With the holiday and post-holiday sales upon us, I plan to purchase a new pan or two. I have a great collection of cast-iron pans, but have concerns about putting ingredients such as tomato or wine in cast-iron (no enamel). That’s why new stainless steel pans are on my radar. Which pans do you use when cooking with wine or tomatoes or even citrus?
My cookware is stainless steel which is good for acidic foods and also sturdy and good with heat properties.
Is the concern about cast iron because cooking acidic foods in them functions like an iron supplement (desirable for some, but undesirable for others)?
Stainless steel works well in general.
Stainless is probably your best bet. If you really like cast iron and have deep pockets, you can go with the enameled stuff - Le Creuset or Staub.
Stainless steel and glass are both great for tomato and other acidic foods. I like microwaving in glass.
I recently bought two Zyliss non-stick pans in TJ Maxx and love them.
We are a Scanpan household… have been using their pots and pans for a while, long before “green cooking” became the in thing.
Very heavy gauge stainless, tri ply stainless with an aluminum or copper core, or anodized aluminum like the original Calphalon Commercial from 20 years ago all work well.
Tramontina makes some nice heavy gauge tri-ply clad aluminum core stainless that is similar to All-Clad and is much less expensive.
I have all of the above, and find frequent use for all of them.
The Tramontina tri ply clad wins on the value-for-the-money front.
I use my Calphalon pans (they are probably 20 years old at this point) or my All Clad.
+1 for Tramontina tri-ply. I’m a pretty serious home cook and have been happy with them at a fraction of the cost of All-Clad.
As far as non-stick pans, very few foods (eggs being a big one) need a non-stick surface. So, on non-stick skillet should be sufficient. I personally would prefer a cast iron or ceramic pan for non-stick needs over plastic based non-sticks. They used to think PFOAs were harmless but then we found out they weren’t.
I use my cast iron skillet for eggs and have no problem with sticking if it’s properly seasoned.
Zyliss has PFOA-free ceramic coating.
Our stainless pots are mainly revereware and farberware from the 1980s. The newer stuff isn’t as well made.
In the mid - late 70’s Farberware briefly made a very expensive (for the time) 5 ply “Advantage” line. They were beautiful pans, nicer than All-Clad but with a 2 quart pan going for $72 in 1979 they didn’t sell very well.
Found a set on sale when I went off to college in '76. Gave them to my son a few years ago when he moved off campus at Yale.
Scanpan uses titanium-based ceramics for their coatings. Good enough for me. I like my pots to be non-stick, too - it frees up my time from constant watching and stirring.
using their pots and pans for a while, long before “green cooking” became the in thing.
https://www.classickitchensupplies.com/best-non-stick-pan-without-teflon