Chutney - preserving pans?

flower_chops

I', looking to make a chutney to use up some of our red and white wine vinegar but it says put al the ingredients in a "preserving pan". What the heck is this and can't I just use a normal saucepan?

dumpy

A preserving pan has a thick bottom so the heat doesn't stick the ingrediants to the bottom. It also has a huge volume so you can boil the ingrediants (this is more important in jam making as when you boil the liquid it froths right up.)

I've sucessfully used a stock pot and a pressure cooker bottom to make preserves in before so they aren't essential. I can't justify buying a pan that I'll use only a few times a year. Just make sure that it is big enough.

Oh and boiling vinegar will make the house smell but it's worth it for the chutney!

flower_chops

Thanks for that - well we don't hav a pressure cooker or stockpot (yet!) so will hold off from making it...will add to xmas present list, which is now reading more like a wedding present list.....slow cooker, breadmaker, stock pot...is a pressure cooker the same as a slow cooker?

dumpy

Nope, they are different, a pressure cooker cooks under pressure (gosh, do I win an award for such an obvious statement!!!!) which reduces cooking time. You boil water and then add weights to the lid to increase the pressure in the pot. This cooks the food faster.

A slow cooker is an electrical pot which cooks very, very slowly over a small heating element. I had a flatmate who used one, so he would load it in the morning before work and in the evening would come home to a meal.

Oh and my stock pot isn't a fancy stock pot, it's just a very big saucepan, that holds about 10 pints of water, in fact it used to belong to the OH ex, which makes it unique in that it's something useful she left behind.... Every time I throw in the picked over old chicken I think of her!