Food We need to talk about cooking and food prep tools and utensils.

Newfangled gadgets!

 

I've added "a few" kitchen knives to the collection.

We didn't have a proper carving knife. I lucked into a sturdy & well made Iterpur made in Japan one at the Rehab Program resale shop I used to frequent.

I was also curious about "Japanese style" knives, but didn't want to drop any real $ on them, so on-line I scored a set of six Moravan MIJ knives. They're probably medium quality. I really only like them for veggies, even the sturdy ones aren't anything special for heavy cutting (large roasts, spaghetti squash, even large carrots).

We're still getting used to my most recent score: Zwilling J.A. Henckels Germany Four Star, a 20 piece set for $70.00 total. Two knives are missing, the cleaver (we have two, the nice Carvel Hall one rarely gets used), and the 6" flexible boning. Actually I'm guessing because I never did find a complete list of exactly which knives were originally included.

I had to spend a lot of time sharpening the knives, but considering the 20 piece set lists on several sites at $999.00, I didn't mind (too much, LOL!). I'll say this, there's no way I'd pay that. The knives are solid without being heavy, nicely ergonomic, but the cheap looking and feeling plastic handles are a big negative. I prefer the how the handles are done on our much, much cheaper Henckels International Eversharp sets.

 

Please educate me on cooking with
Stainless Steel pots & pans,
frying pans in particular.

Background: As some of you might recall (yeah, right) a while back my wife & I purchased a glass top electric range. We kept our mix of Calphalon & Member's Mark hard anodized non-stick cookware. I have nothing against it per se, in general it works just fine on the glass top, but the time it takes to boil water in a small pan drives me crazy. I'm talking about 2-3 cups of water in a pan that fits the burner, with a lid on it. I know that a large pan with eight cups of water, say for pasta, will take a while to boil.

My wife says I'm being impatient, and she's right...........to a certain extent. I was expecting the new range top to clearly exceed the heating power of the 30+ year old exposed element range top we replaced; so far I've been disappointed. BTW/FTR I know that glass top ranges require some adjustment to it you're not used to them.

Now: We, mostly me, are looking into new cookware. Before making a leap away from non-stick, I decided to try a stainless steel fry pan. I may not be a chef, or even a serious home cook, but I have moved past inexpensive cookware that I put into the category of temporary. The new pan is a Cuisinart Multiclad Conical Tri-Ply Stainless 12" skillet. The Conical (horrible name) series has been replaced by the Pro series. I hope that my skillet is simply NOS, not a factory second that was quietly slipped into the market.

I washed & dried, conditioned, then re-washed & dried, per the instructions. I cooked fried bacon & fried eggs, again following the instructions (a small amount of oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of the pan, heated at a hair under medium for 3 1/2 minutes). The bacon left visible sticky spots, and the eggs stuck despite ample grease in the pan. Clean up took several tries (again following the manufacturer's instructions), and had to include using metal polish.

My limited experience with stainless steel cookware has left me disappointed. I do not want to, and I will not, spend that much time babying cookware. Some precautions cooking with it are OK, spending 20 minutes cleaning a pan is far from OK.

EDIT: BTW/FWIW we don't abuse cookware. We've kept our relatively inexpensive Member's Mark set mostly non-stick for over 10, possibly 15, years.

 

Since new cookware is such smoking hot topic......

I tried out another skillet this morning. Tramontina Gourmet 12" Fry Pan in Black Stone, that is made in Italy. I followed the simply seasoning instructions yesterday, and the cooking instructions this AM. I'm happy to report fried bacon & fried eggs cooked beautifully, no sticky spots at all. And it cleaned very easily with small amount of warm water & drop of dish soap. Later in the week I'll use it again to see what happens.

The bad news is from what I can tell Tramontina only offers the Black Stone on a couple of pieces, at least currently. The way manufacturers complete discontinue a line, or simply change the name, or make minor changes then change the name, gets confusing. In my research I saw some lines that didn't last three years, despite a high percentage of positive reviews and being priced very competitively.


I'm not giving up on the Cuisinart Multiclad Conical Tri-Ply Stainless skillet. I researched curing techniques and went with one that is basically what the manufacturer recommends, but calls for longer time on a slightly higher heat and a much longer sit time before draining the oil and cleaning the pan. Apparently making SS completely non-stick isn't possible, but I have read about adding salt to the process; that'll be a last resort. The good news is I only paid $16.99 (list $59.99),and the Tramontina was $14.99 (list 44.99).