A kazan (Azerbaijani: qazan; Kazakh: қазан, romanized: qazan; Turkish: kazan) is a large cooking pot. It is used in West Asia, Central Asia, and the Balkans.
People mainly use a kazan for cooking and deep frying. It is like a cauldron or a Dutch oven. Traditional kazans have a round bottom. Modern kazans can also have a flat bottom, so people can use them on a kitchen stove. Kazans are often used to make pilaf.
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People have used the word kazan since at least the 13th century. Different forms of the word were also used in middle Turkic languages.
The forms qazan and qazghan mean "cauldron" or "pot". Qazghan has also the meaning "the hollowed-out thing".
The origin of the word is not certain. It may come from a Turkic language, but it may also have been borrowed from Persian. The name of the Russian city of Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, may have the same origin and may also mean "cauldron".
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Many Turkic peoples of Central Asia traditionally lived as nomads. Their cooking equipment therefore had to be easy to transport. Early kazans were usually shaped like half a sphere and were about half a metre wide.
The kazan may have been developed by medieval Turkic nomads. It became one of the most important cooking vessels of Turkic herding peoples. Some neighbouring peoples also began using it, including for making pilaf.
In the Ottoman Empire, the kazan was also an important symbol of the Janissaries. Janissary units sometimes turned over their kazan as a sign of rebellion. The Turkish expression kazan devirmek, meaning "to turn over the cauldron", is still used for a mutiny or rebellion.
The word kazan is also used in the Balkans. In Albanian, the word is recorded with the meaning "cauldron" in Frang Bardhi's dictionary in 1635. In Bulgaria, a kazan is known as a large vessel used for cooking.
A traditional kazan has the shape of half a sphere and has a round bottom. Modern kazans can also have flat bottoms.
A kazan usually does not have normal handles. Instead, it often has four parts around its rim that can be used to lift it. These were also useful when the kazan was carried by a pack animal.
A typical kazan is about half a metre across. It is traditionally made from cast iron. Modern kazans can also be made from aluminium.
A kazan can be placed over a fire pit. It can also be placed on a three-legged iron stand or on a special stove with a round opening. In its use and shape, it is similar to the Chinese wok and the Indian karahi.
In Uzbekistan, the kazan (Uzbek: qozon) is an important cooking vessel. Outside cities and towns, people cook many different meals in large cast-iron kazans.
In southern Kyrgyzstan, bread can be cooked in a tandoor or fried in a kazan. The same dough can be cut into small pieces and fried to make boortsog, a food often served during celebrations.
Media related to Kazan (cookware) at Wikimedia Commons