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I will always recommend Winco pans. For the price, a Winco pan is dollar-for-dollar better than most consumer pans. They don't look great, but they'll get the job done, will heat evenly, and will last a very long time in a home kitchen. That being said, it's worth checking out stores like TJ Maxx for pans. They always have solid offerings for a decent price, and so long as what you're getting has a heavy bottom, sturdy construction, and is easy to clean (stainless steel), you'll be getting something worth getting. I've used All-Clad pans and fancy-rear end copper pans, and they are great, but I just can't see myself paying hundreds of dollars for a pan or two when they don't offer any noticeable improvement to my end results. Maybe the process is slightly easier, but it's not like I'm looking at my current pans (winco/cuisinart/random brands from TJ Maxx) and thinking "I wish this was better". That money is better spent on a brand new kitchen tool or higher quality ingredients, and replacing pans that are warped or just bad.
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Apr 13, 2020 22:29
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SubG posted:I have a mishmash of Calphalon, Cuisinart, and All-Clad pots and pans. The Calphalon stuff (all from the Contemporary line, for whatever it's worth) and All-Clad stuff (from various lines) is all fine and I wouldn't draw any meaningful distinctions between them, beyond aesthetics and so on. The Cuisinart stock pot I own (from the MCP line) is made of substantially inferior stainless, to the point where I got spotting and pitting on it almost immediately, where I've never had trouble with the Calphalon or All-Clad stuff which I use more frequently. I haven't noticed pitting on my friend's cuisinarts but sheesh I don't blame you for avoiding them after that
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Apr 13, 2020 22:33
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Steve Yun posted:I haven't noticed pitting on my friend's cuisinarts but sheesh I don't blame you for avoiding them after that The water here is hard as a longshoreman's union meeting hosted by pr0k's mom, so it's possible that you wouldn't see it if you have softer water. But none of my other pots or pans have the same problem, and the MCP isn't remotely the one I use most frequently to boil water.
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Apr 13, 2020 23:38
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I dunno, Los Angeles water basically comes out of swimming pools
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Apr 14, 2020 02:00
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Good timing, thread. I need to replace a 1 quart stainless steel non-stick saucepan. Unfortunately no-stick pans (of whatever coating) are almost always aluminum, and I plan on buying an induction stove*. I've never used carbon steel pans before. Thanks for the advice on them. Do they really require as much care as a cast iron? ie, no dishwasher, no letting liquids sit, reseason once or twice a year? And could I, say, cook oatmeal or a cream sauce in them without spending 20 minutes scrubbing them afterwards? *We moved house last year and left our induction stove behind. The new house has a plain old glass top electric stove. I hate it and will probably spend my stimulus check on replacing it.
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Apr 14, 2020 14:13
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SubG posted:Yeah, it's not the end of the world or anything. Still functions as a pot and everything. I assume this just means that Calphalon and All-Clad just use stainless with a higher chromium content, but manufacturers always list the minimum spec--18/10 or whatever--and not the actual composition, so there's no way to be absolutely sure. There are a few other alloying elements that provide pitting corrosion resistance (like molybdenum) but 18% Cr should be enough to prevent pitting unless the surface finish was poor to begin with or damaged sometime later.
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Apr 14, 2020 14:53
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Bagheera posted:Good timing, thread. I need to replace a 1 quart stainless steel non-stick saucepan. Unfortunately no-stick pans (of whatever coating) are almost always aluminum, and I plan on buying an induction stove*. (I'm not a carbon steel fan) No Wave fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Apr 14, 2020 |
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Apr 14, 2020 14:55
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Bagheera posted:I've never used carbon steel pans before. Thanks for the advice on them. Do they really require as much care as a cast iron? ie, no dishwasher, no letting liquids sit, reseason once or twice a year? And could I, say, cook oatmeal or a cream sauce in them without spending 20 minutes scrubbing them afterwards? They require the same care as cast iron. I don't have any trouble cleaning mine but I usually wash up as I go. A brush, drop of soap, and warm water and they are good to go. The king of easy clean is always going to be Teflon. If I were only going to have one kind of pan it would be stainless, but I have stainless, Teflon, carbon steel, and cast, and use them all for different purposes. Teflon is used the least. The cast is mostly used for oven duty.
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Apr 14, 2020 19:06
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Anyone have any info on induction burners. I already have a decent gas stovetop, with power burners/quick boil etc. But they throw out a ton more heat into the room than an induction would and summer is coming. What's the absolute best induction burner out there? Is there any reason to spend the $$$ for a polyscience? Is there better than that available? I'll probably swing back around to ask about countertop ovens later too.
