The Instant Pot became a true craze. Even an international craze. At one point, a major department store was selling up to sixty Instant Pots per minute.
But things have dramatically changed. And we know why. We're Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough. We've written three dozen cookbooks including THE INSTANT POT BIBLE and THE INSTANT POT BIBLE: COPYCAT RECIPES. (Click those links if you're interested.)
We rode the Instant Pot roller coaster. And we're here to report back what happened. Join us for our food and cooking podcast. We're glad you're here.
Here are the segments for this episode of COOKING WITH BRUCE & MARK:
[00:50] Our one-minute cooking tip: Trash your garlic press and use a small hand-held grater.
[03:27] What happened to the Instant Pot? It went from an international craze to a much smaller presence. We rode this roller coaster. We're here to report back, from our initial reserve about the pressure cooker to our giant, big-selling Instant Pot bibles!
[23:31] What’s making us happy in food this week: unexpected food pleasures and lemon marmalade.
Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein, and this is the podcast
2
:Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
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:mark: I'm Mark Scarborough and together
with Bruce my husband We have written
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:three dozen cookbooks not counting
Bruce's knitting books not counting
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:my memoir not counting the books We
ghost wrote for celebrities back in
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:the day What 40 books total we've just
turned in yet another cookbook book.
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:And this is our podcast about food
and cooking our passions in life.
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:We have a one minute
cooking tip about garlic.
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:We're going to talk about instant pots
and all things pressure cookers and what
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:in fact has happened to the instant pot.
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:It used to be everywhere.
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:And is it still not really, but
we want to talk about that and
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:we're going to tell you what's
making us happy in food this week.
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:So let's get started.
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:Our one minute cooking tip.
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:Trash your garlic press and use
your small hold grater for garlic.
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:Now,
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:I want to tell you, you probably,
if you listen to this podcast, you
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:probably know that I was at one
time in my life connected to an
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:Italian immigrant family with first
generation, I mean, real immigrants.
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:I mean, the people I was connected with
were the first generation born in the U.
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:S.
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:and their, the aunts and uncles
and all that were Italians.
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:And they thought garlic
presses were from Satan.
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:Bruce: Well, they're horrible.
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:Well, yeah.
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:mark: just
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:Bruce: I can tell
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:mark: you that they thought
that was the most American
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:affectation they could imagine.
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:Bruce: they're horrible.
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:And I'm not suggesting use a microplane.
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:Just the small holes of a box grater,
or if you have a single handheld grater,
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:it's the one with the small holes.
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:It creates beautiful, small little
pieces that retain all the juice and
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:all the oil that's inside that garlic.
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:Instead of a press, which just crushes
it and squeezes all that good stuff out.
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:mark: if you don't know that a press
removes the juice in the oil, it still
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:gets in there somewhat if it flows
through the press, although the press
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:gets gunked up with stuff, but it makes
the oil and many of the flavor esters
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:separated from the pulp of the garlic.
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:It's a problem.
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:A garlic
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:bruce (2): ever try and clean one of those
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:mark: And Bruce is suggesting
that you use a handheld grater.
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:Grader with a fine grating surface on it.
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:Before we get to the next part of our
podcast, all about instant pots and
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:what's happened to them, where they
came from and well, now where they went.
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:Uh, let me say that we
do have a newsletter.
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:It comes out.
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:Well, Maybe about once a month right now.
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:If you don't know, my mom is
in serious health decline and I
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:have been back and forth from St.
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:Louis dealing with her and trying to help
her as she approaches her 92nd birthday.
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:So, uh, maybe the newsletter doesn't
go out quite as often as it once did.
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:But if you
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:bruce (2): Let's do one just about her.
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:mark: Great.
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:If you want to sign up for that
newsletter, which is not necessarily
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:connected to this podcast, but
has recipes, cooking tips, and
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:even things about our lifestyle.
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:You can find that on our
website, cookingwithbruceandmark.
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:com or just bruceandmark.
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:com.
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:There's a way to sign up for the
newsletter there on the splash page.
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:And let me just remind you that neither
I, nor the mail service provider can
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:capture your name, nor your email.
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:I pay extra for that.
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:So you can sign up there
for that newsletter, which I
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:promise will soon go out again.
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:All right, let's turn to the question.
