The chinese double boiler
the cantonese's favourite soup pot

This is not a bain-marie or a double boiling sauce pan for melting cheese and chocolate. This is basically a cantonese soup pot. The cantonese (people from Hong Kong and provine of Guangzhou) used this to cook their loving tonic soups. They love to double boil their soups. It is believed to seal the nutrients and flavor of the ingredients in the soups. The double boiling pot has two covers; a small flatter inner cover and a bigger dome-shaped outer cover. Basically all the prepared ingredients are placed in the double-boiler together with just enough water or soup stock to cover the ingredients. The 2 covers are then placed securely on top of the pot. This results in minimum evaporation. The double-boiler is then placed inside a big pot half-submerged in water. Cover the pot and heat the water in the pot on medium heat or just sufficient heat so that the water does not boil over. The chinese double boiler cannot be used directly on the stove top. It will break. Soups cooked in these pots are usually served directly from the double boilers. So besides being a cookware, they double up as tableware. As such, many have very nice and interesting designs. The one I have now have fishes hand painted with blue paint. Fish symbolises abundance, more than enough. And we chinese like a good symbol. Recipes healthy chicken soup with astragalus Chicken foot soup