ottawa foodies

Ok let's tackle the subject of pots-n-pans.

I just broke off the handle on my favorite Lagostina pot. (Don't fall asleep on the couch while simmering!!) What should I replace it with ?

Usually the best buys on pots are in the sets. I don't need a full set, just a 2 liter sauce pan.

I prefer stainless (no... I don't buy into the aluminum pot/Alzheimer's scare). A thermal clad bottom is best for me and my Thermador (see my entry here: ottawafoodies.com/forum/683 ).

Any suggestions or experiences are welcome.

Best tip I ever got was to look for pots & pans with handles that are not sodered on. Look for the ones with a grommet (is that the right word?) that goes through the pot. Similar to the ones in the picture, I think?

Home sense is a great place to find cheap, quality brand name pots that you can buy in singles. They usually have the kitchen aid line that is great.

Martha Stewart has a great line although I am not sure if you can buy them individually?
Also the PC brand is great but also not sure if they are sold individually.

Paderno pots are excellent - I have been using them for about 8 years now and they are still great shape. There are a few Paderno outlets in Ottawa, including the Glebe Emporium.

"(Don't fall asleep on the couch while simmering!!)" Been there done that! (Actually the milk I was heating up for my hot chocolate burned then fossilized - not pretty!) I got a nice replacement Lagostina at Winners. They often turn up in the gift section never the same size twice so you have to keep looking. But they offer good deals on pots it's worth the wait. And you can also try Home Sense as My Mom's a Foodie suggested. (If you are ever inclined to head out to the west end there is a Home Sense AND a Winners on Merivale as well as another home store a little further down - Home Outfitters I think? - and eventually you will get to Costco although they may only sell sets.) Good luck!

Just to correct the above - pots without rivets are not soldered, they are spot-welded. It's considerably stronger than solder. Nonetheless rivets are certainly preferable. That having been said I have mostly all Paderno which is spot-welded. My parents actually had a handle come off one of their Paderno pots (and had it replaced for free), but that does not keep me from buying them.

I'd take a close look at the President's Choice stuff already mentioned. We have one of their anodized aluminum frying pans and LOVE IT.

i only use paderno. great cookware and it can go from stove top into the oven or under the broiler - no worries about the handles.

We love our Jamie Oliver Stainless... great pouring out of all of the pots and they are always on sale at the Bay... Eventually we would love to get Paderno, they are just a bit more expensive.

I've got a whole stack of Paderno, a lot of it purchased when they have factory clearance sales. That's why I have three 2L sauté pans! I do have a 2L saucier, and I love it. Nice size, nice lid.

I use the PC stainless clad pots & pans. They look decent and they perform quite well. Of course you'll need to get a proper non-stick skillet or fry pan. I have a jamie oliver t-fal skillet, lagostina omelet pan, and a henckels fry pan, all non-stick. All except the Jamie Oliver have exceeded expectations. The t-fal coating just didn't hold up to our use and has become worn and almost unusable within a year. Oh well.

Go for anodized aluminum for non-stick. For one thing, the coatings are on the radar now as carcinogens or something like that. The PC one is fabulous.

I have a Lagostina stainless steel set that I got 8 years ago, and it still looks like new. This particular model has a slab (not plating) of copper on the bottom sandwiched between layers of stainless steel. Handles are all metal (i.e. no plastic/bakelite) and are welded on. I find Sears (of all places) a reasonable place to get these, as they quite regularly go on sale (as sets) for 50 or more percent off. A full set should cost about $350 (reg priced $600 and up). I occasionaly lust after a solid copper pan... anyone here have experience with these?

i avoid coated pots and pans as much as possible. for non-stick i use a cast-iron frying pan. it is wonderful and just gets better and better every year. the only problem is that i really need two, one for savoury cooking and one specifically for sweet cooking (pancakes and such).

hipfunkyfun, can you fry an egg in your cast-iron pan without practically deep frying it and without it sticking? I have a fairly well seasoned cast iron pan but I find that I need to use a teflon one for eggs.

I'm no fan of teflon. If it kills birds it can't be good for us.

Yeah, I tested the slickness of my cast iron last Sunday while making breakfast by scrambling eggs in it after cooking my bacon. Cleanup after that was NOT fun.

hey fresh foodie,
i barely need a drop of oil in my pan for cooking - including eggs. i use it daily though and season it a few times a year, so it is well used. i am a vegetarian, so i don't have the meat fat clean-up in it ever.

now there are times i do use a lot of oil or butter - but that is for flavour :)

btw, cast iron pan makes a great deep dish pizza!

Hey FF and Momomoto, I have to at least partially agree with hipfunkyfun, however I think the quality of your non-stickiness on a cast iron pan depends on several factors. I have had 2 or 3 cast iron pans in the last 15 years, and only ONE of them (unfortunatly the smallest) became seasoned like hipfunkyfun's, and it is literally BLACK, and very nonstick. I found that the proportion of things that stick, vs. things that don't that you cook in it matters. If I were to cook several wet, or otherwise sticky foods in it, one after another, the non-stickiness would start degrading. My example of something 'sticky' is scrambled eggs.. where you need to keep stirring the mixture. An example of 'non sticky' food would be grilled cheese sandwiches, or butter frying garlic.

