I’m always on the hunt for the perfect small batch jam pot. Something sturdy (but not enormous), non-reactive and with a low, wide profile for quick evaporation. It needs to function on an induction cooktop, conduct heat evenly and be nice to look at. I have a couple vintage enameled cast iron pots that checks most of my boxes, but they are so heavy that I’m always reluctant to wrestle one off the shelf for a quick preserve.
However, a new pot came into my life a couple months ago and we’ve been making sweet, sweet jam (as well as sauces, chutneys and braises) together ever since. My small batch pot quest may indeed be over. The object of my cookware affection? The Anolon Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 4-Quart Casserole.
The stainless steel interior means that it will never leach a metallic flavor into my preserves and if I happen to burn something (it happens to the best of us), I can scrub away without worrying that I’m doing damage to the surface (a concern with the enameled pots). It’s got a thick copper disc at the bottom, which makes for good heat conduction and a pretty patina to boot.
I’m also a big fan of the shape of this pot (you don’t realize how hard it is to find affordable, good quality pots that are low and wide until you start shopping). The shallow depth means you get lots of surface area, which in turns promotes evaporation. Cooking the water out of the fruit effectively is a vital part of making jams, fruit butters, chutneys and jellies. Having a pot that aids that effort instead of fighting it makes for a better product every time.
The nice folks at Anolon sent me this pot to try out and now, they want to give one to one of my readers as well. I’m certain that whichever one of you end up with it will be so happy to have it in your kitchen! If you want to enter the giveaway, here’s what you do.
- Leave a comment on this post and tell me about your own cookware quest. Whether you’ve been looking for the perfect sauté pan or you’re on the search for a cast iron skillet like the one your grandma had, I want to hear your story.
- Comments will close at 11:59 pm east coast time on Friday, October 19, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random and will be posted to the blog over the weekend.
- Giveaway is open to US residents (apologies to my more far-flung readers).
- One comment per person, please. Entries must be left via the comment form on the blog at the bottom of this post. I do not accept submissions via email.
Disclosure: Anolon have provided both my review unit of the 4-Quart casserole and the giveaway unit at no cost to me. What’s more, they’ve compensated me for the time invested in this review with a 10-piece set of Anolon Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel Cookware. However, my opinions remain my own and have not been influenced by the review unit or the cookware set.
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I would like to find a good frying pan to make eggs in that won’t stick… but also isn’t made of teflon or any other coating that tends to chip off after some use. Does such a thing exist?
I’m like you, I have a big ole Le Crueset, which I love, but this seems like a great size for those smaller batches of goodies!
I’m constantly getting glass and pyrex cooking pieces from rummage sales. And I’ve fallen in love with cast iron…my enameled dutch oven and my skillets! The more fun tools I have in the kitchen, the more I add to my list. I’m in the market for another pot or two to replace the teflon ones I have (this would be PERFECT) and really then I might need to step back for a bit
I am on the hunt for a good double boiler for melting chocolate!! I’ll find it someday
I have a Farberware Millenium stainless steel “stewpot” that inherited from my daughter, and I just LOVE it!! I’m trying to find some saucepans in the same line.
Been looking for a quality pot, with the heat conductivity of copper but the versatility of stainless. Sweet Analon!!!
I am always looking for a nice heavy pan. Most of my pans seem too light and it is too easy to burn things.
I adore eggs, and am always on the lookout for a great omlete pan. Small, nonstick and lightweight enough to flip eggs but not too small or too big. They are hard to find.
I would love a nice shallow dutch oven to do my small batch preserving in
1n! I had a similar size for many years and it just plain wore out!
i’ve been on the hunt for a good saute pan. i haven’t quite decided whether it’s worth it to save up all my pennies for an all-clad or not.
I started jamming and canning because of the stories my mother told me about my great grandmother. She lived in Ada, Oklahoma, grew her own vegetables and fruit, canned all summer and quilted all winter. My favorite story was that my mother would go outside, pick fresh strawberries, bring them in, and my great grandmother would wash them, toss them into a small pot with a sprinkle of pectin, and my mother would get to eat fresh strawberry jam on her breakfast toast.
