If you own quality cooking equipment, you are going to enjoy cooking a lot more. And if you take care of it, it will last for many years. Now when I say quality cooking equipment, I dont mean the fancy designer stuff. Yeah that stuff looks great, and is expensive. But will it last? I have seen some Calphalon that looks heavy duty. It is made of thick aluminum, and has riveted handles. The the aluminum is anodized, and colored. The stuff is going to scratch, and look like crap, or you are going to have to hand wash it all the time, and be careful not to bang it into other stuff.
When I buy my cooking equipment, I go to a restaurant supply store. I buy the same stuff that restaurants use. Stuff that is NSF certified! (NOTE: NSF actually related to food safety certification, not quality…but restaurant grade stuff is going to be NSF certified). It’s not cheap. But the stuff is going to last a lifetime. And you really don’t need to buy a lot fo stuff. Sure you can go buy a whole set of pots and pans for $100, but the stuff isn’t going to last, and it will likely not cook evenly, and burn your food sometimes. And will you use all of the pieces?
My wife had the Corningware glass set of pots. I hate cooking with those. They always seem to burn food. A couple have broken over the years too.
I love Wear-Ever brand made by Lincoln. The NSF certified restaurant grade stuff. I own several regular finish skillets, an 8 inch, 10 inch, and 12 inch. I also own an 8 inch non-stick Wear-Ever skillet too. I am going to be buying a 12 inch non-stick skillet hopefully later today. These skillets can cost $30-$50 each. Like I said, they aren’t cheap, but they will last, and they work really well. I love going to a restaurant, or seeing one on TV, and I see them using the same pans I use at home. Of these, about the only one I don’t use much is the 8 inch regular finish. That because I will often use the 8 inch non-stick one instead. It’s great for making Omelettes. And the non-stick finishes? The one that I have I think is Silverstone or Silverstone II. The new one I am looking at buying is Ceramiguard II. These non-stick pans have come a long way sicne the old teflon ones. These surfaces last a long time!
For pots, I also have several Wear-Ever brand pots. And the lids ate interchangable witht he skillets too.
I have a large 20 quart stock pot. It’s not Wear-Ever. I think it is Atlas? But it is restaurant quality (NSF certified). I used to use a large cheap stainless steel stockpot. But it didn’t distribute heat well, and would burn stuff to the bottom of the pot. Liquids would also leak from where the handles were rivited to the body. I hated that pot! My new stock pot works so much better!!!
I have a stainless steel baking pan that I use all the time. It’s great for making lasagne, or baking salmon. I also use a Pyrex Glass type baking pan sometimes as well.
You want quality knives! But you don’t need a block full of them. I use main use only two of them. I have a 10 inch chef’s knife, and a paring knife. These are both made by Mundial. But similar knives are made by Wusthof, or Henkel. I also have a cool knife sharpener made by Wusthof. Buy a couple quality knives, and take good care of them! If you only buy one knife, buy a good quality chef’s knife! You will be using this one knife 90% of the time!
I also have some stainless steel tongs. I got these at the restaurant supply store too. They were actually only a few bucks each, but I use them all the time.

Posted by Rob in Whatever on March 19th, 2007 |