KITCHEN PANS - Stock Pot to Wok

Stock pot is a generic name for one of the most common types of cooking pot used worldwide. A stock pot is traditionally used to make stock (cooking) or broth, which can be the basis for cooking more complex recipes. It is a wide pot with a flat bottom, straight sides, a wide opening to the full diameter of the pot, two handles on the sides, and a lid with a handle on top. French Chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) published “A Guide to Modern Cookery” in 1907. On the first page, Escoffier writes, “stocks are the keynote of culinary structure” in French cuisine. A stock or broth is made by simmering water for several hours, to continuously cook added foods such as pieces of meat, meat bones, fish or vegetables. The slow simmering process transfers flavours, colours and nutrients to the water, where they blend, and a new ingredient is thus created, the broth or stock. A broth made with meat or meat bones creates a base with concentrated flavours and aromas, even without the addition of salt or herbs or spices. This is what is referred to as soup base. Stock pots are also used for cooking stews, porridge, boiled foods, steamed shellfish, and a vast variety of recipes. Stock pots have great versatility, and so they are used for many cooking purposes, and occasionally non-cooking purposes. Large stock pots may be used at home to boil clothing, wool or yarn for colour dying, for example. They do not come in standard sizes. The size of the pot is normally given on the manufacturer's label by volume, for example 12 litres. The most common materials for manufacturing stock pots are stainless steel, aluminium, copper and enamel (Vitreous enamel) on metal. More expensive types of stock pots have bottoms that are made of layers of different metals, to enhance heat conductivity.

A wok is a versatile round-bottomed cooking vessel originating in China. It is used especially in East and Southeast Asia. Woks are most often used for stir frying, but can also be used in other Chinese cooking techniques, such as in steaming, pan frying, deep frying, poaching, boiling, braising, searing, stewing, smoking, making soup, roasting nuts or vegetables, or even fermenting rice wine. Wok cooking is done with a long handled chahn (spatula) or hoak (ladle). The long extensions of these utensils allow the cook to work with the food without burning the hand. The wok's most distinguishing feature is its shape. Classic woks have a rounded bottom. Hand-hammered woks are sometimes flipped inside out after being shaped, giving the wok a gentle flare to the edge that makes it easier to push food up onto the sides of the wok. Woks sold in western countries are sometimes found with flat bottoms — this makes them more similar to a deep frying pan. The flat bottom allows the wok to be used on an electric stove, where a rounded wok would not be able to fully contact the stove's heating element. A round bottom wok enables the traditional round spatula or ladle to pick all the food up at the bottom of the wok and toss it around easily; this is difficult with a flat bottom. With a gas hob, or traditional pit stove, the bottom of a round wok can get hotter than a flat wok and so is better for stir frying.