Pots, pans, et cetera

Automatic Washer - The world's coolest Washing Machines, Dryers and Dishwashers

Help Support :

P

perc-o-prince

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
5,199
Location
Southboro, Mass
OK. I haven't seen anything on this yet, but I may have missed it.

What are your favorite, or most hated, pans?

My faves include Calphalon tri-ply copper and Le Crueset (or the look-a-likes such as Olive & Thyme) enamel over cast iron. My cast iron specialty pans are also cool.

The tri-ply conducts heat well and cleans well. Deglazes wonderfully.

The enamel-over-cast are SUPER for heat conduction, slow cooking, and clean-up. Baked on mess washes off like it was non-stick! I LOVE doing pot roasts, bracciole, and spareribs in these.

Cast iron specialty pans, like I use for corn bread, are great once seasoned. They give a great crust, are nearly non-stick, and clean nicely (NO SOAP!!!).

What's your take?????

This is Chuck, Perc's other half.
 
Most of my pans are stainless steel and I have several frying pans/chef's pans with non-stick interiors. I have a 20-year old Cuisinart set which has served me well.

A few months ago I started my obligatory All-Clad stainless collection. They're great pans except for 2 things: The saucepans don't have a lip, which makes pouring from them messy; and I'm not adusting well to the flat handles. The rounded handles on my Cuisinart set feel more secure in my hand. But the saute speed and general control of the All-Clad's can't be beaten.
 
I love my Calphalon triply pans (I don't have the copper bottom ones). I have a couple of Cuisinart non-stick skillets that are excellent as well. It was an excellent alternative to All Clad at a much more reasonable price, and I wanted glass lids, which is what I've been used to for a long time.
 
For me.....

if it can't go into the dishwasher at least once in a while, I am not interested.

I LOVE Farberware Classic. It breaks my heart that they have started to cheapen it. Bad enough when they started making it overseas......

I am now looking for the original Farberware Classic tea kettle. It does not have a whistle, and has a handle that curves upward...you'd know when you see it.

I have accumulated through the years a nearly complete set of it. I even have a Farberware Classic wok. (flat bottom, and just wonderful for stir-frying!)

Responsive, even heating, decent looking, browns well, cleans easily.

For oven events, I have a mixture of Pyrex and Original Corning, and some commercial weight Wear-Ever.

Calphalon and Le Creuset, and All-Clad are wonderful, but not all Calphalon lines can go into the dishwasher, Le Creuset is HEAVY, and All-Clad Stainless is just more than I can afford right now.

Lawrence/Maytagbear
 
Mostly own a set of Farberware pots and pans i bought a few years back..(designed in USA..made in Thailand..sigh) pretty good though all in all. My most recent purchase was a Calphalon 12 qt stock pot with glass lid. I LOVE using this for soups and stews. Keeps the food nice and warm even after the stove has been off for several hours.
 
Have to saw that I love my All-Clad stainless too. Thanks to two great friends I was able to get the complete set. Also have one of their non-stick skillets and love it. The best part is when you are done it can all go in the dishwasher and comes out looking like new. I also have a set of copper bottom Revere-ware, the older ones that were made in Clinton, Illinois. Still use those some and really like those too. It is amazing how much cleaner the bottoms stay with a smooth top stove. Terry
 
It is amazing how much cleaner bottoms stay with a smooth top.
Oh I absolutely agree! (LOL)

I switched back to gas cooking as a selling feature of my house, and YUCK to dirty greasy pot bottoms!

[The smooth-top electric that was there got donated to my sister who wanted one. She was a gas addict, 'till she saw the light. Did I mention she gave me her old Amana gas stove? win-win situation].
 
My partner and I have a lot of 20 year old Magnalite pieces and they are still in great shape. The dutch oven in particular has seen a lot of use and is beautifully seasoned. He's the self-proclaimed chef and I almost always end up washing the dishes. I've resigned myself to the fact that any cookware he wants is going to be the type that can't go in the dishwasher. We have some later Calphalon pieces also and I like those both for their glass lids and their handles that don't heat up. I'd get more of that, but the Magnalite is fairly indestructible with a 100 year guarantee so it's not going anywhere. We've always had gas stoves and both the Magnalite and Calphalon have perfomed very well.

My mom still has a set of Revere-ware that was a wedding present in 1949. She has always polished the bottoms on those pots and pans and they hang in a row above her Westinghouse electric stove of the same vintage. Once non-stick cookware hit the market, those Revere pieces didn't get used much anymore and they've become more of a decorative effect in her kitchen than anything else.

Also, we've been using Silpats on our cookie sheets for about a year now instead of parchment paper or foil, and like the results. Anyone else care to chime in with their take on Silpats?

Ralph
 
I sold my Farberware....

..when I got a set of Calphalon in 1994. It is the original style that is not non-stick and does not have the glass lids. I love this stuff, if you know how to use it there is no sticking, they heat evenly and keep the food nice and warm after you turn the stove off. They can go right in the oven if you need it. The handles do get warm though, I've just had to get used to that.