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:of instant pots and pressure cookers and
what we've seen over the years with them.
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:bruce (2): Before we talk about what
happened to the Instant Pot, for those who
74
:aren't familiar, what is an Instant Pot?
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:An Instant Pot is Well, you know, people
who even use it don't even understand
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:sometimes that it is a pressure cooker.
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:And a pressure cooker is just a device
that has a tight, Tight fitting lid and
78
:mark: a small escape,
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:bruce (2): a little small escape
valve and the food must have a lot
80
:of moisture so that it comes to a
boil and then a gasket seals it.
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:It pulls that moisture and steam
in, the lid gets even tighter,
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:pressure builds, the temperature
rises, and things cook much faster.
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:mark: I think, I think one of the most,
uh, surprising things to me over the
84
:years, and you may know that Bruce
and I have written several Instant
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:Pot books, we'll talk about that in
a minute, we wrote the Instant Pot
86
:Bible, and Instant Pot Bible Next
Generation, and a copycat for restaurant,
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:copycat recipes for the instant pot
and a book all about going straight
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:from your freezer to the instant pot.
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:So let's just say we went
all in on the instant pot.
90
:But one of the things that surprised
me in following the social media
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:groups is how many people didn't think
that the instant and by the way, it
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:is an instant pot, not an insta pot.
93
:How many people didn't think?
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:No, that the instant pot was
in fact a pressure cooker.
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:bruce (2): you tell them that
and they'll go, no, it's not,
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:it's, it's, it's an instant pot.
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:mark: I know
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:bruce (2): a pressure cooker.
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:And the thing about a pressure
cooker is Your food is
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:basically being boiled to death.
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:That's what happens in a pressure cooker.
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:mark: Right.
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:Um, can I, can I just go back
to that point for a minute?
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:I think that this speaks to the brand's
success because the brand was so
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:successful instant pot that he overrode
even the definition of what it was.
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:And.
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:It's brand instant pot became what it was.
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:I know this sounds really weird, but
it became what it was More than a
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:pressure cooker more than an electric
pressure cooker My grandmother I
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:used to pressure cooker all the time.
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:I grew up with them and my grandmother
would oh, this will kill you She would
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:set a pot roast to go in a pressure
cooker and they would go off to church
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:bruce (2): the pressure cooker going.
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:mark: I'm not making this up
leaving it going and then come home
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:to it still going on the stove.
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:Anyway, it's crazy.
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:I don't do that at home.
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:No, I never do that.
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:But my grandmother always used
a stovetop pressure cooker.
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:And of course, if you don't know, pressure
cookers are extremely popular in Europe.
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:In fact, when we were doing research
for our Instant Pot books and even our
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:pressure cooker book, we discovered
that the Average, average Swiss
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:household owns three pressure cookers.
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:That's the average.
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:So that means that half the
population owns more than three.
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:bruce (2): crazy?
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:My grandmother also used a pressure
cooker all the time for her tongue.
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:That was her big
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:mark: Oh, there you go.
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:And
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:you use a pressure cooker for tongue.
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:bruce (2): I use a pressure cooker
for tongue, and I had a bunch
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:of stovetop pressure cookers
before Instant Pot came out.
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:And then I actually did by a couple of
electric pressure cookers when they first
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:came out just to see the difference.
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:And the basic difference between the
stovetop ones and the electric ones is
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:that the stovetop ones are designed to
cook at a slightly higher pressure, so
138
:a higher temperature, and they actually
cook faster than the electric ones.
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:But the electric ones are so easy
and convenient, and you don't need
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:to monitor the heat that at this
point I have gotten rid of All of
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:my stovetop pressure cookers, and I
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:mark: You don't even
have one of them left?
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:I don't have
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:bruce (2): any of them.
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:All I have are electric pressure cookers.
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:I also like the variety of sizes.
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:So when we started using the electrics,
we had this idea that, wait a
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:second, here's something that people
are really starting to talk about.
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:mark: We spoke with our publisher
about writing the first pressure
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:cooker book and Stimpot was just out.
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:And, um, the publisher asked for what in
publishing is called a category killer.
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:That is a book that is so giant and has
so many recipes that really any other
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:book that comes behind it is dead because
this thing has stopped the category.
