five minutes once it reached pressure, and then three minutes for the pressure to release (an impressive jet of steam whistled out of the valve for an impressive amount of time). The pressure-building time, which can vary significantly from recipe to recipe, is NOT included in the crazy-fast cook times recipes rave about.

I must admit to a hilarious irony while giving Instant Pot a try: I felt incredibly under pressure the entire time. I had skimmed the manufacturer's instructions, but things moved so fast that there just wasn't time to refer back to them once we plugged things in. I was most anxious during the pressure-building phase as I hadn't known about it previously. Would dinner turn out okay? Was the pot lid going to get stuck as is often the dramatic case with pressure cookers on Top Chef? Would it explode if I did something wrong? Why wasn't the timer counting down yet? But when the steam successfully released in its steady stream signaling the end was near, I, too, exhaled happily.

I'll update you on my learning/key takeaways as I test new recipes and techniques. Though the pressure cooker functionality is a bit too fast for set-and-forget, I'll also be trying out the slow cooker functionality this winter.

Peering inside: (wave at your reflection in the shiny bottom!)

One-pot wonder: (sear before pressure cooking)

Cooked in a flash: (seriously, we had to pay such close attention getting acclimated over such a short period of time that photography has some gaps)

Resting: (while getting pan sauce going in the pot)

Carve:

Drizzle sauce:

Eat: