The Perfect Pot by KimB

Recently I had the not so great pleasure of looking for a new cooking pot.

I had set up my now previous, perfect saucepan on the stove with 6 eggs, water and a dash of salt in it to make hard boiled eggs. I set the timer and well, no surprise, I forgot about it and didn't hear the timer go off. A fairly long while later, Allen heard POP, POW, POP in the kitchen; the water had evaporated off and the eggs exploded. It was a mess to clean up but the worst part was my perfect pot was ruined.

The perfect saucepan had rounded edges on the bottom that fit a stirring spoon shape just right. As the edges were rounded you could scoop out everything from rice to oatmeal and not have it stick into the corners. It had a non-stick coating that made clean up easy. It had a lid too. It was just perfect.

I have another cooking pot that is also perfect: a stew pot. While I'm not into Home Economics much, a few years back Allen had asked me what I wanted as a gift. I told him I wanted a big cooking pot that I could cook stew in. One that could be used on the stove or in the oven. Mom has a terrific recipe for Stew (see the pdfs on the sidebar) and I like making it but all the cookware I had just wasn't right. Either they didn't hold enough or they were too hard to clean or hard to handle in the oven. So I set out to buy a stew pot for my gift.

We went to an upscale kitchen supply store called Sur la Table. I asked the clerks there for a stew pot that could be on the stove or in the oven. We were in luck. They had one on sale, with a glass lid, non stick coating, handles, deep sides, rounded edges, worked on top of the stove or in the oven … in short it was PERFECT. It was also pretty pricey but Allen said to get it and we brought it home.


Sur La Table®
Hard Anodized Braiser,
 4½ qt.

It's now my favorite big pot and I extol the virtues of this pot to whoever will listen. It's deep so food doesn't splatter over the edges. It's got the rounded edges so you can scoop the bottom easily. It has two sturdy metal handles so you can carry it from stove to work surface easily even when it's full of piping hot stew. I cook loads of stuff in it. It's my finishing pot. I cook up my spaghetti sauce in it: ground meat (turkey, sausage, beef and sometimes lamb), onions, garlic, celery, tomatoes and then dump the cooked pasta into mix. Heat. Stir. Serve. I cook meat loaf in it. I make soups and Chinese style stir fry. I cook leg of lamb in it and even make seared pepper steaks in it.

So, naturally after getting such a terrific first pot, our first stop was at Sur la Table to get a replacement for my burnt up saucepan. We asked the clerk for a saucepan and gave the description of what I wanted. He shook his head and said he didn't think he had a pot like that but he showed me what was available. We started at the high-end pots costing more than $200.00 and quickly moved down the price range to the el cheapo just under $125.00. None were perfect pots. They had straight L bottoms. They were guaranteed to stick (you have to have kitchen helpers to clean these). They weighed a ton. And last but not least, they were Not In The Budget.

So, we were clueless about what to do about my burnt up saucepan. I was feeling pretty low but Allen suggested we go to Target and see what was there. So, off we went. I didn't expect too much but perhaps something would work out. We went to the kitchenwares and there were several Name Band/Celebrity Chef Endorsed pots to chose from but on examining each there were “flaws”. Like Goldilocks some were too heavy, some didn't have a good lid, some had handles that were hard to hold. And while they weren't quite as expensive as Sur la Table, they weren't cheap. I decided not to take any of them.

I'd just about given up, when Allen called me to come check out another pot he'd found. It was on the really cheapo side of the aisle. He held out the pot for me to look at and I instantly knew THIS WAS THE PERFECT POT. It was light weight. It had a glass lid. The handle was sturdy and easy to hold. It was non-stick and had rounded edges. It was deeper than my previous pot which was a bonus. The pot has 2 pouring lips on each side and the glass lid had deep edges with vent or sieve holes where you drain off liquids or allow some steam to escape. The best part was the price. It was less than $15!

I am now, once again, the owner of two perfect pots!

[Editor's note: This story was written by KimB.]

Chefmate Aluminum 3-qt. Saucepan