3 Easy ways to keep your Cook4Me going strong
Your Cook4Me Multicooker is an investment in time. Not only did you work hard hours to earn the dosh required to purchase this not-exactly-cheap appliance; its speedy automatic cooking also saves you precious time after work and on weekends. To ensure years of faithful service from your Cook4Me, and hence manifold hours of payback in the form of time saved, your cooker deserves some love and attentive maintenance, at least until a shiny new model comes along and demands a place in your kitchen!
Some simple tips to keep the Cook4Me love flowing:
1. Don’t be a tool
Your Cook4Me may be a tool of sorts, but that doesn’t mean that it is fond of percussive maintenance. Its external surfaces, whilst hardy for plastic, are not indestructible, and won’t stand up well to repeated punishment. A cracked screen is the last thing you want, and we’d bet a fair penny that you would be up for some hard luck if trying to claim such damage under warranty.
So be careful when handling and moving your Cook4Me - don’t bang it around, drop it, slam things into it, or put it near hot surfaces such as your cooktop, oven, or Guy Fawkes bonfire. Likewise, don’t leave it where these things might be inflicted on your cooker by those who care a little less about its wellbeing.
2. Avoid a pot that isn’t up to scratch
A scratched non-stick coating on your inner pot can lead to sub-optimal cooking outcomes. Foods will be more likely to stick, and can then burn on, altering the flavour and quality of your dish, as well as making clean-up harder.
To avoid scratching the surface, use utensils designed for non-stick surfaces. These include silicon, soft plastic and nylon spoons, ladles, spatulas and stirrers.
Furthermore, do not use harsh abrasive cleansers and cleaning tools. No Cif/Jif or Barkeeper’s friend please, and certainly no steel wool! Instead, if there is something particularly hard to remove from the pot by normal washing, soak the pot/lid in hot water with some concentrated dish detergent, then use a non-scratching synthetic scourer such as a 3M Scotch-Brite.
If you store your steamer insert, power cable or other utensils inside your Cook4Me like we do, put something soft like a paper kitchen towel in the bottom of the pot before you place the other items in there. This will prevent the steamer’s feet (or other foreign item) from scratching the non-stick surface. As you can see in the photo above, we use kitchen paper and the supplied steamer assembly instructions as a scratch-protector for our inner pot. It goes without saying that you should remove these before plugging the appliance into the power socket.
3. Keep it clean.
We all swear when cooking… At least Ursula & Troy do. (Yes, Troy’s caught Ursula swearing under her breath whilst preparing a tasty meal). But that’s not what we're talking about. Swear like a sailor for all we care, but please, please, please keep your Cook4Me clean and dry when you are not using it. If you don’t pay attention to this, dirt and grime will build up in forgotten corners of the pot, and eventually will impede the successful operation of the appliance. Likewise, dampness and liquid residues can lead to a smelly pot - and nothing stifles a romantic Cook4Me dinner more than a smelly pot.
We are not talking only about cleaning the inner pot or the exterior of the appliance. The interior realms of the instant pot’s main chassis require some attention too.
First, make sure that the interior of the pot chassis, including the walls, heating platform and floor, are clean and dry. Do not pour or spray water or cleanser in there - instead blow gently to remove dust (you can also use a dry basting brush or similar to shift dust and crumbs), then use a slightly damp sponge or kitchen towel to wipe the interior. Follow this up with drying the surfaces thoroughly with a dish towel or paper towel. Look also in the plastic joins at the top of the main vessel when then lid is open and the inner pot has been removed - crumbs, spills and seasoning remnants also like to congregate there. Other areas to pay attention to are the silicon seal attached to the upper plastic lid, near the steam outlet, and inside the lip of the lid under the rotating metal locking ring.
The dew collector channel near the lid’s hinge (see above) is a particular bastard to clean. We’ve found the solution - the humble cotton swab (Q-tip, if you are American) does the trick nicely. Remember to gently insert the swab from both the front and the rear of the channel, and jiggle it around to catch anything that may be lodged out of sight. Now who said cleaning couldn’t be fun?
Last but not least, dismantle the lid and clean it every time you use the Cook4Me. If any of the components featured in the picture above are unfamiliar, we’re sorry to inform you, but you’ve been “doing it wrong”.
Once you have removed the metal lid plate by carefully unscrewing the stainless steel locking nut, you should remove the kidney-shaped valve guard by pulling gently. On the other side of the lid there is a metal ball in a plastic cage. Look carefully at the cage and lid and you will see markings to indicate the position where the cage is locked in place, and where it is “unlocked”. Carefully twist the cage to the “unlocked” position and remove it and the ball. You can also remove the steam release cover from the outer lid (it kind of wedges in, held in place by a silicon seal), and carefully unhitch the purple venting pressure limiter from inside that contraption.
All of these part can be washed in hot water and dish detergent. We clean ours with a soft dish brush, non-scratch synthetic scourers, and a sponge, paying particular attention to making sure the spring-loaded release valves are clear of debris and free to move, and that the crevices in the silicon seal are clean. We then dry everything thoroughly and reassemble the cooker.
We store the cooker with the lid unsealed and ajar, and keep a moisture absorber packet in there for good measure (the type that comes in vitamin pill bottles). This ensures that any residual moisture evaporates, which prevents bad smells.
We know all of this sounds arduous when laid out on in this level of detail, but all of this takes us less than five minutes (Troy thinks he has it down to 3 minutes now that he’s familiar with the procedure). 3 minutes is a good trade-off for years of trouble-free service from your Cook4Me!