Some questions about pots & pans

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

If you have
good well-seasoned cast iron pans, is there ever a need for other pans
in other materials (stainless steel, nonstick, or...?)?

Yes. Here's the scenario: There *are* times when things will stick badly
enough to a seasoned cast iron pan that you will need to scrub the bejeezus
out of them. That will also scrub away the oil, so you'll need to re-season
it. If you were hoping to use it immediately for something else, too bad for
you. It's got to go in the oven for whatever the length of time. One hour?
Two? I don't recall. Maybe you need it four hours later for dinner, but
right now, you want to go out fishing, instead of minding the oven.

I like cast iron for some things, but I'd never have it as my only cooking
option. I like stainless steel inside, big aluminum plate underneath, no
non-stick coating.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

If you have
good well-seasoned cast iron pans, is there ever a need for other pans
in other materials (stainless steel, nonstick, or...?)?

That's actually a fairly big "if" and I would say Yes.

This may sound a bit over-simplistic but I think the only absolute answer in
the perfect pan debate is that there is no single right answer.

There are trade-offs and I think that anyone who standardizes on a single
type of pan is going to end up missing something.

Even heating, ergonomics, cost, ease of maintenance, thermal mass,
conductivity, and lot's of difficult to quantify criteria like fond
creation.

I am quite fond of my Faulk SS-lined copper pans, but they are very heavy
and very expensive. They perform exquisitely when you want to cook something
thick like Chili that has a high risk of burning. If I just want to boil
pasta water, I'll reach for my Wife's SS/Aluminum Langostina because there
is no risk of burning, weighs about 1/3 and comes up to temperature a bit
quicker.

I am generally not a fan of non-stick pans, but I'll always have one for
eggs/omelet's.

Get yourself a cast-iron pan and try it out. Only you can be the judge of
how well it works for you and your cooking style.

Quoted message said:

More information about my cooking needs: I am still learning to cook,
and my focus is on healthy (low-fat, low-sugar, etc.) international
cuisine. The cookbooks I brought with me to work on this summer are
Cooking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America, The Best Recipe
by the editors of Cook's Illustrated, How to Cook Everything and The
Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman, and Cooking Around the World
All-in-One for Dummies. Our summer home has a relatively small kitchen
without a lot of storage space, so I can't just buy one of everything
for here.

An option you might consider (budget permitting) are some enamel coated cast
iron pots such as Le Creuset. These are great for those things go from stove
top to oven, and offers all of the heat retention and cook qualities of
cast iron, with a non toxic semi non stick surface.

Larry T

Quoted message said:

[snip intro]>
Cast Iron: I am thinking about trying this out for our skillets, saute
pan, wok, and dutch oven.

It's not a one size fits all situation. The best pot or pan depends on
what you want to do with it. Characteristics that matter to cooking
include:

even dispersion of heat around the pan bottom or the bottom and
sides of pots
responsiveness to changes up and down in heat
ability to take high heat
heat retention
nonstickiness
nonreactivity to acids
durability

As you can see, some of these are exclusive of others. Nonstick
surfaces don't do well with very high heat. Materials that retain heat
well do not respond quickly to changes in the heat source.

Cast iron makes a good skillet (evenness, retention, nonsticky,
durable) but a bad sauté pan and a bad wok (not responsive to the heat
changes that define sautéeing and stirfrying). It makes a good dutch
oven (evenness and retention, including the sides) unless your recipe
has wine or tomatoes (reactivity), which is why the LeCreuset
coated-type cast iron is so good for braises and stews.

[snip]

Quoted message said:

I'd really like
to hear from both cooks who use a variety of materials for their pans
as well as from hard-core cast iron devotees.

As an example of the benefits of variety:

fried chicken, cornbread -- cast iron
hot dry pan substituting for griddle or comal -- cast iron
sautéed meats -- stainless steel
fried eggs and omelets -- nonstick over aluminum
stir fries, meats and veggies -- carbon steel wok
braises, stews -- coated cast iron

Quoted message said:

Sauce Pans and Stock/Pasta Pot: Which material do you think is best for
these items?

