Anolon Titanium pans
After about two years of evaluating the different kinds of pans we registered for and received as wedding gifts, I think I’ve come to some useful conclusions about what works for me in the kitchen. One, Calphalon’s hard-anodized flat-bottomed wok is a terrible choice for anything resembling stir-frying (hmm, a wok that ought to stir-fry, go figure). Two, despite Cook’s Illustrated’s never-ending love for All-Clad products, I just can’t get the hang of purely stainless-steel pans. My food just sticks way too much.
So, I’ve cooked and cooked and settled on a line of pans that works particularly well: Anolon Titanium. I have two now, a 12″ French skillet and a 5-quart covered saute pan. They’re dishwasher-safe, food develops a reasonable fond but rarely sticks on the hard-anodized surface, and it’s not the end of the world to use metal utensils with them. The stainless-steel handles stay cool and have a comfortable shape. Also, since the pans are heavy-weight aluminum, they retain and distribute heat very well. For all that, and the piece of mind that they’ll last a good, long time, I don’t even mind the price (skillet - $75, covered saute - $130).
The best of every world! But, in LeVar Burton’s timeless words, you don’t have to take my word for it: pick up an 8″ skillet at Amazon for $19 and give it a shot.
at those prices I think I’ll have to wait and register next time I get married…
I just can’t get the hang of purely stainless-steel pans
I never quite got the hang of nonstick. I tend to destroy them pretty quickly, and I’ve never been able to successfully brown something in a nonstick. I use All-Clad stainless steel for meat and Sitram stainless for dairy (it’s a way to tell the difference between pots without labeling them).
For dairy, I prefer nonstick, as mostly I cook veggies and eggs in them, with the occasional fish missing out on the browning fun. For meat, we’ve recently switched to anodized Calphalon and it’s fantastic.
Is there a producer of fresh kosher pasta in NYC????It would be nice to have the opportunity to cook with fresh pasta.
Buy them at your own risk of course. I still wonder if there will be any concrete evidence that cooking with aluminum is bad for your health. Currently the FDA just says not to store anything acidic in aluminum pots but to cook with it’s ok.
I love LeVar Burton…Reading Rainbow is great! Sometimes you can find “slickdeals ” on Calphalon pots in the Friday sale @ Amazon.com (that’s http://www.slickdeals.net - the second most addicting site behind this one…). That’s just my 2 cents, but it may save you some $$$ in the future. Until then, I’m just gonna let the generic pots I have sit in my cabinet, because all I eat is morningstarfarms Chik Patties anyway.