How Much are You willing to Pay for Cookware?

Parent Cafe
41

<p>I have Analon Pro, a bunch of pieces bought separately some 15 years old. It is flat bottom for my flat top stove, and the nonstick insides are as good as the day I bought them. I have only cooking utensils that can be used in these pans and that is key. I do have some cast iron pieces but they do not work well on the flat top electric stove. If I were buying new ones now as a thirty something, I probably would get Allclad.</p>

42

<p>I second the votes for the 35-50 year old copper-bottomed stainless steel RevereWare and stainless Farberware - this stuff is heavy and built to last.
Those are what I am buying up for my college students to have for their first apartments (some of it I may save for when they have their first jobs after college and are not so transient). It can be found at estate sales and thrift stores for VERY good prices, and it was all made in the USA. I buy 'em even if they don’t have lids, because the orphaned lids are also readily available at thrift stores. Yeah, after 30-50 years the handles and knobs may have faded a bit from their original glossy black, but the function (which is great) matters more than the appearance. Vintage RevereWare and Faberware are definitely not the cheap Chinese crap that is out there these days.</p>

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<p>My mom has LifeTime stainless cookware from when she got married in the mid-1950s - also good, heavy solid stuff. Still works great, but many of the knobs & handles have broken off. I’m making up a list of which knobs and handles she needs, because they are still available from Lifetime’s website! Then these pots will be good to go for at least several more decades.</p>

<p>Agree that it’s best to stay away from nonstick, except for a couple of inexpensive skiillets which last for two years or so at best. FWIW, Cooks Illustrated agrees with this approach. They also point out that most sets include pieces which are not the most useful sizes; therefore sets are often not a very good deal.</p>

<p>Thrift stores and garage/estate sales are my very favorite form of recycling!!</p>

43

<p>I have two sets of that farberware. The bottoms are NOT flat and they do not work efficiently on a glass top electric stove. Fine for gas stoves, however.</p>

44

<p>I have an old Farberware stainless steel set, and some cast iron pans. I won’t use any of the non-sticks–Teflon, silverstone, all of them flake, and I don’t know what’s in them. I love my cast iron pans–inherited my MIL’s and use it all the time.</p>

45

<p>Too much money and not optimal for different types of cooking jobs. I find Teflon is best for low temperature cooking where sticking may be a problem such as omelets or crepes. The Teflon will wear out sooner than the pot itself, you don’t want to eat things cooked in scratched or flaked off Teflon so you’ll have to replace it anyway so don’t sink a lot of money on those, but make sure the coating is a little durable, generally those will have a slightly pebbly appearance than totally smooth. Also make sure it’s well balanced so you can manipulate it over the burner. </p>

<p>What do you need to worry about non-stick finishes for food preps mostly dealing with boiling stuff? Get stainless for those jobs, multiple-sized saucepans and you won’t have to worry about using the wrong utensil to stir with lest it scratch off the finish.</p>

<p>Enamel-coated cast iron (such as Le Creuset but there are cheaper options) for slow-cooked stews and hearty soups. Also useful are enamel-coated saucepans for slow cooking sauces if you’re into that.</p>

<p>I like anodized aluminum for most of my skillets such as Calphalon and they go on sale from time to time in the department stores. If you are a foodie you know that it’s hard to get a good caramelization in skillets with a Teflon coating. My exception to the anodized aluminum preference is a large seasoned cast iron one which I use for just about anything that involves slow cooking, searing meat, roasting vegetables, it can take a lot of abuse. </p>

<p>Matchy-matchy may look nice but it’s not practical.</p>

46

<p>The old Cuisinart Commercial stuff from the 1980s was pretty rock
solid. I have four pictures of a saucepan. The first picture shows a
cheap junk saucepan next to a Cuisinart Commercial saucepan. The cheap
saucepan weighs 12 ounces. The CC saucepan weighs 1 pound, 11 ounces -
it’s more than twice as heavy. The CC saucepan lid weighs 8 ounces.</p>

