This is the only cooking post I’ve written that has a bleedingly obvious soundtrack, so here you go.

I got a Breville Fast Slow Pro for my (early) birthday present and I’ve been raving about it with the zeal of one of those Thermomix nutjobs. Unlike a Thermomix crazy though, I didn’t spend $2000 on a kitchen appliance– it was around the $200 mark with a cashback deal and me telling the salesman that it was a birthday present for myself so scoring an extra discount ;). And it was a gift so I didn’t personally pay for it anyway, so thanks family!

A fast slow cooker is essentially a pressure cooker and a slow cooker in one. I was originally just going to get a slow cooker, but anyone who knows me knows that I am super impatient, so the pressure cooker concept immediately appealed to me. I found the site Hip Pressure Cooking, with its claims of cooking pasta in six minutes, no-stir risotto in seven, perfectly boiled eggs with shells that would just slip off, tender meat that falls off the bone, easy soups and stews and curries. And with an electric pressure cooker, you basically just chuck stuff in and walk away and it beeps when it is all done. It sounded too good to be true…

BUT IT IS TRUE!

That is why I have been fanatically raving about my fast slow since I got it. I’ve used it to make a few things but have had to restrain myself because there is only so much food a single person can eat in a week and a half. I cooked hard boiled eggs in there, and it was true, they were so easy to peel. I cooked some potatoes to mash and they were perfectly cooked. I cooked a chicken soup from scratch — the chicken just fell off the bone and the meat was so easy to shred to put back in the soup, and it was delicious. I cooked some wholegrain pasta spirals and they turned out great. And I cooked pulled pork, which was also delicious and tender and very easily ‘pulled’. I haven’t actually used it as a slow cooker yet, because the pressure cooker does the same thing but faster, so why would I? But it is there as an option.

Some people prefer stovetop pressure cookers, and yeah sure they would take up less bench space. But they still seem slightly scary to me even though the modern ones have lots of safety features, and you have to watch them. The electric one is set and forget. Which means instead of standing around the stove stirring or checking on things, I can go use my energy for something else. Like napping. Or, watching The Katering Show, which I now really hope does a pressure cooker episode next season (you definitely need to watch it if you haven’t, it’s hilarious).

Update: I made a beautiful lamb and eggplant curry in it this weekend with the Sri Lankan blend from Herbie’s Spices (I love their stuff! And I interviewed the owner once back when on local papers!). I also used the pressure cooker to make ginger and tumeric tea from the real deal, not powder, which turned out lovely and potent.