the.com/double boiler
two pots conspiring to never let chocolate feel the violence of direct flame
means A pair of nested pots where the upper one holds your delicate food and the lower one holds simmering water, so the heat arrives gently and indirectly rather than scorching from a flame.
from A plainly descriptive English compound: "double" for the two-vessel setup and "boiler" for the pot doing the boiling below. It's the kitchen cousin of the French bain-marie (literally "Mary's bath"), a much older term for the same gentle-heat trick, traditionally tied to an alchemist named Maria — though that attribution is itself a tangled tale. "Double boiler" is the homelier, no-nonsense name the technique picked up in English-speaking kitchens.
- max temp
- capped near 100C by the water below
- why steam
- gentle heat saves chocolate, custard, delicate sauces
- fake one
- a metal bowl over a simmering pot works fine
- bain-marie
- French name for the same hot-water trick
- no boiling water
- water must not touch the upper bowl
bain-marie — french cooking technique using hot water bath, documented since 18th century, named after mary the jewess
chocolate tempering setup — professional chocolatiers use double boilers to melt chocolate at precise 45-50°c without scorching