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So many interesting posts! I actually think it's much more fun to troll the Goodwill and other thrift shops for pots and pans than to buy a whole new set, one or two pieces of which you might never use. It is quite amazing what you can find - two weeks ago I found a Tramontina 8 quart pot for $1.99 - I picked it up fast, never mind it didn't have the lid - I found my soup pot lid fitted it perfectly. In another life I found a gorgeous small French enamel covered cast iron skillet - what is that brand name? - starts with C - and used it happily until someone dropped it from a height (that's another story). PS: that is the one thing that can happen to cast iron, besides rust (which you can usually fix)
How to judge for quality in pots and pans in a Goodwill store? If you can hardly pick it up from 3 feet away, it's good quality.
I've never heard of Silpat (been in the dark ages too long I guess) but it sounds great to use. Would keep the cookie sheets clean too, I guess. I may ask for that from daughter for Christmas!
I agree about the new Lodge cast iron pans. Why would anyone want a distressed surface? But I never thought of sanding them down. Fortunately I have 2 of the old kind.........
I gave up on hard-anodized/non-stick earlier this summer. No matter what, the interior finish eventually seems to start flaking off. Which is icky.
At the same time, we were cleaning out my parents house and so I decided to start using my mother's set of vintage faberware Stainless pots/pans.
She had a TON of them, and almost all of them still looked like new.
A few had some significant amount of grease / staining on the bottom (I used a specific stainless-steel mildly abrasive cleaner (similar to bar-keepers friend, but different brand)) to clean the outside/bottom.
The interior were generally in really good shape, but if necessary I use a stainless steel scrub with either an abrasive/paste, or just dish soap.
Her pans are from the 1950s, and cook just as good as new.
I agree, if you're buying pans second hand - just pay attention to what's available and eventually assemble what you want.. Either from thrift stores, or estate sales, or garage sales...
And know that even quite old pots ('50s / '60s) work perfectly fine (once you get them cleaned up, if that's necessary).
I have a couple of copper bottom I've found (consignment stores) - really love them. At some point I'll try to put a set of those together, but in the meantime am really happy with my 60 year old stainless.
The little frying pan is on its last legs, with the nonstick Teflon practically all gone
Just wanted to mention that you should probably throw that pan away. The edges of the Teflon are exposed and it can flake off into your food, and release toxic compounds.
Only use silicon or wooden utensils in a nonstick pan; that keeps it from scratching in the first place. It's too expensive to throw out a decent pan every time it gets scratched.
Also, never let it get overheated (~500deg); if the Teflon is decomposed, it releases toxic particles and gases, some of which are carcinogenic.
Those look nice, but again, much more expensive than what I can afford. And I'm not real happy with deeper frying pans that have sloped sides. In the past, every time I try to stir something in a pan like that, it goes up the side and over the edge. I tend to be an exuberant stirrer of things.
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I use only Airbake cookie sheets. They are perfect.
I will have to look into them. Thanks!
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Originally Posted by ChessieMom
You've never heard of a pizza stone?
I hadn't! I wonder if I could bake a baguette on that. Part of the grease buildup on my cookie sheet is that I use olive oil to bake my baguettes (parchment paper tends to burn at 500° LOL).
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Originally Posted by convextech
Just wanted to mention that you should probably throw that pan away. The edges of the Teflon are exposed and it can flake off into your food, and release toxic compounds.
Only use silicon or wooden utensils in a nonstick pan; that keeps it from scratching in the first place. It's too expensive to throw out a decent pan every time it gets scratched.
Also, never let it get overheated (~500deg); if the Teflon is decomposed, it releases toxic particles and gases, some of which are carcinogenic.
That pan is my only fry pan, but yes, as soon as I get a replacement for it, it's gone.
The other two older sauce pans I have will go into my car, which I'm going to try to fix up for overnight camping next summer.
I think I'd really like to get stainless steel, but a lot of it depends on where the price is going to go to on the Kirkland set. There comes a time when you realistically have to get the most bang for your buck. If I do get the stainless steel, I will have to get one of the Martha Stewart sets. I'm not really in a position for going around to antique stores and the like to look for pans one at a time because of mobility issues.
I love hearing about everyone else's cookware, though, and your experiences with it.
The pan in your post #44 looks like stainless steel. I don't see any non-stick on it, if that's right and it's stainless, I've gotten stains like that out with a brillo pad, barkeepers friend and elbow grease.
I agree with everyone else, I'd go for stainless and skip the hard anodized.
Estate sales are another place to find good-quality cookware at low prices. I found a heavy copper saucepan (stainless inside) made in Norway for $4. It was literally black on the outside but I figured I'd take a chance on it for $4. It took about an hour to clean it (using the above) but now it looks brand new.
Do you have an oven thermometer? Maybe your oven is running hot and that's contributing to the problem.
I see there is a lot of discussion about Teflon pans. They are cheap because they do not last. One incident of misuse and they are ruined. You can buy $10. Teflon pans all day long, and that is fine, but don't expect to keep them for years. I have bought a few T-Fal pans lately ( a red dot in the middle), and I treat them carefully, and they are really good, solid flat-bottomed pans. They are a step up, but still inexpensive. I think a covered 12" skillet was $39.99. I only cook things in them under low heat, like bacon and eggs. For high heat cooking you need something else. Non stick pans are not good for everything.
Just wanted to mention that you should probably throw that pan away. The edges of the Teflon are exposed and it can flake off into your food, and release toxic compounds.
Only use silicon or wooden utensils in a nonstick pan; that keeps it from scratching in the first place. It's too expensive to throw out a decent pan every time it gets scratched.
Also, never let it get overheated (~500deg); if the Teflon is decomposed, it releases toxic particles and gases, some of which are carcinogenic.
And can cause death to small animals and birds.
I love my Cuisinart stainless set. One at a time cheap on ebay.
Stainless steel pads will scratch the outsides, only use on the bottoms.
The first part is until you quit burning food or leaving it unattended and not stirring often you will always have pans that look like your photos, no matter how much or how little you spend
I have the Farberware set from the 60's, given to me by my mother when I got married. Still using it, and still love it.
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