How did I ruin my wife's enameled pot?

[NickB79]

If anyone who cooks with enamel pots can answer my question, I'd be very grateful.

I set the pot on the stovetop and turned on the burner to heat it up while I chopped some celery and onions for a soup. After a few minutes, I heard a "pop-pop-pop" sound, and went to inspect the pot. On the bottom, I found several chips down to the metal that I SWEAR were not there before I put it on the stove. It's like the enamel popped off.

Is this a normal effect of overheating an enameled pot? Was it not cleaned enough? Was this a manufacturing defect?

I'm going to run out and buy my wife a replacement (and beg for forgiveness), but I have to know what I did wrong so I don't do this again.

[pkdu]

1. Did you have liquid in the pot?....if not that will do it. nt

[SummerSnow]

2. was the pot non-stick?

Oh, and enamel chips off easily.

[Warpy]

3. Enameled steel fails like that very quickly

Enameled cast iron has a little more mass to heat up and fails much more slowly, but it will eventually fail if you leave an empty pot on high heat. Moderate heat usually won't do it, I have an enameled cast iron grill pan that has to be preheated on a medium burner or food will weld to it. It's 15 years old and hasn't failed yet.

After you replace the pot, make a habit of having food prepped to go in when you turn the heat on and don't use anything but a moderate setting/flame unless the pot is full of liquid.

[PoliticAverse]

4. Never heat an enamelel steel pot when it is empty. If you do...

it can easily get too hot and because the steel base expands at a different rate than the enamel itself
it can cause enough stress to crack the enamel and cause it to separate from the steel base.

[mercuryblues]

5. heat too high?

[Heddi]

6. Did you put some oil or liquid in the pot beforehand?

if not, that's probably what did it. Always needs to have oil, broth, butter -- something in the bottom when it's heating.

[Raster]

7. With heavy duty non-enamled pots, you put them on the stove, let them get hot...

... and then add a glug or two of oil or other lube. With enamled pans, you should put the oil in first and then heat it up gradually. Do NOT use high heat.

[furtheradu]

8. DUDE.

only kitchen sin WORSE.. messin' up the cast iron skillet. *shudder*
Yep, no liquid in the pot, & temperature too high.
Best high-tail it to the store for a replacement, asap. I suggest You also confess. She WILL know.
(Brownie points for honesty)
& extra points for cooking, despite the 'disaster'!!

[pinboy3niner]

9. You heated it without making a sacrifice to the kitchen god?

That's your problem right there.

[NickB79]

10. OK, heat too high with no liquid sounds like the winning answer.

At least I learned something new from the whole ordeal, even if I have to replace some kitchenware to do so. On the plus side, it was an inexpensive pot from Walmart. Maybe I'll buy her a higher-end one to say sorry.

But in my defense, I typically cook with my cast iron skillet.

[pinboy3niner]

11. I split a cast iron skillet once

I was getting it very hot for blackened redfish, but I mistakenly grabbed the wrong skillet--the one that hadn't been re-seasoned yet.

[Lochloosa]

13. No comment

[LuvLoogie]

12. Le Creuset is nice stuff. Lodge cast iron is made in USA,

But the enamel ware is made in China. Try Marshall's. You might get lucky on a Le Creuset find. I did a few years ago. Shop around.