I need some recommendations on some pots and pans.

I've been trying to cook with the old equipment my folks have at home, so been looking around for some upgrades for them and myself so I didn't have to worry about the handle falling off the pan.

Not too expensive, but don't want something that's terribly cheap, since, well you get what you pay for.





Zack

 

All Clad

I used to like calphalon but I think the new stuff the make is not as good

 

Thanks I'll look into it. I suppose anything is better than what we have at home. My mother lifted up a pot last night and the handle gave away and hot soup burned her a bit. Not a good thing.

 

How much you looking to spend $100, $150 ???

 

fuck if I could afford a set of all clad copper core....mmmm.

 

Dude, just goto the Korean market.. jahsheeeeeeeeeek

And your name isn't Zack. WTF FAIL.

 

 

They are awesome. Hands down the best I've ever used. Just a little pricey. I'm slowly adding more.

 

I have a whole set of All Clad and I've been getting metal divots in the top stainless steel layer of my stainless steel set. It's pretty bad on some and not what I would expect for an expensive set. I have some copper core pans and they've held up well. I would definitely invest in a big pan & a big sauce pan.

 

All Clad is supposed to be the near the best, but quite pricey.

Just find something decent with a copper core and you should be good. We went with the Tools of the Trade (Macy's store brand?) and they have worked out well so far. Have only beed using them for a couple of months, so I can't speak to how long they hold up, but they were fairly priced - when on sale.

 

Call them. They should warranty whatever divots you have.

 

I've been using the Calaphalon Stainless Contemporary series for several years and absolutely love them. If I had bottomless pockets I probably would have went with All Clad, but that is not the case and for a low cost alternative I have no complaints. Well I do have a complaint but it's not the pans fault, my old roommates ex-gf welded a grilled cheese sandwich to one of my skillet pans and it now has a funny stain on it regardless how much I polish it, it doesn't impact the performance of the pan, but still pisses me off.

 

^ - What kind of polish are you using?

 

i have rivere...my parents have the same set. been using it for 20 years now, maybe a but more

 

If it's not non-stick then use BKF [bar keepers friend]. That stuff works wonders!!!


I'm also slowly phasing out the pots and pans that my husband's parents have used since maybe the 70s-80s?

We're changing out all our cookware to the Demeyere Atlantis cookware line. The handles are super comfortable [didn't like the All Clad handles]. We were looking into copper, but we didn't want to deal with hand washing everything....which doesn't even apply anymore b/c I hand wash all my pots and pans now anyways. We were also thinking of going All Clad, but the All Clad handles are riveted onto the pan whereas Demeyere is welded on - which I prefer.

If you have a Sur La Table nearby you can try out the feel of the All Clad vs Demeyere. William-Sonoma doesn't carry Demeyere.

My husband has written a whole thing about demeyere here.

Forgot to mention....the stuff is expensive as hell. It's going to take a long time to get a set together, but we do have a few pieces [x-mas and sales online].

 

I have Calaphalon Stainless as well. Use Barkeepers Friend (you can get it every where, walmart, HD, most all grocery stores etc for like 2-3 bucks a can) It works wonders. It also works great on glass surface cook tops.


I have been slowly upgrading to Allclad copper core. I wish i could just go out and buy the whole set all at once. They are the best of the best.

 

^^^^

Same here. Love them.

 

All-Clad Master Chef here. I love the brushed finish. Some BKF and they look brand new again.

Demeyere looks nice but you could buy multiple sets of All-Clad for the price of a few of them.

My parent's neighbors owned a French restaurant in Philly and they love All-Clad as well.

 

Mi padre has a full set of Calphlon 'professional' line cookware that I love, but he got it probably 8-10 years ago or so. I've heard some people say the newer stuff isn't as good. Haven't used it myself though, so I can't compare.

 

we have Calphalon Contemporary Stainless, think they will last forever.

As others mentioned barkeepers friend is a life saver.

I will say the way you cook (how you heat, stir, etc.) changes a little going from "non stick" to stainless, but I've never had a set of "non stick" that actually worked and didn't wear out.

 

All-Clad Copper Core > *

 

All you need is a saute pan, large pot, 8-9 inch pan, and a Cast Iron pan. <-- This thing is sweet you can cook anything on it, Eggs, burgers, bacon, fish ANYTHING. Plus it is great to defrost becuase it will do it half the time then sticking in the fridge.

