cookware suggestions

[pilote]

...why not get a set as a basic starting point? it's cheaper to buy a 7-9-12pc set of a top brand of your choosing (and usually on sale) than to buy individual pieces; from there you can add pots/pans to expand your inventory as you need them...

i started with a calphalon 9pc set; i now have, i don't know, 25+ pieces...

[stogieburner]

I guess I was not asking what style, size and shape to buy. What I was looking for was what brand people liked best. Is there a brand that is considered superior to others.


For Us a set would work best for a kicking off point since we are starting over
we lost everything in our kitchen fire a month ago.

In the past we had hard anodized and non stick and were pretty happy with them. The insurance package that rented us all of our things gave us a stainless that is just awful too thin and no heat distrubution.

[grtrx]

brands... depends on what you want, again... I like my casserole - its le crueset. I have a no brand saute pan (14 inch) bought at a restaaurant supply store 25 years ago. What I look for is weight (heavy tends to transfer and hold heat more evenly). I look for the shape of the pan, if its a saice pan I look at the lid, the handles, etc.

I like handles that are metal so you can put the pan in the oven. I like metal lids for the same reason.

There are a lot of nice brands out there. I've found pieces in places like the stores T J Maxx has that sell house stuff, Sams Club, restaurant supply stores... when I see a piece I need I grab it. I love to shop at Sur le Table or Williams Sonoma to see stuff and hold it and ask about it, but they are way expensive unless you catch a sale.

Cookware is a lot like knives - very personal what 'feels' right to you.

I love cast iron but I tell you, I pick it up second hand because I hate seasoning it.

[pilote]

Originally Posted by grtrx

...Cookware is a lot like knives - very personal what 'feels' right to you...

...and what looks right to you, and what you want to afford...le crueset, calphalon, all clad, cuisinart, circulon commercial are nice gourmet brands; kitchen aid, farberware, magnalite; all can cook your food at a lesser price...i know a few chefs that use wolfgang puck's line at home; word is it's great value for the money...

and the only time i go to a restaurant supply house is when i need something that i can't get at a retail store, like a large chinois strainer or heavy thickass baking sheets; most peeps want nice looking cookware at home...looks don't matter in a pro kitchen...but if you want what a pro kitchen uses, by all means go for it...

gourmet cookware can make you a better cook, but lots of peeps just want to get something cooked up just to eat...decide where you're at, then choose/spend accordingly...

[gui_tarzan]

Originally Posted by BigO

Nobody...and by that I mean NOBODY, could fry chicken like my grandma.

I dunno Jason, my great-grandmother made the best chicken I've ever had in my life. I just wish I had the recipe...

[Briandg]

I never knew anyone who could mess up fried chicken worse than my mother in law, and later, my wife, trying to do what my mother in law did.

I shudder to think that chickens died so that my MIL could cook them. Poor bastards should have been eaten over easy, in order to avoid the humiliation.

[BigO]

Originally Posted by pilote

...and what looks right to you, and what you want to afford...le crueset, calphalon, all clad, cuisinart, circulon commercial are nice gourmet brands; kitchen aid, farberware, magnalite; all can cook your food at a lesser price...i know a few chefs that use wolfgang puck's line at home; word is it's great value for the money...

and the only time i go to a restaurant supply house is when i need something that i can't get at a retail store, like a large chinois strainer or heavy thickass baking sheets; most peeps want nice looking cookware at home...looks don't matter in a pro kitchen...but if you want what a pro kitchen uses, by all means go for it...

gourmet cookware can make you a better cook, but lots of peeps just want to get something cooked up just to eat...decide where you're at, then choose/spend accordingly...

Of course, you must buy what you feel comfortable with. I based my admonishment against buying sets mainly because there's that pan you never use but still has a place in your cabinet. Sets have their place. I have two sets (Wolfgang Puck and Emeril) in my repertoire. They were both gifts, and I am grateful for them. However, had it been my own cash seeking them, I'd have added some and deleted others. Given my editorial directive here, I will have to expound on my choices in an upcoming VG column. Look for it soon.

As for the perfect fried chicken, it's a toss-up between a vessel that can hold heat and the fat that is employed to fry said chicken. It's possible to duplicate Granny's fried chicken, but you're going to have to do it in her cast-iron pan and use lard to fry it in to reach fried chicken Nirvana.

Besides that, it's just salt, pepper, chicken, flour and fat.

[Trblmkr]

Wife and I just bought (well around Christmas) a nice Calphalon set (10pc), and then bought a few extra pieces that we needed on top of those. The reason I bought the set I did, was I wanted something that would be able to go from the stove top to the oven. Something that was not teflon coated so I could use metal utinsels, and dishwasher safe. And the most important thing was I wanted it to do even heating.

A set can be good, if you only use the basics for your normal day to day cooking. Because of those on this board and CF, I also purchased a nice Cast Iron Skillet to cook steaks during the winter time in the oven.