Know Your Pot; Watch Your Flame

By Timothy M. Baran

When cooking, know your pot. That can make a big difference in your cooking. If the pot is too big or too small for your job, you could undercook, overcook, or even burn the food.

Once, while making béchamel sauce in my course finals, I burnt the onion and curdled the milk because the pot was too big and I had the flame too high. So I had to pull out the burned onions and scrape off the burnt bits. Then, I grabbed a very fine metal mesh device, and I poured the sauce through it to get rid of the curds. Then I had to pour the sauce into another pot. It came out just fine, but think of the time and aggravation I would have saved myself, if only I used the right tools in the first place.

If you’re making soup you do not need a huge cauldron size pot; a small sauce pan will often work nicely. If you are doubling or have never made a certain dish before, eyeball how much material you have. If you’re not sure, go a little larger on the pot size. If it’s a little too big you’ll still be able to manage it, but if it’s too small, then you will have to change pots in the middle of cooking and could possibly mess up the dish. (I still do my fair share of switching pots).

Finally, watch your flame on the stove; you will only occasionally need a bonfire size flame. Sometimes, depending on the dish, the flame will need to be adjusted from time to time, or maybe set at low to keep whatever is being cooked simmering.