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The stockpot is probably the most ancient cooking utensil ever produced by man.The oldest specimens were earthenware. With the discovery of metals, bronze was the first to be adopted, followed by iron and, during the Renaissance, copper which was to be used widely for centuries. Until the XIXth century, the dominating shape for all pots was that of a vese or bottle, a natural shape throughout the very long period in wich this type of utensil developed, deriving, as it did, directly from the way it was made: hand-modelled by rotation for earthenware, casting, hammering or rough turning for metals. The shape was also governed by the source of heat. In fact, in the open fireplace, either suspended from a hook above or resting on a tripod, flames could lick the pot from all sides. Pots of cylindrical form were first seen in the second half of the XIXth century, when the Industrial Revolution made a large number of improved lathes available for working metal sheets, so that cylindrical shaped utensils could be made rather easily, with perfectly tall, straight sides and flat bottom, suitable for the new heat source, the hotplate. After the Industial Revolution, from the middle of the XIXth century, enamelled iron pans made their appearance; at the turn of the century, aluminium, a metal that was to be widely used in the period between the two wars, was preferred. Finally, in the 30s, the beginning of the historical cycle of stainless steel which was to predominate in international mass production from the 50s. The stockpot is essentially to boil water or liquid, a typical utensil for such methods of cooking as boiling, simmering, steaming and blanching. Our research, conducted with the consultancy of Gualtiero Marchesi, led us to chose a pot perfectly cylindrical in shape, not least because it corresponds formally with the stylistic feature of the cylinder, an enlightened, rationalistic, geometric form which established itself at the beginning of the XIXth century for the casserole and the low casserole with two handles.(2003)
The characteristics of the cooking method in question, boiling, in which it is the water that transmits the heat to the food, surrounding it completely (the heat, in fact, is not transmitted to the food either by the sides or by the bottom of the pot, but by the liquid itself), coupled with the fact that to bring the water to the boiling-point the width of the bottom is much more important than the perfect heat distribution along the entire surface, prompted Marchesi to suggest a pot entirely of thick 18/10 stainless steel. In fact, stainless steel is a poor heat conductor, but it is unalterable, relatively light, and easy to clean and this combination of features makes it most suitable for a cooking method based on elementary physical-chemical principles such as boiling and its derivatives.(1986)
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