Those are three different things, not one thing. Think about what you
want from each. For sauces, you want evenness of heat and good heat
retention and nonreactivity; for stock you want size, shape (tall), and
heat retention; for pasta you want shape and whatever will heat the
water fastest. So choices might be aluminum for the first one or two,
stainless for the last one or two. Not cast iron for any of the three.

Quoted message said:

[snip] The cookbooks I brought with me to work on this summer are
Cooking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America, The Best Recipe
by the editors of Cook's Illustrated, How to Cook Everything and The
Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman[snip]

That's a good set of books. While you read through them think about
the process/procedure they're describing and which characteristics you
will want in the pan or pot. Anybody can assemble recipe ingredients.
Cooking is also about controlling the process, for which the right pan
matters. -aem

"LT" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

More information about my cooking needs: I am still learning to cook,
and my focus is on healthy (low-fat, low-sugar, etc.) international
cuisine. The cookbooks I brought with me to work on this summer are
Cooking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America, The Best Recipe
by the editors of Cook's Illustrated, How to Cook Everything and The
Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman, and Cooking Around the World
All-in-One for Dummies. Our summer home has a relatively small kitchen
without a lot of storage space, so I can't just buy one of everything
for here.

An option you might consider (budget permitting) are some enamel coated
cast iron pots such as Le Creuset. These are great for those things go
from stove top to oven, and offers all of the heat retention and cook
qualities of cast iron, with a non toxic semi non stick surface.

Larry T

My own preference is to have 'em all. My cast iron skillet is ideal for
frying chicken, for searing steak in a very hot skillet, then finishing in
the oven, and as a baking pan for cornbread (pre-heat it before pouring in
the batter.) I also put it in the bottom of the oven when I want sturdy
crust on bread that I'm baking. Let it heat up with the oven, then pour in a
cup of water when the bread goes in. For saute work, nothing beats an
All-Clad saute pan with a stainless interior (NOT non-stick). Without the
"stick," you don't get the delicious fond to deglaze. I agree that non-stick
is best for most egg cooking. Eggs shouldn't be browned, anyway, and omelet
making is a breeze with my 10" non-stick All-Clad. For the Dutch oven, I
have a traditional cast iron model, and LeCreuset enameled ones in 6qt. and
8qt. sizes, and would be unwilling to part with any of them.
--

--Rich

"LT" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

More information about my cooking needs: I am still learning to cook,
and my focus is on healthy (low-fat, low-sugar, etc.) international
cuisine. The cookbooks I brought with me to work on this summer are
Cooking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America, The Best Recipe
by the editors of Cook's Illustrated, How to Cook Everything and The
Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman, and Cooking Around the World
All-in-One for Dummies. Our summer home has a relatively small kitchen
without a lot of storage space, so I can't just buy one of everything
for here.

An option you might consider (budget permitting) are some enamel coated
cast iron pots such as Le Creuset. These are great for those things go
from stove top to oven, and offers all of the heat retention and cook
qualities of cast iron, with a non toxic semi non stick surface.

+1 on that. Love the LeCreuset stuff and it's often on sale.

Quoted message said:

For the past several years I've been cooking with a set of Calphalon
hard-anodized aluminum nonstick pots and pans and have been pretty
happy with them. But after researching cookware options for equipping
the kitchen in our summer home I've been convinced to give some other
things a try. If I end up liking them I'll probably buy a second set
for my kitchen in our winter home as well.

Cast Iron: I am thinking about trying this out for our skillets, saute
pan, wok, and dutch oven. I like how durable it is, that a seasoned
cast iron pan becomes nonstick with no worries about fragile,
potentially toxic coatings, and that the addition of some more iron to
my diet will be good my anemia. I've already read up on how to clean,
(re)season, and otherwise maintain cast iron pans, I can handle the
weight, and I know to check the thrift stores first to see if I can
find pans that have already been seasoned over the years.

