Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Stain THIS.

For all the time I spend in the kitchen, I am not one to be precious about my cookware. One of the best frying pans I ever had came from humble thrift-store beginnings to help me create many satisfying meals. (I think my sister has it now, so the cycle continues.) Last year, my mom gave me her cast-iron skillets, and you would have thought the Publisher’s Clearing House people showed up at my door with their balloons and giant check. I’m cool with hand-me-downs, is what I’m saying.

However, even though Red had a very serviceable set of pots and pans when I moved in, they were never meant to last forever. The nonstick stuff is flaking off. They’re all scratched. I was happy cooking with them, but we occasionally talked about what we wanted to replace them with. We ultimately decided that we didn’t want to go the nonstick route, as that leaches Goddess knows what horrendous chemicals into your food, and we didn’t want anything cheap. Whatever we bought would last.

Enter stainless steel.

We decided fairly quickly that we wanted to go stainless, but holy cats, there are a lot of stainless cookware sets out there. Some we could afford; others (I’m lookin’ at you, All-Clad) we most definitely couldn’t. After a few days of researching, we lucked into a gorgeous set of Cuisinart Multi-Clad Pro. The Amazon reviews, plus this in-depth comparison and recommendation, convinced me to whip out the old credit card and take the plunge. And I am so glad we did.

These babies are awesome, y’all. They are most definitely high-quality. They’re nicely weighted—no flimsy pans here. They heat evenly and the few meals we’ve made with them so far have been great. The handles stay cool (lids don’t). Pouring is easy. Cleanup is just as easy as nonstick. They fit in our cabinets. The lids have a mirror finish, so when I peek into a pot of simmering soup, I can smile at my reflection.

I think I’m in love.


8 comments:

  1. Hi! You came to my Monty Python show on Saturday.

    I also just got this set a couple of weeks ago and am totally in love. So worth the price! Have fun cooking on it, I know I have.

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  2. Hi there! It was a fantastic show. You rocked it! :)

    So happy to hear you love the Multi-Clad. I am pretty thrilled with it so far! It will be making many cameos in upcoming food photos.

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  3. Awesome cookware! I've got cheaper stuff and if I had to do it over again, I'd do what you did. Hurray for taking the plunge!

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  4. WOW! You will never believe this but I am in the exact same scenario but a couple weeks behind you because I am waiting for my tax refund. Every time I use my old non stick pans I think "these are going to kill me" so thanks for helping me decide which set to get! I was overwhelmed by all the different options.

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  5. I'm with you all the way on those non-stick pans.. I'm a cast-iron girl myself.. love these stainless steel ones though! Thanks for sharing!

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  6. HOLY POOP! awesome set. I am le jealous. :)

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  7. And, I clearly have a new item to covet.

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