Corning Ware Catalogue Alert!

[danemodsandy]

Just a heads-up for our Corning Ware fans:

The excellent Corelle Corner Website has just posted a new goodie - the complete 1967 Corning Ware retail catalog, showing everything available that year, including cradles and replacement parts. It's a motherlode of information, including parts numbers, so saving a copy to your hard drive would be a great resource to have on hand. Corelle Corner watermarks all its photos, and the size is not huge, but they are very legible and enlarge okay.

Because this is before 1973, all items shown are P-Series, with the more rounded shape and the small knobs on the lids. Later, A-Series items with the squarer shape and larger knobs are not shown at all. There's even a section of All White items, including the buffet servers that you don't see too often.

Anyway, here's a link:

http://www.corellecorner.com/corning-ware-advertisements-catalogues/131-corning-ware-brochures-z-131.html

 

[danemodsandy]

One More Note:

The thing I found fascinating about the catalogue is that it shows some items complete that you rarely find that way - so rarely that few people know about what should be with them.

You see the 16-inch Broil 'n Serve platter a lot - I have one. But I didn't know mine wasn't complete - it should have a broiling grid and a cradle. It's info like this that adds a lot to the enjoyment of the hunt.

 

[combo52]

Corning ware alert

Thanks Sandy for posting this, this is always fun stuff to look at.

I started to collect Corning Ware bake ware more than 25 years ago because of my interest in Micro-Thermal ovens and living in a region of the country where there were three CW factories within a hundred mile radius I have found all kinds of cool pieces at auctions and thrift stores. At two auctions alone I bought over 100 pieces of CW including the rare Holiday-Christmas pieces that were given out to employees at Christmas. I now have every Christmas piece from 1960-2004, and even the guy that wrote the " the complete guide to CORNING WARE & VISIONS cookware book could not come up with a single picture of these unquiet pieces for the book, LOL, he mentioned in his book that he knew that they existed.

I know that I have three hundred pieces of CW by now, sometime We should get together and write our own book.

John L.

 

[retromania]

OMG

OMG!!!

 

[danemodsandy]

What's Kind of Sad....

....Is that it's entirely possible I've seen that broiling grid and the cradle in thrift stores, separated from the Broil 'n Serve platter.

I have known about the cradle for a while, and am now on the lookout for it, but I had no idea about the broiling grid, so there could have been one right in front of me and I had no clue.

I have long said about hunting for collectibles: "It's not enough to know what you're looking for - you need to know what you're looking at."

 

[rp2813]

I've seen the candle warmers in thrift stores but for the longest time didn't realize they were Corning items.  Once I did, I nabbed the next one I saw and my Trefoil saucepan fits on it perfectly.

 

[danemodsandy]

Ralph:

There was also a cast-metal candle warmer that was intended for use under the coffee pots and beverage servers.

It also works like a charm under the 1-quart saucemaker, which makes the saucemaker a very capable gravy/sauce server for larger groups of people. There is nothing more inadequate than the average gravy boat at a dinner for more than four people.

The candle warmer was the P-119W, and it was still available in '67. A photo of the same one I have is below; there was also a later version with a removable candle cup, which was given the same catalogue number as the earlier version:

 

[tomturbomatic]

I have to tell you that the Broil and Serve Platter is a farce, a concept that will not work. When you broil something, even with the rack, the spatters cook onto the Pyroceram under the intense heat of the broiler so it can't be brought to the table. It's an acceptable well and tree platter, but you really can't let a good carving knife reach the Pyroceram because it is very bad for knife edges. While there was a cradle for it, the platter was sold without it, too.

 

[danemodsandy]

Tom:

As a cook, I get that about the Broil 'n Serve platter, but as a collector, I'm still wanting the whole thing. Corning did make some items that didn't work very well, but they're still interesting failures, and at least they tried. For the buck or two a real thrift store charges for surviving examples, I'm good with that.

The Corning Ware saucemaker is a very bad saucemaker, because Corning Ware is very non-responsive stuff, taking forever to heat and forever to lose heat - the very antithesis of the performance characteristics needed for saucemaking. But it's a terrific gravy server, as I mentioned upthread. So, sometimes the "problem" factor isn't as problematic as all that.

Part of the reason I collect is that collectibles take me back to a time when Corporate America tried to entice consumers with new concepts and new technologies - plus designing for a "WOW!" factor. Now, it's slap a hallowed American trademark on indifferently-designed, cheaply-made overseas merchandise. It's a bore.

 

[rp2813]

Non-responsive?

My stovetop experience has been just the opposite (but I agree about how it retains heat).  Could it respond differently to a gas flame as opposed to an electric coil?

 

[danemodsandy]

Ralph:

Remember that I'm an electric fan, so things are probably different.

My experience has been; slow to heat, with a sudden "spike" in the heat. It's stubborn about heating, and it's essential to resist the temptation to crank the burner setting up, because that will result in sudden overheating.

Having Sensi-Temp on my new GE range eliminates this problem.

 

[tomturbomatic]

Not Corning, But

The best thing for holding gravy on a buffet is the Hoover fondue with the fondue pot sitting in the cast aluminum skillet with the thermstatic heat contol. The red color also ads a festive touch. Salton made a small square glass top warmer called a "Hotrayette" for under a carafe of coffee that should also be good for gravy. It is model H-100. The heated surface is 5.5 X 5.5 inches and it is rated at 120 watts. Other Salton Hotrays had a hotspot for gravy or coffee servers. It has a detachable cord. The only thing is that you have to have a saucer for the ladle because metal, especially silver, gets too hot to handle sitting in hot gravy. The fondue pot is also shallower than the 1 qt. saucemaker. I use my Corning Ware mostly in the microwave.