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:So we did, we, we wrote what became
honestly a category killer in its day.
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:And it was a book in which every
recipe told you how to do it in a
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:stove top model and how to do it
in an electric, the new fangled
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:electric pressure cooker countertops.
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:And here's the thing that this book sold.
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:like crazy on QVC.
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:We were on multiple times on QVC.
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:It was even on without
us with just the hosts
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:selling It on QVC without
our presence there.
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:bruce (2): Let me also just say it's
called The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book
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:in case you want to go and look at it.
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:Right.
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:It is still in print.
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:It still sells.
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:mark: it's still on.
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:here
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:was our decision.
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:We saw the Instant Pot.
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:It was brand new out.
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:We got connected to the CEO of
what then the CEO of Instant Pot.
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:He sent us a couple.
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:We looked at it and we
dismissed it out of hand.
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:We said it was a novelty toy
because he didn't have the kind of
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:bruce (2): culinary credentials
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:mark: of some of the other machines,
but he had a lot of bells and whistles
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:and buttons and you know, we were
being very snotty and we're like, well,
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:you don't need bells and whistles.
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:You just need an on off
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:bruce (2): It reminded me of one of
those children's toys that has all these
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:buttons you could press that do nothing.
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:And that was kind of what I thought,
because the Instant Pot has a
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:button for chicken and a button
for beef and a button for soup.
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:mark: The buttons on the Instant Pot, all
bring it to exactly the same pressure.
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:The only difference is the
manufacturer has set timings at
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:that temperature at that pressure.
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:So that's the difference.
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:As Bruce said, we kind
of dismissed all that.
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:I'll look at all these fancy buttons.
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:Nobody needs this.
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:bruce (2): And yeah, we
also dismissed Bitcoin
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:mark: Bitcoin when it first
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:came out We still dismiss Bitcoin
because I still don't know what it is.
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:I just can't.
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:I'm too old to buy something that
I don't understand what it is.
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:So, um,
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:so
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:yes, we dismiss that too.
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:So, , we, did dismiss the Instapot.
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:And then the book, the great big
pressure cooker book sold really well.
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:And the publisher came back
to us and said, how about,
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:well, different publisher.
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:We jump publishers and they said, how
about writing an instant pop book?
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:And so by that point we were, okay, we're
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:bruce (2): Yeah, we were in.
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:At that point, I realized how popular
they were, and we could do the same thing.
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:Let's make a category killer that's
just about the Instant Pot, and
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:we wrote the Instant Pot Bible.
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:And what we did differently in that
book, and what I love about the Instant
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:Pots are all the sizes they come in.
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:So, we have a three quart, a six
quart, an eight quart, a ten quart,
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:and that's something I never had
in my stovetops, and none of the
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:other electric pressure cookers are.
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:So it was kind of cool
to be able to play with
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:mark: think that one of the things
that's really interesting here about
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:the Instant Pot and while we're talking
about it is, The Instant Pot was
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:really one of the first giant social
media hits of kitchen appliances.
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:And they went all in for influencers
and social media advertising.
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:And this is part of their success.
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:They exploded on Facebook,
on Instagram, particularly on
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:Facebook, but also on Instagram.
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:They exploded.
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:uploaded in the social media landscape,
and they got influencers involved
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:to make recipes, contribute recipes,
et cetera, before influencer was
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:even such a big name as it is now.
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:And this is how they made their success
is through social media connection.
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:And they just overwhelmed the category.
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:So when we published the Instant
Pot Bible, the category was firmly
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:established in social media circles.
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:Um, I just should tell you, in case
you don't know, we were, of course,
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:connected to the Instant Pot, and our
contract with them actually stated
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:how many times a week we could post.
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:So they were taking people like us,
cookbook authors, and they were limiting
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:our access to allow just, um, you
know, somebody making an Instant Pot
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:stew at home to not be able to post.
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:overrun by us.
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:bruce (2): And part of that is
their social media presence was so
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:popular that like, for instance,
on Facebook alone, they had over
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:3 million people in their groups.
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:That's a huge audience that
we were trying to reach.
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:And so they did have some
power to try and control that.
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:And it's fascinating also when
they first started selling, they
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:made a choice that the audience.
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:The only place they were
going to sell was Amazon.
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:And that was a really strategic point.
