Cookware

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Bodyperson

Bodyperson

Pedal to the metal
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I keep hearing how toxic Teflon coated can be. Ours is wearing and I am leaning toward ceramic. I guess its not toxic. Stainless would be good too but not a "non stick" as others I believe. We have a glass top stove top so cast is out though I do have cast-iron cookware.
Any body rocking the ceramic or have other suggestions? Of coarse money is an issue but willing to step up to the dog dish for some quality stuff.
 
Yo BP I use my cast iron on our smooth top stove everyday. I try not to scoootch it around much but I have been using it on there for years. But I do like some of the new ceramic non stick materials they are coming out with. I just figure non stick pans have a finite life regardless of material. I use both but my everyday is cast iron. And yes I do most of the cooking in our house. As does my son and my father in their homes. I love to cook. You get what you pay for in cook ware. Get the size and material you like, I don’t have two matched pans in the whole house, if you don’t count cast iron!
 
Sublime one said:
Yo BP I use my cast iron on our smooth top stove everyday. I try not to scoootch it around much but I have been using it on there for years. But I do like some of the new ceramic non stick materials they are coming out with. I just figure non stick pans have a finite life regardless of material. I use both but my everyday is cast iron. And yes I do most of the cooking in our house. As does my son and my father in their homes. I love to cook. You get what you pay for in cook ware. Get the size and material you like, I don’t have two matched pans in the whole house, if you don’t count cast iron!
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Thanks SLO. Haven't had the balls to try the cast on the glass but ya I've heard you can use it. I guess you are correct about any of it wearing out. Even cast can break.
 
Been using Cast iron on Glasstops stoves for probably 25 years now. Never a problem. If you don't have Cast iron cookware in your life boy are you in for a treat.....

JW
 
Bodyperson said:
Thanks SLO. Haven't had the balls to try the cast on the glass but ya I've heard you can use it. I guess you are correct about any of it wearing out. Even cast can break.
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I made the migration to the ceramic from Teflon as well. I have several stainless but to your point they are more job specific and don’t have the no stick quality’s you might be looking for. My two ceramics are a large sauce pan with rounded bottom for stir fry and a small “3 egg” pan for quick sautés or a quick egg sandwich! And I have a ceramic casserole dish but frankly I think they are over priced and don’t really see the benefits of no stick in a casserole dish. They are gonna be soakers when MT anyway!
 
I got Kitty a ceramic cook set this past year from Target. Faberware. They are really nice for non stick, but you have to remember to use non metallic utensils.
 
Sublime one said:
I made the migration to the ceramic from Teflon as well. I have several stainless but to your point they are more job specific and don’t have the no stick quality’s you might be looking for. My two ceramics are a large sauce pan with rounded bottom for stir fry and a small “3 egg” pan for quick sautés or a quick egg sandwich! And I have a ceramic casserole dish but frankly I think they are over priced and don’t really see the benefits of no stick in a casserole dish. They are gonna be soakers when MT anyway!
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Pretty much use Pyrex in the oven. Like you said they are all soakers after a good baking.
 
Porcelain over cast iron is VERY nice.
Quite non stick

Cast iron (buy the oldest one you can find or the heaviest one.)
Kinda non stick.

Allclad, stainless or copper
Kinda non stick

Allclad, non stick.
Nothing sticks to it. Ever.

Magnalite, professional.

Like a cross between cast iron and a Allclad.
Kinda non stick.


I own and use all of the above and they are all excellent.

My cast iron skillet is VERY old. It never gets put away, almost never gets washed. (I dont care what you think, thats how I do it.) It belonged to my grandmother and we use it almost every day.

I take cooking seriously. It's one of my favorite things to do. I am actually baking a Roast now and the entire house smells great!
 
Cope said:
Porcelain over cast iron is VERY nice.
Quite non stick

Cast iron (buy the oldest one you can find or the heaviest one.)
Kinda non stick.

Allclad, stainless or copper
Kinda non stick

Allclad, non stick.
Nothing sticks to it. Ever.

Magnalite, professional.

Like a cross between cast iron and a Allclad.
Kinda non stick.


I own and use all of the above and they are all excellent.

My cast iron skillet is VERY old. It never gets put away, almost never gets washed. (I dont care what you think, thats how I do it.) It belonged to my grandmother and we use it almost every day.

I take cooking seriously. It's one of my favorite things to do. I am actually baking a Roast now and the entire house smells great!
Click to expand...

. Doing stuffed Cornish hens, hasselback spuds and a light salad soon. I'll check into Allclad. Hadn't run into that yet. Kinda liking the enamel idea. I have a big enamel stock pot I like. SLO made me realize I just really need a couple sauce pans big and little for just what he described. Kind of had my heart set on a cool looking matching 10 piece(they count the lids) but I just need a couple sauce pans in reality.
 
Some info on how I came to own such expensive cookware.

I once dug up a Allclad pan in a ladys backyard. (Digging foundation for an addition) I brought her the pan and said I fould this in buried in your yard.

She looked at it for a while and remarked, "oh yeah, I put that out in the yard during the drought for the birds. Just toss it out."

I took it home, cleaned it up and it looks like new.

Then my sister got a full stainless Allclad set for here wedding. She is not a good cook. After about two years all the pots and pans were black with burnt oil and basically unusable. She told me "I thought you said these were good. I hate them. You want them?"

I spent probably at least two weeks scrubbing them with stainless steel and they finally became passable. I don't have the desire to scrub them back to new condition but it could be done.

