Actually, what you're looking for is a Dutch Oven. Stock pots are taller and narrower.

You might want to take a look at Cuisinox Elite. They make my favorite general purpose cookware. Heavy tri-ply stainless steel with a core of aluminum for even heating. I'll bet you'll like it much better than your old Revere pot.

Cuisinox Elite from Canada is very similar to All-Clad stainless, but I like it better because it has a curved edge on the tops of pans and pots, so liquids pour much better. Cuisinox Elite is also less costly than heavily marketed All-Clad.

The link below will take you to the seller that I've found with the best prices.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinox Elite 6.2 Qt Dutch Oven

The Cuisinox Elite Dutch oven is available in several sizes. See the link below.

Also, click around on the links in the web page to see other options, including actual stock pots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinox Elite Dutch ovens

Love my Creuset! Use it constantly. I only own two and would love to add a big saute pan to the mix someday.

The Cuisinox looks great, but is just as expensive as All Clad on Ebay. Is it approximately the same thing or even better for some reason? I like the taller pots for making stock because it is easier to cover the chicken and bones. For everything else I guess I prefer the dutch oven. What is the dutch oven supposed to be used for? Is there an advantage or trick to using stock pots for soup and spaghetti sauce or are they really just made for stock, because that is the only thing I have made successfully with them. Once the stock is made, what do you use for the soup, stew, etc? Is there something other than a dutch oven I should consider?

Sue

Go to the site for Lee Valley and get a Maslin pan. It is amazing. You can't burn anything. You can't. I make preserves, sauces, even Kheer...which is sweetened milk that is cooked all day. Anytime you can cook sweet milk all day and it dosn't stick you know it is a perfect pan. It is $75...you will use it all the time. c

Stock pots are thin pots designed for getting liquid to a rapid boil and holding it there. They are not designed for the more controlled cooking of a sauce

You want a pot designed to either bring your sauce rapidly to a boil and responsive enough to the heat sauce that when you turn down the heat, the pot cools quickly to avoid burning or one as well as one that can hold an even temperature over a low flame for example when making custard or hollaindaise sauce.

Whatever brand you go with, you want one with a thick bottom that heats up EVENLY and some cladding up the sides especially if you use gas.

Cast iron, like Le creuset, lodge etc, is great for braising or browning but will IMHO burn a sauce especially high acid sauces like tomato. This is because the pan is slow to heat up, holds it's heat well ESPECIALLY where the flame or heating element hits the pot. That ring gets really hot and THEN the heat dissipitates onto the rest of the pan. Don't get me wrong - I have a whole collection of Le Creuset but not for sauces.

My favorite go-to saucepans are made by All Clad and yes they are expensive but can be found on special and they are a life time investment in your cooking.

I have found all clad on eBay, TJ MAxx, and on the seconds sale at cookwarenmore.com.

On other boards I am on, a favorite has been the cookware sets from Costco rumored to be made by Calphalon but as you only need one pot this may not work for you. I always tell if someone asks, thaat you should buy the pots you need and mos not a set. Most people don't use all the pots in a set so what initially looks less expensive rarely turns out that way.

May I also suggest that for more opinions you xpost your question on the cooking forum, if you haven't already done so. You should get lots of advice there from people who love to cook - not saying that wouldn't be true here :) but more so there.

Yes, Trailrunners advice on the Maslin pot is a good one - don't you love that pot, c?

It's a nice big pot meant for canning - 9 qts but I've made as little as 1.5 quarts of jam in mine. If you know anything about canning or even very little, you must know that a lot of canning recipes use a LOT of sugar and sugar burns easily. So this pot has a thick disk base, (mine which comes from England has 2" of cladding up the sides - not sure of the one from LV), is very responsive to heat and is a great deal - under $100 even with the optional extra lid and shipping.

In addition the shape of the pot facilitates evaporation so you can thicken your sauces faster.