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:Once it became super popular, then
you can get them at department
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:mark: stores.
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:I think that is because, uh,
Robert Wang came out of tech.
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:He had retired from tech, the
guy who essentially invented the
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:Instant Pot and started the company.
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:He came out of tech and I think
he understood the power of tech
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:more than maybe some traditional
companies like Whirlpool or
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:the traditional manufacturers.
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:So he just decided to throw it all in
for social media and for, uh, Amazon.
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:But then, of course, they, began
selling elsewhere and it exploded.
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:And by
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:bruce (2): 2018 in
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:mark: the 2018 holiday season,
this, this may be peak instant pot.
261
:The Coles, the department store claimed
that they were selling 60 Instant pots per
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:minute over Thanksgiving weekend of 2018.
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:If you just think about that,
you can see it's absolutely
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:exploded across the landscape.
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:bruce (2): at that point, even
QVC had instant brands create
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:an instant pot just for them.
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:So you can get an exclusive
design instant pot just on QVC.
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:And that was really good for
us because then we were able to
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:sell our book on QVC as well.
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:mark: And, um, the brand exploded,
and then here's what happened,
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:and you may know this already.
272
:There's a lot of talk online
about, oh, they got too popular.
273
:They overplayed their hand.
274
:They, uh,
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:bruce (2): it to too
many other appliances.
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:Right,
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:mark: They got other appliances.
278
:They got a blender for a while and
other stuff that they expanded to.
279
:All of that is not true.
280
:Here's the truth.
281
:What happened is that Instabrands,
which is a Canadian company, Brands
282
:essentially, as you probably well know,
was sold to, well, they were sold to
283
:an old manufacturing concern that owned
corral, but when Pyrex, but really
284
:what it was sold to was the hedge fund
that controlled Pyrex and corral, isn't
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:bruce (2): that the nature
of business these days?
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:Every company out there is now
controlled by a hedge fund.
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:mark: Wang made billions now.
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:Well, I'm not sure he didn't make
it with a B, but he made lots of
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:money off the sale of instant brands.
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:bruce (2): and
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:mark: he sold it.
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:And then not to be gross, but
just to tell you what happened.
293
:It's not that they overplayed
their hand in popularity.
294
:This hedge fund that is behind Pyrex
and Corel and other brands that
295
:owns them did what they always do.
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:They took instant brands and
they loaded it with debt.
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:I mean, they just leverage that thing.
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:out of oblivion into debt.
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:They sucked that money, the capital
off from the debt, and then put
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:the company into receivership.
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:And that's, that's
302
:exactly how it worked.
303
:They loaded up with debt, pocketed the
money of the debt, and then put it into
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:bruce (2): into,
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:mark: bankruptcy.
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:bruce (2): And what happened after
that is that this company that
307
:was now bankrupt, went on the
auction block and was bought up.
308
:And it is now called Instant Pot Brands.
309
:It used to be Instant Brands.
310
:Now it's Instant Pot Brands, which
tells you something also about
311
:their focus as a new company.
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:That I expect it will be mostly just
Instant Pots and not other appliances.
313
:And it is a standalone
company under new ownership.
314
:So we'll see this.
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:mark: This is exactly what Bruce
and I saw happen with Craftsy.
316
:As you know, we recorded a lot
of cooking videos for Craftsy.
317
:We have a lot of classes
still up on Craftsy.
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:Craftsy still exists,
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:bruce (2): It does.
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:mark: but Craftsy was a standalone company
in Denver started by a couple of, uh,
321
:retired tech post tech entrepreneurs.
322
:They started this company with
all kinds of knitting and I
323
:don't know, furniture making and.
324
:Cooking all kind of DIY content
and you could subscribe and get
325
:all these DIY classes and buy them.
326
:And then that eventually grew
exponentially and it got bought by
327
:NBC's parent company and NBC had
this decision, Universal, yeah,
328
:the NBC had this decision that they
were going to put their celebrities.
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:bruce (2): on it.
330
:mark: So we're going to watch Amy
Poehler make a cake, I don't know.
331
:Like, I really don't care what cakes
Amy Poehler makes, but okay, whatever.
332
:But I know I'm not the
target audience for this.
333
:So, they were going to do
that, that didn't really work.
