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Food / drink šŸ— Need to replace cookware - what brand(s) do you suggest?

Salmissra

Salmissra

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I need to replace the nice cookware I got back when I got married. There are a lot of brands out there, and I just want to get your suggestions on what works the best, lasts a while, and recommendations based on your use.

I don't need a large stock pot or similar. However, I use sauce pans a lot, and need two skillets at least. No "hand wash only'!

What brand(s) do you use?
Any particular size of saucepan you favor?
Recommendations appreciated.
 
Salmissra said:
I need to replace the nice cookware I got back when I got married. There are a lot of brands out there, and I just want to get your suggestions on what works the best, lasts a while, and recommendations based on your use.

I don't need a large stock pot or similar. However, I use sauce pans a lot, and need two skillets at least. No "hand wash only'!

What brand(s) do you use?
Any particular size of saucepan you favor?
Recommendations appreciated.
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Mrs. STTG has been eyeing a set of All-Clad.
 
I have All-Clad and, after relearning cooking on Stainless Steel, have been good.
 
One thing I've found is that I used the ever-loving shit out of my 1 and 1.5 quart saucepans. I've been really into creating sauces that are smaller in terms of volume, but very punchy with flavor. I'm big on stainless for those, the heavier the better.

For my skillets, etc., I like ceramic nonstick. Most of mine are Caraway but I do have a GreenPan Valencia Pro that I like an awful lot. I also have a cast iron because of course I do.
 
I wish I used All Clad, but it's too late in the game.to buy some. It's too bad; the factory is about an hour from home and I hear they have pretty good deals.

I use a set of stainless steel Cuisinart and an satisfied. I've had them for 30 years.
 
I will second Cuisinart stainless steel. Had them for over 25 years. No complaints.

For nonstick, I recommend spending more and going for a ceramic coated pan like Greenpan. We've had ours for over 8 years and only now is it starting to get tiny chips in the bottom. It might be slightly cheaper buying an inexpensive new Teflon pan every couple years, but think of all the bits of Teflon you end up ingesting as the coating degrades.
 
Maister said:
I will second Cuisinart stainless steel. Had them for over 25 years. No complaints.

For nonstick, I recommend spending more and going for a ceramic coated pan like Greenpan. We've had ours for over 8 years and only now is it starting to get tiny chips in the bottom. It might be slightly cheaper buying an inexpensive new Teflon pan every couple years, but think of all the bits of Teflon you end up ingesting as the coating degrades.
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My wife decided to junk all of our teflon and similar materials. She's bought a couple of ceramic coated pans when she finds them on sale and we still use the cast iron.
 
I have a set of Saladmaster Stainless that I bought in 1982. I tested the lifetime warrantee about ten years ago and got a brand new pan in exchange for one with a broken handle.
 
Lodge - Cooking on Cast Iron is amazing.


We also use Calphalon that we got for our wedding. There were a couple of pans that warped, but they replaced them with something better at no charge.
 
bureaucrat#3 said:
Love cooking with cast iron. Hate cleaning cast iron.
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True... Although I found that if I clean it before I eat, while the pan is still hot, it cleans up so much easier. Although sometimes I do need to get out the steel wool to get it clean, in which case I re-oil it and season it in the oven. I set the timer to automatically shut off, and I leave it in there for several hours to a day to slowly come back to room temp.
 
I use lots of cast iron- I have pans from 6" up to 18" and a "chicken fryer" with a lid. Then one stainless skillet and three different saucepans from Creuset I have picked up over the years- and a good-size Creuset enameled Dutch oven.

I like the handles on the stainless Creuset stuff for shape and heat insulation while still just being made out of steel (no plastic/Bakelite handles to wear out).

For cast iron a quick clean while it's hot works well and if stuff gets stuck on more than that i have a little chain mail scrubber that does the trick. And keep 'em oiled/seasoned between uses.
 
