T Fal Stock Pot is one of the best top rated stock pot on amazon. With 2.5 thousand rating at 4.5 star, it is sign of a good stock pot. The way that T Fal designed their stock pot, is more like a traditional french stock pot. Unlike a dutch oven who is more wide than tall. These specialized stock pot are designed to extract flavor food while retaining liquid. This review will take a closer look at how the stock pot is designed and why you need one for stock.

T Fal Stock Pot 12 qt Review Quick Summary

Categories	T Fal Stock Pot 12 qt
Performance	Great
Compatibility	Gas, Electric, Halogen, Glass Top
Colors	Black
Oven Temperature	350 degrees Fahrenheit
Warranty	Life Time Warranty
Brand Awareness	World Famous
Country of Manufacturer	Unclear Probably China
Thoughts	A stockpot that offers good value and great performance. It is designed like a french stock pot whose goal is to reduce liquid evaporation. While its a little difficult to maneuver food around, you can extract flavors better.
Reviewed Cookware	T-fal B36262 Specialty Total Nonstick Dishwasher Safe Oven Safe Stockpot Cookware, 12-Quart, Black

T Fal History

T Fal was started by French engineer Marc Grégoire. He use to apply nonstick coating to his fishing hooks. One day, his wife asked him to apply it to her cookware. He did and started a non stick cookware empire. While Non Stick cookware gets a bad reputation these day. I honestly believe that it is one of the most significant changes in cookware. No other technology has caused such a paradigm shift in the way cookware was manufactured.

Today, T Fal is owned by Group SEB a french cookware conglomerate. Some of the brands they own includes All-Clad, Krups, Moulinex, Rowenta, and WMF Group. While this many seem shocking, if you dig further into other brands, you will see that most company is owned under a larger company. Nevertheless, considering the legacy and backing that T Fal has, you can expect them to make some pretty decent cookware.

T Fal Stock Pot Design

This section will take a closer look at the overall design and construction of T Fal Stock Pot. We will go through the handle, shape and general performance.

Handle

The handles on T Fal Stock Pot is pretty well designed. It raises upward and outward. Other stock pot has badly design handle where they are too small and too close to the body. You need a wide one to get a close firm grip on it. This is especially true when its filled with hot liquid. The last thing you want to do is burn yourself.

The handle is made of metal with a silicone cover. This cover will protect it from getting hot. However, if you move your hands inward, you run the risk of burning yourself. It is recommended to wear a glove regardless. Aside from that, these handles are riveted and should last a while.

Shape

The shape of the T-fal Stock Pot is what makes it unique. It is tall and has a narrow opening. This type of pot is designed to reduce the amount of liquid evaporation, while at the same time, hold a good amount of liquid. The way it reduces evaporation rate is by surface mass. In a traditional dutch oven, those are wide. That width gives it more area for water to evaporate. By reducing the diameter of the pot, you essentially reduce the rate of liquid loss. The french love these pots especially for making chicken stock. They would literally simmer a ton of chicken overnight building flavor. What most people dont know is that the stock is actually the secret to their cooking. So many dishes rely on the quality of the stock then anything else. Once you reduce it to a syrup, the flavor is like nothing else.

Non Stick Coating

For a stock pot, a nonstick coating is not really necessary. The reason is that most of the food or fond will be covered in liquid. It wont really matter if the food sticks to the pan or not. It will release by itself regardless of whether its stainless steel or not. What the nonstick coating does do, is make cleaning easier. I believe the original reason why Teflon was invented is to make things easier to clean. The shift was later changed to nonstick after they saw the success of it.

Durability and Extending the Life

Normally, nonstick cookware will only last 1-2 year before replacement. However, since the stockpot is mostly used to simmer liquid. I would expect it to last 5 years or more. You are not really subjugating the pot to any extreme heat and the chance of abusing it is low.

With that said, you should exercise your best judgement. Dont use metal utensils and avoid cleaning with a nylon scrubber. Always use the soft side of the sponge. When you are performing the initial searing of food, always add oil to a cold pan. Overheating a dry pan is one of the best way to destroy it. I would say its even more detrimental than metal utensils. So avoid it if you can.

Why Use Aluminum?

Aluminum is one of the best heating conducting metal in the world. What this mean is that it can transfer heat better than lets say stainless steel. To see the difference in how object transfer heat, grab a plastic item and a metal item. The metal one should feel colder. The reason for that is because its drawing heat away from your hand better. When you subject a aluminum pan to fire, the fire is drawn towards the food at a better rate.

Aside from the heat properties, aluminum is cheap and light. Manufacturer love this because it saves them money. The only downside to aluminum is that its reactive to acidic food. Luckily, T-Fal cover their cookware in Teflon coating so you never have to deal with that.

Which T Fal stock pot size 8 or 12 qt?

When making stock its always better to get the bigger one. Unless you have a ton of time on your hand, making a giant batch will save you time. You can freeze the content and use it for later. The only reason why you would get the smaller 8 qt is because of space. If your cabinet is too small or something else. Other than that, get the 12 qt!

T Fal Stock Pot Thoughts

T Fal Stock Pot is a great example of a traditional stock pot. While the narrow design makes it harder to move food, the main purpose is to create stock. That narrow diameter reduces the evaporation of liquid and extract flavor compound better. This is a classical french way of making stock. At its price point, this is one of the best stock pot you can buy. The value is unbeatable.

I hope you like this T Fal Stock Pot Review, If you would like to see more, please visit our Pots and Pans Review page.