Metal matters, as surely with knives and kitchen pots as any other farm tool. As we speak, a pot of split pea soup burbles on my gas range in a pot of enamelled cast iron. I feel safe about leaving it on its own. Much safer, say, than leaving our new kitten, Hercule, on her own. At this age, left alone in the kitchen, she’d have any pot on the floor death-rayed into submission in 10 seconds flat. Unlike my flexible kitten, cast iron is brittle, and I know this as gospel. When I stepped on my stove’s cast iron grate to clean the fan vent, the metal sheared away in two spots, a clean, sharp snap. Fortunately for me, my brother, a metal sculptor, can fix anything. He welded the sheared edges back together with a bit of melted copper (whew, another lesson learned). Brittleness aside, cast iron is heavy and maintains an even heat, ideal for frying pancakes, deep-frying chicken, making thick soups and slow braises, but totally inappropriate for high-temperature searing of steaks.
My new wok is spun from carbon steel. It’s cheap, durable, thin enough to quickly respond to stovetop temperature fluctuations, thick enough to store enough latent energy to sear food. Because the wok rusts and corrodes if not cared for, I clean it carefully, then re-season it after each use, a simple matter of a quick swipe of oil over its surfaces, inside and out.
Add chromium and nickel to carbon steel and you have stainless steel, which makes gleaming pots and pans but is a rotten heat conductor, relying on cladded-on layers of copper or aluminum to provide optimal heat transferral. I use my stainless pots with aluminum bottoms for things like steaming peas, glazing carrots and simmering ham hocks.
Hanging on the pot rack beside the wok are several copper pots, gifts I love to keep polished and gleaming, free of verdigris and chloride stains. Copper is super responsive to heat and is the best heat conductor — copper wire is beloved by electricians like my late father, so copper utensils are expensive. The copper interacts with food, a good thing when I want to beat egg whites. The ions of my copper bowl interact with the egg foam, making it stable and generous. But because large amounts of copper are toxic, copper pots and pans are lined with stainless steel, silver or tin to provide an inert surface. That makes them even costlier and heavier, but still gorgeous.
Read Also
It’s chicken day
This issue’s recipe: honey lemon chicken. Chicken Day means getting whole processed birds from a local farmer, getting them home in coolers, cutting each up for bagging and freezing, then stripping the carcasses for stock and pet food.
My glazed earthenware tagine is another beauty, even though it is not made of metal but of clay, which predates metal in the culinary world. With its elegant conical top, the tagine sits on the island in plain view until I fill it with lamb and chickpeas and spices to slowly braise in the oven. Its glaze makes it non-porous, but it would shatter if I put it directly on the stovetop.
Some of our friends look a little askance at my pot rack and pots adorning various countertops, but I’m an exacting cook and I want to know that I am using the best tool for the task. Pots last lifetimes. My sons expect to inherit my pot collection, along with the maple butcher block. But that’s another story. First we eat, then we talk about pots and pans.
Best-ever Split Pea and Barley Soup
Use a heavy-bottomed or enamelled cast iron pot to avoid sticking and burning when making soup with pulses like split peas or lentils. The soup pot is a wonderful spot for leftovers. They morph into something where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In this post-holiday soup, I used up leftover ham, cream gravy and steamed parsnips seasoned with maple and balsamic vinegar. In their absence, use raw parsnips, and consider adding a dollop of heavy cream and a wee drizzle of maple syrup and/or balsamic vinegar at the end. Serves 8-10.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 head of garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 large carrots, diced
- 4 parsnips, minced
- 1/2 cup minced celery
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 cups dried split green peas
- 1/2 cup barley
- 2 cups diced ham and a ham bone if you have one
- 2 cups leftover gravy
- 6 cups water, more as needed
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream, optional
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, optional
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup, or to taste, optional
Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add and sauté the garlic, then add the onion, carrots, parsnips and celery. Cover, reduce heat, and pan steam, stirring often, until tender, about 10 minutes.
Add all remaining ingredients. Mix well, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until tender, about 2 hours, stirring often. Discard the ham bone. Serve with sourdough biscuits.