334
:Then the thing got sold
off, again, to a hedge fund.
335
:It got loaded up with debt,
it got put into bankruptcy.
336
:And now it's out.
337
:owned by a small company in
Minnesota, which is maintaining
338
:the Kraftsy brand, but the whole
thing has shrunk dramatically.
339
:They're not really creating
a lot of new content.
340
:They're recycling their old content.
341
:You know, this is the thing.
342
:These things grow big.
343
:They attract the attention of
venture capitalists and hedge funds.
344
:They get bought up.
345
:They get loaded with debt.
346
:They get put into bankruptcy, and
then they re emerge as a much, much
347
:tinier entity, back kind of to the
original focus, except smaller.
348
:And you can hear this
with Instant Pot brands.
349
:They're going to do away with, you
know, the blenders and all this other
350
:air fryers and all this other stuff,
and just really focus on the core
351
:business, which was the pressure
cooker, the electric pressure cooker.
352
:bruce (2): Well, it's interesting.
353
:During this sort of slow, decline
in popularity of the Instant Pot
354
:over the last year, year and a half,
355
:mark: we
356
:bruce (2): have actually noticed
an uptick on the sales of our non
357
:Instant Pot pressure cooker book.
358
:So that great big pressure cooker
book has actually started selling.
359
:more copies again, and we're selling
fewer copies of the Instant Pop Bible.
360
:So it is sort of in real time.
361
:We're seeing that feedback of
what's happening out in the world.
362
:mark: And it's, it's indicative.
363
:of, um, U.
364
:S.
365
:Canadian culture, I think.
366
:It's more U.
367
:S.
368
:than Canadian, but both together.
369
:It's indicative of the culture, and
maybe even a little bit of the U.
370
:K.
371
:And that is this thing to, uh,
what do I want to say, to run
372
:after the shiny new object.
373
:So here's the shiny new object.
374
:And people run after it and they embrace
it and grab it and love it and hold it.
375
:And then of course the shine wears off
and something else shiny comes along
376
:like an air fryer or, you know, whatever
else it is that that comes along.
377
:And that thing that used to be the hot
it thing suddenly starts to fade away.
378
:And it.
379
:It is just the arc of so many, I think
about, um, Ron Popeil and the thousands
380
:of things that Ron Popeil, the inside
the egg, egg scrambler, think about the
381
:thousands of things that Ron Popeil made.
382
:What was it?
383
:Set it and forget it.
384
:The
385
:bruce (2): Uh, the, it was some rotisserie
386
:mark: the rotisserie oven.
387
:You know, I mean, he rode those waves,
Popeil did, made himself billions, riding
388
:those waves over and over and over again.
389
:Because it is the nature of, um, what
do we want to say, a really highly
390
:developed consumer culture that you
find the shiny new thing, you love it.
391
:And then, you know, it kind of
runs its course and it falls back
392
:to a more moderating position.
393
:It's like, right, and then you
have, you know, suddenly it's a much
394
:smaller thing, but it still exists.
395
:Instant bots are still
396
:around.
397
:Malibu
398
:bruce (2): Stacey has a new
hat, and it's, you know,
399
:mark: most people are not
going to get that reference.
400
:bruce (2): It's a Simpsons reference.
401
:The references on this
podcast are always from the
402
:mark: Okay.
403
:Most people are not going to catch that.
404
:Um, and even old people are not
necessarily going to catch that.
405
:So, uh, but what Bruce is saying is
that, that they change a little bit
406
:of something to make it shiny and new
again, which they did, but there's
407
:not really anything left to change
408
:bruce (2): They changed that entire thing.
409
:So many times they put so many new hats
on it until there was nothing else to do.
410
:mark: Right, but that's not
the reason it collapsed.
411
:It collapsed because of the
nature of consumer society, and it
412
:collapsed because of hedge fund debt.
413
:And that's why it has kind
of collapsed as it has.
414
:And, you know, I mean, I think
that Instant Pots are great.
415
:I love them.
416
:When Bruce sings with his Baroque
group, I make dinner after the concert
417
:for all of our friends who can't,
uh, who can't come to his concerts.
418
:And I always make chilies and make a
vegetarian chili and a meaty chili.
