Home Cook Cookware, Utensils, Machines, etc.

[Eli Chaps]

Forgive me if there is a more appropriate location for this post as I looked around and did not see one. So, how's about we talk about the hardware in our kitchens?

I really enjoy cooking. For my daily cooking, I cook on an electric coil stove and that's important to note. My wife cooks as well but mostly defers to me for the equipment aspect.

I am in the slow, but methodical, process of replacing much of my cookware. Most of what I have now is Calphalon in both plain and non-stick aluminum. Quality cookware for sure but with shortcomings and much of what I have is starting to wear out.

I also have myriad backing sheets, racks, cast iron, aluminum stock pots, glass, and so on.

It's time to start streamlining and standardizing.

First up, carbon steel.

I'm all in on carbon steel pans. I intend to eliminate all of our Teflon except maybe one 12" for quick stuff if the wife doesn't want to mess around. I don't know about the health concerns folks talk about but I do know the stuff chips and scratches. Get a seasoning on carbon steel and use whatever utensils you want in there and crazy non-stick. And mine is mostly a wipe out with some hot water and dry affair.

I'm a Matfer Bourgeat guy.

Bullet proof construction and a reasonable price. No internal rivets is a plus as it leaves everything smooth and no places for food build up. For electric users like me, I really like that they are thick. Pans like Lodge's carbon offerings is thinner as are many of the boutique and handmade products. Great for gas but on electric, warping is a real issue and the thicker products have so far worked very well for me. I just make sure to heat them "slowly". Five or so many minutes on medium low, five or so minute on medium, etc.

You absolutely can season these pans on electric stoves. I battled my first Matfer for awhile. Watched a ton of videos, tried a bunch of different things, and ultimately started over and just stopped over thinking it. Start with the oven and then go stove top. I can share if anyone is interested.

I currently have the 12 5/8" and will be adding the 10 1/4" next.

If you haven't tried carbon steel, you absolutely owe it to yourself to do so! One you get it broke in, which really isn't that hard once you understand things, it is outstanding. Super simple cleanup, amazing heat transfer, etc.

And then there's stainless...

So what say you all? What do you use in your kitchen? What gems do you recommend or junk that caution against?

 

[marchone]

For a Western kitchen. From my personal experience.

For sauté work. French black steel. 20 to 28cm. I like Matfer.

All-Clad. A lot of it. Different sized pots for boiling and braising. One to three liters each cover a lot of ground in a small kitchen.

A few fully laminated stainless steel stock pots from Sitram, Bourgeot, or equals. 12 to 40-quart each. With lids.

A couple 8-inch 1/4” thick aluminum Teflon-coated pans. They excel for egg dishes and crepes.

A couple of select stainless steel lined copper pans. For sauté work, sauces and braises, with lids. 3 to 5 quarts each.

 

[Arathol]

Cast iron, just about everything, on a propane gas range. A whole stack of stuff, frying pans of all sizes from #0 to #14, waffle irons, bread pans, pots large and small, griddles, you name it. Most of it is old, Griswold or Wagner made. I use a 10" frying pan every day that is unmarked but made in the 19th century. Pancakes, french toast and the like are done on a 120+ year old 19x10x3/4" griddle.
Other than that, there are a couple copper bottom pans and a double boiler from Revere Ware that get used a lot. Then there is some Analon non-stick stuff my wife uses....Overly expensive and still prone to chipping just like the teflon stuff despite what the ads say...

 

[Eli Chaps]

My end goal (some I already possess) is to have:

1. Carbon Steel ~12" frying pan
2. Carbon Steel ~10" frying pan
3. Stainless Steel 12" frying pan
4. Stainless Steel 10" frying pan
5. Cast Iron 12" skillet
6. Stainless Steel 4qt saucepan
7. Stainless Steel 3qt saucier
8. Stainless Steel 8qt stock pot
9. Stainless Steel 12qt stock pot
10. Cast Iron dutch oven
12. Enameled roasting pan

Then the various casseroles, sheet pans, a Teflon pan or two, etc. I should be pretty well covered for what and how we cook.

The 10 1/4" Matfer Bourgeat will be here soon and I already have the stainless frying pans and cast iron so next I'll be focusing on the pots.

Specifically, the next item will be a Tramontina (Brazil) 8qt stainless pot. My current pot is in need of replacement so that's driving the priority. I don't think you need fully clad large pots, just a good bottom.

Then I'll be working on Made In pots. Probably the saucier next.

 

[Eli Chaps]

For a Western kitchen. From my personal experience.

For sauté work. French black steel. 20 to 28cm. I like Matfer.