Yeah trailrunner!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Maslin pan at Lee Valley

Thanks you guys! Believe it or not, I have cooked and baked quite a lot and have everything from cast iron and nonstick fry pans to nonstick calphalon and tri-ply type pans. I don't burn everything, actually just large batches of sauces that need to simmer for a long time. I believe it is because of the thinness of the bottoms on some pans like stock pots and others that hold heat too long, like you mentioned, loves2cook4six. I didn't understand the reasons why but it makes perfect sense now. I can afford something much better than the Revere now, which is why I haven't just purchased the same thing as a replacement. I did a search on the cooking forum before I came here and I may cross post there for more suggestions. The maslin pan is interesting and I will consider it at length. It is not something I have seen before. I may put a few additional pans on my wish list. :) As long as they will fit in my pot drawers, I may be able to add a couple. I don't have a huge kitchen and the tall stock pot has to reside in the basement!

Sue

If you live in a big city, go to one of the restaurant supply stores. You can find stock pots in a wide array of sizes. I got 2...stainless with triple ply slab bottoms, and they work beautifully for everything from pasta to soups, stocks, and stews.

And they were much cheaper than the regular store bought ones.

Sue,
As mentioned in my previous post, I think the Cuisinox cookware is similar to All-Clad in construction and performance. What makes it truly superior, is the curved lip on pots and pans. You won't have any problem with liquids dribbling backwards as you pour, as very often happens with the straight lips on All Clad pans.

While I prefer deeper stock pots for most stock-making chores, you had mentioned that you liked the shallower shape of your old Revere pot because it was easier to store. That being the case, I assumed that was the direction you were leaning, so I recommended a Dutch oven to conform with your preferences. Either shape of pot will work for most long-simmered sauces.

I use many different pots for different jobs. Le Creuset gets my vote for long slow braises in the oven. I prefer Cuisinox Elite for saucepans and stock pots because of their easy-pour curved rims, excellent heat distribution and the fact that they go right into the dishwasher. My very favorite pans, however, are heavy copper with stainless steel linings. The best ones that I've found come from Falk Cookware in Belgium. Solid copper is unsurpassed for even heat distribution and beauty, but it requires a good deal of maintenance, and it doesn't go in the dishwasher. There is, however, nothing like cooking in solid copper.

Beyond the limited glimpse of my copper collection above, I have many pans of numerous types for different tasks. In fact, I have many more pans and types of pans than most home cooks would find necessary, but I can't help myself. I'm in a position where I can afford to indulge in some extravagances in the kitchen, AND I've been accumulating cookware for many years.

That being said, I still think that the Cuisinox Elite cookware is about the best general purpose cookware that I've tried. I recommend it to anyone wanting to assemble a batterie de cuisine providing superb performance, versatility and ease of maintenance. It's simply brilliant.

Beyond that, if you're interested in perusing Falk Copper, click on the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Falk Culinair Copper Cookware

My most used pot is a Le Creuset #26. I also have an All Clad multi-pot that I use when I need something really large (like boiling down a turkey for soup). I never use the multi-pot inserts, just the exterior pot and cover.

I have a 12 qt. All-Clad stock pot that I really like - I bought it when Kitchen, Etc. went out of business and it was marked down 60% off - I paid a little over $100 for it. Each week they knocked some more off. I was going to buy it one night when the manager told me they would be taking another 10% off the next morning so I came back and he was right. The risk in waiting was that there wouldn't be any left.

The pot is very thick and takes a while to heat up. I also have a set of three different size stock pots that I got for about $20 for the whole set. They work ok for some things but they're very thin, heat up quickly, have hot spots and things will stick and burn on the bottom.

Sue, I too one day forgot my trusted Revere Ware pot on the stove. Emotionally, it was hard to find a replacement. I ended up with Wolfgang Puck. It's so fabulous, that I ended up replacing my other Revere with WP. Only draw back is that the handles aren't heat resistant like the Revere Ware, so I've had to retrain myself to reach for potholders. (Incidentally, this is true of most of the restaurant-style pots, but Kitchen Aid makes little silicone things that fit nicely on stockpost handles.) I think Rachael Ray is the only one whose stockpots have cool-touch handles.

I love our all-clad 8 qt stock pot. I just got a 4-qt all clad sauce pot and love it so much I'm tempted to get the 4-qt soup pot next time I get to buy myself a present.

I wanted to get a stock pot for my daughter for Christmas (she just moved into her first apt.) My mother gave me a Revere Ware pot about 25 years ago and I always really liked it but stopped using it after I got the All Clad one (the AC has shorter sides and found I liked making soups in it better than the tall-sided pot. It also holds ears of corn well.) I let my daughter borrow the Revere one and thought I'd get her one of her own for Christmas but reviews (at least on Amazon) weren't great---they don't seem to be made like they used to be. One of dd's 3 apt mates has a stock pot so I've retreived mine before it got burnt out and put a decision on hold.

