Recommend some cookware?

Midget

Midget

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Jun 1, 2002
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Howdy. I'm on the market for a nice, high quality frying pan. Something large, like 12" range that has a glass lid.

This will be used on a gas stove. Cost is not as much of an issue - I consider this to be a lifetime product purchase and am willing to spend the money for quality.

I'm not much of a cook but I use equipment like this frequent enough that the cost is warranted.



Is there anyone here that has good recommendations, insights, tips?
 
I use cast iron for most things, but for something quick like frying an egg or sauteing some onions I've really like T-Fal pans. The non-stick coating has lasted much, much longer than any other non-stick pan I've ever had.

For a traditional stainless steel pan, Allclad are nice (and pricey.)
 
You can't go wrong with a good cast iron skillet. If you are looking for a lifetime investment in a stainless steel pan, I would second the Allclad recomendation. A good friend was gifted some recently and he was amazed at the difference between them and more inexpensive pans.

Bruceter
 
I've got the cast iron, Calpathalon, and t-fal. When we just want it cooked right, the t-fal is the go to.

If I was 21 starting all over again, I'd go t-fal and cast iron. For fourty five bucks, you can get two skillets, one teflon and one bullet-proof. When the Tfal gets to be stick resistant instead of non-stick, I'd replace it.

I also take my angle grinder with a 120 grit flap disk to the cast iron when new and smooth it all out before I season it in the oven and it makes a world of difference to me in respect to the surface.
 
My wife is a serious cook, she prefers all-clad. Around Christmas, Williams-Sonoma has some decent sales on the All-clad line the last few years.
 
Mostly cast iron and All Clad here. A Lodge Logic 12“ with glass lid would be my recommendation.
 
grew up working in restaurants, parents owned one for a while.... and wife is a great chef. I am more of a prep guy without much creative gift.

We have al clad copper core, cast iron, ceramic coated 18/10, cheap azz carbon woks, and non stick options (chantal w/ glass lid and green gourmet). Each has a place and excels in that category. So the question is what do you want to cook? We use each piece for specific things.

I will never give up my cast iron. i will never give up a carbon wok. I will never give up a high quality non stick pan w/ glass lid (albeit with a shorter lifespan). None of these are expensive compared to a single ceramic coated le creuset iron pan, and those are really nice too.

Sorry for not much help other than you may need more than one IMHO.
 
Damn... I was going to suggest T-fal!!!! I own one and love it. it holds it's coating much longer and better than other pans of a much higher price.
 
Even before I opened up this thread, I said Cast Iron out loud. Most of the replies in this thread mention cast iron. In my opinion... real men cook with cast iron. I have five pans and one Dutch oven. All I will ever need. The old stuff I have is better than the Lodge I started out with. Have a mirror smooth Griswold, and a no-name 8" that is old and glass smooth too. Those two see the brunt of my cooking.
 
I have a Lodge cast iron skillet and lid, ever since getting back together with my wife it has set unused and unloved, She says it's just too dang heavy. I told her its not a baseball bat, leave it on the stove, in one ear out the other at even faster speed.
 
As most people said, cast iron or All-Clad. Teflon coatings are not a lifetime investment, but for some purposes they are hard to beat.

I have an 8" commercial teflon coated pan that is used exclusively for eggs. It is around 15 years old and the coating is still perfect.
The only utensil that touches it is a silicon spatula. I expect that it would last another 15 years if I lasted that long.

I also have a 12" Calphalon commercial anodized pan with a glass lid. It's not non-stick, but should last a lifetime if cared for. It's also
kind of expensive.
 
All-clad. I have the plain and my brother has teflon coated .They make lots more stuff since we started using it.
They have one or two sales each year at the factory.Good prices with'hard to find defects !!
 
UffDa said:
As most people said, cast iron or All-Clad. Teflon coatings are not a lifetime investment, but for some purposes they are hard to beat.

I have an 8" commercial teflon coated pan that is used exclusively for eggs. It is around 15 years old and the coating is still perfect.
The only utensil that touches it is a silicon spatula. I expect that it would last another 15 years if I lasted that long.

I also have a 12" Calphalon commercial anodized pan with a glass lid. It's not non-stick, but should last a lifetime if cared for. It's also
kind of expensive.
Click to expand...
This is good advice. The teflon gets used for eggs and nothing else. I use the All-clad or an old cast iron pan for everything else. Clean up on either of those really isn't that difficult.
 
I suggest finding a restaurant supply company and looking at vollrath if you want stainless steel, but not sure if they have glass lids.

Cuisinart makes some nice stuff with glass lids that is quite a bit cheaper than all-clad. Not quite as nice as all-clad, but still quality.
 
Vollrath ? I have a WWII stainless canteen from Vollrath ! Few were made and sent to jungle areas . They were on the market years later . These days you can get plastic , stainless steel and titanium.
 
The wife's late uncle lived on his own down on the farm. He had fried fish every morning for breakfast for decades and the cast iron pan stayed on the stove, as did the oil. It's still there on the farm and a wonderfully seasoned pan.
 
Yeah there's a few restaurants that keep old oil.

My GF saves our grape seed oil that we fry garlic in. When we reuse oil it has slight garlic taste, lovely!

I'm not sure how they explain to health inspector though... I saw it on the travel channel.
 
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