Cook soups, stews and porridge for 100 people in cast iron or steel cauldrons of 10-15 gallons and beans, rice and grains in 5-gallon pots, stirring with long-handled wooden paddles. A 15-gallon pot holds about 57 litres, which is 57 kg of water before the pot is counted, so it is ladled out where it stands and never lifted full.
Large-vessel cooking is the practice of preparing food for dozens of people in single pots of 5 to 15 gallons, with the stirring, handling and safety methods those sizes need.
Big Pots Change How The Work Is Done
The parent guide’s vessels are 10-15 gallon cast iron or steel cauldrons for soups, stews and porridge and 5-gallon pots for beans, rice and grains, with salvaged hotel pans, stock pots and sheet pans as extras. The main differences from home cooking are weight, scorching, stirring and slow cooling. A 10-gallon pot of stew cannot be stirred with a 12-inch spoon, the parent notes; a paddle is needed.
What You Need
- Cauldrons of 10-15 gallons that sit securely on the stove top
- 5-gallon pots for grains and legumes
- Long-handled wooden paddles, a ladle for each vessel and a shallow dipper for the pot edge
- A secure standing place at the pot’s height for the stirrer, and a clear aisle all round
- Lids, for the boil-up and to cover food held between ladling
Method: Run A Large Pot
Step 1: Load the pot by weight. One US gallon of water is about 3.785 kg, so a 15-gallon pot holds 56.8 kg of water. Fill ingredients by volume and water to the working line, never to the brim.
Step 2: Keep it moving. Stir with the paddle from the base upward. Thick porridge and bean stews catch on the bottom of a large pot, and a scorched layer spoils the batch and is slow to clean.
Step 3: Cook beans properly. The corpus guide on Grains & Legumes says soaked dried beans need a 15-minute hard boil in fresh water to destroy their lectin toxin, so beans cannot simply be warmed through in a big pot. Rice and grains get their own treatment in the same page.
Step 4: Ladle off, never lift. Serve straight from the pot or ladle into a smaller vessel. If a full pot must be moved, it is done by emptying it first.
Step 5: Portion, then cool or hold. The kitchen rules for what happens in the next two hours are in Temperature Danger Zone Management.
Common Mistakes
- Filling to the top. Boiling liquid rises and foams, and the splash lands on the stirrer.
- Pots too big for one lifter. The parent suggests 10-15 gallon pots, but a smaller pot is safer to handle when the crew is small (Scaling for 30 vs 100 vs 150 People).
- Moving the pot instead of the food. It is the commonest way a large scald happens.
Safety
Scalds from a 57 kg pot of boiling food
A boiling pot of thick food is hotter than boiling water and sticks to skin instead of running off. Never carry a full large pot, tip it toward people or leave it where a child can reach it. Stirrers stand on a firm floor and on the side away from the flue. If someone is scalded, cool the burn at once under running cool water (Thermal Injury Care) and do not apply butter, oil or mud.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Outdoor Cooking Setups — where the pots go in good weather
- Combine with: Ingredient Scaling Formulas — what goes in the pot