Who is afraid of aluminum cookware!

[norgeway]

I know some of you have strong opinions...Here is mine, although I do have tons of stainless, I still like aluminum better , it heats much more evenly, and I have some pretty high end stainless, Towncraft, Aristo Craft and Rena Ware, Club still is better...What is your opinion???

 

[xraytech]

I'm with you Hans,

I'm not afraid of using aluminum cookware, while I have some Rena Ware and All-Clad my turquoise Club Aluminum set and my few pieces of vintage Wear-Ever are my favorites.

There are few instances where I will use the stainless like when cooking lemon filling as it reacted with my Club once and I ended up with a green lemon meriunge pie.

 

[norgeway]

YES!

I made a GRAY cocoanut pie once!!! LOL!

 

[turquoisedude]

I use the turquoise Club Aluminum set regularly - oddly enough it's boiling large quantities of water that I avoid using the pans for. I don't know if it is because of the water conditioning system in Ogden, but the pans will darken when water is boiled...
I won't put them in the dishwasher, though - too afraid of dulling the finish!!

 

[mixfinder]

Dullsville

Aluminum is great for all cooking except acidic quantities of tomato sauce, lemon or citrus based recipes and the stirring of metal on aluminum turns white sauce or in Han's instance the coconut filling gray. To lighten aluminum cookware heat a large quantity of water in the pan and add cream of tartar which makes the aluminum "white" again. No I'm not afraid in the least and love Guardian Service.

 

[westingman123]

Did someone say "Guardian Service"?

I grew up with vintage Revere, all my Aunts had Club, but above all I love my GS.

 

[sudsmaster]

I also have lots of stainless cookware, but currently I am using aluminum cookware, albeit with a ceramic coating (Greenpan).

 

 

[norgeway]

I Always!!!

And I mean ALWAYS stir with a wooden spoon...in ANY cookware, another pet peeve...I hate to see someone banging a spoon on the rim of a pot!!!!

 

[frigilux]

I'm not afraid to use aluminum cookware, but I have only one piece, which is a huge (at least 18" across, and about 12" deep) pan designed for restaurant use. It gets drafted into service only once or twice a year. Otherwise, all my cookware (including Dutch ovens, soup kettles and big, deep pasta-cooking pots) are stainless steel.

All my 13" x 9" baking pans have turned gun-metal gray from non-phosphate dishwasher detergents, so I'm glad I don't have to battle that with my cookware, too.

 

[polkanut]

For the most part our cookware is vintage Rena Ware or Revere Ware, but we do have my grandmas aluminum Wagner Ware 5qt dutch oven, a few baking sheets, cake pans, and frying pans.  I've been exposed to aluminum cookware my whole life, and I don't think I'm any the worse for wear.  I would have liked to have seen that green lemon meringue pie. lol

 

[hunter]

i'm to the point where I don't want to use anything

When I started cooking in pyroceram pots, particularly vegetables, I realized how much ANY metal flavors food.

I'm at the point where except for eggs, which I fry in an iron skillet, I don't want to use anything but old corningware or enameled cast iron (but NOT Lodge as it is China made).

Am I scared? No, not really, but I'd like to minimize ingesting anything by accident.

 

[bajaespuma]

Good grief Hunter!

Finally something we agree about.

 

[tomturbomatic]

NO MORE METAL SPOONS!

I'm with you Hans about not using metal utensils in my pans. I bought Mepal Ware melamine tools in the mid 70s and still have some of the original set which has been added to over the decades. My cookware looks like new inside and out because it is not all scratched up. Also scratches made the surface rougher and more prone to having food stick. I have some Club skillets from the 70s, but I mostly use stainless like Farberware and Cuisinart which perform beautifully, but as GE advised in a range manual from the early 60s, you have to use one heat setting lower for stainless (like for frying) than for aluminum and a setting 25 degrees lower for the SensiTemp. Medium under a stainless steel skillet is like Medium High under an aluminum one.