Cooking: High Quality Cookware

Here is a really good video by Rita Heikenfeld where she gives a good overview about different kinds of cookware materials.

She starts out with cast-iron cookware

• needs to be seasoned and dried well
• will never will wear out
• heavy
• natural nonstick
• can use with metal cooking utensils
• don’t use any kinds of spray
• don’t use any kinds of spray to season, just wipe out with a little oil, 250 degree in oven, put a piece of foil on it and its okay.

Enameled cast-iron:

• oven-proof
• holds the heat (really good insulator)
• some can be used with metal cooking utensils, some can not
• don’t use any kinds of spray to season, just wipe out with a little oil, 250 degree in oven, put a piece of foil on it and its okay.

Aluminum pots:

• not anodized aluminum
• old aluminum pots might cause Alzheimers
• don’t put acidic ingredients inside (tomatoes, etc.)
• great conductor of heat
• you CAN cook acidic foods in ANODIZED aluminum cookware
• look for riveted handles that won’t fall off
• handles from stainless steel (on it’s own it is a bad conductor of heat, so you don’t burn your hands)
• always need some (real) oil, not spray
• just use a bit of olive oil or canola oil

Stainless steel cookware:

• beautiful and shiny
• nonreactive – you can cook anything with it
• can use stainless metal utensils
• look for: on bottom of the pan, should be a pressure plied disk, for better heat conduction (best with copper, but aluminum is okay too)

One of our readers recently sent in this reminder on the dangers of nonstick cookware:

As a pet owner, one thing that bothers me is people using nonstick pans (such as tefal pans) when they have pet birds. Without proper ventilation, these pans can actually harm or kill birds, as the fumes they let off whilst heating are very toxic. To make sure my birds will be okay, I prefer to use a heavy cast iron pan – they may be expensive to buy at first, but an investment in a Le Creuset pan will soon pay off – they do last forever.

My favorite type of cookware to use are the ones that are made of either glass or ceramic.

I feel that cooking with this type of material is safer than cooking with some of the other cookware materials such as aluminum. Materials used to make other types of cookware can react and even enter the foods that are cooked in them.

I also find that ceramic and glassware are easily cleaned compared to aluminum and steel. Some of the ceramic products such as the original Corning wear can go straight from the stovetop into the oven. In more modern times this has been even more useful by being able to go from microwave to the oven.

I love to use Pyrex bake ware as it is easy to see though the pan into the food that is cooking to get a good idea if it is cooking well or not.

I also enjoy the use of glass lids on the pots to check on the contents without lifting the lids and allowing the steam to escape. Pyrex glass ware is the only type of cookware I use for microwaving as I don’t want any of the plastic from other products leaking into the food.

Glass and ceramic materials also resist corrosion unlike some of their metal counterparts.

Teflon is easy to use because of it’s quality for non-sticking to food but you really have to wonder how much of the Teflon product is entering the food while it is being cooked. I have used the Visions line of glass pots and pans.

Even though they are completely made of glass, I have never broken one when dropped. I really like the different colors that they came in, amber was my favorite. The visibility to see the cooking process happening inside the pot is really a great. If you have never tried using ceramic or glass ware for cooking, I suggest you try it!