Pots 'n Pans

[Moses]

Any cooks out there?

I do most of the cooking at home and I hate the stuff I have. Crappy design, average function, poor construction.

Any recommendations?

[RallyJon]

I'm a bit obsessive about this stuff.

For pots, you can't beat copper for even heating. I have a couple of Falk Culinair sauce pans and a couple of sauciers. Bourgeat is also very high quality, but it has a shiny finish, wheras the Falk has a brushed finish that's easier to keep looking decent.

For frypans, I have a couple of old Griswold cast iron skillets made by a long defunct Pensylvania foundry. They're much nicer than the cast iron you can buy new today. You can find them in antique flea markets and on Ebay. Iron's great for high heat.

For everyday skillets, I use Bourgeat teflon coated aluminum. It's very tough for a teflon pan. But for really slippery teflon, I have a Berndes omelet pan. It is the non-stickiest pan I've ever used, which is ideal for fried eggs.

I also have a huge old Griswold iron griddle, that spans two burners of my cooktop.

For baked beans, osso buco, shortribs, etc, I have a Griswold iron dutch oven that weighs a ton. It's very cool in a rustic old fashioned way, but the lid still seals perfectly after many decades of use.

[vash]

rally jon, got me thinking. he is right for stew and osso buco, i use my le cresuet (eff my spelling! sorry france.) cast iron with a hard baked on enamel finish. cast iron hold heat kickass. and you will need a good stockpot. mine is from the same french comany.

[surflvr911sc]

Don't talk to my wife unless you are ready to spend a fortune on them.

[TimT]

I love to cook... I find it relaxing, an almost a zen like experience..taken classes at various cooking schools etc..

All Clad makes great pots and pans, like the others said a few black iron fry pans (well seasoned) are a must.

When it comes to knives I love the Global brand, I just picked up a ceramic Kyocera knife its amazing, like a feather in my hand..

I also have a selection of japanese sushi blades..my mother used to go to japan frequently and would alway bring me back a new knife..

You can go as nuts equiping your kitchen as you can with your Porsche

[vash]

the japanese sushi knives are amazing. but i dont think i could follow the one sided sharpening routine. that is TOO zen like for me. plus the hi end ones are damn expensive. like kitchen samari swords. i am chinese, so if i bought a ceramic knife, i would destroy it. i need basic wustoff. love them.

[TimT]

the one sided sharpening routine

not all of the blades are one sided.. a few passes on a waterstone and you can split hairs

The ceramic knife was a total impulse buy

[jyl]

I like the anodized aluminium Calphalon stuff. They cook well. Don't clean them aggressively, wipe them down with cooking oil, and over time the fry pans get blackened and well seasoned and even easier to clean.

I also have some French copper with tinned linings, which are nice to use but a pain to keep nice-looking. Some All-Clad stainless steel pans, which are also a pain to clean. A couple cheap aluminium pans and woks with teflon no-stick coatings, which are really convenient. I used to really like cast-iron pans, but now that we hang our pans overhead anything that would be lethal if dropped on a 5-year-old is frowned upon.

Basically, I think different types of pots / pans each have their strengths and weaknesses. If you're making roux or sauce or something subtle, you'll care about even heating. If you're frying up a mess of pork chops, you want a big pan that isn't too heavy to lift. For stir-fry you want concentrated, uneven heat. For Pasta a big cheap ugly aluminium pot is fine, for other uses something that holds heat and has a tight-fitting lid is better. Etc etc. So I wouldn't get all my pots and pans in one "design". Pick them up one at a time.

[greglepore]

I'll second the cast iron recco, so long as you're young and limber-the big 'uns are heavy! Mine are 50yrs + old, and inherited, so the seasoning is mostly indestructable.

Allclad is cool, but way pricey.

Teflon for omelets. I hate the stuff, but it works for that, and that only.

As to knives (not that you asked) you need to read the third Hannibal Lechter book. Carbon steel. Mostly antique now, although Lee Valley Tools still has some cool Sabatier stuff left. I have a 24 in wet stone wheel in my basement, a gift from someone who didn't want to move it, and so I can put a professional edge on anything I want. The newer stainless stuff is low maintainence, ie you don't have to worry about putting it away wet, and it will take an "ok" edge and hold it longer, but a sharpened carbon knife will cut like a razor. Its mostly an sensory thing, but so is all of cooking when you get right down to it.

[jyl]

On knives - I like Wusthofs, Henkels, Sabatier, etc but I find them pretty expensive. Carbon is neat if you're the only one who uses it, otherwise your wife puts it away wet and you get in an argument (while holding knives). Check out a professional restaurant supply store, they have sturdy functional knives in all shapes and sizes.