Chris or Zack what ever your going by these days, I cook just about everyday, Please do not buy a full 900.00 set like some of these fools are telling you.

But, you might need to add a wok to the list for obvious reason...

PS, this is Alex, I changed my board name.

 

+1 for all clad. the copper core is nice but pricey. i use the stainless steel.

 

We were looking at replacing our calphalon non-stick. The pans are at the end of their useful life but the pots are still pretty new.

We were going to buy a whole new set, but the only thing we really need are pans.

I think we will buy a few copper core peices when we find them on sale.


When cooking on ss, how do you keep the food from sticking?

 

If you're not really into cooking, get a set of non stick, anodized aluminum. Calphalon just came out with a new set, called Unison.

As to cook with SS, most items will stick w/o proper use of oil. You never really want to cook eggs in them, always non stick for that. But for SS you heat the pan hot, once it's hot you then put in your oil, enough to cover for items your cooking and then place the item in. You don't want to heat oil as you wait for the pan to heat up, you want to pan hot before you put the oil in.

 

We do cook a lot, but have never used ss.

I did see the calphalon unison and may end up getting those.

We make chicken parm, marsala, scampi and use a stir fry pan most of the time.

 

Pot- Alaskan Thunderfuck
Pan- Well theres only one Pan and thats Peter Pan......








But seriously, avoid Teflon coated pans unless youre only going to use plastic cooking utensils.

 

Calphalon Unison has a non stick 'sear" pan, it'll sear food close to what a ss pan would do. You could get one along with a new set, it'll guve you a crust that you would want making the chciken and such.


You could also get a preseasoned cast iron skillet, for about $20 or so. That would be a great pan to use the rest of your life. Just google for the proper care of a cast iron skillet.

 

We're afraid that we'll really screw up meals using ss since we normally use non-stick. I was thinking the ss would be a nice upgrade to the calphalon one set that we have.

thanks for the info, rep point for joo

 

We have metal and plastic depending on what cookware we have so that part is covered

 

You can check out Kohls. I got a couple non-stick Calphalon there. 2 Skillets, a Wok and a Stew Pot. All very good. I waited until I had a 15% off coupon from them.

My suggestion for you though is to get a stainless steel pan and try it out. They can be a pain in the ass but I like cooking with them more than the non-sticks.

 

I have one non-stick (All-Clad) and three stainless skillets (1 Cuisinart and 2 All-Clads.)

For day to day cooking, I almost always grab the non-stick, just to make clean up easier. If I'm doing something complicated, or making an extra effort to make a good meal, then I pull out one of the SS skillets. Sticking with SS should never be a problem, the secret is to have it hot enough before putting in the food. Just short of smoking is what I found to be the minimum temp to keep things from sticking. Of course if you're cooking something like minced shallots, then a lower temp is necessary. However you generally do things like that in oil, so even then sticking isn't a problem.

 

I may do this.

 

As was mentioned above, the easiest way to cook with the SS pans is just to have a lot of heat. Cleanup with the copper core is rarely a pain.

 

I don't know how i forgot to update what we got but here we go;

These are all unison like solo suggested and they were similar to our calphalon one that we bought 5 years ago.

8" & 10" slide pan
12" slide pan
14" SEAR pan
13" sear flat bottom wok

2 lids.

The wife likes em. They were about $360 shipped which i didn't think was so bad.

 

Not too bad. I'll be over for dinner some time.

 

We're only 35 minutes away.

 

Just an update, for the past four to five months, I've been using a Lodge cast iron 12" skillet, I bought it pre-seasoned from amazon.com for less than $15. Best damn fan pan I've ever used. I remember my mother and grandmothers using these, but when I got older I thought how old, I want that fancy stuff. Eff, the fancy stuff, cast iron in the way to go.

I use it, wipe it out with wet papertowels or rinse it out with hot water and a good stiff brush while still hot, NO SOAP. Then coat with a thin layer of oil to sit until I need it next. I do use oil when cooking as well.

 

I bought a 12'' skillet and a gill pan, best 2 pans in the house. We have a bunch of calphalon stuff and hardly ever use it now that we have the cast iron.