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Apr 14, 2020 19:16
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Bagheera posted:
glass top electrics are the worst, godspeed Sextro posted:Anyone have any info on induction burners. I already have a decent gas stovetop, with power burners/quick boil etc. But they throw out a ton more heat into the room than an induction would and summer is coming. What's the absolute best induction burner out there? Is there any reason to spend the $$$ for a polyscience? Is there better than that available? I'm curious about this too. The biggest burner on my gas stove is 19000 btu, is an induction hotplate a worthwhile gadget? Also hadn't thought about the waste heat.
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Apr 14, 2020 19:29
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On the topic of induction burners, and burners in general I have some questions. I have an electric cook top. I have natural gas to the house but not to the kitchen, although as far I I can tell the gas line runs under the kitchen on it's way to the utility closet in the basement for the heat and tankless water heater. My biggest complaint for the electric cook top is how uneven the heating is and how difficult it is to dial it in to maintain a specific temp in a pot. I am just generally unsatisfied with it, although it is 20+ years old (Jenn-Air with downdraft!) so may a new one would be better? Putting in an induction cook top would be simple, it should just drop in, I think? Putting in a gas cook top, would at a minimum, involve running a new line but could be much more if there isn't enough pressure. People who have had gas and induction, what are your thoughts? Is there a clear preference such that it would be dumb not to do one or the other? Are new electric cook tops da bomb, yo? Thanks!
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Apr 14, 2020 19:31
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I have a portable, single "burner" induction cooktop and its nice to have if i want to warm a big pot up really fast or i can use outdoors on my grilling table if needed for a sauce. sometimes its nice to use outdoors when it comes to frying fish or chicken so it doesnt stink up the house.
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Apr 14, 2020 19:58
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Also there is the fact that natural gas is a fossil fuel and always will be, while our electricity is fossil fueled we should be working to de-fossilize wherever possible. Including making long term decisions to not purchase natural gas fueled appliances.
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Apr 14, 2020 20:10
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Murgos posted:People who have had gas and induction, what are your thoughts? Is there a clear preference such that it would be dumb not to do one or the other? Are new electric cook tops da bomb, yo? Thanks! Gas burners work with all your cookware. Gas stoves generally continue to work during power outages. Gas has a nice visual component; you can always tell where you’re at with a glance. For a permanent, cook-on-it-every-day solution, I think gas wins by a mile. I have a single-burner induction unit like someone above me mentioned. It was OK the two times I used it, but it’s been gathering dust for years. I feel like I lose things, but gain nothing, by going gas -> induction. I am sure someone will have a list of things induction is better for, but I have never found myself wishing I wasn’t stuck with this darn gas stove to cook on. I can imagine times when I might wish I wasn’t stuck with an induction cook top.
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Apr 14, 2020 20:31
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So going back to the original question, is there a recommended big, high-quality countertop induction hotplate that I could use in an apartment as an alternative to the lovely glass-top stove that I have?
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Apr 14, 2020 20:54
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I’ve never had gas, only electric and induction. Induction is GREAT for safety - you still don’t want to leave it unattended, but you also don’t have actual fire and the burners stay fairly cool (although they do get hot by virtue of having a hot pan on them). It’s delightful to turn on the “Powerboost” mode and get a pan screaming hot in seconds without having a giant fire. You can also turn it down super low and get a very gentle heat. I think on mine I could get away with melting chocolate without a double boiler, but I haven’t actually tried that. If you’re in love with nonstick cookware, or have a collection of copper pans, you’re not going to have a great time with induction. Stainless steel, multi-ply, cast iron, and carbon steel all work fantastic, and I have a small nonstick pan with a stew disk in the bottom that works fine for cooking eggs. Wok cooking is basically a non-starter as well. Even with a flat bottom you get 0 heat anywhere that isn’t in contact with the burner, so you have a screaming hot little disk at the bottom and a lukewarm bowl. That said, there’s no waste heat really, which is nice in the summer. I love my induction cooktop, but like I said, no house I’ve ever lived in has even had a hookup for a gas stove. It’s 1,000% an upgrade over standard electric though, even my cheapo Fridgidaire unit.
