klein@ucbcad.UUCP (01/03/85)
My wife (who has taken French cooking classes and does quite a bit of fancy cooking) and I recently decided on our strategy for buying pots and pans. I've been following this discussion for a while, and our strategy corresponds pretty closely to what a couple of people in this group are saying. We also discovered a brand not mentioned here before, Master Chef, which we ended up buying. Our strategy: - Buy fewer things, of better quality. - Buy the real fancy cookware only where necessary. - Buy the real fancy cookware without hesitation where it makes a difference. - If you're doing serious cooking, the cookware has to be nearly indestructible, lightweight if possible, well balanced. - Always look for the best dollar value within the above guidelines. First, what our strategy precludes, with our reasoning (comments welcome): - Cast iron (too heavy, aluminum and/or copper do just fine heat-wise, can discolor foods) - Enameled surfaces (too easily damaged) - Non-stick coating (too easily damaged) - Copper except where absolutely mandatory (too expensive) Our first purchases were a sauce pan and a frying pan. These are critical pieces. We wanted to look at Cuisinart, Calphalon, and Magnalite, plus we found the Master Chef. Summarizing what we found about these: All: Thick, high heat conductivity. Do not color or react with foods. (Except Calphalon) have tight-fitting lids. Cuisinart: The copper sandwich idea is good but you can do just as well with thicker aluminum for less $$. Seems pretty indestructible. We got the free griddle with our food processor and it is great. We did not actually find any Cuisinart, so we couldn't evaluate balance. Magnalite: Surface is damaged by dishwasher and by metal utensils. Rough surfaces ==> hard to clean when burned. Considered similar to but overall lower quality than Calphalon. Calphalon: Same care problems as Magnalite, but smoother surfaces. Poor balance. Poor-fitting lids. Handles get hot, are at a bad angle for holding. Master Chef: Well balanced. Handles comfortable, stay quite cool. Stainless steel interior so can use metal utensils and can go in dishwasher. Master Chef is actually one of three lines made by a company whose name I can't remember (useful, ehh?). The other two are a Magnalite/Calphalon type and a copper type. Pricewise, Magnalite, Calphalon, and Master Chef are pretty close. We found the Master Chef in a small shop in Palos Verdes (Southern Calif). They are sending us a listing of other retailers when they get around to it. We tried out our new pans doing some tough seafood sauteeing. Utterly great, every place in the pan was bubbling about the same even though our burners are pretty spotty (electric). Stainless steel interior is easy to clean. No problem to do the stirring you see the chefs on TV do by lightly flicking the pan. -- -Mike Klein ...!ucbvax!ucbmerlin:klein (UUCP) klein%ucbmerlin@berkeley (ARPA)