Insignia 8-Quart Multi-Function Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker Expired

The inner pot is not stainless steel.

Well, if you are making a soup (health issues, say, myself), the liquid cut off is 5qt in 8qt bowl, needs some air space for pressure. So, I make soups for myself, one person, 5qt of soup is good for 4-5 days of quick microwave reheating (I run my fridge on max low temp). In this regard, 8qt machine is just barely enough for me, a single person. I don't like to cook often. In addition, if you are making a thick soup, like chili, it has a tendency to burn on the bottom and the machine detects overheating on the bottom and stops the cooking process. This means you got to do it a pot-in-pot method. Try to do that in 6qt machine. I originally bought a 6qt machine, boy, did I make a mistake! Now I have 2. Bought an 8qt later on and zero regrets. Don't buy a 6qt, you can always make a 6qt recipe in 8qt.

I just bought another 8qt, just because it was so cheap. Why not, just $42+free ship. I already save so much on cooking for myself. As an engineer, I approach cooking on a scientific level, when I got the inclination, I do a well job. My mom likes my soups too, so, I got to share. Plus, she doesn't like my level of spice and I have to do a separate batch anyway. I'd rather run 2 machines at once than do a back-to-back cooking. Life is short. I might enjoy cooking if I don't do it often but I'd go crazy if I had to cook daily. I recognize that people are different.

I use this container to store a composite of my soups: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/produ...UTF8&psc=1 Fits nicely in the fridge.

PS: Excuse me for being a lazy slob and wanting to cook once a week. But, just want to say, my health is top notch now.

PPS: I live in 800sq ft apartment, when people say 8qt machine is too big, I giggle.

Well, there is so many youtube videos explaining, I feel like it would be a waste to address "pot in pot". Please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ5OGunf60Q There are countless other videos.

(and yet here I go)

It is all just a permutation of a same idea, different pots for different food inside the main pot. The basic idea is not to make the bottom burn by putting some spacing, air or silicone, water, etc. You see, the heat element in the cooker is at the bottom. There is an aluminum flat disk on the bottom that transfers the heat into the pot. Anything condensed at the bottom get the heat first.

With thicker liquid ingredients it burns the bottom because the heat does not make the hotter liquids rise to the top (as you usually see when water is boiling), creating a super heat at the bottom that accumulates and burns the food. Thinner liquids don't have such a problem. If the bottom heats up too quickly than the inner program logic dictates, the sensors detect and cancel the cooking with an error message. Generally the message is "burn" on the cooker's LCD.

Why it might be a problem, you put a lot of small ingredients into water. I like to super chop my soup ingredients in an electric mincer machine, all ingredients are tiny crumbs that get dumped into water. If a soup calls for thick mass, similar to chili, the water is no longer turn-able by heat like during boiling, therefore, the bottom always burns then. The bottom rises in heat too quickly than expected for the heat mass and machine's safety protocol cancels cooking. Google "instant pot bottom burn". It sucks, as it cancels cooking at any moment and you have no idea how cooked the food is, when it quit, how much to go still, if you renew the cooking cycle.. And there is no guarantee it won't cancel randomly again. Yet it depends on the soup and liquid thickness.

So, pot in pot allows for some bottom insulation, where the heat does not start from the bottom in the inner pot but more uniform. this allows to cheat the inner machine's sensor/logic by distributing heat more evenly, rather than trapping the heat.

Generally what I do, I put in 6qt pot a 8qt pot with a thin silicone sheet, add some water between the containers. Target B&M sells pots by themselves, btw, the instant pot brand. The height of the containers about the same. If inner pot is slightly higher, because it is on a silicone sheet, the lid still fits, it has a space.

Generally, it is not a problem. Most soups are liquid enough. However, chili, for example, cannot be thinned by cooking with more liquid, it would be not be chili at the end but something else, maybe even un-eatable.

What pisses me off is that my ultra instant pot has "bean/chili" mode that without pot-in-pot will detect the burn and cancel the cooking. What good is the mode... So, the experience and research would guide you into using the machine in a better way than the manufacturer had intended.

You definitely would want rice to do pot-in-pot. Surely you can do a trail-error to dime in on exact rice/water/time ratio after some time with a single pot, yet, if you need to change amounts, type of rice, etc, a headache-less solution, you just do a pot-in-pot and enjoy always an edible result.

Another advice, all these instant pot type machines, this or better branded ones, are made by a single brand - factory. So, the differences are only those how cheaper a specific brand ordered their cooker model from that factory. Other than that, all these machines are the same. It is just user interface, warranty, and choice of components.