Which is going to be heavier cookware?

[jennyema]

Yes, I have used my sister's. It's fine stuff. I never said it was bad. I said it wasn't a good value.

My only point is what I said before: You can pay a lot less for basically the same quality or pay a bit more for much better. The Emeril name adds $$$ which could be better spent or saved on the cookware itself.

 

[Corey123]

You are very right. People are usually quite unhappy with those very cheap brands. Often though they don't realize that it's the cookware -- they assume they burn things because they are a bad cook.

Any pot or pan will burn if you are not careful. The trick is, with stainless steel, I think it's better to let the heat under the pans come up slowly and gradually if empty and your waiting to fry or sautee something, such as onions bell pepper or celery. Then add your oil.

Regardless of the SS set you use, there's no need to jack up the heat to the moon unless you are going to boil water in them for something like pasta or hard-boiled eggs. This greatly reduces burn or blue spots that won't come off.

But I've used Teflon-coated painted aluminum cookware sets for most of my adult life, and I'm just plain tired of it. The painted exteriors will lose their shine & luster from repeated machine washings.


~Corey123.

 

[Andy M.]

My first set of cookware was Farberware. The stainless pan bottom, though coated with aluminum, was way too thin to provide the kind of even heat distribution you get from disk-bottom or tri-ply stainless pans.

It's a lot harder to overcome the even heat distribution properties of these pans and burn them. It was a lot easier with the farberware.

 

[Corey123]

My first stainless steel set was Revere in the early '80's. I hardly see them around now. They've been reduced to being sold in supermarkets like Stop & Shop.

What in the world does a supermarket know about cookware? Well, I imagine that it has to start somewhere. But5 I remember Farberware and yes, they did have a thin bottom. But I've seen even cheaper no-name-brand stainless steel sets in no-name stores. That, also, is an insult to peoples' intelligence!!


~Corey123.

 

[kleenex]

The Wegman's grocery store chain has come out with its own line of nonstick cookware.

It has like a 5-6MM disk on the bottom of each piece of cookware. Do not who really makes them.

 

[Corey123]

I went browsing around in the stores today after my nutritionist appointment and going to the bank.

I went into Macy's and looked around there. While I was there, I noticed some All-Clad cookware on sale. I went over to check it out by picking up different pieces of it and noticed that it felt unusually ligtht! I knocked on the bottom and it felt kind of thin! No thick clad bottoms either!

I thought this cookware was supposed to be heavy, thick clad and solid. Didn't look that way to me! The rivered handles looked ok, but for cookware that's supposed to be so good, where's the quality in it?!

Then I checke dout the Cuisinart cookware. It felt much heavier than All-Clad!! And it looked much better also. Had the thick clad bottoms as well!


~Corey123.

 

[kleenex]

I went browsing around in the stores today after my nutritionist appointment and going to the bank.

I went into Macy's and looked around there. While I was there, I noticed some All-Clad cookware on sale. I went over to check it out by picking up different pieces of it and noticed that it felt unusually ligtht! I knocked on the bottom and it felt kind of thin! No thick clad bottoms either!

I thought this cookware was supposed to be heavy, thick clad and solid. Didn't look that way to me! The rivered handles looked ok, but for cookware that's supposed to be so good, where's the quality in it?!

Then I checke dout the Cuisinart cookware. It felt much heavier than All-Clad!! And it looked much better also. Had the thick clad bottoms as well!


~Corey123.

You need to lift up the emerilware which is made by all-clad. You will feel a mega difference in weight than regular all-clad.

In the Consumer report test the Cuisinart stainless steel stick version did worse than the Emerilware.

Does a piece of a cookware have to be heavy to be good???

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Let's talk some physics here. Cast-iron - poor conductor, brittle, heavy. but, because it has considerable thermal mass, and because the seasoning has insulating properties as well, the heat has sufficient time to distribute itself and somewhat eliminate hot spots. Also, because of the metal density, cast-iron holds more poetential heat to transfer to the food, resulting in better searing and browning.

Stainless steel is also a poor conductor, but is usually thinner, with less thermal mass than is cast-iron. Because it is thinner, it develops hot spots more easily, and can even warp from uneven heat distribution. The encapsulated botom has to be fairly heavy to keep the steel from directly absorbing the heat. The encapulant is an outer coating of 18/10 stainless for durability and looks, and inner layers of either aluminum, copper, or a combination of both. Both aluminum and copper are great heat conductors (great electrical conductors as well), and elliminate the hot-spots in stainless-steel pans to which they are bonded.

The all clad pans don't need to be as heavy as the conducting metal (aluminum, copper, or both) is sandwiched between two layers of 18/10 stainless steel. Then, the entire metal is stamped into the pan shape. So, not only does the bottom benefit from the internal high conducting metal, but the sides do as well. This distributes the heat evenly to the entire pan, bottom and sides.

And glass pots and pans, well, glass is an insulator, pure and simple. It's great for casseroles though, especially the round casserole dishes, as the corners tend to concentrate the heat.

Any questions before the test?

Goodweed of the North

 

[jennyema]

TNX Goodweed (as usual)

All Clad is making some of their stuff in China. Not supposed to be as good. It will say on the box if it is made in China or USA.

 

[Corey123]

You need to lift up the emerilware which is made by all-clad. You will feel a mega difference in weight than regular all-clad.

In the Consumer report test the Cuisinart stainless steel stick version did worse than the Emerilware.

Does a piece of a cookware have to be heavy to be good???

I HAVE the Emerilware set at home, and yes, it IS heavier than the All-Clad set that I lifted up at Macy's. Trust me, the set in the store did not have much wait to it.

Then All-Cald must have come out with a heavier set, as shown in the Chefs Catalog. The one in the store seems awefully flimsy.


~Corey123.