All-Clad. A lot of it. Different sized pots for boiling and braising. One to three liters each cover a lot of ground in a small kitchen.

A few fully laminated stainless steel stock pots from Sitram, Bourgeot, or equals. 12 to 40-quart each. With lids.

A couple 8-inch 1/4” thick aluminum Teflon-coated pans. They excel for egg dishes and crepes.

A couple of select stainless steel lined copper pans. For sauté work, sauces and braises, with lids. 3 to 5 quarts each.

Thanks for the list. Can I ask why you prefer fully laminated stock pots? Is that mostly for heat transfer during braising? On the stove top I'm not sure it matters but am surely open to learning.

 

[marchone]

Open flames on a range will lick up the sides of the pot causing scorching and burning. Cheaper pots will be laminated on the bottom only.

 

[Eli Chaps]

Open flames on a range will lick up the sides of the pot causing scorching and burning. Cheaper pots will be laminated on the bottom only.

Ah. Got it. I'm electric so I think I'll be alright with just the bottom for the two large pots.

 

[marchone]

Remember that good pots and pans will last a lifetime. Appliances are disposable.

 

[Eli Chaps]

Remember that good pots and pans will last a lifetime. Appliances are disposable.

Agreed and it's a good point. I'm also trying to maximize my budget. The frying pans and sauce pots is where I'm putting the money for now. The cheaper stock pots should do me until I have everything else set.

 

[Eli Chaps]

On another note, a while back I bought a variety pack of little restaurant storage containers. There's brands like DuraHome, Reditainer, etc.

Like these (promo pic):

I'm only slightly exaggerating when I say these things were life changers.

Same lid for all the sizes (8, 16, 32oz) and fully stackable. Microwave, freezer, and dishwasher safe. I tossed a ton of plastic storage stuff in the garbage after getting these. A ton. No more mismatched lids, piles of stuff that sorta stacks and looks so alike but is off just enough that nothing fits right, etc.

I kept some of my quality rectangular pieces for when these don't quite fit for certain leftovers but these do the bulk of the work any more.

I wish I would've bought these years ago.

 

[Ken C.]

Forgive me if there is a more appropriate location for this post as I looked around and did not see one. So, how's about we talk about the hardware in our kitchens?

I really enjoy cooking. For my daily cooking, I cook on an electric coil stove and that's important to note. My wife cooks as well but mostly defers to me for the equipment aspect.

I am in the slow, but methodical, process of replacing much of my cookware. Most of what I have now is Calphalon in both plain and non-stick aluminum. Quality cookware for sure but with shortcomings and much of what I have is starting to wear out.

I also have myriad backing sheets, racks, cast iron, aluminum stock pots, glass, and so on.

It's time to start streamlining and standardizing.

First up, carbon steel.

I'm all in on carbon steel pans. I intend to eliminate all of our Teflon except maybe one 12" for quick stuff if the wife doesn't want to mess around. I don't know about the health concerns folks talk about but I do know the stuff chips and scratches. Get a seasoning on carbon steel and use whatever utensils you want in there and crazy non-stick. And mine is mostly a wipe out with some hot water and dry affair.

I'm a Matfer Bourgeat guy.

Bullet proof construction and a reasonable price. No internal rivets is a plus as it leaves everything smooth and no places for food build up. For electric users like me, I really like that they are thick. Pans like Lodge's carbon offerings is thinner as are many of the boutique and handmade products. Great for gas but on electric, warping is a real issue and the thicker products have so far worked very well for me. I just make sure to heat them "slowly". Five or so many minutes on medium low, five or so minute on medium, etc.

You absolutely can season these pans on electric stoves. I battled my first Matfer for awhile. Watched a ton of videos, tried a bunch of different things, and ultimately started over and just stopped over thinking it. Start with the oven and then go stove top. I can share if anyone is interested.

I currently have the 12 5/8" and will be adding the 10 1/4" next.

If you haven't tried carbon steel, you absolutely owe it to yourself to do so! One you get it broke in, which really isn't that hard once you understand things, it is outstanding. Super simple cleanup, amazing heat transfer, etc.

And then there's stainless...

So what say you all? What do you use in your kitchen? What gems do you recommend or junk that caution against?

You didn't look hard enough. The forum rules are posted at the top on the main Community Center Forum Page.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ing-community-center-rules-guidelines.309009/

Moved to Gadgets & Gear.

 

[Eli Chaps]

You didn't look hard enough. the forum sules are posted at the top on the main Community Center Forum Page.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...ing-community-center-rules-guidelines.309009/

Moved to Gadgets & Gear.

Apologies and thanks for the move.