I use our All Clad one all the time and the amount of usage justified the expense to me.

love my all clad dutch oven. got a great deal on ebay. wanted something that i could put in the dishwasher and not have to fuss over. also have an all clad stock pot and a couple of sauce pans. love them all!

I got a Cuisinart 12 qt. pasta/ steamer pot for my birthday. Have not used it whole lot yet but, so far, I really like it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinart 12 qt. Pasta Pot

I got this pan on ebay --the 6 QT.-- a lot cheaper than this price and use it all the time for soups, spaghetti sauce, gravy, etc. I love this pan. It is a really good size.

I also have a Le Creuset oval dutch oven (7qt I think) that I use a lot, also an ebay find, that I love as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: pan

I have 2 and do have a favorite - All Clad SS. I can simmer soups, sauce for hours and not have to stir.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will be looking up every suggested pot. Now I am not sure if I didn't have much luck with the stock pots for sauces because they were cheap or just because they are not as ideally suited for it as some other pots. No matter, I want one of the shorter dutch ovens or I guess some brands call them soup pots or sauce pots (a telling little tidbit, maybe). But as far as cuisinox elite, or all clad, I would probably go with whatever had a size or shape I liked better or which I could get a nice deal on. As far as All Clad goes, they have different lines. Does it matter? Stainless Steel, Copper Core, Master Chef, CIA Masters, or "Professional" brushed stainless. I think the copper core would be good, but I am afraid I "melted" the different layers in my old pot together and that is why it never cooked well again after that. Maybe all stainless would be safer/more fool proof? It may be another 20 years before I do something likek that again, but by then I may be forgetting things a lot more frequently, LOL, so maybe I should consider the possibility!

By the way, you aren't going to believe this but I have several all copper pots with linings, bought new, and I have never cooked with one of them, just used them for display! I may have to dig them out, and use them at least a few times since I don't have a place for displaying them in the new kitchen right now.

Sue

If you're not put off by the title, the site below has lots of good information about what makes cookware tick.

I don't know if this will help, but I needed a "persuader" for long simmers due to the poor burner design on my POC range. I went looking for simmer plates and I ended up with a largish round cast iron griddle, with a handle (because it cost $5).

It spreads the heat and prevents hot spots. It's really helped persuade at least the simmer burner to act like a simmer burner. And as a bonus, it does a darn nice sear.

Here is a link that might be useful: Induction site cookware reviews

Hmmmm, bmorepanic, I found this interesting from your link:

"Regrettably, the aforesaid (and much-respected) Cook's Illustrated Guide to Essential Cookware (which we cited earlier on this page), has now been hidden behind a fee-pay requirement of the Cook's site (well, one can hardly blame them--though you could sign up for the "14-day free trial"). In it, they chose cookware makers item by item, rather than by "set" or "line". Excepting a few items that All-Clad does not make (such as cast iron and enamelware), their picks were uniformly from All-Clad. (We should also note that for a stockpot, they recommend the cheapest thing not actually trash that you can find, inasmuch as all they recommend using it for is boiling large amounts of water, as for pasta; for true stock-making, they much prefer a Dutch oven.)"

Ok, I went from thinking I liked the Dutch oven shape the best for soups and spaghetti sauces because I didn't really know what I SHOULD be using or wasn't doing it right, to thinking I am not a complete idiot after all. My own personal experience and just what works for me counts, too, and I need to keep that in mind.

I am going to do some more reading over there, I find it interesting. It seems like All-Clad or similar brand like Cuisinox will be best in a dutch oven type shape, with or without a copper bottom. I still haven't clarified that one. I think the copper will win out but may get eliminated due to price and less available bargains in that line. Then I am going to have to examine some of these more interesting shapes and maybe add one or more onto my wish list. :) I also have a yearning to try at least one piece of Le Creuset just to see if I like it.

Take a look at the website for Cooks Illustrated.

Also look at Americas Test Kitchen website.

They both test & review kitchen equipment: pots, etc. Very helpful info.

