Please help us select a cookware set

Cafe Society
1

We’d like to keep the whole thing under a thousand dollars if possible.

We don’t need anything fancy. We do need something that won’t stick, whether that’s a coating or a cooking technique is fine by us. But if it is a coating, we’d like it to have some staying power so it doesn’t flake or peel off.

(That’s what’s wrong with what we have now. It’s starting to flake off.)

We have an electric stove if that matters. We’d like a couple of sizes of skillets, and pots all the way up to big pasta and stew pots. We don’t know what kind of metal is best, or whether “waterless” cooking is better than ordinary.

Thanks for any help, and if you need clarification please ask whatever you need to know.

2

I’m a big fan of cast iron.

Inexpensive, once seasoned, the nonstick properties are easily restored as needed.

You do need to use wood or plastic utensils and acidic foods are not recommended.

Lodge also sells enameled cookware.

3

This requirement surprises me. Maybe I’m too far out of the market, but I thought you really had to be an exceptional foodie with super-chic requirements to spend more than a couple hundred dollars on your cookware.

We currently use aluminum pots and pans for everything except for skilleting, for which we have two heavy cast-iron skillets (oh, and we have a cast-iron Dutch oven also). They seem to work fine. I understand some folks like copper bowls for whisking egg whites in, but for our purposes (we whip egg whites maybe four times a year), that’s an unnecessary frippery.

I can’t stand pans lined with Teflon or whatever. When they inevitably break down, I imagine getting my food speckled with little pieces of Dow Chemical.

Daniel

4

Just to be clear, do you want everything to be nonstick, or just have a few nonstick items?

5

Don’t buy a set, it’s rarely economical. The first question that needs to be asked is what sort of stuff do you cook? Are you cooking for 1? 2? 4? 15? Do you bake much? What cuisines?

6

What you don’t want is a set. You want just the pots and pans you need and none of the ones you don’t. Personally, I’d say:

Large enamelware cast iron Dutch oven - Le Creuset, hands down
Inexpensive 12 inch nonstick skillet - the fact is, nonstick will always wear off eventually.
Good not-nonstick 12 inch skillet - All-Clad or similar
Cast iron frying pan, 10 or 12 inches - Lodge, set you back twelve bucks
Giant stock pot - cheap one from Wal-Mart, mostly you boil things in it
3 or 4 quart saucepan not-nonstick - All-Clad or similar
Same thing in nonstick - inexpensive, 'cause it will come off

IMHO that’s all you need for the vast majority of cooking. If you have special needs, like a double boiler, you’ll know it. (Or you can always just put a bowl on top of your saucepan.)

ETA - you may also want a saute pan, All-Clad or similar. Good cookware is expensive, like All Clad and Le Creuset, but damn, can you tell the difference. My mom swore there was nothing wrong with her old pots until I got her a few good ones for Christmas - the good stuff is much more forgiving, for one thing.

7

Cook’s Illustrated recommends not spending a bundle on non-stick items, because no matter how much you paid, the coating starts to flake eventually. They say to just spend $30 or so on a wok or pan, and replace as needed.

Second the cast iron suggestion. I’m still using the chicken fryer I got 35 years ago, and it’s seasoned perfection. No non-stick can match good cast iron.

8

I agree with Zsofia’s list, with a couple of comments:

If you don’t cook things in a Dutch Oven already, it will be an expensive addition to your set that doesn’t get much use.

Your nonstick frying pan should be used mostly for eggs and other foods that need a super slick surface like crepes and pancakes. Use the plain frying pan for frying up onions and other high heat cooking. The nonstick surface will last a lot longer if you don’t beat it up on jobs it isn’t needed for. Treat it nice, it’ll last for years before you have to replace it, the rest of the set will last practically forever.

Your inexpensive items should still retain a measure of quality, since they do have to be used. Look for a heavy bottom (usually an aluminum disk) to distribute the heat evenly.

9

I also agree with Zsofia, except I recommend spending just a little more on the stock pot. There’s cheap and then there’s crap. I’d probably spend about $40 on a stock pot. A $10-$15 aluminum stock pot is good for boiling cabbage (we use ours to store dry dog food). Making good stock deserves a decent tool; I prefer stainless steel.

