Your Cookware Helper

For our wedding shower the community is pooling their money to get us a gift and we decided to get new cookware (pots and pans). Our current set is a bunch of freebies we have accumulated over the years, so we will get rid of all our cookware and replace them with what we get from our wedding shower. The community told us to pick out the pans and they would pay for them.

We were looking at the All-Clad stainless 10 piece set but after reading user reviews, they sound like they are very hard to clean if you cook your food on high.

We are amateur cooks, we both like to cook your basic foods so these pots and pans will be used for everything. I would like these pots and pans to last a very long time.

What cookware set or brand do you recommend for newlyweds that are amateur cooks and only cook your basic foods? I also read in the forums not to buy sets but this is a gift.

Remember we were told that money is no object from the community!

Thanks

It sounds like you have a very nice and generous community. My congratulations to you on your upcoming wedding.

A high quality stainless steel can burn food when used with temperatures set too high because of the aluminum/and or copper clad insides. I would recommend a nonstick interior at least on some of the items to help with the sticking issue, and dishwasher safe items to speed up cleaning.

Here are a couple items worth checking out. Use the links on the cookware brands pages to see more details. The links will bring you to the product pages, and each offers a 10pc cookware set:

Calphalon CS Nonstick Cookware

Circulon Infinite Cookware

Best wishes to you. Let me know if you have further questions on the cookware. Both Calphalon and Circulon make excellent quality cookware that is known to last a very long time.

Thanks I will research these brands.

Okay if stainless steel is too sticky and I want to stay away from teflon products. What options do I have?

If you want to stay away from nonstick cookware, but want something that doesn't stick (too much), I'd go with cast iron, enameled or non-enameled. Non enameled cast iron builds up a near nonstick surface over time with use, and proper cleaning. The enameled variety adds terrific colors, and because of its glass like enamel, it is easy to clean. Staub, Le Creuset, and Lodge are well known for quality cast iron products. Calphalon recently introduced their cast iron line, and now KitchenAid has a solid line.

The drawback to cast iron is that it is heavy. I have a cast iron grill pan and a skillet. Both have helper handles, the second handle on the far side of the pan, and I use them all the time. I love my cast iron. If you go this route, get a good stiff bristled brush to clean them (non-enameled). Enameled can be cleaned easily with a soft powder cleanser like Bon Ami and a nylon brush.

More comments: In addition to the cast iron, consider the glass/ceramic/stoneware choices. These won't have much in terms of skillets, but plenty of in the oven roasting dishes and casserole dishes. Emile Henry now has stove top ceramic/stoneware in the Flame Top line. Corningware used to be stove top ready, but their formulation since the late 90's is oven/microwave only.

This is all good stuff. If you make the health oriented choice to stay away from nonstick, there are plenty of really good choices, with color, style, and flexibility.