A kazan or qazan[1] is a type of large cooking pot used throughout Central Asia, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey,[2] and the Balkan Peninsula, roughly equivalent to a cauldron, boiler, or Dutch oven. They come in a variety of sizes (small modern cooking pots are sometimes referred to as kazans), and are often measured by their capacity, such as "a 50-litre kazan". Usually their diameter is half a meter.[1] Kazans are made of cast iron or in modern times aluminum[1] and are used to cook a wide variety of foods, including plov (pilaf), sumalak, shorpa, kesme, and bawyrsaq, and as such are an important element in celebrations when food must be prepared for large numbers of guests.
Kazans may be suspended over a fire in a variety of ways. Sometimes metal frames (a tripod called sajayaq)[1] are made, or alternatively (especially for large kazan), a hole may be dug in the ground which will hold the kazan and provide enough space underneath to keep a fire under it—in this case, an access hole is built in the side to allow the fire to be tended, and to let in air. Smaller kazans may be used on [usually gas] stoves with the help of a specially designed piece of metal that lets the heat [of the flame] transfer to the kazan while at the same time holding it upright and steady.
Etymology
The origin of the word kazan can be ultimately traced back to Old Turkic verb kaz-, meaning "gouge, carve, hollow out" and present participle suffix of +(g)An. The word evolved to Middle Turkic as kazğan, meaning "big copper vessel". Oldest written record of the word in any Turkic language is dated back to Mahmud al-Kashgari's 1073 work Dīwān Lughāt al-Turk. It is also mentioned in Codex Cumanicus.[3]
Heath hazards
Aluminum Afghani pressure cooker kazan, similar to those found to contain high levels of lead causing lead poisoning in refugee children.
Some nominally aluminium kazans in fact may be made from a mixture of smelted metals, including lead. Such kazans represent a serious health hazard if food prepared from them is eaten, particularly for children. High levels of lead have been found in pressure cooker kazans from Afghanistan.[5][4][6]
History
Kazans seem to have been invented by the Turkic nomads and were used as their basic cooking utensil.[1] They resemble in shape the Chinese wok or the Indian karahi but differ from them in shape and also lack a handle.[1] The Scythians and other Iranian peoples inhabitants of the western steppes before the Turkic migrations, used different cooking utensils.[1] They used round bottomed clay and bronze pots having a more big-bellied shape than the hemispherical profile of the kazan.[1] Some peoples neighboring the Turkic peoples adopted the kazan for its usefulness.[1] Especially in making pilaf (rice) for occasions like weddings.[1]
In the Ottoman Empire, the kazan was the common symbol of the janissary regiments and they would overturn it to indicate a quarrel with their superiors. This has led to the Turkish expression of "Kazan devirmek" "to overturn the kazan" as a synonym for mutiny.[1] The kazans of Turkey have adopted the typical flat-bottomed shape of the middle east.[1]
Toy-kazan - translates to "wedding kazan", a kazan big enough to prepare food for wedding guests
Name of the cities
Gazandjyk or Kazandzhik currently Bereket - is a city in Balkan Province in western Turkmenistan. The name is composed of Kazan and -jyk, a diminutive suffix (denoting small in size), so the name can be translated into English as cauldron-ette or pot-kin. Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia.
A wok is a deep round-bottomed cooking pan of Chinese origin. It is believed to be derived from the South Asian karahi. It is common in Greater China, and similar pans are found in parts of East, South and Southeast Asia, as well as being popular in other parts of the world.
Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food with the use of high pressure steam and water or a water-based liquid, inside a sealed vessel called a pressure cooker; the high pressure limits boiling and creates higher temperatures not possible at lower pressures which allow food to be cooked much faster than at normal pressure.
Cookware and bakeware is food preparation equipment, such as cooking pots, pans, baking sheets etc. used in kitchens. Cookware is used on a stove or range cooktop, while bakeware is used in an oven. Some utensils are considered both cookware and bakeware.
A Dutch oven, Dutch pot, or casserole dish (international) is a thick-walled cooking pot with a tight-fitting lid. Dutch ovens are usually made of seasoned cast iron; however, some Dutch ovens are instead made of cast aluminum, or ceramic. Some metal varieties are enameled rather than being seasoned, and these are sometimes called French ovens. The international name casserole dish is from the French casserole which means "cooking pot". They are similar to both the Japanese tetsunabe and the sač, a traditional Balkan cast-iron oven, and are related to the South African potjie, the Australian Bedourie oven and Spanish cazuela.
Pilaf, pilav or pilau is a rice dish, usually sautéed, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving cooked grains that do not adhere to each other.
Kitchenware refers to the tools, utensils, appliances, dishes, and cookware used in food preparation and the serving of food. Kitchenware can also be used to hold or store food before or after preparation.
Induction cooking is performed using direct electrical induction heating of cooking vessels, rather than relying on indirect radiation, convection, or thermal conduction. Induction cooking allows high power and very rapid increases in temperature to be achieved: changes in heat settings are instantaneous.
A tava(h) / tawa(h) (mainly on the Indian subcontinent), saj (in Arabic), sac (in Turkish), and other variations and combinations thereof, is a metal-made cooking utensil. The tawa is round and can be flat, but more commonly has a curved profile, and while the concave side can be used as a wok or frying pan, the convex side is used for cooking flatbreads and pancakes.
A karahi is a type of thick, circular, and deep cooking pot that originated in the Lucknow, India. It is used in Indian, Nepalese, Sri Lankan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi/Bengali, Afghan, and Caribbean cuisines. Traditionally press-formed from mild steel sheets or made of wrought iron, a karahi resembles a wok with steeper sides. Today, they can be made of stainless steel, copper, and nonstick surfaces, both round and flat-bottomed, or of traditional materials. The word Karrahi emanates from Karah, a bigger version of wok traditionally used in the subcontinent for boiling milk and producing thick cream, that stems from the Persian word کرہ meaning circular.
Heavy-duty cookware made of cast iron is valued for its heat retention, durability, ability to maintain high temperatures for longer time duration, and non-stick cooking when properly seasoned. Seasoning is also used to protect bare cast iron from rust. Types of cast-iron cookware include frying pans, dutch ovens, griddles, waffle irons, flattop grills, panini presses, crepe makers, deep fryers, tetsubin, woks, potjies, and karahi.
Central Asian cuisine has been influenced by Persian, Indian, Arab, Turkish, Chinese, Mongol, African and Russian cultures, as well as the culinary traditions of other varied nomadic and sedentary civilizations. Contributing to the culinary diversity were the migrations of Uyghur, Slav, Korean, Tatar, Dungan and German people to the region.
Tatar cuisine is primarily the cuisine of the Volga Tatars, who live in Tatarstan, Russia, and surrounding areas.
Uzbek cuisine shares the culinary traditions of peoples across Central Asia. Grain farming is widespread in Uzbekistan, making breads and noodles an important part of the cuisine, which has been described as "noodle-rich".
Sač is a large metal or ceramic lid like a shallow bell with which bread dough or various dishes to be baked are covered, and over which ashes and live coals are placed. Dishes prepared in a sač are evenly cooked, retain their juiciness, and are praised for their rich flavour.
.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Tajik pilaf with lamb and quail eggs]]
A kamado is a traditional Japanese wood- or charcoal-fueled cook stove.
Scorched rice, also known as crunchy rice, is a thin crust of slightly browned rice at the bottom of the cooking pot. It is produced during the cooking of rice over direct heat from a flame.
Qovurma is a cooked dish that is part of the cuisine of Azerbaijan. There are several varieties, all of which involve stewing meat with fruit, herbs, or vegetables.
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