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Looks like we have several folks who like to cook. I know that I may be fussier with my cookware than I am with my piano!

I'm a cast iron man myself. It's hard to beat a well seasoned old black pot. Problem is in finding them. Many of the new ones on the market don't seem to "season" as well as the old ones. So I tend to haunt garage sales and flea markets looking for the ultimate pot or skillet. I'm not always successful as good cookware is willed from one generation to the next.

I also use some le crueset(?) cookware when I want just a little slicker inside surface. Still nice and heavy.

What do you like to cook in?

I'm perfectly happy with my carbon steel wok. Once it's well seasoned, you can cook anything in it, and nothing will stick to it. Beautiful thing.

Otherwise, there is my little 3L pressure cooker I got when I was in India some time back. It's a nice convenient size for making bean dishes for one.

I have a 1950ish O'Keefe and Merritt stove that comes with a griddle in the middle, and I adore it! I also use Calphalon pots and pans and Romortopf clay pots and Magic Line cake pans. Good ole' Pyrex for the pies. I also have a good, hand-me-down paella pan, but I don't know the brand.

penny

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: Penny ]

I couldn't live without my big blue Le Creuset. There is also a really cute red one shaped like a heart, but I don't own that one. Yet.

On Consumer Reports' recommendation a few years ago, I bought some Scanpan 2000 nonstick cookware, and have never regretted it. I had an iron wok but never could figure out how to season it, and now that I have a ceramic top electric stove, I find it too difficult to use that wok, anyway (Scanpan has a flat-bottomed one that works fine).

Sorry to say, but I really can't stand all those "fancy" pots and pans. I've tried lots of stuff, from cheap to outrageously expensive. The most expensive stuff was also the hardest to maintain, and even though I was pretty fastidious about maintaining it, I never felt like I was getting any better performance out of it than what I got from more modestly-priced stuff.

To me, non-stick surfaces are as useful as, well, you know the expression. I have one (count 'em) piece of non-stick cookware: a griddle. It's the only piece where I've ever found a non-stick coating to useful.

I will never again use aluminum for stovetop use, although I prefer it over just about everything else for open baking. (Don't even talk to me about tinned steel!) My covered baking vessels are just the plain white ceramic type, and I prefer these to the LeCreuset type, mostly because I'm too cheap to pay more than $40 for a casserole. Plus I can use them in the microwave.

For the stovetop I use a basic set of stainless steel Roshco pans (with a stainless-clad copper bottom) that require no more maintenance other than an occasional swipe with some Twinkle copper cleaner (I have incredibly hard well water). I throw it in the dishwasher and it's happy, and so am I.

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P.S. - Where on God's Green Earth can I find an angel food cake pan that IS NOT non-stick? Have any of these manufacturers ever actually MADE an angel food or chiffon cake???

Matt G.


go to www.surlatable.com

they have several from which to choose!

penny

[ March 11, 2002: Message edited by: Penny ]

A hand hammered wok that I've used for over 10 years and some All-Clad stuff that my wife likes. Probably because it costs an arm and a leg.

Penny,

We don't have that here but it looks expensive.

Have to edit mine as well since context is now lost.


[ March 12, 2002: Message edited by: JBryan ]

Had to edit the URL. They can be expensive, but I have found many of their products, especially the bakeware, to be worth it!

penny

If you're talking about a bundt-style cake pan, get a Pampered Chef stoneware pan. Not only can you do angel food and other cakes, but you can also take a whole chicken, impale it upright over the center (yes, it looks a pretty silly), and roast it, basting periodically. This makes some of the best chicken I've even eaten. We just did this for dinner last night.

The Pampered Chef Bar Pan and cooking stone kick butt, as well. As far as where to buy them, I believe it's a federal law that at least every third female in the U.S. has to be a Pampered Chef sales consultant - swing a dead cat in any relatively populated area, and you're bound to hit two or three of 'em.

Oh, man - I went to about a billion pampered chef parties when we were at the airforce academy. I have two baking stones - one for pizza, and a deep one for Lasagna. They are excellent. Jodi

Dwain, that is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time...I started laughing so I almost fell out of my chair...Thank you!!!

You know if you swing the dead cat in the opposite direction you will either get the Longaberger Basket or Partylite Candle consultants... Talk about getting hit from all angles!

Anne

Cookware? Before we got married my wife looked at my ramshackle collection of hand-me-down-from-relatives cookware: 3 spoons, 4 knives, 68 forks, etc. She quietly threw it all out save one cast iron skillet.

Those forks come in handy for when you want to spear a hot dog and roast it over a gas burner. Saves washing dishes. I once knew a guy who used to say "when I eat dinner I break the plate". I spent many years as a bachelor or does it show.

Heh, heh, thanks Anne, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I can say that about Pampered Chef folks. SWMBO is a recovering sales associate for them, so we've got tons of their stuff around here. When she was selling it though, all the stuff was stowed in a big Tupperware bin so she could cart it out to shows. Now that she's "gone inactive," as they say, we actually get to use the stuff. It really is top-notch gear, incidentally.

Funny you mention Longaberger. Their corporate headquarters is just a few miles east of us here. Have you ever seen their home office? It was built just a few years ago. The whole seven or eight story building is an exact replica of one of their picnic baskets. You can find a picture of it on their website:

www.longaberbger.com

[ March 14, 2002: Message edited by: Dwain Lee ]

I never went to one of those basket parties. There is no way in h*ll I would spend that kind of money on a bunch of woven twigs with a bandana sewn on the inside. Jodi

Favorite cookware? My crockpot. Throw in meat and vegies, plug it in, go play piano.

JBryan,

Your bachelor comments reminded me of an uncle I haven't seen in years. He worked for a little federal government outfit in the 60s and 70s, I believe their offices are in Langley, VA. Anytime a certain blue, silver and white Boeing jet left Andrews AFB, he left his one bedroom apartment in DC a couple of days ahead of time, to set up and perform his job. Since that particular jet likes to fly quite often, and many times at just a couple of days notice, one might come home afterwards and flop on the bed, not wanting to cook or clean up a kitchen.

Since this was before the day of the microwave, what to do?. His solution was to buy most of his food in cans, buy the cheapest, thinnest cookware he could find at Kmart. He would also buy those Melmac dinner combos that included the cups, plates, bowls, forks, knives, etc.

Dinner preparation consisted of opening a can, heating it in a cheap boiler and eating out of the pot. He would rinse out the pot, at least most of the time. If he had friends over, and they actually used the plates and the cheap silverware - why, no muss, no fuss - just take cheap cookware, cheap plates, cheap utensils and throw in trash. His one claim to fame - after living in DC almost 8 years - he had used exactly two bottles of Ivory dishwashing liquid.

The year after marrying my aunt, he gained 40 pounds!