How to Use the Cast Iron Melting Pot
Sauces keep your food moist, balance flavors, and add complexity and color to your plate. They can be sweet, spicy, tangy, or sour, and heck, they can be all those things at once. When we get creative with sauces, we like to use a melting pot and silicone brush, which are great for “stovetops” and grills. If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve got tips for making great sauces and how to use the melting pot to do it!
Making Sauces in a Cast Iron Melting Pot
- Preheat your melting pot over medium heat.
- Add a small amount of fat, like butter or olive oil.
- Add minced garlic or shallots and cook until translucent.
- Add aromatics like rosemary, thyme, or sage.
- Add additional ingredients, like broth, soy sauce, and tomato sauce.
- Add some acidity. Acids like vinegar or lemon juice do a great job at balancing flavors.
- Reduce the sauce by simmering over time or add a thickening agent, like flour, cornstarch, or tapioca.
- Check to see that the consistency is right. Dip a spoon into your sauce so the back of the spoon is coated. Remove the spoon and hold it out with its back facing you, using a finger, draw a line horizontally across the back of the spoon. If the sauce starts to run together again, it isn’t quite ready. Put it back over the heat and simmer a little longer. Careful not to over do it, you want your sauce to be mostly liquid. The culinary term for this is nappe.
- Taste for seasoning. Add salt and pepper as needed.
Sauce Recipes for the Melting Pot
Need some inspiration? Here are some sauces that can be prepared ahead of time and heated up on your terms.
Basting with a Cast Iron Melting Pot
Basting is the act of brushing food periodically with liquid while it cooks to add flavor and moisture.
Brushing a fat, like butter or olive oil, is a simple way to add moisture and create an epic crust.
Basting can also be done with stock, beer, or wine.
Adding aromatics, like crushed garlic, will add a depth of flavor to your dish.
Heat your basting liquid to a simmer and use the silicone brush to periodically coat your food while it cooks.
Use a leather glove to help protect your hands from heat while basting on the grill.
Tips and Tricks for the Melting Pot
- Never fill your melting pot more than 2/3 of the way full.
- Use fresh ingredients whenever possible.
- Add sugar or acid to tone down heat or make your sauce less salty.
- Add sweet ingredients toward the end of your recipe. Sugar can burn easily if you aren’t paying attention.
- Remember to balance flavors, no single ingredient should shine through the rest.
- Don’t baste with liquids that have come into contact with uncooked food.
- Discard basting liquid after use if it has come in contact with uncooked foods.
What else can I do with a Cast Iron Melting pot?
- Warm syrup for pancake and waffles
- Make caramel sauce to top desserts
- Scald milk for bread dough
- Soften butter for baking
- Melt cheese for sauces and dips
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