Cookware Sets...

noel · Post by **noel** » May 28, 2004, 6:52 pm

Been looking at getting a nice set of cookware, and I was curious to hear people's preferences/thoughts. bedbathandbeyond.com has a nice writeup on how to select a cookware set. Copper is out since I have no desire to polish it, and it seems like stainless with an aluminum core might be the way to go.

I'm looking at getting a nice 10 piece either Calaphon (Tri Ply), Cuisinart, or Emerilware, and I'm considering looking for one of the more expensive sets on Ebay. Anyone have any recommendations/comments? Not necessarily doing this right away, but for sure down the road here. Ideally I want something that will meet all of my needs, and something I'll likely never need to/want to replace.

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » May 28, 2004, 11:21 pm

Calphalon calphalon calphalon, nuf said.

Seriously tho, buy nothing from that fuzzy little ewok named Emeril, the cookware is good but not exceptional. I have Calphalon pans from when they first came out, they still suit my every need, and you can just keep adding peices to it, it looks great, distributes heat exceptionally and lasts, what more could you ask for

Xatrei · Post by **Xatrei** » May 28, 2004, 11:40 pm

Pherr the Dorf wrote:Seriously tho, buy nothing from that fuzzy little ewok named Emeril

Hahah - Thank you Mr. Bourdain

I have a mixed set of Calphalon Professional Nonstick (discontinued), Commercial Nonstick and Anodized. Nneena & I got a Professional Nonstick starter set as a wedding gift, and I've added several pieces. I've been really happy with both the nonstick and anodized products. I don't think you can go wrong with Calphalon - even their lower end products are good.

Arundel Pajo · Post by **Arundel Pajo** » May 29, 2004, 3:41 am

I dig the shit out of Calphalon. My favorite, personally.

All-Clad is nice, too...and Quinisart has actually started making some good cookware. I got a couple of Quisinart pieces for a gift a couple of Christmases ago, and have been reasonably impressed with them.

Still - Calphalon owns.

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » May 29, 2004, 4:04 am

I bought a 7 pc set of the Cuisinart Everyday stainless steel cookware at Bed Bath & Beyond when they were closing it out last year for $50. Amazon still sells the Cuisinart Everyday line, here's the set I got:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... n&n=914944

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » May 29, 2004, 1:16 pm

Xatrei wrote:
Pherr the Dorf wrote:Seriously tho, buy nothing from that fuzzy little ewok named Emeril
Hahah - Thank you Mr. Bourdain

10 million VV's for knowing that....errr...wait

Xatrei · Post by **Xatrei** » May 30, 2004, 3:23 am

I love Bourdain. I haven't read any of his fiction, but I suspect that I'd like them. His non-fiction books are among a fairly small number of non-cookbook food books that I own. It was really hard to put Kitchen Confidential down, and A Cooks' Tour was a really fun read. I'm kind of disappointed that Food Network seems to have dropped the show from their summer schedule even though I've seen them all hehe. His Les Halles Cookbook is due out in the fall. I'm really looking forward to it even though I doubt there's anything revolutionary about any of the recipes or techniques. No doubt I'll enjoy the commentary.

/hijack off

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » May 30, 2004, 12:42 pm

Having eaten there a few times, the food he serves is solid. He is very self depricating, but he's better then he lets on. He is by no means revolutionary in his plates, but he is solid and you could always count on a damn good meal. To be honest, I prefer his food to most of the fru fru bullshit out there, he uses simple honest flavors that don't get muddled down by too many ingredients. His fiction is good, and I mean that for all his books. OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of what you hear about in Kitchen confidential is, shall we say, a grain of truth wrapped in a good story. One example, don't eat fish on mondays, because it's been around since friday. True, to a point, see factory boats go out for a week, then dump their fish and we are supposed to buy them, butcher them and use them up in a couple days, making sure to keep it iced down to make sure it lasts. Small fisherman goes out friday morning, catches a 30 lb halibut, I get said halibut same day, throw it in a lexan (large storage container) and keep it iced down over the weekend. Monday comes, it is fresher then the fish that comes off the factory boat. Dont eat fish at a cheap dive on mondays, very true, go out to a fine restaurant, you can be damn sure we aren't going to serve you old food, that's what waitstaff are for

Arundel Pajo · Post by **Arundel Pajo** » May 30, 2004, 1:07 pm

What about the "never order a steak well-done" urban legend that says if you order a well-done steak, you get the oldest, nastiest steak in the fridge, since well-done kills all the flavor...

Any truth to that one?

Xatrei · Post by **Xatrei** » May 30, 2004, 2:16 pm

Pherr the Dorf wrote:His fiction is good, and I mean that for all his books. OMGIAMRETARDEDCAUSEALOTISTWOWORDS of what you hear about in Kitchen confidential is, shall we say, a grain of truth wrapped in a good story.

Yes, reading that book one definitely gets the sense that there's more than a little exaggeration and outright artistic license being taken. Still, I find that to be a big part of what I like about his writing in that book. The introduction warns that he's going to paint with very broad strokes, and he doesn't fail to deliver. Selling fish that was still swimming just a day ago, *not* punishing annoying customers with bad cuts of meat or the occasional bio-contaminant or back-of-house staff that aren't sex-crazed, often-violent druggies and hustlers doesn't make for particularly interesting reading

Pherr the Dorf · Post by **Pherr the Dorf** » May 30, 2004, 2:32 pm

Arundel Pajo wrote:What about the "never order a steak well-done" urban legend that says if you order a well-done steak, you get the oldest, nastiest steak in the fridge, since well-done kills all the flavor...

Any truth to that one?

Actually what you get is not the oldest, but the end. See when we cut steaks we cut the entire peice. For example, we'll use a NY strip, you order a 0x1 strip, clean it up some then cut the whole thing. The guy that order the well done gets the "vein steak", this is the hind end of the loin that has a extremely tough peice of silverskin running thru it, it kind of sepreates the steak into 2 peice of edible meat, every strip has about 2 of these (if you cut 12 oz steaks like I do), and 12 other "better" steaks. You really aren't trying to hid flavor, but you figure 2 things, one the meat is going to be tough as nails anyway and the silverskin will break down some from too much cooking, and second the idiot deserves the crappier steak for killing a perfectly good piece of meat