 

[bdmicarta]

I know very little about cooking, a whole lot more about eating, but this is about hardware- I just installed a new induction cooktop for my wife. We moved 7 years ago and our new house had one. I didn't know the advantages then but they are pretty neat- they heat quickly and when you turn it off the heat stops. Plus you don't have to worry about touching or spilling something on a hot burner. The downside for us was that we had to buy new cookware. The funny thing was it took us more than a few days to discover that our cookware didn't work. We moved again a year ago and my wife finally decided she would buy the induction cooktop that Home Depot had on sale. I think what she likes best is that it doesn't have knobs so it is much easier to clean the top surface.

The MC cable out of the new cooktop was bigger than the old one and wouldn't fit into the junction box. I checked a couple of hardware stores and couldn't find hardware to adapt so I finally gave in and replaced the junction box which turned out to be plenty easy. The new cooktop works great and we've actually used it a couple of times already.

 

[Ourorboros]

Plastic quart containers fill restaurant refrigerators - each chef's station has the pint and cup ones in their fridges too.
If you do baking or roasting, nice thick half sheet pans are great. You want thick so they don't warp. You can roast a lot of vegetables at once. With a wire rack you can roast a couple of chickens, pork belly, or broil.
That extra chicken is nice because there are all sorts of things you can do with an extra chicken. Makes the next meal easier.

 

[Eli Chaps]

Plastic quart containers fill restaurant refrigerators - each chef's station has the pint and cup ones in their fridges too.
If you do baking or roasting, nice thick half sheet pans are great. You want thick so they don't warp. You can roast a lot of vegetables at once. With a wire rack you can roast a couple of chickens, pork belly, or broil.
That extra chicken is nice because there are all sorts of things you can do with an extra chicken. Makes the next meal easier.

Yep. I have an assortment of pretty good pans and racks but will eventually be replacing them with commercial stuff. I've got a prioritized list started, to include vendors and such and sheet pans and racks are already on it.

I routinely buy two or three whole chickens. I'll typically break one or two down into parts for the freezer. Then I'll take the last one and make a nice stock and poach the whole bird. I end up with good stock for freezing and break all the meat down into portioned bags for quick meals. Real nice for pulling together sandwiches, tacos, etc.

 

[marchone]

Disposable deli containers in three sizes are indispensable. I have a case of each at home.

The suggestion for restaurant quality half-sheet pans with racks is also a good one. Very versatile set up.

 

[Eli Chaps]

Excited!

The 10 1/4" arrived about an hour ago. Here with it's big brother (12 5/8"). I'll grab some potatoes and canola oil on my way home from work tomorrow and get to seasoning this weekend!

 

[marchone]

There are a lot of seasoning methods. One that we used at work over the years was to scrub new steel pans clean, then put a couple of them on high heat for 20 minutes or so. Carefully removed to a level counter, they were filled with cooking oil to the brim. Then let cool overnight. The oil was reused for more pans then discarded.

An alternative method was to only saute duck breasts in them for a week. A few dozen orders a night would do it in a weeks' time.

 

[Eli Chaps]

There are a lot of seasoning methods. One that we used at work over the years was to scrub new steel pans clean, then put a couple of them on high heat for 20 minutes or so. Carefully removed to a level counter, they were filled with cooking oil to the brim. Then let cool overnight. The oil was reused for more pans then discarded.

An alternative method was to only saute duck breasts in them for a week. A few dozen orders a night would do it in a weeks' time.

I tried a couple different things and ended up with:

1. Potato skins/oil/salt a couple times. I think it helps clean the pan more than season it.
2. Then very, very light oil in a 450F+ oven for an hour and cool over night. I might do that twice.

With the coil burners I get hot spots so it's hard to get a good even heat all around the pan so the oven does a better job for that initial seasoning.

Then it's just use the thing.

 

[Eli Chaps]

Well, with this one, I again started out just following the manufacturer's instructions. Two rounds of potatoes/salt/(canola) oil and then a quick heat with very, very (basically dry after wiping) light oil and cool. That only worked so-so with my big pan and after trying different things, I took it back down to bare metal, redid the instructions and then threw it in the oven with very, very light coat of oil. That worked.

But I wanted to see how this one did without the oven. Just the manufacturer's instructions. Worked like a freakin' champ! I'm thinking that the smaller diameter gives it much more even heating on the coil so I wasn't fighting tough spots.

Dab of oil and some butter and eggs were sliding all around. This 10 1/4" is perfect for two eggs.

Raw pan after cleaning:

Cooking after just following the instructions:

I did a few eggs. While I love runny yolks, I did flip a couple to get the cold yolk to hit the pan and they did just fine.

Love this stuff!