In Tokyo I saw shops specializing in fish knives, there were 4 foot long "knives" meant to slice fillets from 300 lb tunas - realy awesome if you have a few thousand dollars to spare.

My ideal knife set would be a couple of paring knives, 8" chefs and slicers, a couple of 10" or 12" chefs, serrated bread knife, a couple of sushi knives, a fish knife (go to a fishing shop), a heavy Chinese cleaver, and some shears. I'd have picked them up all over the world, in the Tokyo fish market, in Paris, in Toledo, etc and each one would have a story. In practice, I have a motley mix of serviceable blades.

Also important are a good steel and a large whetstone stone.

[tabs]

I like the diversity of this thread..each person has his own menas of preparing good food.

I inherited a set of old Revere Ware, the heavy stuff. Of which I still retain a few pieces. My large 64 QT Stock Pot is Revere Ware. I also have a Griswald Dutch Oven, Chicken Frying Pan, and small Skillet. A couple of Carbon Steel Woks. However for the most part I have gone to All Clad. I have 3 pieces of copper clad and the rest is SS. LUV EM

As for knives I have Henckels, Chicago Cuttlery, Sabitier, Victronix (Swiss) and a couple of cheap Japanese knives.

To round things out I have a Kitchen Aid Cement mixer, Cusinart Food Processor and even a Gilleatto Ice Cream Maker (self contained freezer unit) that I bought from a friend who no longer wanted it. I used to have an Electric pasta maker but it broke. And I have the Salvatore Espresso maker....which U all know about....

[Hugh R]

For knives checkout cutco.com

[concentric]

Originally posted by unfixed

IMHO, good knives are more important than pots and pans. WUSTOF (sp?) is the best. they dont sell thier rejects. henckels will blow the rejects out at discount stores, while wusthof will melt the bad ones down and make new ones. quality ones are the same price for both. i tend not to keep on multitasking things in the kitchen. if it cant do more than one thing, it is outta there. except for the fire ext.

I have a bunch of Wusthof stuff, too. They're really great kitches knives.

Jason

[Moneyguy1]

LeCreuset pans and Wustoff cutlery. No question. It is not how much you spend on something as much as it is how often you wind up having to spend it.

[VINMAN]

For knives I prefer Wusthofs, Pots and pans, i have some All-Clads and alot of commercial stuff from the restaraunt supply
The commercial stuff is bullet-proof, I luv it. it may not be as pretty but it will last forever. And they are not that expensive.
Alot of cast iron pans too, some foods just cook better in cast iron. I dont like the anodized stuff , it is a pain to take care of , and scratches too easy.

I refuse to by French cook-ware. as good as it is.

[azasadny]

I'm thinking about getting my wife a set of All-Clad stainless steel cookware. The stainless steel set is the only one that All-Clad says is "dishwasher-safe". Does anyone here have any of the All-Clad cookware?

[Superman]

Without going over a litany of brand names, I'll give my generic input:

Knives: It's all about the steel. Germany used to make the best, and now perhaps Japan does. When you have obtained the knife (knives) that you need, have them professionally sharpened. There is one fellow in the Seattle area that all the major chefs send their knives to. This is not for amateurs. Once a good edge has been put on a good knife, you shouldn't need to sharpen it for a long time. And cutting grizzly things with embedded reinforcing steel in them will be like cutting warm butter. No kidding.

For pots and pans, I'm still a steel guy. Copper clad steel. Transfers heat well, lasts forever. Cast iron for some stuff, but certainly copper clad steel for sauce pans. I plan to never ever cook on Teflon again in my life.

[azasadny]

We have had Trident Wusthof knives for about 5 years now and we love them. I really want to get Beth a nice set of cookware, but I can't imagine buying anything that can't go in the dishwasher, especially cookware. The stainless steel set is the only set that All-Clad claims is dishwasher-safe, so that would make both of us happy...

[Tobra]

Originally posted by Hugh R
For knives checkout cutco.com

I like Cutco, nice blades, great molded handles. I have a set of Gerber knives that I like a lot too, good steel, nice balance with weights in handles All of them are full length tang, or whatever it is called when the metal goes the lenght of the knife

Cast iron is tough to beat, taken care of properly, they will outlast your grandchildren. Copper clad steel is best for all else. Do not buy cheap stuff, it will piss you off more than crappy luggage because you will use it every day. Don't care for teflon coated stuff much.

[Steve Carlton]

I've been really pleased with my All-Clad Copper Core. I went through MetroKitchen, and they couldn't have been nicer. The best deals are on the sets, but they'll work with you to give you a similar deal on a set you design. They also had some killer discounts on certain items.

http://www.metrokitchen.com/all-clad/copper_core.html