Paula Dean Cookware

[iheartmaytag]

My mother bought me two new Paula Dean Saute pans this weekend. When we picked them out we specifically looked if they were compatable with Ceramic/glass cooktops. When we got them home and unwrapped the instructions inside warns that they could adhere/fuse or stick to ceramic/glass cooktops and they were not responsible for this hapening or the damages that ensued. I have had this stove for 13 years and have never had a problem, but don't want to take a chance of damaging the cooktop now.

Is this something that I sould only worry about if the pan is greatly overheated, or can it occur at normal cooking temps? Have any of you on this board ever experienced cookware fusing to a cooktop?

 

[danemodsandy]

If In Doubt, Don't!

It might very well be okay enough to use this cookware on the cooktop, given your cooking style. But if anything goes wrong, you will have no repeat no recourse against either the cookware manufacturer or the range manufacturer. A broken glass-ceramic cooktop will usually "total" most ranges; cost-to-repair is often very close to the purchase price of a whole new range. I've seen many an expensive smooth-top range with a broken top listed for next to nothing on Craigslist, with no takers.

If you want good-quality cookware that will work very well on your range, any clad-bottom cookware would fill the bill. This is the kind that has a disc of copper or aluminium bonded to the bottom of each piece, with a disc of stainless bonded over that. This construction is completely flat across the bottom, and if it's not abused, stays that way.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Thank you Danemodsandy,
The only cookware I have ever used on this range has been Revereware with the fused aluminum/ss disc. The teflon on the two frypans are getting where everything sticks. When we shopped for these new fry pans the package was marked ceramic/glass compatable.

It's the instructions that says "special warnings for ceramic/glass cooktops" The Paula Dean pans are very nice pans, I mean it just wouldn't be nice if Paula endorsed something that wasn't nice now would it? I just would hate to have a pan stuck to my stovetop.

BTW--I was just reading that copper clad pans shouldn't be used on smoothtop ranges as they can fuse. I have a little Revere sauce pan that I have used for years with no problems. Is this just their way of getting out of something if it were to happen I wonder?

 

[toggleswitch2]

Most disk bottoms will work with a smooth-top. If the pot roatates on its own it aint workin' right!

I have has luck with my inexpensive IKEA (Greek: affectionately called VLA-KIA "stupidity") brand pots and pans. And now.... I'm already ready for induction.

Any SS cookware that is not coated will last longest. Those pots and pans that are colored with enamel or anodized aluminum will surely age and look horrible sooner or later.

Newsflash: if you scrub your SS pots and pans with brillo/S.O.S and cleanser, they become non-stock over the years as the microscopic "mountains" and "valleys" are smoothed away.

Love stainless; you can scrub it,soak it, put it in the oven and use lye-based oven cleaners. You basically can't kill it!
Yes ther are other more heat-conductive materials, but with huge drawbacks!

Look of SS with no plastic no silicone and, if possible, no glass lids. ALthough I did really like glass lids when cooking electrically. Helps you see what's going on (to adjsust the heat) without opening up the pot!

 

[danemodsandy]

Copper:

It sounds to me as if manufacturers are concerned that the superior heat pickup of copper could lead to fusing. Given what I know about copper, that could well be correct (I was a housewares buyer and cooking teacher for a while back in the '80s). A range manufacturer should know what his product can and can't take, better than anyone else.

I would take the advice, and look for an aluminium disc construction. That should not be difficult; the price spikes in copper over the past few years has caused many manufacturers to drop copper discs for aluminium. Cuisinart was copper-disc for many, many years, but had to drop copper in favour of aluminium a couple of years ago to maintain their price structure.

Faberware Classic is a good alumimium-bonded cookware that is not expensive. Classic looks like the traditional Farberware, but it has a bonded aluminium disc clad with a stainless cap on the bottom, instead of the traditional exposed aluminium of yesteryear (this means that the aluminium is completely encapsulated in stainless). I have a few pieces of it, and the stuff performs as well as the traditional did. The traditional Farberware was the best-kept secret in cookware; the late James Beard thought very highly of it, feeling it was nearly equal to the vaunted Cuisinart stuff for a whole lot less money.

 

[toggleswitch2]

...and their 4qt size is just perfect!

 

[xraytech]

On my smooth top electric range I use my olde Club Aluminum pans and I don't care if they are compatible or not but I won't stop using them because I love them so much. I also have some of the original Farberware and Farberware Classic pans which as Sandy said are excellent pans and you can get a nice sized set at Macy's on sale for around $100
I also bought a set of Sears Kenmore Stainless steel pans with aluminum clad bottoms and teflon interiors which is $149 for a 10 pc set and they are great pans I have had them for 2 years I got them the same day as my range.

Sam

 

[danemodsandy]

Glass Lids:

FEH!

The reason for glass lids is not so that you can see food cooking though them, even though that's what manufacturers tell you they're for. The reason for glass lids is that they eventually break, hastening the day when you will buy new cookware. I was in the biz, trust me on this one.

Don't fall for this scam.

 

[toggleswitch2]

Still I like one for my rice pot.............
The ex got the set with glass lids. *LOL*

Mother Toggle had her classic Farberware for 40 years.
I had mine for 20 years then gave them to her. Loved them to death, but it better for me to have ones that are all metal and dishwasher safe.

The new ones that encapsulate the aluminum in a ss disk are mah-ve-ous!

 

[turboace]

All-Clad Stainless. No plastic, and has an aluminum core. Outter stainless is magnetic. Click on the technical details tab on the lower right.

http://www.all-clad.com/collections/Stainless-Steel/

 

[polkanut]

Give me vintage Revere Ware anyday.

 

[danemodsandy]

Revere Ware:

Anyone wanting Revere Ware should look for the pre-1965 stuff that says "Process Patent" on the copper bottom. In '65, Revere cut the weight of the copper by around half, to cut their costs. Of course, nothing was said to consumers about the change. If a piece of Revere was made after '65, it does not say "Process Patent" on the bottom. Since the '65 reduction in the amount of copper, there have been further reductions, to the point that today's Revere has nothing more than a very thin wash of copper plating. Vintage, pre-'65 Revere is very nice stuff, even if it is getting a little hard to find.

Copper has to be about the thickness of a silver dollar to do any real good, which is why old Revere is fine. Anything much less than that, and all you're getting is a polishing problem, with no real performance advantage.

 

[polkanut]

Sandy,

When I go to estate sales and they have Revere Ware for sale, those are the exact things I look for. I've found some nice pieces, and at reasonable prices too.

 

[whirlcool]

After using Cuisinart cookware for the past 10 years we bought a set of Dacor Cookware when we got our new appliances. We just love this set. Food seems to taste better in it, it cooks so evenly that the part of the food that is in the center of the pan cooks just as quickly as the parts that are out near the edges of the pan.
I highly recommend this set to anybody! We bought ours on Ebay brand spanking new for $149.00 for the set with free shipping. It was quite the deal!

http://www.everythingdacor.com/signature-gourmet-cookware-collection-p-383.html