Faust_Motel said:
For cast iron a quick clean while it's hot works well and if stuff gets stuck on more than that i have a little chain mail scrubber that does the trick. And keep 'em oiled/seasoned between uses.
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I need that scrubber. I do use the Lodge 8" and 12" cast iron pan. Always spray with oil after they are cleaned up.
 
Faust_Motel said:
Mine's like this and has lasted at least a decade (a few of the loops have come apart over the years but it works fine. Pretty good for seven bucks.
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I've used the chain link scrubber. I will also use coarse salt at times to clean it. Seems to work well.

We have a griddle that sits over two gas burners. We use the smooth side all the time for fajitas, grilled cheese, pancakes and whatever else. When we flip it and use the ridged side, it becomes much more difficult to clean between all the grooves.
 
I'm a big fan of Le Creuset. There is an outlet not far away and have managed to acquire a few pieces that are awesome.

Also cook a lot with a cast iron skillet that is probably close to 100 years old.
 
Concerning cast iron and cookware in general, I think it's helpful to think of it in terms of engineering solutions. Sure, they can make an indestructible pan, and that happens to be cast iron, but it's going to require the most effort in terms of cleaning and maintaining the seasoning. Every attribute necessarily comes at the expense of something else. Kinda like the ancient fax posted on the wall of your auto repair service..."good, fast, cheap: you may pick any two."
 
Iā€™ve got a Griswold #9 with a wooden handle that somehow ended up in our kitchen. My wife thought it came from my family, I thought it came from hers, and neither of us can remember how it got there. The first time I noticed it was during our move to our current house 20 years ago; it was in rough shape, so I had it walnut-shell blasted, re-seasoned it with grapeseed oil, and made a new hard maple handle using wood from my grandfatherā€™s shop. It was a lot of work, but it cooks beautifully now. Other than cleaning after use, it's low maintance and basically non-stick.

I also use a Lodge enamel Dutch oven and love it, but Iā€™m really itching for some Le Creuset. Just waiting on a nearby factory to table sale or a trip to the outlet. I just can't bring myself to pay full retail price. Neither my wife or I are picky about color.

Our current non-coated pot and pan set up is a hodge podge of pieces from that were mine and hers prior to getting married. The non-stick stuff gets replaced when the coating is damaged. We get resturant grade non-stick coated sauce pans and skillets from a resturant supply store or Sam's.
 
We've been using the Calphalon stuff that we've had since we got married in 2008 but my wife recently decided it's time to start replacing them. A couple of the frying pans had some scratches in the Teflon coating from somebody who likes to use metal utensils in them no matter how many times I ask her not to :angry: and the large stock pot just never seems to come completely clean anymore.

Last month my wife bought a couple ceramic Cuisinart frying pans and they are awesome! They heat up so much more evenly than the non-stick Calphalon stuff did, you need next to no oil/fat when frying things, and they are super easy to clean. I'm impressed!

My MIL has a ton of really high-end ceramic, stainless steel, and enameled cast iron cookware from Williams-Sonoma and they don't cook much anymore so for the rest of the stuff we need to replace, my wife has begun bringing home pieces of their cookware. She goes up to their house once a week to make some meals for them and figures that since she's the one who uses the majority of their stuff, she can take a piece or two of it with her when she leaves (she does often use those same pieces of cookware to bring them back some food the following week). Her parents are fine with that as long as she also takes at least 1 box of random crap that put out for her each time we visit. So far, I'm not sure we're really coming out ahead on the deal.
 
MD Planner said:
I'm a big fan of Le Creuset. There is an outlet not far away and have managed to acquire a few pieces that are awesome.

Also cook a lot with a cast iron skillet that is probably close to 100 years old.
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We went to the Le Creuset outlet in Park City a few months ago and picked up a few things including a heavy duty set of measuring cups. One-piece design and thick gauge stainless steel. I'm talking about a measuring cup that will last more than a lifetime and likely a nuclear war. I don't know how may of plastic and flimsy metal cups we've gone through in close to 29 years of marriage but this will be our last set. Worth the $45(?).
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