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Apr 14, 2020 21:00
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Kylaer posted:So going back to the original question, is there a recommended big, high-quality countertop induction hotplate that I could use in an apartment as an alternative to the lovely glass-top stove that I have? Sorry for hijacking your thought. To compensate here are the recommendations from Cooks Illustrated: Semi-comedy but, no seriously: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G5MZZ5Q/?tag=cioequippilot-20 If you can manage the, uh, $1500 price you get an induction burner that's so accurate you can use it to Sou-Vide or temper chocolate with no fear as it will hold a temp between 86F and 485F to within +/- 2 degrees. Otherwise the real winner is: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GHWHBCF/?tag=cioequippilot-20 For a reasonable $89 the Jack Burton will make perfect pork chops on demand. It's all in the reflexes. Edit: The Duxtop is highly rated on Amazon but cooks didn't like because it wasn't very good at holding a temperature, did not do low temperatures well and was very poor at heating large volumes of liquid to a high temp (like 2 qts of cooking oil). Murgos fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Apr 14, 2020 |
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Apr 14, 2020 21:09
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Much appreciated, and for most people those would probably work just fine, but I really want to have a ridiculously oversized hotplate so that I can optimize use of my ridiculously oversized skillet, I want something like a 12" diameter burner. Super precise temperature control is much lower on my priority list. I'm probably going to be stuck with small burners unless I buy a house and put in my own stove, I'm guessing.
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Apr 14, 2020 21:22
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Lawnie posted:There are a few other alloying elements that provide pitting corrosion resistance (like molybdenum) but 18% Cr should be enough to prevent pitting unless the surface finish was poor to begin with or damaged sometime later. Like I said, it's not the end of the world and it doesn't interfere with the use of the pot. But this isn't something I've seen on any of my other pots or pans. So it's not just me doing something stupid, some environmental issue, or whatever.
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Apr 14, 2020 21:26
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Murgos posted:On the topic of induction burners, and burners in general I have some questions. My opinion: Induction is a million times better than coil or glasstop electric ranges. It's close to but not quite as good as gas. Advantages (vs regular electric ranges) *Quick heating: Induction ranges heat much, much faster than electric. I can boil a gallon of water in ~5 minutes, versus ~20 minutes on a cheap coil range. *Fine-tuned heating: The temperature on an induction range is consistent and can be very finely dialed in. Poaching eggs, for example, is much easier on induction. *Safety. This is an advantage over both electric and gas. Induction heats up the cookware, not the surface of the range. You can put your hand on the range right next to the skillet and not get burnt. When you pull the skillet away, there's a bit of residual heat that fades quickly. A neat trick for saving glass from scratches: You can put a paper towel under a cast iron skillet and slide it around. Because the skillet gets hot and not the surface, the paper towel won't burn (it will get a bit brown). Then you can use your rough cast iron without scratching the glass. *Heat all the way up the pan. On most cookware, the sides heat up about the same time the bottom does. It's not a huge deal, but it makes heating soups and sauces a little easier. Disadvantages *You must have iron. Induction works by creating a magnetic field, and that only interacts with iron (cast iron, stainless steel, etc.) Triple-ply cookware will work great, but aluminum, copper, and others won't work at all. As you see on my previous post, non-stick cookware that's made of stainless steel is hard to find. You can get a steel plate that sets over the induction burner and heats up whatever's on it. But that's very inefficient. *Timeout. Induction burners have sensors that detect iron on them. If you pull off a pot and forget to turn off the burner, it will turn off automatically. My range had a very short timeout. If I was making something that required me to lift a saucepan up and down, it would sometimes time out and turn off. *Expensive. Induction burners are more expensive than electric ranges, but they're absolutely worth every penny.
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Apr 14, 2020 21:45
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I was looking at getting an actual good knife and some other stuff for the kitchen (finally picking up a Dutch oven, need a cutting board) and is Amazon fine for all this stuff? I see a few reviews on the victorinox chef's knife saying they got counterfeits
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Apr 15, 2020 03:13
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Don't buy anything off amazon if it really matters if it is counterfeit or expired/pulled out of the trash. They accept counterfeit goods and mix them with legit products with the same upc numbers. In some cases, even amazon couldn't tell you if goods are legitimate or not. I got counterfeit window sealing silicone tape, people will counterfeit everything on there. I still buy stuff, but I wouldn't buy e.g. safety equipment, electrical outlets, etc
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Apr 15, 2020 03:57
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I just got my Mac Pro knife on Amazon from "Cutlery and More" which is recognized as a legitimate distributor from Mac's own website, so I feel pretty okay. I guess do your homework from where you're actually getting it from? and as a bonus I managed to cut myself tonight while chopping garlic because I forgot how to use a knife that's actually sharp
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Apr 15, 2020 04:04
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AndrewP posted:I just got my Mac Pro knife on Amazon from "Cutlery and More" which is recognized as a legitimate distributor from Mac's own website, so I feel pretty okay. I guess do your homework from where you're actually getting it from? That doesn't matter, Amazon mixes goods from legitimate distributors with those from counterfeiters, that's what Vim was just saying. Cutlery and More sends good knives to Amazon's warehouse, they house them in the same bin as counterfeits, and it's a tossup which they'll actually send you.
