Tea Kettles
- Thread starter Stevie
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
most good tea kettles are heavy enameled carbon steel. The heavier the pot, the better and faster it will heat. Avoid stainless steel as only the bottom will fully conduct heat. The Le Cruset is good, but has a losable top. Copco make adequate ones, Oxo a tad better, but if you drop it on the handle it will break.
Well, to retain my membership in the "Alton Brown probably knows what he's talking about most of the time" club - I would have to say the best would be an electric tea kettle. They heat the water faster, don't heat up the kitchen the way an on the stove kettle will, and the good ones have a safety feature that will shut it off if it boils dry so your not melting or deforming the pot, or setting the house on fire. The down side is that it takes up counter space, and you need an electrical outlet.
For on-the-stove it's really up to you. Like for any other form of cooking - the best conductors of heat are copper, aluminum, enameled steel, stainless steel, and cast iron (in that order). Of course, the better the metal conducts heat, the faster the water inside will cool off when removed from the heat.
I don't have a place to leave a kettle sitting out in my kitchen to be a decoration - so I have no inspiration to spend the extra $$ for some designer or expensive name brand model. I had an old aluminum kettle (from back in the 60's) that was just fine until my son borrowed it and I never saw it again ... so I got another one - about $12 at WalMart. It does what I need it to do just the same as a $200 model - it boils water.
For on-the-stove it's really up to you. Like for any other form of cooking - the best conductors of heat are copper, aluminum, enameled steel, stainless steel, and cast iron (in that order). Of course, the better the metal conducts heat, the faster the water inside will cool off when removed from the heat.
I don't have a place to leave a kettle sitting out in my kitchen to be a decoration - so I have no inspiration to spend the extra $$ for some designer or expensive name brand model. I had an old aluminum kettle (from back in the 60's) that was just fine until my son borrowed it and I never saw it again ... so I got another one - about $12 at WalMart. It does what I need it to do just the same as a $200 model - it boils water.
In the UK it is more common nowadays to own an electric kettle (to boil water for the interminable making of pots of tea!). Mine is a Russell Hobbs. When it goes 'pffttt' I go out and buy another RH... I did buy other brands in the past, but I found they seemed to be much shorter-lived than the RH models.
I also have an Italian designer kettle for use on my cooker. Frankly, the spout is not very good for pouring boiling water, and so it sits, like an ornament, in my kitchen!
I also have an Italian designer kettle for use on my cooker. Frankly, the spout is not very good for pouring boiling water, and so it sits, like an ornament, in my kitchen!
Constance
Master Chef
I'm an avid tea drinker, and use my kettle every day. I've had several kinds...the copper ones were nice, but a pain to keep clean. I have arthritis in my shoulders, so the Le Crueset is to heavy for me to handle. What I'm using now is enameled steel and works great. I think it was about $30.