When I bought them I didn't realize they don't go in the dishwasher so I have learned to live with it. They clean up fairly easily. My SO put one in the dishwasher a few years back but he won't again after listening to be bitch about it. The pan has recovered after many washings.

That is the only complaint I have about these pans.
 
I have a Turquoise dutch oven by Le Crueset that my mom bought in 1954 at Kilpatrick's department store in Omaha. That pan has been through hell and back and is still the one of the best pans I have ever cooked with. Our other stuff is John's grandmother's Faberware and a bunch of vintage Descoware that I have picked up through the years, and those squiggly patterned pans and skillets I posted pics of a few months ago.
 
Descoware

Speaking of Descoware, my mom has a 50's vintage oval casserole that she always used to make rhubarb crisp. She made one to give to someone once and when she got the dish back it was all stained a light brown and had a pattern on the bottom that looked like an outline of the rhubarb chunks. The discolored parts are smooth but dulled and not as slick feeling as the enamel that remained white along the upper portion around the rim of the dish. Any suggestions on how to get the stains out, or is this dish a lost cause? Nothing I've tried has helped.

She also has one very large Desco frying pan and another small one that have a gray enamel cooking surface and screw-in wooden handles. Those have never stained or discolored. I wonder if it's a different material they used for stove top cookware as opposed to dishes that are used for baking?
 
According to Le Crueset, you can soak the inside of your cast iron pans in water with a little bleach, and that will get rid of staining. I know my mom used to bleach the turquoise pan fairly regularly. She's crazy about the "purex", as she calls it :-)
 
chachp--- Calphalon non-stick

I absolutely hate my Calphalon commercial non-stick. 1) They hold odors like when I heat sauce or chili in them and it takes washing them a couple of times to get it out. 2) They stick! Even after I've scoured them with Soft Scrub and a Dobie pad (per their help line's instructions) they still stick.

What's your secret! I loved 'em new.

My Olive & Thyme have some staining in the bottom too. It doesn't affect the cooking or non-stick action, so I don't worry about it. Nice to know about the bleach if the stains start to bother me!

I think the only thing I don't like about the Tri-ply copper is that you have to use a good amount of fat when cooking eggs. At least it seems you do. Other than that, I've done Jambalaya in them and that doesn't stick! Seems the slow cooked stuff never seems to stick!

The cutie standing here watching me type said Jambalaya reminds him of dinner, and that reminds him that his stomach thinks his throat's been cut. I'd better go. I don't think he has a gadget to open the Chef Boy-ar-Dee!!! ;-)

Chuck
 
Revereware!

My mother recieved a set of copper-bottom Revereware in 1975 for her wedding and I grew up cooking with it. The big kettle has been a perminant fixture on her stove ever since. Last year I bought a set of new copper bottom Revereware (talk about hard to find), and although I love it, I am saddened by the sharp decline in quality when comparing my set to my mother's. I always polish my copper bottoms after each use with a mild polish. For severe stains, (copper turning black that won't polish off, like my mother's), I use Bar Keeper's Friend. BKF is too harsh for everyday use, but it polishes copper like new if it has been abused for years. I also have the big Revere kettle and percolator. I hate the new Revere frying pans that came with my set. They lack a copper bottom, and the inside is teflon, so I rarely use them. My Revereware never sees the dishwasher because it turns the handles grey. I like the Revereware handle shape, I could never get used to Farberware's handles.
My single most used pan is my "ginormous" cast iron skillet. It is so well seasoned that it puts teflon to shame. I never clean it with soap, just hot water and some copper wool. I always dry it immediately after washing and rub some oil on it before storing.
Copper wool is great because it is less likely to scratch than steel, and it will neither rust nor disintegrate.

We all seem to have our favorites, don't we?
Dave
 
My favorite cookware is Calphalon professional Hard Anodized i started collecting in 2000. These replaced my Farberware stainless set bought in 1981. I have about twenty pieces to my set. I do not mind that you have to hand wash them, they are very easy to wash. I would not trade them for anything. They do work great on my smooth top electric stove. I really have never used any cookware I hated, I just had to learn to use different methods with them. I had some Visions pieces and they were great for simmering tomato sauce in but terrible for boiling potatoes.
 
I rediscovered an old favorite-My Farberware stainless steel electric skillet-it doesn't have "non-stick" and doesn't need it-French Toast,pancakes,thin NY Strip steaks turn out perfect!For other cooking love the All Clad Stainless.My Calaphon is now lonely in the cupboard.I had sticking problems with it and when I boiled potatoes in the 3Qt saucepan-the anodized coating was starting to come off-don't like that.I do use a Calaphon Non stick 7"frypan to cook my scrambled eggs.works great for that!
 
We have Magnalite. Very durable, but a pain to clean. Everything seems to stick to it, and it stains very badly. Any suggestions? Tim
 

Latest posts

Back
Top