ALLWAYS have a pot holder out and ready when cooking with a cast iron
pan or lid. They get too HOT to handle without one.

Rusty

Quoted message said:

What I'd like to know now is, should I also buy one or more skillets
(or saute pan, wok, or dutch oven) that AREN'T cast iron? If you have
good well-seasoned cast iron pans, is there ever a need for other pans
in other materials (stainless steel, nonstick, or...?)? I'd really like
to hear from both cooks who use a variety of materials for their pans
as well as from hard-core cast iron devotees.

I've decided that there is no ONE material that I like best for every
cooking task. So I have an "eclectic" collection of pots & pans.

I have a set of stainless with heavy encapsulated bottoms and I use
the sauce pans and stock pot from this set.

I have two non-stick frying pans that get replaced every so often
whenever the teflon starts to get scratched.

I have two cast iron skillets for general frying.

I have a LeCruset Dutch Oven (cast iron w/enamel exterior) that is the
single most loved piece of cookware.

While the cast iron skillet is an indespensible kitchen tool, I
wouldn't want to have a complete set because they are just plain heavy
and do require a little maintenance. Also not recommended for acidic
sauces that react with the iron (tomato sauce for example).

Tom

"aem" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[snip intro]>
Cast Iron: I am thinking about trying this out for our skillets, saute
pan, wok, and dutch oven.

It's not a one size fits all situation. The best pot or pan depends on
what you want to do with it. Characteristics that matter to cooking
include:

even dispersion of heat around the pan bottom or the bottom and
sides of pots
responsiveness to changes up and down in heat
ability to take high heat
heat retention
nonstickiness
nonreactivity to acids
durability

<snip>

Thank you! A very well considered response.

I try to avoid aluminum pans for any cooking except in the non-stick-coated
category for light frying, sauteeing, and baking (fry pans, cookie sheets,
etc.). Aluminum reacts with both acids and alkaloids and sheds the results
(some of which are toxic) into your food, adversely affecting the flavor,
which IMHO makes aluminum a very bad choice for cooking almost anything. My
preference is for stainless steel, enameled cast iron, or glass (pyrex,
etc.) for all other cooking.

We bought a Saladmaster tri-clad (stainless, iron, stainless) stainless
cookware set when first married and thought it was outrageously expensive at
the time. We have been using it daily for 35 years and its still good as
new - never even replaced a handle on a piece. Love the stuff.

One trick with stainless steel cookware is to use a good cleaner
periodically to maintain the original shiny surface, which helps keep food
from sticking, such as Cameo stainless steel cleaner.

"Jim D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I try to avoid aluminum pans for any cooking except in the
non-stick-coated category for light frying, sauteeing, and baking (fry
pans, cookie sheets, etc.). Aluminum reacts with both acids and alkaloids
and sheds the results (some of which are toxic) into your food, adversely
affecting the flavor,

I think the flavor factor of aluminum pans is greatly exaggerated. Most
restaurant cooking, even in those high end haute cuisine places, is done in
aluminum pots and pans. I've never heard anyone in a restaurant, or anyplace
else for that matter, say, "Ew! This tastes like aluminum!" I don't know of
any toxicity issues, either. Aluminum has been found in the brains of
Alzheimers disease victims, but a correlation of Alzheimers with the use of
aluminum cookware has never been established. In fact, even the long term
use of aluminum-based antacids has not been shown to be associated with the
disease; and just a few doses of these medications would provide more
aluminum than would a lifetime of aluminum utensil use.

--Rich

Ernest Slyman said:

Evangelical Christians have solved the complex Da Vinci code.

"Da Vinci code. Yep. We broke that," Nancy Powell of Limestone, Tennessee
said. "It's a fine recipe for cornbread."

"Took us a whole week. We studied it. We looked at it carefully. Finally
everything fell into place. Thank the Lord." (More at link below)

How many letters do you have to skip to get the sekrit recipe?