What kind of pot do you use for making a long-simmering meat stew and what size is it?

Question

What kind of pot do you use for making a long-simmering meat stew and what size is it? Do you fill it to the top? I use a 5 quart Dutch oven and it gets quite crowded in there once I pour the water in and put the rice bag on top. Sometimes I have to remove a few pieces of potato so that I can put the lid on tightly.

Can I use a large stockpot instead? Stockpots, from what I read, are not designed for oven use.

Answer

For me it's a good old Daubiere. 30cm is big enough for my needs.
Plenty of room for a decent joint, all the trimmings including a bag of rice if desired & ready to cook either on the hob, in the oven or by the fire. "Oven to Table" nothing new here!!!
All the best,

Answer

I do a 12 hour meat stew overnight in a slow cooker. When I do one in the oven, I use a bare CI DO. I fill about 3/4 full. But what is a "rice bag"? I have never made a long-simmering stew with rice.

Answer

As long as a pot is made of oven-safe materials (i.e. metal handles, etc.) you can use it in the oven. Even most pots with plastic handles are oven safe up to 350 or so, which should be plenty hot for a stew. If your current dutch oven is getting crowded, then I'd certainly move up in size. I do often end up using too small a pot and filling near the lid, but it leads to spilling and isn't advisable. I've heard that 2/3 full is a good target.

Once the pot has liquid in it, and especially once it's in the oven, it's getting gentle heat from all sides so the material/construction of the pot doesn't matter nearly as much - the main thing is just that it all fits! And the pot needs to fit in your oven, too, of course... some stockpots may be too tall I suppose, though most they sell these days really just large dutch ovens and should fit fine. When the stewpot is stove-top, is that you'd want a reasonably thick base if you're searing the meat first or sauteing a mirepoix or something. You can also do those parts in a separate frying pan though if that's easier, though. 

Some stock pots often have thin bottoms, so if that's the case, I'd consider using a thicker frying pan first to sear the meat and saute any veg to avoid scorching/burning. Then add everything to the bigger pot, add liquid, bring it up to heat and/or skim (if that's part of your recipe), and then move to the oven or just turn it to very low to simmer. I've made stews in all sorts of pots though, depending on how much liquid I'm using and how much I'm making... saute pans, dutch ovens, stock pots, saucepans, etc. all work. Only other thing to note is that (if you don't cover the stew with a tight-fitting and heavy lid) then a wider pan will evaporate faster so you'd want to keep an eye on the liquid level. Sometimes that's advantageous when trying to reduce the sauce faster; other times it means you need to add more liquid part-way through to avoid burning things. In an oven, evaporation should be quite slow regardless though.

Like damiano, I'm curious about the "rice bag." Also curious about your recipe in general, if you're inclined to share, since it sounds like you're a seasoned stew-maker!

Answer

I use a 7 quart Le Creuset enameled Dutch Oven. 

What is a "rice bag"?

Answer

I have 7.5 qt and 8 qt oval enameled CI dutch ovens. But I tend to push the limits of those too. Last time I made chicken soup in the 7.5 I ended up having to offload some into another dutch oven. I don't have any pots bigger than that. Definitely know that my Farberware stock pot with pheno handles can handle the oven up to 350.

Answer

Hi nycguy20011,

If you are simply simmering it in the oven, almost any pan will do, but I would suggest wide and low. If you wanted to have a one pot meal in a colorful enameled cast iron pot, you could probably get any of a large number of inexpensive pots--like this 6.5 qt. Tramontina:

https://www.samsclub.com/sams/6-5q-dutch-oven-red-in-club-737160/prod18670053.ip?athcpid=prod18670053&athena=true&athpgid=pdp&athmtid=VaV&athznid=sams_ip_VaV&parentpid=prod21280180&xid=pdp:carousel:people-who-viewed-this-item-also-viewed:1

Ray

Answer

For stove top a 10+ quart 3.5mm copper sauce pan and for oven a 9.5 qt oval ECI.

I used to try to do stews in six quart pots and always ran out of room. 

My line up of sauce pans is two 2.5 qt, one 3.8 qt, and one 10 qt—and oddly enough I do not feel there is a hole in that line up.

Answer

Staub 7-qt Cocotte. No contest, best I've ever used.

Answer

I own and use a variety of cooking vessels for long simmering meat stews.

For smaller stews and braises, I use either my Staub Christera 28cm round ECI pan for oven braises/smaller stews and my newly acquired Mauviel M250c 28cm Rondeau for gas stovetop braises/smaller stews.

For the larger stews I mainly use my 2 Le Creuset 7.4 QT/7 Liter ECI roasting pots with the black interior ECI, which in my view beats the white interior ECI, because it can sear at a higher heat and it's more durable when used at higher heat, this according to Le Creuset and Staub.
One of these pots is the older Le Creuset design, the other one is similar but in the newer signature line design with larger handles and better lid design. They perform identically. I often hear people complain about uneaven heating from ECI vessels, and they are right in their claims, but my 2 7.4 QT/7 liter 32cm Le Creuset roasting pots are not shaped like the regular round and oval ECI pots, but they have a wok like shape, meaning the bottom is perhaps 22 cm wide, and then it widens to 32 cm width at the top of the pot. This is NOT the Le Creuset wok, but it's called a roasting pot in Europe, which means that the heat is transferred far better to the entire vessel, than the ECI pots with the classic round and oval design.

I also own a round Le Creuset Signature 28cm 7 QT/6,7 liter pot with the white ECI interior, and you can use that for stews too, but I prefer to use this for my home made soups and if I do some smaller vegetables stocks.

Cheers, Claus

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What kind of pot do you use for making a long-simmering meat stew and what size is it?

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