And if you’re getting some frying pans and saute pans, make sure you heft them a few times to make sure you’re comfortable with them. Some handles are curved wrong for different people’s hands, and some pans have helper handles that you might prefer. Pick them up and put them down a few times, at different heights as if you were putting them on the stove. See if they hurt your hands and wrists, and if you need two hands.

10

I’ll repeat what everyone says: don’t spend good money on nonstick.

All my cookware is All-Clad or Le Crueset, with the exception of a couple nonstick frying pans. I buy those at Target every few years, spending $30 or so on each one, and just accept that I will throw it away eventually.

I have purchased All-Clad nonstick in the past. It doesn’t ever flake, but the nonstick coating wears down. All-Clad guarantees them for life, so you can always send it back and get a new one, but I got sick of doing that every few years. Plus, they’re not dishwasher safe, which is a big drawback in my mind.

11

Can I ask how you can cook things “already” in a pot you don’t have? :wink:

12

Hit garage sales and Goodwill stores for Dutch ovens. I got a cast aluminum one 20 years ago at a garage sale for a buck that is still my go-to chili pot.

13

Liberal has pots, he just needs new pots. I’m just sayin’ that a Le Creuset dutch oven costs around $200, and isn’t exactly as universal as a stock pot or frying pan.

14

Excellent post. Start here, and see what else you may need over time.

Also, I use my French (Dutch) Oven more than I use my stockpot.

15

But once you get one, it turns into your favorite pot. I had to talk my mom into it at the outlet store, but now she uses it all the time. If you don’t have one, you don’t know how great it is to have something so evenly heating and foolproof. I make a lot more stews and such now that I have mine.

16

I use my dutch oven way more often than I use my stock pot, and I make a lot of stock, probably more than most people. So what one person thinks of as “universal” is another person’s “occasional.”

I don’t see how, if you cook at all, you don’t use a dutch oven. It’s not just for oven-y things: they’re the right size for soups & stews & chilis, and good for cooking large quantities of pasta. A very versatile addition to any kitchen, and unless you really want to make stock, I’d get a dutch oven before a stock pot any day.

17

I agree with the La Cruset thing–get one of the round ones and it serves as a stock pot (and makes great tomato sauce).

I’d recommend staying away from Caphalon–I got a set about 10 years ago and hate it…it’s just too damned finnicky.

18

I really liked Zsofia’s list, so I am using that as a jumping off point for a lot of +1s and some additional thoughts.

Yes. This is what you should spend your money on. If you think you don’t need it, it’s only because you don’t know that you need it yet.

Yes. The coating *will *wear off, so buy cheep. Make sure you get something that has nicely rounded sides so you can flip eggs and such. What you are looking for is a nice rounded slope where the wall meets the flat of the pan and decently high sides. I used one of thesefor a long time and it was fantastic, but it was a gift and you can find similar for much cheeper. You are going to look to replace it about every two years, so keep that in mind when you look at prices. Also, don’t waste your time with smaller than 12 inch in a nonstick, you will always want the extra pan space.

As others have said, don’t use this pan for anything that requires high heat, don’t use metal on it, don’t clean it with anything scrubby (the soft side of a sponge is fine, and don’t put it in the oven, it will last longer. (But still not much more than 2 years).

For everything you don’t want your non stick to do. Particularly for high heat sauteeing and such or anything you are going to finish in the oven.

I would get a 10 inch too.

A tie for first for the best thing you will own after the dutch oven. If you only get one thing get this and season it properly. It will last the rest of your life and then some.

Make sure it has a lid, and I wouldn’t go super cheep. You want something with a nice heavy thick bottom.

I also like to have one that is a little smaller for making things like oatmeal or rice where you want the bottom surface as small as you can get it. But then I mostly cook for 2.

I disagree. You really only need the one nonstick item, and the cast iron skillet.

You really don’t need anything else. The above should bring you in at well under $1000.

19

Well, I like to have a nonstick pot around as well as the skillet for stuff like making jam and other possibly sticky situations. Sure, it isn’t a problem to clean the good pan, but it’s easier to use nonstick for that and you don’t waste any jam. :slight_smile:

20

I am pleased with my Farberware Millennium. I bought the copper bottom, but it comes in other styles. Check the open stock.