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Apr 15, 2020 04:17
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Kylaer posted:That doesn't matter, Amazon mixes goods from legitimate distributors with those from counterfeiters, that's what Vim was just saying. Cutlery and More sends good knives to Amazon's warehouse, they house them in the same bin as counterfeits, and it's a tossup which they'll actually send you. This is surprising to hear. I would have assumed inventory from different parties would be kept separate
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Apr 15, 2020 04:32
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Steve Yun posted:This is surprising to hear. I would have assumed inventory from different parties would be kept separate Nah its been a problem with Amazon for a while, I know I've seen a few news stories about it
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Apr 15, 2020 04:50
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huh. well even if that's the case, Mac will at least honor the warranty from this place in case it snaps or something
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Apr 15, 2020 05:38
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Some products are shipped by the vendor, it usually takes longer but if counterfeiting is a concern. I haven't received any counterfeits but I don't doubt it's a problem.
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Apr 15, 2020 08:41
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Just gonna swing by this thread and say silicone mats are awesome and if you don't have one yet get one.
Resting Lich Face fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Apr 15, 2020 |
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Apr 15, 2020 18:57
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Resting Lich Face posted:Just gonna swing by this thread and say silicon mats are awesome and if you don't have one yet get one. Assuming you mean “silicone”, I agree.
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Apr 15, 2020 19:24
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That too but have you tried baking on a sheet of Intel i7 cores? It’s amazing!
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Apr 15, 2020 19:26
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Steve Yun posted:That too but have you tried baking on a sheet of Intel i7 cores? It’s amazing! AMD are better; they produce way more heat.
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Apr 15, 2020 19:46
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https://twitter.com/D1C0MM/status/1228427533831430144
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Apr 16, 2020 03:42
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I am brining pastrami using a recipe that calls for a beef brisket flat, 4 quarts of water, and an onion, and then the recipe says this:Project Smoke by Steven Raichlen posted:Place the brisket in a jumbo heavy-duty resealable plastic bag. Now, I don’t know what fancy rear end eat-the-rich grocery store Steven Raichlen shops at, but I HAVE NEVER IN ALL OF MY BORN DAYS ON OUR CHRISTIAN GOD’S EARTH EVER ONCE WITNESSED resealable plastic bags larger than gallon-size! Maybe because I live in a small redneck shithole town where nobody sells them? But I’ve never seen them in bigger cities like Austin TX either. AND YET I SEE RECIPES CALL FOR THEM EVERY-loving-WHERE. So clearly people MUST be finding them somewhere. But I have never seen them. AND I HAVE LOOKED! I ended up having to divide my brisket and other ingredients in two and put them in 2 separate gallon-size bags, but that recipe has pink curing salt in it, so I am praying like hell that this pastrami doesn’t kill anyone. Sure I could just get a FoodSaver and use that instead, and eventually I’ll probably do that... but this has been bugging the absolute poo poo out of me for YEARS. Where do people find these super giant resealable plastic bags? I. M. Gei fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Apr 16, 2020 |
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Apr 16, 2020 03:55
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https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ziploc-Brand-Freezer-Two-Gallon-Bags-with-Grip-n-Seal-Technology-10-Count/12166312 https://www.amazon.com/pieces-Gallon-Reclosable-Freezer-Storage/dp/B009ZL3S5Y
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Apr 16, 2020 03:57
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i like nice words
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I am all for cutting up big roasts into smaller pieces though
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Apr 16, 2020 04:06
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meatsink
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Apr 17, 2020 06:29
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butter for thermal paste
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Apr 17, 2020 17:05
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You guys. How It’s Made has an episode that shows how they make my beloved Peugeot Paris pepper mill. 
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Apr 17, 2020 21:00
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San Jamar has oven mitts and cutting boards on clearance. https://www.sanjamar.com/ $4 for 18x24 original cutting boards and $9 for 15x20 T-Grip. I bought several to use as gifts. 
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Apr 18, 2020 19:17
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