Re: Dazor UREKA!

The standard burners are fine, and can do a true simmer. The mid-size one is more than a standard "high" and the big burner is really hot and large. The tri-ply, or the heavy anodized pots definitely handle it better.

The "green" pot is supposed to have no toxic outgassing. It's a ceramic coating. I think Donna got a Kitchenaid or some other brand similar pan. I really like the pan, DH has been amused a bit that I take such pleasure in the little things. I looked at several, and while not cheap, it wasn't crazy expensive using a coupon at BBB. Here's a link from the cuisinart on-line store:

Now, just to save up for a new not non-stick pan....of the larger size.

Ellice

Those Todd English look nice, as well. At this point, I just add as I really need and can afford.

Ellice

When we remodeled the (very small) kitchen in our first house, I chose a "smooth top" stove, I think it was one of the very first, and was an Amana Radarange. I chose it because I thought that the smooth, glass top would serve as extra counter space when I was not actually using the burners. Anyway, the instructions were very firm that all the cookware had to have totally smooth, flat bases, so I invested in a couple of sets of Corning Ware. I still cook with all of them. Mind you, I kept my 12 qt aluminum stockpot, which had a fairly smooth base, and it worked quite well. Nowadays, with my nice gas range, I use the Corning ware, but I also have a stainless steel skillet with a heat resistant handle of some kind of composition. I wish I could find another, larger one, but they seem to have gone completely off the market. If I need a larger skillet, I have to haul out the electric one, also stainless steel lined. Easy to clean, no chemicals to leach out into the food. Unfortunately, the only stainless steel pans I have seen recently also have stainless steel handles, which I assume get very hot, but they are apparently designed to be put into the oven under the broiler to "finish off" various recipes. If ever I want to do that, I dig out the ancient cast iron one.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

The "good" stainless is just expensive. You can definitely get large, larger than a 12" electric skillet, in a stainless skillet. I've seen 13", and some really large saute' or chef's pans. With my calphalon & the cuisinart - they have brushed stainless handles, but don't get hot. The joining to the pain I think probably has an insulator under the plate - and if you look at the handles they're sort of "V" near the pan that then forms into one piece. Don't get hot - work much more nicely than my old calphalon that really got hot. The handles on the 8 qt stainless can get warm, but not terrible. Guess it just depends.

Funny, I remember my DM cooking on the stove with the corningware, but I really only use it in the micro or the oven.

Ellice

Aha. They have those in our local gourmet cookware shop. In fact, I was sitting across from one when we stopped in there for brunch after church today. The one I was staring at was skillet size, but about two ot 2.5 inches deep and with vertical sides. Are those the ones you mean? If so, I'll stop back and look further. I was just assuming that the ss handles would get hot. Thanks for the info.

p.s. Every time I go in there, I joke that I need to get married again. After all these years (dh and I are both still on our first and only) my kitchen equipment is all falling apart, and it seems like I am in there at least once a month to replace some vital item.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Just check them out. The ones that I have state something about the stay cool handles, or the like.

I totally understand that. While it's DH's 1 and only marriage - I hope - it's not mine. But, when we got married, the joke was we really didn't need anything - well, not that we'd ask for. So we splurged on really nice "everyday" dishes - picking some Denby. And we actually received some as gifts, then went and filled out the whole set ourselves. But, the cookware

- I've never had great bakeware - so I've been replacing that. Sometimes I think if you can afford it you just have to treat yourself. I find myself dragging a coupon and visiting the Bed, Bath & Beyond as I'm adding a couple of pieces of cookware.

I think it's great that you're on the 1 and only marriage - do the cookware as you see fit!

Ellice

Eh, it's cheaper to just by the good cookware than to put on a wedding (generally speaking) ;-) I say shop away!

Best wishes, Ericka

Thank you Sooooooooooooo much for the info. I had no idea the good ones don't get hot. I have checked out Calphalon and Cuisinart on line, and my next job is going to have to be to visit Williams-Sonoma AFTER Christmas. We have two of them in town, one right downtown and the other in a mall in the 'burbs about a 15 - 20 minute drive away, and I am not going to either of those places in the next two days, I assure you. If I could be sure the locally owned shop would have both of them in stock I would go there first, but the choice is going to be between which of the two is lighter in weight so I will have to handle them both side by side first. Anymore, my wrists just don't like heavy stuff. Little story. Last time I was sick, one of our young neighbors who happens to be sous-chef at one of the city's premier restaurants heard about it from dh, and came over two days later - his day off - and brought a huge vat of chicken soup he had made specially for me. It was in Le Creuset and he had to carry it into the kitchen for us, neither of us could touch it. DH had to reheat it by ladling some out into a smaller pan. After the pan - I think it was the dutch oven - was empty, it was all I could do to pick it up and take it back to him. Oh, yes, the soup was delicious. I thought I was pretty good on chicken soup, but this was totally different from mine, and utterly great.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Fear not, I'm not getting rid of this one. I still haven't got him properly trained, and we are grandparents!! There wouldn't be time to train a new one. And I agree - it's cheaper to buy the stuff I need. I saw in the paper the other day that the *average* U.S. wedding these days costs $30,000. Ridiculous. That would be a nice down payment on a house.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

Well, you could have a reaffirmation of vows, and even though gifts wouldn't strictly be required, if you threw a party most folks would bring gifts. However, most would figure that after all these years you'd have your kitchen fully stocked, so they'd get you a bunch of useless knick-knacks, and you're have spent a fortune on the party and still wouldn't have kitchen equipment! ;-)

No kidding. Some of it is just people going over the top, but on the other hand, hosting *any* large party outside one's home is getting downright expensive these days! A few years back we threw a nice party for my parents' 40th anniversary, and it wasn't anything huge (maybe 35 guests?) and didn't involve nearly as many components as a wedding, and it was still quite pricey (at Lightfoot, in Leesburg, for the locals...yum yum). I'm glad I'm not facing hosting a wedding anytime soon, though I suppose the kids will keep getting older and eventually that will be a concern. I don't even really want to think about that!

