Pots and Pans advice!

Gloomendoom

psychopathbabble wrote: »

We need to buy new frying pans (and eventually pots) as I'm moving into my boyfriends flat and being a typical male, his kitchenware is useless.

Being a typical male I prefer manly, hard wearing cast iron frying pans. If you are a typical female, you might find them a bit too heavy.

Hintza

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Circulon-Infinite-Anodised-Cookware-Piece/dp/B0018S13MM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332140240&sr=8-1

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Meyer-Select-Stainless-6-Piece-Cookware/dp/B003Y7AH9U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332140305&sr=8-1


These are good prices and we bought the infinite for the new house. But I am also one for pouncing on good eals at TKMaxx.

JournalGirl

Best ever I have seen is SKK. But they are expensive. We bought a cheap saute pan from their range in TKMaxx, and it is amazing, doesn't degrade at all (We have some other good quality stuff from TK Maxx but the SKK is the best by far.)

Now considering paying around £100 for an SKK frying pan, because I know how good the stuff is.

HappyMJ

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Being a typical male I prefer manly, hard wearing cast iron frying pans. If you are a typical female, you might find them a bit too heavy.

That's what I was thinking too. My wok is quite heavy and it looks really dirty. The OH hates the look of it and tries cleaning with soap whenever I'm not there to yell at her to stop. That's another half hour spent re-seasoning it... It never gets washed. Plenty of oil stir fry whatever I cook. When finished increase temperature to max for a minute or two then let cool and use paper towel to wipe down. Spot of oil wiped around it then stored for next time. Me also being a man don't like washing up and having sparkling clean stainless steel cookware is not on my list of priorities. I have ceramic cookware for dishes that require baking food then let soak for a while and the food just wipes off. I haven't used a scourer in a long time.

psychopathbabble

HappyMJ wrote: »

That's what I was thinking too. My wok is quite heavy and it looks really dirty. The OH hates the look of it and tries cleaning with soap whenever I'm not there to yell at her to stop. That's another half hour spent re-seasoning it... It never gets washed. Plenty of oil stir fry whatever I cook. When finished increase temperature to max for a minute or two then let cool and use paper towel to wipe down. Spot of oil wiped around it then stored for next time. Me also being a man don't like washing up and having sparkling clean stainless steel cookware is not on my list of priorities. I have ceramic cookware for dishes that require baking food then let soak for a while and the food just wipes off. I haven't used a scourer in a long time.

I do agree with this, as I'm used to using a cast iron pan (not sure what it's called!) and it has to stay oiled to keep it from rusting or degrading in quality.

I do apologise for my 'typical male' comment

meg72

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Being a typical male I prefer manly, hard wearing cast iron frying pans. If you are a typical female, you might find them a bit too heavy.

I absolutedly loved my cast iron pans,sadly now due to arthritis
they are too heavy and its not safe for me to use them

jennifernil

Out of interest, I just went in the kitchen and counted my pots and pans......I have 25!!!

We have however been married almost 43 years, so have had a while to gather them, and we have inherited some.

We have 3 cast iron frying pans, they are good, but rather heavy for me now, so I have now bought a couple of the best quality Tefal non-stick ones for everyday use.

I also use Tefal non-stick for milk/sauces, and got a very good, deep, heavy non-stick saute pan from Ikea. I use this rather than a Wok these days.

Otherwise I have about 14 various really solid copper bottomed stainless steel pots and pans, 5 "Old Hall" ones that are over 40 years old, and 5 Norwegian Hoyang ones that are over 10 years old. The rest are a mixture of stock pots and specialist types that are only used occasionally, but I wouldn't part with any of them.

Most were bought very reasonably in the January sales, there are usually good deals at John Lewis, Debenhams, and House of Fraser, and local specialist shops are excellent too.

We travel a lot, I love looking in the cookware shops abroad, they have some lovely pans in Denmark!

I also collect knives.....you can never have too many GOOD knives.

shegirl

Read with interest as I want to buy a new set soon The pans I've had tend to do ok but it's always the frying pans that end up being replaced regularly!

Leif

becs wrote: »

Leif I'd contact analon. I've done stir fry in my saut! pan weekly for 5 years and it's as good as new. Also done jam in the big stock pot regularly and it too is pristine. I am fanatical about only ever using plastic utensils with them though. There's certainly no breakdown in the surface of any of my pans and they are all extremely well used. My mum also has the same pans but she's had hers about 8 years and hers are all perfect as well so I would definitely contact analon.

There are plenty of reviews on Amazon which say that Analon degrades. I only use wooden spoons, and sponges to clean. I tend to sweat down onions for ages, until caramelised, and it does not seem to suit the pans. My small wok is a mess, but I can't be bothered to throw it away as all non stick pans fall to pieces in my experience.

For some reason you have been lucky. Perhaps there is something about the way I cook, or the oils I use. I only use olive oil, and do not deep fry, just saute.

becs

Same here Leif, always use olive oil and don't deep fry. I woudn't say I caramelise onions but I do sweat tem down a lot. Just finished 12 portions of chilli and 10 spag Bol so lads of onions. I only use the plastic utensils though not wood so unsure if tat woud make a difference. I use sesame oil with stir fry. As I said my mum has the same pans and had them longer with no issues either. I woud definitely contact analon as they have a lifetime guarantee.