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<p>The second picture shows the bottom which is a stainless, copper,
stainless sandwich. The handle is welded on and the handle itself is
pretty substantial. It can act as a heat sink to dissapate heat from
the saucepan. It’s all metal so you can use it to cook something in
the oven if you want to. The end of the handle has a hole for hanging.</p>

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<p>Another shot of the handle.</p>

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<p>Here’s the lid. The handle sits quite high off the lid so it’s easy to
grab with a cloth or potholder. There’s a nice recessed ring around
the inside next to the lip that meshes with the turned out edge of the
saucepan. The turned out edge makes it very easy to pour liquids from
the saucepan.</p>

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<p>As you can see, this saucepan has seen a lot of use over a lot of years.
I bought the five-piece starter set for $189 when I was single. I believe
that these were made in Europe (?France) - this was before manufacturing
moved to Asia. I used to hold a lot of dinner parties. The starter set had
a stockpot + lid, this saucepan + lid and a skillet.</p>

<p>I later bought a larger skillet + lid and a small skillet (good for
cooking 1, 2 or 3 eggs), a larger saucepan + lid and a smaller
saucepan + lid. There were two other pieces that I was interested in:
a griddle and a 5 quart dutch oven. We didn’t really need these two
items but the latter could come in handy. At any rate, this stuff is
no longer available.</p>

<p>They also sold home stuff at the time - the difference was that the home
stuff had wooden handles attached to the stainless handles. I can see
these saucepans and skillets being used for several generations.</p>

47

<p>I have several of the same pots and pans from the eighties, BC, and I still love them. Together with the few All Clad pieces I’ve added over the years, I can’t imagine ever needing to replace anything. Neither will whichever kid who inherits them.</p>

<p>BTW- you can make those pans look brand new again with a rubbing of Barkeeper’s Friend and a soft brush. :)</p>

48

<p>FYI for any of you that have the Martha Stewart enamel dutch oven: Unfortunately, they were recalled last August. Sorry, I don’t know how to post a link, but information about it is found if you do a Google search under “martha stewart dutch oven recall.” Apparently, under high heat, parts of the enamel can chip and fly off as a projectile. I was disappointed to give back my cute, inexpensive dutch oven at Macy’s, but i guess that’s why it was so inexpensive to begin with…poor craftsmanship.</p>

49

<p>On your recommendations, I bought an All Clad stainless steel frying pan and used it yesterday to make hash browns. They stuck. What am I doing wrong?</p>

50

<p>Interesting thread as I bought an inexpensive frying pan just yesterday. I like to have a Teflon pan (one large with a lid and one smaller one) and I use mine all the time. Like others have said, they definitely have a short lifespan - not more than 2 years unless you rarely use them. </p>

<p>I did get an expensive set of Teflon pots and pans when I got married and was very sad to discover that they did not last at all. While the pots were fine, the Teflon eventually bit the dust. That was a sad day. So, now I view my Teflon pans as disposable which is really sad. I did try cast iron, but I must have been doing something wrong as I did not have much success with them being non-stick. And the weight was a drawback for me as well.</p>

51

<p>

</p>

<p>I watch a lot of cooking shows, but do not practice. :slight_smile:
I saw they fry chicken and do marvels with stainless steel pans:</p>

<ol>
<li>You need to have hot oil, not smoking hot but hot enough.</li>
<li>You cannot flip/touch the food right away, you can touch it after the food is browned on one side.</li>
</ol>

52

<p>I’ve done potatoes in an All-Clad stainless frying pan, but it has been a while. Here goes:

