If you are looking at cookware you should own a stockpot.Not a stew pan; not a soup pot; not any big thin thing you should use to boil pasta or lobsters.If you cook, you should make stock.Lots of it.If you are a vegetarian you need to make stock.Now that is out of the way, stock is easy to make so you should make it a cooking habit.But great stock is not at all easy, and that is why you need a great pot. If you cannot afford to plunk down this much, you still need a pot to make stock, so look at eight quart Calphalon with aluminum core that goes up the side.It cost about a tenth of this with better than half the performance in a combination of volume and other characteristics; and it is more versatile.This Mauviel is more a single purpose pot.And that is good.
How big?I tipped you off to start at eight quarts.The reason is simple.Lots of fresh vegetables coarsely sliced (think no more than halving a small onion or quartering a large one), and big cracked shin bones need a big pot that allows good flow.And you cannot fill the water much higher than 75%, or at least it cooks down that far.High and dry does you no good.How big, really?This Mauviel is ideal in size for the home cook at nearly twelve quarts.If you can afford another pot, go for the eighteen quart.
If I am boring you with basics, leave us cut to the chase.Why is this the best?I have been making stock for decades. This shape is best because it is tall and narrow.Great for water flow as the gentle heat (you can bring a cold pot to a boil only briefly before you back off to 180 degrees.) propels a gentle current upwards.Stock is not for stirring.Narrow and tall minimizes evaporation.That means adding less water for long simmers.That means better temperature control at low levels.This is one of the few coppers I will use on an electric coil stovetop, because you do not move it around and you can use a heat diffuser in between.
You need more than a great shape to pay this money.Great build with premium metals is next.A great stock pot has thick copper sides so the heat travels all the way up.You want the sides hot so the flow cools less.Temperature is critical.Buy a real thermometer and read it frequently at first, and then just check now and then.My stocks go from one to forty-eight hours.If you cannot count the simmering bubbles as they hit surface, you are running too hot.But after you strain and salt, you can let her rip and reduce by whatever amount with a roiling boil.I can take six quarts of stock and four of wine and reduce to three pints of spoon coating, shimmering sauce while I finish my clean-up.
I get better results now that I use these Mauviel stockpots.The flavor is far better.I have more control over the chemistry and the physics of cooking.I get court bouillon and consomme you can read the date from a dime at the bottom of a cup.The volume I produce now justifies the cost over the twelve years I have been using them and the twelve I hope to get before my daughter makes off with them.Fat chance.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Mauviel Stockpot
Product Description:
2.5mm Copper stockpot with Hand Hammered Finish. Two Heavy Bronze Handles
Want to buy Mauviel Stockpot at other amazon sites? Click the corresponding icon below:
0 comments:
Post a Comment