For you gourmet cooks -- cookware recommendation

[fortyfeetunder]

whoever is staying up this time of night...

I am about to replace my cookware, like frying pans, dutch ovens and the like. The only things I am keeping are my cast iron skillets and my newest Farberware dutch oven, which has a few good years left.

I need a recommendation for a superior non-stick (and preferably not Teflon or any of those fluorinated type) cookware, and I am willing to pay top dollar.

My cooking style -- low fat, low sodium, some meat, mostly vegetarian cuisine. Like to make omelets and scrambled eggs...no deep fat frying, but like to pan sear meat and saute just about anything that's not moving.

OTOH, maybe I won't ditch the old stuff, that's for the spouse to burn his cooking in, :nuke:

[Syrinx]

1. calling nothingshocksmeanymore; calling jchild

:)

[Dookus]

2. I love my

Calphalon

[Donkeyboy75]

3. Le Creuset

Hands down the best cookware out there.

Calphalon's not bad, either. I have a killer skillet made by them.

[flamingyouth]

18. Definitely

They make the best Dutch oven out there - worth every penny, and you won't go back.:thumbsup:

[wtmusic]

4. Calphalon tri-layer stainless rocks

Pan searing meat in teflon is problematic 'cause you can't stick it in the oven afterwards, and you can't get the pan hot enough for a good sear.

Stainless actually cleans up quite easily, and with the layer of aluminum in the middle heating is very even

[burrowowl]

5. Le Cruset

or cast-iron (needs good care), I forgot the name of the cast-iron, begins with an L, but google cast iron cookware and it will pop up. Less expensive than Cruset. Is not stick once seasoned and treated properly.

Lodge, here's the website:

http://www.lodgemfg.com/

My grandmothers used cast, my friends and I use cast and I lived in France for over 20 years and when you look in the kitchen of good restaurants, they use cast iron and usually Sabatier knives (carbon steel, you will need to know how to sharpen knives), marble cutting board or wood (clorox after use).

[nosmokes]

6. this is what i got some of as a gift a couple of years back

and i like it a lot.

calphalon

[burrowowl]

8. Good too

my sister has some.
Cooking on gas or electric. For searing steak cast iron on gas is best. For dutch-ovens Creuset with the lid that hold water on the top is very good an they have big sizes.

[Kenneth ken]

7. my bet:

SOteric would tell you to ditch the idea of "non-stick" and go with a good heavy copper-bottomed stainles steel.

Personally, I have stainless steel Farberware, without copper bottoms, and it works fine for me, so I haven't replaced it.

Copper is supposed to be best for even heating though.

[SOteric]

9. I will not recommend non-stick cookware.

If you have small pets such as birds, mice or hamsters, you should know that the fumes emitted by non-stick cookware at high heats are toxic to them and will kill them. Likely, they're not too healthy for people either, but the government (ever concerned about your welfare) hasn't decreed as much.

You should also know that most non-stick cookware is not designed to be used at high heats, - so pan-searing is not recommend procedure with non-sticks, - use your cast iron for that.

[Kenneth ken]

10. YAY!

but what about copper-bottomed stuff? That's the other thing I anticipated you'd say.

:thumbsup:

SOteric
:yourock: for making me not a complete liar like I was on an earlier thread! :P

[ScrewyRabbit]

11. My frying pans are All-Clad

The stainless steel cleans up almost as easily as teflon (not quite), but it's sturdier. They have copper interiors, so they're really energy efficient. They ain't cheap -- my wife and I buy one every few years, and we always keep them on our Christmas wish-lists for really generous in-laws. I can't recommend them enough.

We have one Le Cruset dutch oven, and it's fantastic.

The stuff I'm talking about isn't cheap, but I think it's worth the investment. We plan on keeping them until we're dead, so suddenly an $80 frying pan doesn't seem so unreasonable.

[jmowreader]

12. Go with commercial pans

Big, heavy commercial pans work great and you can just about drive nails with them. And I was thinking they'd be outrageous, but they're not so bad...a quick Google search turned up a 12" frying pan for $26.00 in "natural" finish and SilverStone for $39.93.

[lazarus]

13. Not only that

But you can get them used at restaurant supply warehouses.

I learned this trick from Tony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential". Every day, a restaurant goes out of business. Restaurant supply warehouses will buy up all their stuff, cheap, and sell it, cheap.

Oh, and Bourdain also recommends (and I concur) the best way to tell if the pan is good: Imagine hitting someone in the head with the pan, as hard as you can. If you think the pan won't take it, don't buy it.

:evilgrin:

[Rhiannon12866]

15. Thanks! I love Tony Bourdain!

LOL!:D

[lazarus]

16. He rules, doesn't he?

Have you seen the previews of his cookbook? Head over to Les Halles' website, it looks to rock.

If you've caught yourself on fire, you've screwed up. Words to live by.

[Rhiannon12866]

17. I agree. He is just the best and tells it like it is! Plus, he is French!

I have not seen this preview, so thanks! Good quote; I will remember this, LOL!:D

[Rhiannon12866]

14. I like Revereware, since that's what my mother has always had

and they hold up. And they are fairly easy to clean. But I may be revealing myself to be a neophyte, despite my devotion to The Food Network. As for non-stick, I just cannot live without a non-stick electric frying pan. There are so many things I seem to need this for. This is great for omelets, sauteing and sauces, at least for my purposes. As for meats, I am not big on them, either, but if I do cook them, I tend to bake chicken and broil beef.:shrug: