We purchased this copper, tin-lined pot at an estate sale. Notice that it has a subtle trapezoidal shape.
What is the intended purpose of this style pot?
What is the intended purpose of this style pot?
A question about POT
- Thread starter paulg
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A sauce pan. I think the shape is due to style, not function.
I have a feeling that this is the base for a bain-marie (double boiler) that originally had a ceramic insert above the copper pot. But what do I know...
Paul is right. The insert is heavy porcelain and the flared base lent stability to the setup. If you have access to the 1975 publication The Cooks' Catalogue, you can view it as item # 6.67 on pg. 227. Some notes from the text: "Like almost every other traditionally designed example of this genre, the bottom pan is practically useless by itself because of the way the sides slant inwards: but this is a structural necessity because of the need to stabilize the weight of the extremely thick white porcelain upper pan." These date back to the time of solid fuel stoves when heat regulation was much less precise
As far as I am aware, sauce pans are either straight or flared the other way around to aid evaporation to make reducing sauces quicker.
Given it is coper and thus presumably higher end, having a specified double boiler set up makes sense.
Given it is coper and thus presumably higher end, having a specified double boiler set up makes sense.
Sauce pans with flared sides are known as Windsor sauce pans. The French term is Evasee which means tapering out.
Thank you all.
AHA! Clearly our answers have arrived. Thank you all for the info. We are digging further into Tomturbomatic’s references. Much obliged on the extraordinary detail!
AHA! Clearly our answers have arrived. Thank you all for the info. We are digging further into Tomturbomatic’s references. Much obliged on the extraordinary detail!