  1. Get the pan hot.
  2. Add the oil – and an oil with a high smoking point. (I use grapeseed oil.) You need enough to really coat the bottom for potatoes. Hash Browns are not low-fat potatoes. Get the oil nice and hot – just below smoking. It should really shimmer.
  3. Make sure your shredded potatoes are reasonably dry. (If you grated them fresh, I’d put them on paper towels to make sure they’re not really wet.)
  4. Put them in the pan without stirring them around.
  5. Leave them alone to cook for the suggested start time.
  6. Use a metal spatula with a sharp front edge (not one meant for non-stick) to peek under one edge and see if they’re nice and brown. If not, wait until they are.
  7. Using the metal spatula, flip them on to a dinner plate so that the cooked side is up. (Mine are always in several segments.) Really make sure that the spatula is making contact with the pan, not leaving a bunch of potato behind.
  8. Add a little more oil to the pan. Get it hot.
    9 Use the spatula to move the hash browns back into the skillet, uncooked side down. Finish cooking and serve.</p>
53

<p>Okay. I’ll try all that. I tried frying eggs in it this morning and also not thrilled. Might have to get the Scanpan non stick pan for those things. Will keep trying the all clad for things like meat. Having hamburgers for lunch. Maybe that will work.</p>

54

<p>When I cook things in a skillet, I expect some stuff to stick unless I use a lot of oil. I just put it in the sink to soak for a while and then use a plastic spatula or plastic brush to get it off.</p>

55

<p>I wouldn’t cook eggs in my stainless steel All-Clad. For those I use my good non-stick skillet, though the cast iron would work okay too.</p>

<p>If you haven’t tried chicken in the All-Clad, give that a whirl. I’m really happy with how it turns out.</p>

56

<p>After much research about a year ago, I got a 12-piece set of cuisinart multi-clad unlimited (stainless steel interior) for about $300 on line. We love it. It’s ‘clad’ up the sides but cheaper than All-clad. The outside is anodized, so easier to take care of. I hadn’t seen any others like that, but I really like them.</p>

57

<p>I had a look at a few different pieces last night at Marshalls - Cuisinart, All-Clad, and some noname stuff. The overall quality of this stuff is better than the cheap stuff from the 1980s and the pricing is a lot better than back in the 1980s. Many of the saucepans have a later that looks to be a quarter of an inch or more on the bottom - it might be stainless or some kind of sandwich. It looks like the bottom is attached to the pot though.</p>

<p>The handles are connected with rivets through the pot instead of welded on. Some of the Cuisinarts had a pour spout too. They also had glass tops which I don’t like. It looks like there are a lot of choices out there for cookware today.</p>

58

<p>I’m cheap when it comes to cookware. I would not pay more than $100 for each pot. My $60 red cast iron Dutch oven from Costco is wonderful, and I’m loving my $50 non-stick All Clad pans. That said, I would not buy any cookware from China.</p>

59

<p>I bought my FarberWare & RevereWare stainless steel sets about 30 years ago, when I moved back to HI for good. They are still functioning extremely well and look more solid but lighter weight than anything I’ve found since. I believe the sets were $200 or less back then. For my wedding, I got a 12 and 16 quart pot as well. Have found cast iron & cast aluminum too heavy and given those pieces away. All my pots have lifetime warranties and have been replaced at NO charge by the companies. They have withstood a LOT of abuse and use.</p>

<p>Only owned non-stick cookware in college & grad school. None of it held up well, but bought it very inexpensively so wasn’t too upset at having to toss them. Don’t like the idea of eating/serving the non-stick coating as the surface fails, so shy away from owning anything with a coating.</p>

60

<p>Bumping the thread, hoping to get feedback on Scanpan skillets.</p>

<p>We bought one Classic 12" Scanpan Classic skillet on sale this week at Sur La Table, with the understanding is that policy allows returns. (I still like our 13" Calaphon, but it seems to no longer be as flat - it spins on the smooth top glass range.) We really like the Scanpan’s ultra flat bottom and head distribution and nonstick properties. Alas it’s only about one inch deep. We are considering trading up to the Scanpan Professional 12" skillet which is 3" deep.</p>