 

[CookwareFreak]

I have pieces of both Emerilware and AC...in fact, I have TONS of EW and AC. Emerilware stainless is decent stuff. I agree that some of the AC pieces are lightweight. Now...if you want to talk about cookware, try Demeyere's Atlantis line. I picked up a very pricey saute from SLT...probably in the $280 area. Some of the Demeyere stuff is downright ugly...but the Atlantis line is a thing of beauty. It makes AC look like a punk! I am a serious AC fan, tho, because I cannot see myself paying $250 for more Demeyere.

EW is an ok popularly priced line. If your used to Farberware...EW is a major upgrade and will serve you well. Once your ready to move on, however, or to add a really nice saute like I did...look at the Atlantis line...you will fall in love with it.

 

[Corey123]

But I already have & use the Emerilware 10-pc. SS set, which I'm quite happy with.

If I add any more pieces of cookware to the set, then it has to be the matching Emreilware stainless steel pieces with the glass lids so that it all looks like one complete set.


~Corey123.

 

[CookwareFreak]

Corey:

Why exactly do you have to have matching cookware? I can understand why you initally bought a set if you are using all the pieces. However, most pan freaks (like me!!) will tell you that they do not stick to coordinating cookware. In fact, I would never limit myself to one brand or one line. You should be choosing your cookware based on the task. I have more pans than I know what to do with! I have many different brands with varying degrees of quality depending on the task.

For instance, if I was just getting my collection off the ground, I would decide where my money is best spent. For me, I would dump as much resources as I could towards buying the highest quality saute that I could get my hands on...even at the expense of another category of cookware. A perfect example is a stockpot. I feel that a stockpot that is fully clad and expensive is a waste of money because I generally use it to boil things...soup and water for pasta. So...my money is better allocated to a heavy-hitting saute and less on a stockpot (Within reason tho...I would never buy junk aka Faberware!)

Do not limit yourself to buying EW just because you have a set of EW. You are missing out on a whole world of fabulous cookware that you can purchase open stock that would fit in well with what you already have. Nothing is more beautiful than a shelf with a Demeyere, an AC, and a nice oval LC...makes my heart flutter!

 

[Corey123]

Corey:

Why exactly do you have to have matching cookware? I can understand why you initally bought a set if you are using all the pieces. However, most pan freaks (like me!!) will tell you that they do not stick to coordinating cookware. In fact, I would never limit myself to one brand or one line. You should be choosing your cookware based on the task. I have more pans than I know what to do with! I have many different brands with varying degrees of quality depending on the task.

For instance, if I was just getting my collection off the ground, I would decide where my money is best spent. For me, I would dump as much resources as I could towards buying the highest quality saute that I could get my hands on...even at the expense of another category of cookware. A perfect example is a stockpot. I feel that a stockpot that is fully clad and expensive is a waste of money because I generally use it to boil things...soup and water for pasta. So...my money is better allocated to a heavy-hitting saute and less on a stockpot (Within reason tho...I would never buy junk aka Faberware!)

Do not limit yourself to buying EW just because you have a set of EW. You are missing out on a whole world of fabulous cookware that you can purchase open stock that would fit in well with what you already have. Nothing is more beautiful than a shelf with a Demeyere, an AC, and a nice oval LC...makes my heart flutter!

It's just me. I just can't see buying anything else that does not match what I now have. My mother did that with the Corningware cookware when we were all at home. She wanted nothing else in that line that didn't match.

i just want to expand the set a little bit. What's wrong with that?


~Corey123.

 

[GB]

i just want to expand the set a little bit. What's wrong with that?

I don't think anyone is saying there is anything wrong with that. They just want to make sure that you know that sometimes it makes more sense to get something from a different line as opposed to getting something in the same line just because you already have that line.

It is similar to buying a new car. You may have always owned MG's and had good success with them. Now it is time for a new car because you have a growing family and you will need something with more room. Well now might be the time to consider something bigger than might fit other needs better. Your MG might have been great at cruising around with the top down with just you and your girlfriend, but try fitting 2 kids and their strollers into it.

Same goes for cookware. There are things that cast iron will do better for you than SS. There are times where a non stick (and some will not agree with me on this) will be the best pan for you. There are benefits and drawbacks to every single type of pan out there. If cosmetic reasons are the most important thing for you when picking cookware and you are the type of person who needs things to be the same (like my wife) then staying in the line you already have is what you will want to do. If performance for specific tasks if what you want out of your cookware though then just keep an open mind about different types.

 

[Corey123]

It's just a ritual that I have.

The same thing can also be said about large appliances. Usually, if one were to buy a Kenmore washer, they'd also buy the matching Kenmore dryer as well, which I've done with the Kenmore portable pair.

And yes, I DO have some cast iron cookware and plan to buy the matching
Lodge cast iron 5-qt. stew pot to go with it.


~Corey123.

 

[kleenex]

One reason why you would buy cookware all from the same line is so that the lids all fit right.

 

[Corey123]

Thank you, kleenex!!

That's another reason. I didn't think of that one.


~Corey123.

 

[CookwareFreak]

I don't exactly know what you mean by the lids will all fit right....but anyway...everyone has their own needs and wants. You might see over time how your opinion on this changes. The more you cook...and the more you fall in love with cookware...the more you will see that there is lots of great stuff out there that you will miss out on by thinking that you have to stick to one line of cookware. Its like buying furniture...nothing is worse than people that go to these stores and buy exact matches of a sofa, loveseat, chair and tables...YUCK!

 

[Corey123]

Look, my opinion is my opinion.

Is it bothering you that much that I feel this way? And yes, if I were to buy livingroom furniture, I'd want the sofa, love seat & chair to match. That's common terminology & knowllege.

I'm sorry, my decision stands.


~Corey123.