I got my first All-Clad pans 17 years ago and love, love, love them. You can't go wrong with them.

When I selected the SS on the All Clad I did it because it was the only one that was DW safe. I do not think you could go wrong with any of the All Clad though.

Close to a majority of my cooking ends of being big stockpots full of chili, gumbo, soup, spaghetti sauce, etc. I prefer taller stockpots for these items because it allows them to simmer longer while retaining more liquid. A shallower pot with a larger top surface area allows too much evaporation for me.

For years, I've used mostly Calphalon hard anodized stockpots (their "commercial" line, by the way, has cool-touch handles). I have an 8-qt, a 12-qt, and a 15-qt. My 8-qt fits fine in my pot drawers. The 12-qt goes in an especially deep drawer under my microwave. And the 15-qt, which also has a pasta insert, goes in a regular base cabinet.

I also have a 30-qt stainless stockpot that I got from a restaurant supply company. I use it to make a huge batch of gumbo for our annual Mardi Gras party and not much else. That said, it probably cooks the best of all of them and I wouldn't mind a few smaller ones just like it.

My many-years-old Calphalon is starting to wear out (the hard anodized surface is thinning in spots). I know Calphalon supposedly has a lifetime warranty, but I haven't tried getting them replaced yet. If they give me any trouble, I may go all stainless.

I purchased some A-C pots and pans a little over a year ago to use with our Wolf range (too much splattering and burning around the edges when I used my old Farberware and Reverware pans). The set I'd gotten came with the 8 qt stockpot, and it seems nice--I kept a few of my Farberware and Revereware pots, and actually use their 6 and 8 qt stockpots for boiling water for pasta instead of the new pot (supposedly water comes to a boil faster in those thinner pots; I haven't done a side by side comparison though).

I've had my LC 7.25 qt Dutch Oven for a little over a year, and like it very much for recipes calling for a DO, haven't branched out with it as yet.

My best purchase however, was my 4 qt A-C soup pot w/lid (also known as a 4 qt casserole). I purchased it in Williams-Sonoma a few months ago and find I am using it constantly. It is the perfect size for small-medium batches of soup, or for reheating smaller portions of leftovers. When I bought it, it was priced much lower at W-S than it was elsewhere (surprisingly!), and it came with the large 6 oz soup ladle (retail price ~$20-$25). It is the identical pot to the 4 qt casserole available elsewhere (I checked the model/SKU #) and it is made in the USA (not the lid). I really like it a lot. Good size and nice quality.

I still have my Tools of The Trade (Macy's, circa 1990's) 10 and 12 qt stock pots. I may or may not replace them with better quality large stockpots if/when necessary.

Cat mom, I noticed you mentioned Macy's Tools of the Trade. I was in Macy's in Dallas this past weekend as I was visiting there, and I saw a set of cookware called Beligique. Anybody ever used this line before? I liked the look of it as it had glass lids, silicone on the bottom of the handle and was induction compatible. I was just wondering if anyone had tried it.

I recently bought my first piece of All Clad...it is a brushed stainless finish that I think is only available at Williams Sonoma. I like the way it looks, but will have to say for what I paid for it, I'm not as wild about it as I should be.

For a stockpot recommendation, I've owned 2 sizes of Volrath's commercial stainless w/aluminum clad bottom for 25+ years & couldn't be happier. The majority of my other cookware is the original calphalon but I always found the larger sizes of cast (or copper) stockpots to be too heavy when filled.

If I'm remembering correctly, the Belgique line was (within a few years of my purchases) the same thing or similar, but with different styling (handles/lid handles)??? It's been a long time since I've looked at them in the stores, so I couldn't tell you if they are made the same way these days, or if the quality is the same or worse (or better).

I do know that my large TOTT fry pan did not perform too well on our Wolf range, so it's now sitting in our attic (you never know when you'll need some old pots/pans...). The A-C pans work much better--less splattering, no burning around the edges/sides of the pans, and more even cooking overall. The first time I used one on our range/burners I noticed the difference.

The TOTT stock pots are okay for us for now. The largest size A-C stock pots are only clad on the bottoms or have disk bottoms (?), so I don't know if there is much difference, at least with the larger pots. At some point I might replace the large pots I have (the pot and lid handles are starting to loosen up and can't be tightened) so will decide at that point which ones would be best for us.