The same goes for cast iron. It could be rusted and look like garbage but they never go bad.

If you like cooking you need good pots, pans and knifes.
 
A big X2 for enameled cast iron. I have about 25 plain cast iron pieces of all sizes and shapes, but I got a few of the enameled ones for soups and stews. If your wallet is fat, Le Creuset is the cream of the crop. Lodge does a pretty good job at a much lower price. There are do's and don'ts for cast iron so make sure you are on board before you pull the trigger. Like @Cope, I have hundred year old cast iron that is smooth as glass.
 
Cope said:
Porcelain over cast iron is VERY nice.
Quite non stick

Cast iron (buy the oldest one you can find or the heaviest one.)
Kinda non stick.

Allclad, stainless or copper
Kinda non stick

Allclad, non stick.
Nothing sticks to it. Ever.

Magnalite, professional.

Like a cross between cast iron and a Allclad.
Kinda non stick.


I own and use all of the above and they are all excellent.

My cast iron skillet is VERY old. It never gets put away, almost never gets washed. (I dont care what you think, thats how I do it.) It belonged to my grandmother and we use it almost every day.

I take cooking seriously. It's one of my favorite things to do. I am actually baking a Roast now and the entire house smells great!
Click to expand...

If your married, her friends are jealous. If your single there will be a line forming at the front door..... Women like men who cook like a boss....

JW
 
Cope said:
Porcelain over cast iron is VERY nice.
Quite non stick

Cast iron (buy the oldest one you can find or the heaviest one.)
Kinda non stick.

Allclad, stainless or copper
Kinda non stick

Allclad, non stick.
Nothing sticks to it. Ever.

Magnalite, professional.

Like a cross between cast iron and a Allclad.
Kinda non stick.


I own and use all of the above and they are all excellent.

My cast iron skillet is VERY old. It never gets put away, almost never gets washed. (I dont care what you think, thats how I do it.) It belonged to my grandmother and we use it almost every day.

I take cooking seriously. It's one of my favorite things to do. I am actually baking a Roast now and the entire house smells great!
Click to expand...

You're not supposed to wash cast iron cookware so you're doin it right. We just wipe ours out and regrease. They are some of the best non stick cookware there is but you have to throw some butter in the bottom and melt it first. Long as you don't mind that, eggs will fry and just slide around.
 
@RustyRatRod

Let me know when the package shows up bud.

I agree Rusty but lots of my more modern
friends (and the mother in law.) will tell you generations have been doing it wrong....Its unhealthy to not wash it.

Even tho it gets well over 140 degrees to even melt butter.....

Face palm...

I grew up eating eggs deep fried in bacon grease in this pan. Bacon comes out, eggs drop in. Oh the crispy burt edges... not good for ya so I don't do it very often but, oh it is just as good as I remember.
 
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Where has a pizza stone been all of my life too. Just started rockin one of those a few months ago. Lots of good advise here. Thanks a lot guys. My wife just gave me guff for consulting a bunch of rednecks. I knew you would come through.:)
 
Cope said:
@RustyRatRod

Let me know when the package shows up bud.

I agree Rusty but lots of my more modern
friends (and the mother in law.) will tell you generations have been doing it wrong....Its unhealthy to not wash it.

Even tho it gets well over 140 degrees to even melt butter.....

Face palm...

I grew up eating eggs deep fried in bacon grease in this pan. Bacon comes out, eggs drop in. Oh the crispy burt edges... not good for ya so I don't do it very often but, oh it is just as good as I remember.
Click to expand...
Hell, I dont wash the Teflon Half of the time
 
Walking into my kitchen just now and I see another new addition. I picked up a cast iron griddle the other day and man it is nice.

It took a while to get it back to a decent condition but now it lives on my stove top, covering the two right hand burner rings.
Its great for pan cakes, taco's, reheating stuff and more.

It took me a few days of seriously wanting to "put it away" before I could fully embrace it taking up two burners but now that it is out and being used it is showing its usefulness.
 
I have two very old cast iron skillets got them from my grandmother, one 8" & one 12". Neither of them have EVER seen any soap & water. We cook in them, wipe out any residue, apply a light coat of oil & store them. I'm going to guess the skillets are approaching 80 years by now because I'm approaching 70, real quickly.
 
A note on the pizza stone.

The oven at my place is a cheep old gas unit from the 90s?. Its ehhh..

I have a large pizza stone and most times I leave it in the oven on the lower rack. It makes for a great heat sink and very even baking.
Another added advantage to this is I do not have to store it. It just lives in the oven much like the cast iron lives on the stove.
 
I use the stainless mostly and it’s not to bad if you keep it greased. Cooking fried potatoes on stainless is the worst they all stick to the pan, all the work chopping them up and half our stuck. My ex took most the stainless so I’ll need new cookware soon. I’ll have to check out the cast iron I also have a glass top stove but it’s pretty scratched already.
 
We also have a ceramic pizza stone, it was left in the oven of an apartment my wife & I rented 25 + years ago. It also lives in the oven full time.
 
Dartsun said:
I use the stainless mostly and it’s not to bad if you keep it greased. Cooking fried potatoes on stainless is the worst they all stick to the pan, all the work chopping them up and half our stuck. My ex took most the stainless so I’ll need new cookware soon. I’ll have to check out the cast iron I also have a glass top stove but it’s pretty scratched already.
Click to expand...
Does the stainless discolor too?
 
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