Cooking pot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A cooking pot (saucepan in British English) is a large bowl that is heated in order to cook the food inside it.[1][2] They can be made from either ceramics or metals, and have been used nearly everywhere in the world throughout human history.[3][4] Cooking pots often include features such as handles or lids to make them easier to use while heating food.[5][6]
Ceramic pots
The earliest cooking pots were made of clay or ceramics. Ceramics, such as stoneware or glass, are stable materials that conduct poorly, so these pots must cook over relatively low heats and over long periods of time. They are generally used in ovens, not on stovetops, where they may crack from too much concentrated heat. Even after metal pots came into widespread use, earthenware pots are still preferred among the less well-off, globally, due to their low production cost.
Metal pots are generally made from a narrow range of metals. This is because pots and pans need to conduct heat well, but also need to be chemically unreactive so that they do not alter the flavor of the food. Most materials that are conductive enough to heat evenly are too reactive to use in food preparation.
