Buggrit

[ksmith]

Home today and tomorrow, my first two vacation days of 2010. I had been planning to take Friday off in any case, but then the Winter Storm Warning went into effect and I thought a 4-day weekend might be a plan. There are only a couple inches on the ground so far, but it's supposed to fall throughout the day and overnight. By the time the storm pushes through sometime tomorrow, we could be left with 11-14" of snow. At least it's the fine stuff. Much easier to shovel...except for the fact that the temps are then supposed to plummet and the wind pick up. No fun shoveling snow when it's windy. I'll need to break out the ski pants and the special gloves that are too damned insulated to be used for anything but holding a shovel.

In non-weather news, I am now the proud owner of a new set of pots and pans.

Last weekend, I had decided to start building the Must-Have set compiled by Cooks Illustrated. You may need an account to read the page, so I will say that they recommend 7 core pieces--an All-Clad 12" skillet along with their 2 and 4-qt saucepans, a Wearever 10" non-stick saute pan, a Lodge 12" cast iron skillet, a Le Creuset 7.25 qt Dutch oven, and a Cuisinart 12-qt stockpot. The total cost for this a la carte set, excluding DEALS!!, is close to $900. Not including shipping.

I figured I had time, and could build a piece here, a piece there. I already had the Dutch oven, and decided to pick up the All-Clad skillet and 4-qt sauce pan. Went to the All-Clad irregulars site and made my choices. Stared at the total cost, almost $250. Decided to hold off a bit and look around.

CI also rated cookware sets. Their main complaint about these sets is that you often wind up with a couple of pieces that you never use, so they hunted around for the optimal sets. Their top-rated set was, wait for it, an All-Clad 10-pc that came in at $700. Another top choice was a Calphalon 8-pc set for less than half that price. I have a couple of Calphalon non-stick skillets, and like them well enough, so I hunted around. Found a nice 13-pc set on eBay for $300. Almost pulled the trigger, but balked at the glass lids. Poked around looking for reviews. Amazon had the same set for $100 more. Reviews were OK. Then I noticed the link to a Cuisinart 12-pc set and clicked through.

OK, suspense over--these were the pans I bought. The reviews were overwhelmingly positive, both from Amazon and other stores I checked. They're multi-clad, with an aluminum core. The 3-qt sauce pan came with a steamer insert, which I will be using muchly ever since I learned from Alton Brown that microwaving zaps antioxidants in veggies. The lids are metal. I now have pans I can stick in the oven.

The set arrived yesterday. The pieces have a nice heft. They're so pretty that I'm almost afraid to use them. Even so, part of the morning will be spent making room for them in the cupboard. The old Revereware and various odd pieces will be boxed up for donation.

And...I didn't stop there. I filled out the set with 3 and 5-qt casseroles. I also got a couple pieces from Lodge Cast Iron, a 10.5" skillet and a 12" grill pan. So, with some care and a little luck, I shouldn't have to buy cookware for quite some time.

On the Gaby front, it's been about 7 weeks since the switch to duck. She seems just fine-- ::fingers crossed::--bouncy and happy. I have noticed that she stares at King's food for a few moments after I set their bowls down. It's as if she's trying to figure out why her food looks different, or why King has crunchy food and she doesn't. But then she eats.

Snow's still falling. Pups are napping. I need to put some pots away.

Comments

[galeni.livejournal.com]

Ooo, pan porn. I have an all-clad skillet (deglazes fabulously) and 4 qt saucepan and adore them. Heat much faster than only bottom clad and keep that heat, too. Have a chicken fryer skillet from Wagner cast iron I've had for years and use often, and a ceramic interior nonstick skillet that takes higher heat than Teflon without killing canaries, and a collection of Cruset for stews and sauces. Making cheese/ white sauce is easy in cruset on the stove and it won't burn!!! Burned lots of sauces before that.

Love good tools.

Glad Gabby is doing well. Poor baby.

[(Anonymous)]

Maybe Gaby needs some crunchy Peking Duck skin so she'll feel she's getting equal treatment .

--Jaws

[phantomminuet.livejournal.com]

Dontcha just love cooking stuff? I still have the original Revereware pots and pans that I set up housekeeping with, and I love them, but I have since added several Le Crueset cast iron pieces. The colors are beautiful, they're easy to clean, and they're still made in a democracy.

I would also recommend having a set of Pyrex baking dishes and measuring containers, in order to have a well-stocked kitchen. Pyrex is extremely reasonably priced, it's very sturdy, and it's still made in the U.S.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

You're being an enabler. I have a mix of odd stuff, and would like to improve, but my cooking style's different from yours. I have two iron skillets (one Lodge, one Wagner, both in the range of 55-60 years old), a big square iron griddle (Lodge--I love it but Richard doesn't), a small round iron griddle (he likes it; I don't) and one enameled-cast-iron oval baking dish, rather small (a small chicken can be squeezed into it.) I have the 20 quart soup/stock pot in which I make stock (Chinese made, harder to clean than All-Clad, but cost only $75 and it does have an aluminum core bottom) The saucepans are all Revere; the Dutch ovens (in which I made smaller one-meal soups and chili) are all Revere; the 10 quart soup pot (in which, at the moment, beef-vegetable-barley is getting started) is Revere. The older Revere is 55 or older; the newer Revere (bought to expand the old after I married) is in the 30 yo range. There was already a lowering in quality by then. The Revereware skillet (not my mother's, but a newer one) is pretty much defunct--it warped and isn't flat anymore. I could use a non-stick saute pan, yes, though the old seasoned cast iron does the job.

But the question is, do I really *need* the other stuff, or just *want* it? I'd love to have some All-Clad. I'd love to have prettier Dutch-oven sorts of pots (but enameled cast iron is heavier and my small blue one--oh, and the big lasagna pan--are in fact hard to clean. I make bean soups--bean soups stick. So can barley and rice.

And yet...