As I mentioned at the beginning, only ONE of the iron pans I've owned has taken on this teflon like, black as night, coating. The others for some reason or other never seemed to want to season so deeply... and thus would never get used.

Had similar experience as Pete with my cast iron pan (Found a cheap, but good one in Chinatown).

Once I got the puppy seasoned, it works like a charm. A lite cleaning and rubbing some oil on it before storage has really helped me.

I found that 'sticky' foods can degrade the seasoning. What can really kill the seasoning is a vigorous cleaning with soap. Can strip of the teflon like coating right off

This is the best advise I've seen on the subject:

huntsville.about.com

Wow, several hours to properly season the pan and she say's to stay away from soap and detergent. Just like my own experience.

Pete: it's for these reasons that I'm currently using my skillet for, really, only two things: bacon and steak. Though if I wanted to do shrimp a la plancha or something, I wouldn't be reluctant to use the skillet.

What I should do is take some time on a relatively free weekend and put another couple layers of curing on it. It's not like I use shortening for anything else.

Okay, sorry for necroposting, but it's partly relevant to the rest of the thread (and why make new ones on similar subjects?) so I'll ask here...

While I was out of a town a few weeks ago, friends decided to buy me a new cookware set, as they knew what I had was somewhat poor (2 cheap Meyer pots, a t-fal skillet and assorted old pots and pans I inherited from siblings when I moved out 13 years ago). They saw something on special (reg $500, on 75% sale for $125) and got it for me.

It's a 12 piece set of BergHoff EarthChef cookware (see photo): 1, 2, 3 and 4 quart saucepan, 6.5 quart everything pot, and 10" sauté pan, all with lids. They're listed on this page: www.earthchef.ca - it's the Acadian Stainless Steel collection, half-way down the page. It's difficult to tell what material they're made of, though it says stainless steel walls on the website, while the box says "conductive aluminum body". It's a mystery what the bottom is made of or contains, though it says it's induction-ready.

It doesn't seem to be the "non-stick" collection, so... I guess it's all stainless steel, and definitely not non-stick? The Use and Care page says: "For your stainless steel set, be sure that you do NOT use a detergent that is based on citric acids (lemons)". The detergent I use is called "Seventh Generation" (www.seventhgeneration.com) and it states on the ingredients: coconut-based surfactants, citric acid, sodium chloride, magnesium chrloride and preservative.

Is there a real concern about citric acid dishwashing liquids for stainless steel? I do notice that my Meyer stainless steel pans have some rainbowy discoloration in the bottom after some years of using them, so I don't know if it had any correlation.

If this is a good set, I can throw out most of the pots and pans I have (finally!) and clear out some space in my tiny cupboards...

I do have a few pieces of Descoware from my mother, with only one frying pan so far - the smallest (5" bottom) and missing its wooden handle. (Maybe I'll get the rest, but not before she dies, so I'm not in a hurry!) The rest are oven pans, a broiler, and some odds and ends. These, I'm NOT getting rid of. :)

Any knowledge from much more experienced foodies would be appreciated!

Congrats Niall on your new cookware! I've seen those pots at The Bay, but didn't pay too much attention to them. They are almost assuredly better than your Meyer pans. The rainbowy discolouration on your old pans is not likely from chemicals, and certainly not from washing/lemon... and is 90% certain from (over) heating. The new ones will also take on this tinge if you heat them excessively ( i.e. leave them on the element on high, with nothing in them ) Stainless is reasonably impervious (sic) to gentle acids, including lemon juice... however extensive exposure (overnight, or days) to lemon juice may leave a whitish stain on the pan.. which can usually be removed by buffing with scotchbrite. If you wash, and rinse your pans in one go, I would not worry about your Seventh Gen products.

Technically, it looks like these pans have a lifetime limited warranty ( most common failure of pans is handle breaking off ) but I would hold off of emptying your cupboards until you have tried both high heat, and low heat cooking to see how you like their behaviour. Can they sear meat nicely without too much muss and fuss? Can they simmer evenly across the bottom (as opposed to simmering in 'lines' over the electric element). After they pass those tests, might be time to recycle the old pans.

Also, dedicated stainless steel cleanser will help keep the outsides shiny brite.. and worth the investment to use once in a while. Don't use steel wool to clean them, use the plastic based scrub pads...

Thanks Pete! Yeah, overheating might have been the cause for the old ones. With the riveted handles, the EarthChef should be fine for that part of the warranty.

No soaking for days. Got it. :)

Searing the meat.. I'm still hoping to be able to do that. Everything I try has the meat starting hot then all the juices make a bubbly liquid around it and there's no searing noise anymore... I must be missing something basic. That's even in the Descoware.

Already have the plastic scrubbers! Will find that stainless cleanser.

I didn't want a whole set either but found that buying individual pans would cost almost as much as a set. If you are in the Syracuse area there are some outlets 45 minutes west of Syracuse I got a great buy. 10 piece J.A Henkels stainless for $240. I checked into All Clad but it was very expensive. I also checked into this new iodized stuff from Calphalon but stayed away form it. I would think over time it would ware off even thought they claim it doesn't. I'm happy with my set so far.
int.jahenckels.com

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