419
:You know, I always make several different
kinds of chili and I always drag out
420
:all the instant pots and I always make
chili in an instant pot because it's
421
:easy cause I can get it out on the
counter and get all the fixings out with
422
:chilies and I can make a big buffet and
tada, I'm done and our friends are fed.
423
:So I love the instant pot for what
it's worth, but again, it's, Giant
424
:fame has deteriorated partly from
financial reasons and partly because
425
:of the nature of consumer society.
426
:bruce (2): Well, I'm hoping that they
are able to sort of resurrect their image
427
:a bit in this new Instant Pot Brands
company because it is a good product.
428
:Um, as Mark says, we love them.
429
:My favorite thing to do in it is to take
the Eight or the 10 quart pot, which
430
:are big enough to cook spaghetti without
breaking them, and you could make a nice
431
:tomato sauce or a meat sauce, and you
put the raw pasta right in that sauce.
432
:It cooks.
433
:mark: especially for
like Cincinnati chili.
434
:bruce (2): and it cooks in six
minutes under pressure, and the
435
:pasta's cooked right in that sauce.
436
:Uh, yeah, I still love my Instant Pot.
437
:mark: Yeah, it's, it's a great tool in the
kitchen, and part of what happened to it,
438
:you know, as it got increasingly popular,
the word popular, Prolonging this bit to
439
:also say it became increasingly popular.
440
:So people were trying to do Everything
and it's about we would see videos of
441
:people claiming to fry chicken We can't
fry chicken in a pressure cooker So,
442
:I don't know what little tricks they
were using that suddenly there's fried
443
:chicken sitting there because in a steamy
pressure cooker You cannot fry chicken.
444
:So people would just making
videos like crazy claiming.
445
:Oh, look at me I made you know something
that we know why I made candy fudge in
446
:an instant pot and it's like Come on,
447
:give me a break.
448
:The
449
:bruce (2): syrup and was a big thing.
450
:mark: Right, I remember
451
:bruce (2): I tried cooking
452
:mark: iced tea.
453
:Remember the thousands of videos
for iced tea in the instant pot?
454
:bruce (2): there something about putting
that teabag under pressure that helps?
455
:mark: I don't know.
456
:I really don't.
457
:I mean, I make, I make a lot of
iced tea because I'm a southern
458
:boy and in the summer we drink
a lot of iced tea around here.
459
:And it didn't take me any time
to boil some water and pour it
460
:over teabags in the morning.
461
:So I don't know what the
function of the instant pot is.
462
:bruce (2): Well, it became people's
463
:mark: It did?
464
:wanted to be that was the
465
:success of the brand.
466
:bruce (2): when you create a product
that people want to identify with,
467
:boy, have you made a success.
468
:So when you reach that point,
People want to do everything in it.
469
:mark: sure you know this, but it's,
it's the, it's the dream of every
470
:brand is that you become, I mean,
the famed one of this in modern
471
:culture is Apple, you become an Apple.
472
:Apple person.
473
:You have an iPhone.
474
:You have an iMac.
475
:You're an Apple.
476
:I'm Bruce and I are both Apple people.
477
:And it's not, we love apples, of course,
but it's also something about us.
478
:It says something about who we are.
479
:It's the same thing.
480
:People who buy Teslas, right?
481
:It's supposed to say something about you.
482
:It's
483
:bruce (2): the tribal quality we all have.
484
:mark: absolutely is.
485
:And the Instant Brands wrote that to
great success and now, unfortunately,
486
:that success seems to be ebbing.
487
:Will it still be around?
488
:Yes.
489
:Will it be much, much, much smaller?
490
:Yes.
491
:bruce (2): it will.
492
:But if
493
:you still have an Instant
Pot, please keep using it.
494
:We use ours.
495
:There's plenty of resources out
there, plenty of recipes, plenty
496
:of good stuff, including our books.
497
:So give those a look.
498
:And that is what happened
to the Instant Pot.
499
:mark: So before we get to the final
segment of this podcast, let me
500
:say that there is a Facebook page.
501
:group cooking with Bruce and Mark.
502
:There's also a TikTok channel
cooking with Bruce and Mark.
503
:There's all sorts of ways to find us.
504
:There's even a small, it's
really small Instagram feed
505
:cooking with Bruce and Mark.
506
:You can find us in any of those places.