But just think...$30k would get you not only some nice kitchen equipment, but perhaps even a kitchen remodel ;-)

Best wishes, Ericka

You're very welcome. Totally understand the shop avoidance. None of the anodized ones seem heavy to me - though they have a good feel with some heft.

Great story. The Le Creuset is really heavy. But, great for anything that you want to slow cook, or roast. Even my small pieces are heavy. Wonder what your neighbor did to his soup....

Ellice

Wedding costs, houses - amazing how it all varies. Around here, $30K would barely touch a down-payment. But, it would do a reasonable wedding - sort of. The big ones - easy $50 K to $100K - just crazy.

Ellice

Merciful Heavens!! Around here you can buy a very reasonable house for $300K. Even with all the post-Katrina inflation as well as the national bump in house prices. Mind you, that's not in the very best neighborhoods, nor one of the ante-bellum mansions, but a reasonable middle class home.

As for weddings, well, we lucked out. DD insisted on getting married the minute she was 21, while we were living in Tampa, and gave me 3 months to put on a full-scale Episcopal Church wedding, two clergy, bridesmaids, the whole bit. However, she hadn't been to very many weddings yet, so she didn't know any different when we announced that, in that case, the wedding would be in our church, with the reception in the adjacent church hall so no-one would have to drive between the two. Of course, as pledging members and every week attenders, we got the church and the hall free and only had to pay for personnel (priest honorarium, musicians, janitor etc.) I used my fave caterer, and the "cake lady" who had done lots of cakes for a friend of mine. She also announced that she was going to wear my gown and veil. Naturally, I wound her up a bit by asking her if she qualified! (MOM!!! that's so old-fashioned!! So old country!!) At the time, she was somewhere beween a size 8/10, 5'8" and with legs up to her armpits. Boy, was she mortified when she found that her fat old mother's dress had to be let out for her. Hee Hee. It was also a little short, came to her ankle bone instead of the floor, but she was always such a klutz that I figured that was all to the good.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans

No I couldn't. You should hear dh on that subject ("What's the matter, did it not take the first time???)

I question that. Some of my friends have had their kitchens remodeled recently, and prices seem to be well north of that. OTOH, I couldn't have it done - it seems to take a year nowadays for a complete remodel, and I would hate to be without a kitchen for that long. However, you would be surprised at how many people here in New Orleans lived on the second floor of their home for well over a year, waiting to get the downstairs rebuilt.

Besides which, after so many of my friends got "dream kitchens", I spotted an anomaly. It seems to me that, by and large, and with a few notable exceptions, the glory of the kitchen is in inverse proportion to the amount of cooking done therein.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

I've noticed the same thing. People I could swear have a kitchen only so they have a place to chill the Diet Coke get a top of the line stove, while I bought ... well, the only gas range that didn't require installing an electrical outlet, which just happened to be one of the cheapest ones in the store. The entire point of having a gas stove is so I can get a hot meal when the electic is out, so electric ignition defeats the purpose.

Well, that, and I prefer gas for temperature-sensitive things like omelets.

Depends on what, exactly, you decide to do. A down to the studs remodel could be well in excess of that (my parents' recent kitchen remodel was), but you can do a lot of sprucing up for $30k ;-)

It wasn't originally supposed to take that long, but it took darned near a year for my parents' kitchen remodel. They spent most of a year living on their first and third floors, because the remodel took over not only the kitchen, but most of the 2nd floor for storage and work space. It was hideously inconvenient. On the other hand, they managed better than one would have thought after cobbling together a little makeshift kitchenette downstairs. Washing dishes was actually worse than cooking (though they used a lot of disposable dishes and utensils that year!).

There are certainly folks who remodel their kitchens mostly for show. Still, just because a nicely remodeled kitchen doesn't imply a good cook in the kitchen doesn't mean that a good cook doesn't deserve a great kitchen ;-)

Best wishes, Ericka

I honestly do not know. There was a definite but gentle and flowery garlic fragrance, but the other herbs were so expertly blended that I couldn't separate them out. Oh well, I guess if you have graduated from chef school and are sous-chef at one of New Orleans' most famous restaurants, you make things in a different way than a housewife would (unless she happens to be Julia Child, of course).

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Amen to that last part. The fancier the kitchen, the less real cooking that happened. Why a SubZero fridge and a Viking stove when you eat take out 90% of the time.

Cheryl

Your experience is not necessarily factual. I completely stripped the kitchen when I moved here and rebuilt, with all new appliances too. I am about to start on my preps for tomorrow, they will all be eating here, so I have a completely new (well nearly five years now) kitchen that is more than used, leading into the diningroom where the table is even showing the wear and tear of kids, grandchildren and great-children.