# Stock Pots and Casseroles



## shel (Dec 20, 2006)

Last night I was looking through the All Clad cataloge and saw that the casseroles and stock pots looked very nuch the same. What's the difference between them - it seems, at least from the pics and descriptions, they can be used interchangeably.

And while on the subject of stock pots, many years ago, when I started messing around in the kitchen, I was taught that a stock pot is tall and narrow, and so designed in order to minimize evaporative losses, keep more of the meat and veggies submerged, and, perhaps, if memory serves me, to better retain heat during slow simmering. These days I see a lot of squat, wider pots being sold as stock pots. Has there been some change in the science or understanding of making stock, or is there some other reason that more contemporary pots are shorter and wider? What benefit, if any, is there to a wider, shorther pot?

Shel


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## cacook (Jan 18, 2006)

The pots haven't changed...just the names. I think a lot of manufacturers either don't know what they're selling or know that a large majority of home cooks don't know proper terms.


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