Kettle

A kettle is a kitchenware piece. Depending on culture and geographic location, in the context of kitchenware the word kettle can have a variety of meanings.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a kettle is a device used to quickly heat water for hot drinks, such as tea or instant coffee. It is normally constructed out of durable plastic or stainless steel (with a plastic handle) and powered by mains electricity. Once the water has reached boiling point, the kettle automatically deactivates to prevent the water boiling away and damaging the heating element. Sometimes stove-mounted metallic kettles are used that have a steam whistle that indicates when the water has reached boiling point. Prior to the invention of the electric kettle, this was the most common form of heating drinking water. Note that most Britons and Irish people use instant coffee granules to make coffee drinks, or granules in conjunction with a cafetière and the use of coffee-making machines is relatively uncommon in households.

"Cordless" kettles became popular in the 1980s and 1990s - these consist of a plastic base connected to the mains outlet, and a separate kettle. They both have electrical contacts that connect when the kettle is placed on top of the base to supply power to the kettle, and can be easily detached from each other to allow easy movement of the kettle to the sink and elsewhere. Corded kettles generally use detachable IEC C15 and C16 connections.

Elsewhere in the world (and sometimes in the UK) the word kettle in this context indicates a metal pot for boiling or stewing. In this context, a kettle is probably the most ancient kind of metal cooking utensil.

The word kettle originates from Latin catillus, which in various contexts is translated as bowl, deep dish, or funnel.

Specific types

A teakettle (tea kettle) is a pot with a spout and a lid to boil water for tea.
A cauldron is a large kettle hung over an open fire, usually on an arc-shaped hanger called a bail.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.