507
:We are delighted to connect
with you there right now.
508
:We seem to be on a jag of posting recipes
for various chocolate cookies, lots of
509
:chocolate cookies, particularly on TikTok.
510
:Uh, check that out.
511
:And we would love to connect
with you in whatever way we can.
512
:Okay.
513
:The final.
514
:and traditional last
segment of this podcast.
515
:What's making us happy in food this week?
516
:I'm going to start.
517
:So, here's what's making me happy.
518
:It's not actually a
thing, it's an attitude.
519
:Um, we were invited to a
friend's birthday party uh, this
520
:week as we're recording this.
521
:Uh, he's turning 89.
522
:And so, wow.
523
:So, we were invited to
his 80th birthday party.
524
:89th birthday party.
525
:They were taking us and some other people
out to dinner and they suggested we
526
:go to a restaurant that was connected
to a country club, a public country
527
:club, a public golf course, and
there's a restaurant connected to it.
528
:And both Bruce and me, as well
as the other couple who was
529
:invited, were very sneering.
530
:We were so unbelievably sneering
about being invited to the
531
:clubhouse of a public golf course.
532
:I know this is not paint us in
a nice light and it shouldn't.
533
:So we ended up going, of course,
and we went to dinner with them.
534
:The place ended up being really nice.
535
:We had a really great dinner.
536
:We had a lovely booth that was like
couches and a table that was really comfy.
537
:We had a great time together.
538
:The food was delicious.
539
:And all I can say is we had.
540
:Beautiful food, lovely time together
and my food snobbery almost stopped
541
:me from having that good time.
542
:So, Mark, uh, learn to
be better in the future.
543
:And that's making me happy in food this
544
:bruce (2): Wow, what's making me happy
seems so shallow compared to that.
545
:Lemon marmalade is making me happy.
546
:mark: Wow, I
547
:love lemon marmalade.
548
:Good
549
:bruce (2): God.
550
:I made it yesterday, and I made
about 18 jars of lemon marmalade.
551
:I'm going to be very honest, and I cheat,
and I don't use lemons from scratch.
552
:There is a British.
553
:Product called home cook and they
produce tins of ground up lemons with
554
:pectin and you just dump that in a
pot with four pounds of sugar and
555
:some water and boil it up and there's
your lemon marmalade problem is you
556
:cannot buy that product in the U.
557
:S.
558
:I
559
:mark: believe we believe it's
illegal from some lemon board rules
560
:bruce (2): You can't get it imported.
561
:Like if you go to Amazon UK, it tells
you we cannot ship this to your area,
562
:but I found this in some DIY crafty
store in the UK that ships to the U.
563
:S.
564
:and they clearly didn't know the
rules and I bought a case and
565
:it just showed up in three days.
566
:mark: We used to have friends who would go
to the UK, and we would always buy stuff.
567
:Oh, get us a can of this lemon for lemon
marmalade, these lemons and pectin all
568
:mixed together for lemon marmalade.
569
:And they would come home with this
giant 32 ounce can in their luggage for
570
:us, which was really, really generous.
571
:But then Bruce found a place that
just sent it to us totally illegally.
572
:bruce (2): So yeah,
573
:mark: we got to keep it.
574
:case of these cans.
575
:bruce (2): We did.
576
:So I made like 17,
577
:mark: I love lemon marmalade, even
I love marmalade and I love it more
578
:than orange marmalade because it's
so sour and slightly more bitter and
579
:bruce (2): more interesting.
580
:mark: Lemon desserts are just my kingpin.
581
:So lemon marmalade would be my kingpin.
582
:Delicious stuff.
583
:Okay, that's the podcast for this week.
584
:Thanks for being a part
of our podcast landscape.
585
:We certainly appreciate your
taking the time to be with us.
586
:thousand million podcasts out
there, and we appreciate the
587
:time that you spend with us.
588
:Thank you for that.
589
:bruce (2): Every week we tell you
what's making us happy in food here
590
:on Cooking with Bruce and Mark.
591
:So go please to our Facebook group
Cooking with Bruce and Mark and
592
:share what's making you happy in
food there where we could see it,
593
:we could talk about it, and we might
even make it if it sounds fabulous
594
:here on Cooking with Bruce and Mark.