Favorite cookware, kitchenware, and other such things.
May 19, 2018 0:29:10 GMT -5
ahntjudy likes this
Post by pepperhead212 on May 19, 2018 0:29:10 GMT -5
I started this thread because we hijacked another thread; though it was related, it was actually about cleaning stoves!
Everyone has their favorites, as far as what they cook with. But let's face it, there is no perfect pan, or metal, that can cook everything best, any more than there is a single knife you can do all of your cutting with.
Back in the 70s is when I started "accumulating" my kitchen equipment. That's when some of the pan types were new on the retail market - anodyzed aluminum (Calphalon) and the sandwich bottom SS pans. I didn't like the sandwich bottoms - the heat would come up on the thin areas and burn what was in contact with that part of the pan. This might have been OK for electric, but not gas, esp. high output. I liked the calphalon immediately, however, as it was heavy, and would brown things like CI, yet was non-reactive. It is also "stick resistant", not really non stick, but stuff comes off pretty easily. Until just a few years ago, the 12" calphalon sauté pan was probably the most used pan on my wall, followed closely by the 14" wok. When I started using that induction burner in the summer, to avoid huge amounts of heat from the gas, I gave that, and 4 other calphalon pans to some friends, and replaced them with induction friendly SS, with Aluminum sandwich up the sides, which most of the good ones are now. Still, I don't like them as much as the calphalon, but I wasn't going to switch them back and forth - I'd rather somebody be getting use out of them now.
Another metal I have a bunch of pans of is copper - real copper, not that copper colored ceramic coating (though I do have a wok of that, which is very good). You can tell real copper because it is HEAVY! Cheap copper doesn't have a thick layer of copper, but of SS, while these have thin SS layer, and 2 of them are tinned - the old way of protecting copper. I got all of these pans in those early trips to NYC in the 80s, and the price these days would be prohibitive! Nothing browns more evenly, or heats up as fast as copper. I never got a copper sugar syrup pan (an unlined pan, used just for this), but one of the saucepans I use for this, and the good thing is that it stops cooking almost as soon as it is taken from the heat, while most pans have a bunch of residual heat in them.
As for cast iron, I don't use it as much as I used to, since it is one of those things, like my carbon steel wok, that you have to use all the time to keep it seasoned. I have a 12", and a 9" square, plus 2 cornbread pans, which make 6 wedges of cornbread - nothing like those! Still, don't use often anymore. And carbon steel pans are all the rage in the last several years, even though I got a bunch of them early on for under $10/pan, most of which I used for crepes (which I don't make too often now). And one pan I still have, I can't bring myself to get rid of is an omelette pan of CS, curved, so that I can make a 2,3,or 4 egg omelette in it, and it was virtually NS, when used constantly. It's rusted now, I'm sure.
I definitely wouldn't use a plain cast iron dutch oven, since much of what I would cook in it would be acidic (tomatoes and wine), and this would be a problem, with a long cooked dish. However, enameled cast iron is another favorite of mine, for soups and stews, and I have a 9 and 5 qt oval, and a 5 and 2 qt round, and one I got super cheap one time - a heart shaped one, for Valentines day, or other similar time. These are the original slow cookers - the edges would be sealed with dough, then put in a 200º oven for many hours, giving such dishes as "spoon leg of lamb", in which the meat can be spooned off the bones!
NS cookware has gotten a bad rap in recent years, and we are told not to heat it up too hot, or it releases toxins. Not to mention, NS never did last very long, before it would start sticking, due to the food burned into the pores, STS. You would think that this should just season it, like with CI and CS, but food would just start sticking. In recent years they came out with that ceramic NS coating, and I got one of the woks with it, and it has worked well for a few years now, using it for several messy things (nam prik pao, and Mexican sauces cooked down, to name two), and it would scrape clean immediately. And recently I replaced two old NS skillets with the gray ceramic ones; it's too soon for me to give an opinion, but the first test was an omelette, which slid right out, no problem. But, beware, I had looked and looked at these things, and many said they were safe "up to 400º", or "up to 350º"! Huhhhh??? Grease gets hotter than that in pans! And they weren't plastic handled, so I don't know what the problem was with all of those. The ones I got are safe to 500º, which is about the max of any I found.
And a very useful electric appliance I got a few years ago is that Instant Pot - a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, and a few other things, all in one. I got rid of two stove top pressure cookers, a rice cooker, and a slow cooker, and use this in place of them! Probably the pressure cooker is what I use most, but often I use the slow cooker, which has 3 heat levels. Takes some experimenting to get used to times for all those different grains and beans I cook, but it does work well. And it has a SS pot, not a NS pot, like most, and it has a "saute" setting, which you use for cooking the bacon, onions, garlic, and whatever else you would normally cook on the stovetop, before adding to a slow cooker. It's great for summer cooking, since it puts out little heat, compared to my gas range.
I also have another countertop electric appliance, that I got in '77, and it's still working great! It's the convection oven - where the majority of my loaves of bread have been baked through the years. Got me hooked on convection, before it was even seen in most brands of ranges.
