Early Retirement Extreme Forums

We acquired a free pasta pot---the kind with an insert that can be lifted out. Given how fancy it is, I feel we should try using it and so I de, but I fail to see the appeal. It seems to do the same as a regular pot and a colander does, but it takes longer to boil (15 mins instead of 11:30) and there's more cleanup.

Google fails me by mostly informing me how a pasta pot keeps me safe from splashes of boiling water. However, I like living dangerously

What features or methods am I missing?

It can be useful if you are making large quantities of pasta since dumping into a strainer can be cumbersome. It also makes it easy to reuse the boiling water. There might be other uses but that’s how I mostly saw my Mom using them.

I have a large 12 quart one. It is not really the best tool for normal amounts of pasta. It is a gorgeous piece over engineered All-clad loveliness. High end cookware is my consumer weakness.

It is fantastic for making stocks because it will hold multiple chicken carcasses or remains of a large turkey. You can pull out the insert with the veggie scraps and poultry and let it cool and pick through the meat. The pot has the delicious stock.

If the cost was free try it out. Definitely use it for stock at least once.

I use mine mostly for blanching vegetables. It makes it easier to do several batches of veg using one pot of boiling water (helpful when prepping for long term storage). It's also slightly easier to save the water for reuse.

We used to have one of these. The thing we used it for most frequently was steaming veggies or frozen dumplings: put a bit of water in the pot (stay below the level of the strainer), put your steamables in the basket, and simmer with the lid on.

I ended up taking it to goodwill before a move, since we have other kitchen tools for pasta boiling and steaming that work just as well.

Thanks all. I hadn't considered those but it does solve some pesky problems, especially fishing for peas with a ladle when blanching. Also, the pasta pot does come into its own when making large amounts of pasta.

Not a gimmick but more of a pro feature. It is not uncommon in a restaurant kitchen to see a large pot of boiling/simmering water with 1-4 baskets for cooking or reheating stuff to order. Some high volume places will even have a large floor appliance like a deep fryer with water instead of oil.