I wanted my own children to get to tell stories like that, so last year, I started dabbling in jamming and canning, and fell in love with it. This past weekend, I opened a stall at our local Sunday Fresh Market stocked with homemade jams, cookies and biscotti.
My oldest son is turning four in January, and he loves cooking with me. He especially loves making (and eating) my Apple Pie Jam. But, here’s the problem: I have a lot of tall pots (which are great for making large batches), but my son can’t see into the pot without sitting on his knees on the counter. This makes absolutely NO space for my daughter, who will turn two in February, and wants to see everything her big brother is doing. The result is that jam-making has been divided into two parts: the kid part and the “hot part.”
So, my quest has begun for a pot that is big enough to make a respectable batch of jam or preserves, yet also short enough so that both of my assistant chefs can stand on a stool and watch their fruit turn into jam.
Over the summer, I found a perfect pot – stainless, 5qt, so it’s a little smaller than the big “stock pot” cookers. I love it, and use it all the time, from making raspberry jam to cooking spaghetti.
I am still pining away for a beautiful copper pan for jam making. No problem finding one…just not yet willing to take that leap across the financial chasm!
As a young girl I learned to cook on an electric stovetop with Paul Revere copper bottomed cookware. The cookware was great and rarely did anything stick or scorch. I inherited a piece from my Mom and I find the pot thin in comparison to what is available now with the heavy disk inserts and such. I would like to add something having the stainless and copper combination similar to the Paul Revere I remember from my youth.
My cookware request is challenged by my reluctance to part with the set of Calphalon pans that were a wedding gift. They clean up so nicely and are paid for, but I’d like to reduce unnecessary exposure to chemicals.
I’ve been hunting exactly this thing – a non-reactive low and wide pot to cook small batches. I have one that is hard anodized but I can’t scrub it and the replacement will have to work on a glass-top stove.
BEAUTIFUL! My current Ikea Stainless steel pot isn’t working for smaller or longer cooking batches. This would be perfect. My annual cranberry mustard and pear chutney session is looking up. Please add me to the drawing. YEA! Thank you for offering this.
I am always battling my partner for teflon reduction. The stuff just creeps me out. I like my good old reliable stainless steel Revere ware, but it isn’t really heavy enough for my preference. Always searching!
I have an oval Le Creuset dutch oven which is awesome, but hard to use for jam—the long ends just don’t simmer as evenly as a round pot. I’m constantly eyeing other options but it feels ridiculous to buy a new one when my le creuset is otherwise great.
I’ve been wanting to try copper and am always grateful for a good excuse to make jam!
I feel like my whole adult cooking life has been about when I can get myself a Le Creuset dutch oven. I still have not taken the plunge!
I’ve wanted a Le Crueset dutch oven for a super long time. I’ve always had my eye on them, but don’t have the extra space in my small condo. If I buy more kitchenware, something has to go. Simple as that.
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I dream of owning a beautiful copper jamming pan someday (like Christine Ferber recommends). In the meantime, this shallow pot looks great!
I recently discovered that the nonstick coating on my 4qt pot that I use for jams is chipping. Time to toss it…this pot would be such an upgrade!
Several of my pots have long handles and when full they are difficult to move around. So I’m always looking for two handled pots in various sizes. This Analon one looks perfect!
I’d love the Anolon pan, looks to be the perfect size and it has a cover,too.
I’m currently searching for that perfect pot for small batches of jam, this one looks great!
Desperately seeking stainless steel pots & pans and Le Cruset in my life… The glassware pots I have get too hot too quickly for my likes despite trying to figure them out for over 10 years and the nonstick pans are on their last legs. Time for an upgrade!
I just received the Analon copper set for a weding gift and I love them. My current quest, however, is a paella pan that is rust-free. We brought one back from our trip to Spain, but have since ruined it with rust. We’d love to be “back” in Barcelona again with home made paella!