I didn't even mention all that bakeware I have, but I have to share one with you, before I finish - one of my round bread pans. Great for round luchmeat. I have a lot of sizes, I have saved through the years:
DSCF0612 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
Share your thoughts and tips here!
Everyone has their favorites, as far as what they cook with. But let's face it, there is no perfect pan, or metal, that can cook everything best, any more than there is a single knife you can do all of your cutting with.
Back in the 70s is when I started "accumulating" my kitchen equipment. That's when some of the pan types were new on the retail market - anodyzed aluminum (Calphalon) and the sandwich bottom SS pans. I didn't like the sandwich bottoms - the heat would come up on the thin areas and burn what was in contact with that part of the pan. This might have been OK for electric, but not gas, esp. high output. I liked the calphalon immediately, however, as it was heavy, and would brown things like CI, yet was non-reactive. It is also "stick resistant", not really non stick, but stuff comes off pretty easily. Until just a few years ago, the 12" calphalon sauté pan was probably the most used pan on my wall, followed closely by the 14" wok. When I started using that induction burner in the summer, to avoid huge amounts of heat from the gas, I gave that, and 4 other calphalon pans to some friends, and replaced them with induction friendly SS, with Aluminum sandwich up the sides, which most of the good ones are now. Still, I don't like them as much as the calphalon, but I wasn't going to switch them back and forth - I'd rather somebody be getting use out of them now.
Another metal I have a bunch of pans of is copper - real copper, not that copper colored ceramic coating (though I do have a wok of that, which is very good). You can tell real copper because it is HEAVY! Cheap copper doesn't have a thick layer of copper, but of SS, while these have thin SS layer, and 2 of them are tinned - the old way of protecting copper. I got all of these pans in those early trips to NYC in the 80s, and the price these days would be prohibitive! Nothing browns more evenly, or heats up as fast as copper. I never got a copper sugar syrup pan (an unlined pan, used just for this), but one of the saucepans I use for this, and the good thing is that it stops cooking almost as soon as it is taken from the heat, while most pans have a bunch of residual heat in them.
As for cast iron, I don't use it as much as I used to, since it is one of those things, like my carbon steel wok, that you have to use all the time to keep it seasoned. I have a 12", and a 9" square, plus 2 cornbread pans, which make 6 wedges of cornbread - nothing like those! Still, don't use often anymore. And carbon steel pans are all the rage in the last several years, even though I got a bunch of them early on for under $10/pan, most of which I used for crepes (which I don't make too often now). And one pan I still have, I can't bring myself to get rid of is an omelette pan of CS, curved, so that I can make a 2,3,or 4 egg omelette in it, and it was virtually NS, when used constantly. It's rusted now, I'm sure.
I definitely wouldn't use a plain cast iron dutch oven, since much of what I would cook in it would be acidic (tomatoes and wine), and this would be a problem, with a long cooked dish. However, enameled cast iron is another favorite of mine, for soups and stews, and I have a 9 and 5 qt oval, and a 5 and 2 qt round, and one I got super cheap one time - a heart shaped one, for Valentines day, or other similar time. These are the original slow cookers - the edges would be sealed with dough, then put in a 200º oven for many hours, giving such dishes as "spoon leg of lamb", in which the meat can be spooned off the bones!
NS cookware has gotten a bad rap in recent years, and we are told not to heat it up too hot, or it releases toxins. Not to mention, NS never did last very long, before it would start sticking, due to the food burned into the pores, STS. You would think that this should just season it, like with CI and CS, but food would just start sticking. In recent years they came out with that ceramic NS coating, and I got one of the woks with it, and it has worked well for a few years now, using it for several messy things (nam prik pao, and Mexican sauces cooked down, to name two), and it would scrape clean immediately. And recently I replaced two old NS skillets with the gray ceramic ones; it's too soon for me to give an opinion, but the first test was an omelette, which slid right out, no problem. But, beware, I had looked and looked at these things, and many said they were safe "up to 400º", or "up to 350º"! Huhhhh??? Grease gets hotter than that in pans! And they weren't plastic handled, so I don't know what the problem was with all of those. The ones I got are safe to 500º, which is about the max of any I found.
And a very useful electric appliance I got a few years ago is that Instant Pot - a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, and a few other things, all in one. I got rid of two stove top pressure cookers, a rice cooker, and a slow cooker, and use this in place of them! Probably the pressure cooker is what I use most, but often I use the slow cooker, which has 3 heat levels. Takes some experimenting to get used to times for all those different grains and beans I cook, but it does work well. And it has a SS pot, not a NS pot, like most, and it has a "saute" setting, which you use for cooking the bacon, onions, garlic, and whatever else you would normally cook on the stovetop, before adding to a slow cooker. It's great for summer cooking, since it puts out little heat, compared to my gas range.
I also have another countertop electric appliance, that I got in '77, and it's still working great! It's the convection oven - where the majority of my loaves of bread have been baked through the years. Got me hooked on convection, before it was even seen in most brands of ranges.
I didn't even mention all that bakeware I have, but I have to share one with you, before I finish - one of my round bread pans. Great for round luchmeat. I have a lot of sizes, I have saved through the years:
DSCF0612 by pepperhead212, on Flickr
Share your thoughts and tips here!