I would quite like to get hold of a large stock pot with a thick base so I can make things like preserves as well, but whenever I look at kitchenware in my local shops (I'm in NZ if that makes a difference) the stock pots I see always have very thin bases, no thicker than the walls. Are the ones with heavier bases called something else, or am I just finding poor quality pots?
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You don't need a thick base to make preserves.– GdDCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 14:44
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Aluminium pots which are marketed as induction compatible have (perforated) iron disk attached to the bottom making it thicker than the walls.– AJNCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 16:48
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Ask your local curry house where they get theirs– Pat SommerCommented Jul 7, 2021 at 21:29
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3 Answers
Try searching for "laminated base pot", alternatively 'sandwich' or 'encapsulated'.
Other terms tend to be more trade markey, multiclad etc.
You could always buy a cheap pot & an even cheaper simmer ring instead ;)
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Also try "sandwich base" (seems to be generic rather than a brand-specific term) , and search on simple the size you'd like, e.g. "10 litre sandwich base pot" - some perfectly suitable ones don't have "stock" in the name– Chris HCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 9:05
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1Yup. I dropped 'stock' from the answer. Added sandwich & encapsulated– TetsujinCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 9:29
Also known as marmite, yes, really, try searching for that.
Expect to spend a lot of money, maybe try an upmarket store. Those orange cast-iron ones from France are excellent.
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They are, but they're not that big, and wouldn't be liftable if they were (my stock pots are stainless with sandwich bases, from ikea, and are 5 and 10 litres. My bigger Le Creuset is about 4l, and much larger sizes are rare and shockingly expensive.– Chris HCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 9:02
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My big Le Creuset must be about 5l. But I've had it a few decades... For very big jobs I use the pressure cooker, which is huge and heavy, just without all the inside bits. Since we got an induction hob I had to give away all my really big pans. :-(– RedSonjaCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 10:51
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5l is the biggest I've handled. Looking at their website, their biggest oval cast iron pan is bigger (at 13.9l) than their biggest stainless stock pot (10.4l). But it's 12kg empty and £475. I'm still on gas for the foreseeable future. If I do go electric I'll find a way to get a mixture of induction and halogen/resistive, for versatility. Ikea used to do 2-ring half-size hobs to allow mixing and matching; maybe they still do– Chris HCommented Jun 10, 2021 at 12:35
I don’t know if the nomenclature is different in New Zealand, but you might consider an enameled ‘Dutch oven’. They’re typically cast iron, coated in enamel to make them easier to clean / less reactive. Unfortunately, they’re quite heavy, and they don’t tend to have the same proportions as a stock pot (they’re more squat versus the tall and skinny stock pots). And the ones from France tend to be quite expensive, but there are a lot of alternative brands these days
Another option is ‘tri-ply’ pans in which they look like stainless steel, but it’s actually stainless around a core of some more thermally conductive material, such as copper. ‘All clad’ is the original brand for this, but some more reasonable priced competitors have been available for the past 5 years or so
Then there are lots of brands that put a disk of copper or aluminum on the bottom of the pan. It’s usually pretty obvious on inspection— either a different color on the outside bottom, or a blatant disk that doesn’t smoothly transition to the sides of the pot
I would recommend going to a store, finding a sales person and specifically explaining what you want. It’s entirely possible that they won’t have any true ‘stock pots’ like you’re looking for, but they likely have pots in slightly different form factors that match your need. And you might want to add a spatter screen.