I have a small Dutch oven. I have one large non-stick Dutch oven and two stainless steel Dutch oven. I wish I could combine the two and get a large Dutch oven that isn’t crazy expensive (I’m looking at you Le Creuset). In other news, I’ve attempted to find one of those lighter cast iron pans I read about in a magazine somewhere yet I cannot remember who makes them and I cannot find the magazine. I’m lost I tell you – LOST!
I love, love my enameled dutch oven, but it keeps chipping. I’m saving for a le creuset since they last forever. They come in such pretty colors now, I can’t resist! This pot looks beautiful and functional!
Every time I can, no matter the size of the batch, my pot is always way too big. I usually have to fall back on my smaller canning pot to cook in, a bit shorter and wider than the one I use for my water bath, but still it seems like the stuff I’m stirring and watching is miles away below.
Now that its fall, I’m remembering how much I really want a deep dish ceramic pie dish. And a Le crueset Dutch oven…
Replacing my two frying pans- One has a textured interior (why? Why why?) that traps *everything*. And the other is an old non-stick pan, that, I hate to say, is my go-to pan. Plans to replace at least one of them with a good stainless steel option have mostly been stymied by budgeting.
I’m looking for a small dutch oven. I have a giant Le Creuset, but it would be great to have a smaller one for when I’m only cooking for two.
My quest is for a canner that accomodates half gallon jars. My husband loves fruit juices and we have two apple trees and many grape vines that all produce heavily, so I am trying to put up as much juice as I can, but doing it by the quart seems so silly when I know the hubs will drink two quarts in one sitting!
I have several stainless steel pots and pans that my grandmother gave me when I was 16 for a Christmas present. They’ve been great, but since our switch to whole foods, I’m finding that I need more of them (to handle the increase in cooking). I also have begun using cast iron skillets and LOVE them. I recently scored a new one at a garage sale and am in the process of trying to clean it up to reuse. I love the challenge and fun of finding old ones and trying to refurbish them.
I’m just kind of starting out, so I’m looking for any good pans, pots, etc. This looks like a great size for cooking for one!
I’ve been keeping my eye open for a decent stock pot so I can make batches of soup to freeze for later. Right now, I make most of my soup in an oversized Le Creuset dutch oven.
i would love to find a great cast iron skillet! and this pot would be loved in my kitchen as well
I’ve been on the quest for wonderful but affordable pots for a while now, and haven’t been doing all that well.
After the epic (for my house) jam canning of the past couple of weeks, it’s even more clear that I’ve got to find something for small batches. 5 pounds of tomatoes in the same pot I use to make gallons of applesauce? Kind of ridiculous, but that’s what I had so that’s what I used. This pot looks like a real winner.
I am always on the lookout for vintage cast iron. They are not easy to find on the west coast. Gunk and rust don’t bother me because I know how get that stuff off. I look for pans that are not warped or pitted.
I still have Big Lots pots for the most part. I only have one grown-up pot and I can’t wait to start investing in more (or have some sort of shower where people will just give me some (:)
I have quite a bit of cast iron cookware. The one piece I have been looking for is a cast iron roasting pan. I saw one once in an antique store for $40, I should have bought it then. This particular pan is about 18 inches long, 6 inches wide and has a depth of about one inch. There is a pouring spout off to the side of one end. It would make fantastic roast chicken and potatoes.
i’ve been on the lookout for a good tall 4 gallon pot so that i can brew beer more efficiently in my small apartment
Still looking for a cast iron skillet…
I’m on the lookout for large pots to cook for crowds that won’t stick and yet don’t cost an arm and a leg.
Living in a small cabin in Alaska, I don’t have the luxury of a large kitchen but would love the luxury of this wonderful pot. I do have several cast iron pans which I cherish and if this lovely pot were mine, I’d cherish beyond all others! Here’s to a wonderful holiday season….cheers!
I would love a great roasting pan for chicken. Roasted chicken and chutney. YUM!!!
I’m always looking for that “perfect pan” that is not too big, not too small…this looks like the one! I’m also on the lookout for a big, high-sided skillet with a lid. Why is that so hard to find???