Caldero

A heavy pot with a tight lid: rice, beans, and island stews that want a seal more than a show.

Also called caldero pot · From Spain and the kitchens that kept the word

A heavy aluminum caldero with its lid ajar on rice and a wooden spoon.

The journey

Caldero names a pot and a rice. In Spain it is the vessel a fisherman's stew still wants. In the Caribbean and along the Andes the same word landed on the weekday pot — thicker than a saucepan, tighter than a cazuela.

A Dutch oven is the cousin in English. Caldero is the word the Spanish-speaking kitchens in the series still use.

A 1780 map of Spain and Portugal — the pot whose name traveled with rice and beans. — Rigobert Bonne, map of Spain and Portugal (1780) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Sofrito first, then the grain or the beans, then a lid you do not lift. The socarrat or the bean broth is the prize.

Spanish, Caribbean, Colombian, and Peruvian pages all reach for this shape. Cast iron stands in if the word is what you lack.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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