whats your favorite pot or pan, cooking equipment???

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I;m needing some more stockpots and have been looking at stainless steel, 20 qt one looks good for my 1st purchase, the two alum. stock pots I have weren't big enough during canning season, I have large alum. pressure cooker, but don't like getting it so dirty during canning season. Whats your favorite pot, one you use all the time, I already have a few pieces of cast iron, but I need lg pots for soup, chili, salsa, etc. what brand is best in stainless steel, weight, size, cost. The ones at Wally world are so thin, I found one at a kitchen store, 20 qt for $39.99, I may purchase it if I don't find anything better, it was the heavier of their selection.

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), September 15, 2001

Answers

Carol, I've always heard heavier is better for that kind of pot, the kind you use for slow cooking of large batches. My mother always used her pressure cooker for that kind of thing, not as a pressure cooker, but just as a large pot. We've never used a stock pot a whole lot in this house, so we never had anything special for it. I have a couple of lightweight stainless steel ones that I use to "cook" cheese over hot water in, but that's it.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), September 16, 2001.

Revereware...I got it at an outlet store. I think Revere-corning, use it ALL the time!

-- DW (djwallace@ctos.com), September 16, 2001.

Carol- I was fortunate enough to pick up a heavy stainless steel 20qt pot at a flea market for $5 and I love it so you might try yard/estate sales depending on how much energy you want to use. Another idea is to check with local schools/hospitals you can get some great stuff when they update thier equiptment. Our local elementary school will even let people place personal orders at the end of the (school) year and you can get new, professional equiptment- pots, baking pans, knives, at a (for them) reasonable cost though it is still too much for my personal budget-I just buy thier old stuff really cheap and live with the dents and dings.

-- Kelly (markelly@scrtc.com), September 16, 2001.

Other than pots, my favorite piece of equipment is a Kitchenaid mixer with the attachments (that can be aquired with time), this is the most versital (sp) kitchen tool that I have.

About 10 years ago Hobart equipment sold this line of mixers to Whirpool. Since then the prices have gone down. I am not sure how the new owner changed the quality. I own the model where the bowl raises (not the one where the bowl screws in) 17 years w/o any problems.

Grated cheese is a snap. kneading bread is a breeze and not to mention grind your own meat. Just imagine how much fat must go into the store bought ground. The list goes on.

-- Mark (toymeister@hotmail.com), September 16, 2001.


Farberware, it's even heaver stainless steel than Revereware!!! I use my large stockpots to make soap in even, and they clean up beautifully.

For daily meal cooking, my best standby for sauteing (sp?) to boiling water quickly for rice or pasta is a large "chicken fryer" skillet with vented lid made by T-Fal, it's lined with UltraStone non-stick coating, and the whole pan is very heavy, boils, fries, or simmers very quickly and no burning!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), September 16, 2001.



Have you looked in a Army surplus store? They always have big - heavy - and well made.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), September 16, 2001.

Big iron dutch-oven style pot with lid. Use it for everything from jellying to making breads in to soup to roasting garlic. Nothing ever burns in it (too heavy!) and its well seasoned so it washes out in a heartbeat!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 16, 2001.

my favorite is the ronco showtime rotisorie. its the best thing next to take-out......lol

-- paul a coleman (wormfarmerone@yahoo.com), September 16, 2001.

Lodge, cast iron dutch oven! Also, my small electric toaster oven. We have no microwave here. Can't forget my stove-top perk coffee pot, couldn't start the day without it.

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), September 16, 2001.

My cast iron fry pans and dutch oven .Love the kitchen aide {5 years old} Love the bread machine.My sauce pans are rivals I think {3 years]

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), September 16, 2001.


I go cast iron as much as I can; they are the most versatile, though heavy, cookware going. I cook on a deep lid skillet, dutch oven and two HEAVY stock pots passed on to me by my grandmother. She cooked for a family of 12 during the depression years, on stoves, wood cookstoves, even outdoor fires, those things have lasted and lasted. I am hoping that I will pass them on to MY grandchildren; we have a three year old boy and one on the way, so that date is still a ways off.

I also like a heavy duty wok I purchased in a restaurant supply store I shopped in. Good stuff there too; not badly overpriced, not for what you received: cookware that was going to see LOTS of cooking.

-- j. r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), September 17, 2001.


Just remember that picking up those heavy iron pots is considered a weight bearing exercise - keeps those bones nice and dense!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.

Farberware stainless steel pots and saucepans and my Lodge cast iron. I can turn out a tasty meal with foil and old coffee cans but it's a lot easier when you have good gear.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (oneliveoak@yahoo.com), September 17, 2001.


An old Farberware that was given to me - the new ones are much thinner. I also have some old Reverware I picked up 2nd hand. I found a real nice heavy S.S. stockpot at Andy & Bax surplus in Portland, but I couldn't afford it at the time. Still can't.

-- Bonnie (stichart@plix.com), September 17, 2001.

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