Stainless Steel Stockpots

A pot with an untarnished reputation

Stainless steel stock pots offer a cooking surface that is essential for a wide range of uses. It is rare to go into a professional kitchen and find commercial stock pots that are made of any other material.

Why stainless steel

Most other materials used to create stockpots have drawbacks that are hard to overcome.

An Aluminum stockpot, being chemically reactive, would limit the uses of such things as vinegar, citrus, and tomatoes.

Le Creuset offers non-reactive kiln fired enameled cookware that is both attractive and non reactive. The issue though with these pots is their weight and expense. These stockpots tend to be from 50-70% more expensive than stainless steel pots of a similar quality.

Cast iron stockpots, or Dutch ovens, have good qualities such as even heating with thick bottoms and sides but there are a number of drawbacks as well. They tend to break if dropped, or break your foot, and they get dropped because they can be very heavy.

What features are important

A good 8-16 quart stockpot can cost anywhere from $100- $200 dollars. It is because of the size of your investment that you will want to make sure that you keep in mind the following,

A good conductive surface like an aluminum or copper stock pot bottom, on your otherwise stainless pot, is very important. When using a stockpot you tend to cook for long periods of time. A thin poorly conductive bottom will cause hotspots that will mean a good amount of burnt matter will accumulate on the bottom. The affects of this burnt matter can often affect the taste, balance of ingredients and yield of what ever you intend to make in the pot.

A good thick conductive bottom is important but you will also need thick sides as well, especially toward the bottom. The walls of your stockpot can also accumulate burnt matter in the bottom third of the pot. If the pot has a nice heavy construction there will be sufficient insulation to prevent damaging buildup.

I would suggest even doing an inventory of what you might want to do with your stockpot before you lay down your credit card. Nothing is more frustrating than living with a bad decision. Often you find that a month after you make your purchase that you are limited by the size of the pot. Another thing to keep in mind is that by purchasing too large a pot you waste resources on size that could have been spent on quality.

More information on stock pots