20 new of 59 responses total.
resp:37 about $8, actually. We might have chanced trying to find it in a thrift store, but we went straight to the Presto site.
I'm sorry I never got back to answer this. We decided to go with all-Clad, and then more research suggested that the iron from cast iron was so poorly absorbed that it wasn't likely to be a problem. (It seems the rumour may have been started by the aluminum industryt, so I unpacked my beloevd cast iron.
Get the All-Clad anyway. It just rocks. :) I have mostly Aluminum-disk bottom Revere, although I do own a small All-Clad frypan that I adore. I own very little non-stick, since I hate the stuff, but I do have a small and a large frypan. I'm going to eventually replace some to all of it with the All Clad, a mix of the plain stainless and the Copper Core. Want a good drool? The copper core AC has copper sandwiched between 2 layers of stainless, not just on the bottom, but all the way up the sides. Expensive as hell, but well worth it. Also, my favorite frypan is probably 30 years old. It's a 12" Corningware frypan with aluminum clad bottom. Aww yeah!
Meg! Cool to see you back. Are you at WS at Briarwood? If so, I'll be stopping in there later today for something. Maybe see you then.
Actually, I'm working at the one in Somerset, as I now live in Royal Oak. Just mostly on Tuesdays, to do shipment. It's a little extra cash, and a nice discount, so it's all worth it. :)
My roommate used my electric hand mixer in my stainless steel pot as a frickin' mixing bowl to make brownies. Now it has a billion circular scratches on the bottom. I know it's not teflon or ultra expensive cladware and is mostly cosmetic, but this pisses me the !@#$!@ off! Am I being unreasonable here?
No. People can do what they like with their own stuff, but they really should be extra-extra careful with other people's. If they're naturally careless, they should be extra-extra-extra careful.
Stainless steel pans are supposed to see signs of use. Unlike non-stick, it's a sign they are used by a real cook (who would mostly avoid non-stick to begin with). Maybe it's just a "car" thing, that the first ding is the worst. Over the next 20 years that pan will take on a patina. My advice, don't worry about it, instead, feel easier about taking it out for some real cooking.
I once had a roommate who bought a cast iron frying pan and then got all uptight about it. He actually made up a list of rules for the frying pan and posted them in the kitchen. But, of course, as twenex mentions in resp:46, this is perfectly ok since it was his frying pan. The rules also made it very clear to us what acceptable uses of the frying pan would be so there was no confusion My response was to go out and get the exact same pan. I used to take great pleasure in washing it in the sink with extra soap and a brillo pad because I know that it bothered my roommate a LOT. But in a good way. I dont think it *really* bothered him but he made a great show of pretending it bothered him because that would encourage me to continue to abuse my own frying pan while leaving his alone ;) Anyhow, the way I see it is this. If you want to be uptight about your pot, make up a list of rules for the pot. Dont expect you roommate to just know that small scratches on the bottom would bother you. It isnt unreasonable that the scratches would bother you but since that probably isnt something that would bother most folks, it is unreasonable to expect your roommate to know that it would bother you. Of course, mary's advice in resp:47 is good too. You'll probably be a lot happier if you dont get bent out of shape because a pot gets bent out of shape ;)
I advocated proper respect for other people's property, not Fascist control of ephemera, like your friend!
Re 48: Finish the story! Which cast-iron pan ended up in better shape????
resp:50 - Ok. *His* cast-iron frying pan ended up in better shape but I just re-seasoned mine occasionally and it was just fine. Guess what is one of the nice things about cast iron frying pans? Even a bozo like me cant ruin them! I eventually gave that pan away though because my grandmother gave me a whole set of them that used to belong to her son who died before I was born. It makes her happy to know that someone is using them. And guess what. Even those these pans are like 75 years old, I still cant ruin them.
Ok, the cast iron pans are only 40 years old. I have caught myself embellishing again ;)
The combination of a well seasoned black iron pan and a silicone spatula/turner and a stainless tong enables a lot of recipes, and can go from searing to baking to sauteeing to boiling/poaching to braising to fridge.
A neighbor just gave us a brand new never used in the wrapping electric fry pan. Aluminum. It sticks far less than the old scratched up one that was no longer fixable.
I used to have a well seasoned round deep dish pizza pan that I loved but don't know what happened to it. So it'd be nice to get some kind if iron pan...
Over the last 40 years I've acquired a nice assortment of high quality pots and pans, but my favorite is a 10" Lodge cast iron skillet that is naturally non-stick at this point. Cost new, today, is about $20.
It's been a lot of years since I've looked at pots and pans in the stores so I have no idea what the higher quality stuff costs. I assume they make cast iron pans that are more like sauce pans or dutch ovens than the more traditional cast iron frying pan? If they do make bigger pans, how would the cast iron affect what you're cooking?
I have an enameled cast iron Dutch oven that's probably 25 years old. That pot has seen a lot of stew, soup and chili over the years. I even use it to make 24 hour no-knead bread. But I'm not so sure it would do what a saucepan needs to do, which is make a quick adjustment to flame adjustments. I prefer multi-ply with a stainless exterior for saucepans. But all of this comes down to personal preference. I'm not a matched set kind of cook. What serves to fry and egg would be terrible at searing steaks at nuclear temperatures.
I do have a couple sauce pans that I use for basic heat-up type things. And one bigger basic pot I use for chili, stew, and soup. Am just wondering if a cast iron dutch oven type thing would work better. I do use a slow cooker for some things but it never produces a good stew nor do I use it for chili. I also have some basic non-stick frying pans in a few sizes and one grill pan [one of those non-stick square frying pans with the raised lines that provide the 'grill' marks. And now that I live at a place that doesn't ban outdoor grills, I do plan on eventually getting a grill, once I can save up the money for a decent one.
You have several choices: