June Oshiro > writes:

>PENMART01 wrote:
>>Depends what you perceive as "top of the line". If you mean most
>>expensive and most heavily advertized than you are deluding yourself
>>and in doing so missing out on the top of the line performance at
>>affordable prices enjoyed by professional cooks.
>
>Okay, then let me rephrase - is there an obvious difference (perceivable
>by lay folks such as myself) between top of the line performance
>restaurant supply pans and the most expensive heavily advertised
>boutiquey cookware?

Obviously the most easily perceived difference is the much lower price of
non-boutique cookware, and as to performance, well that is mainly a product of
cooking skill regardless which cookware... if you have trouble frying an egg in
a $10 carbon steel skillet then you'll have the exact same difficulty frying
that same egg in a $200 All-Crap pan... simply means you can't cook. Most
cooking is classified in the "boiling water" catagory (soups, stews, pasta,
rice, veggies, etc.), no one needs any special cookware to cook things in
water, cooking dried beans or condensed soup requires no specail cookware, an
old empty coffee can will do as well as any fancy schmancy cookware you can
find, and cetainly no one needs a $400 stock pot... not unless yer talking a 90
liter vat.

The thing to do is allocate funds for cookware according to intended useage;
ie. a cheap stainless steel pot is perfect for boiling things like pasta,
potatoes, corn on the cob, preparing soups, stews, and stocks. For braising
cookware you may want to invest a few more bucks in something that ensures even
heating over long slow cooking times, and for fry pans you'll need an
assortment; a cheap as you can find non-stick jobby if you're into nearly
fatless fried eggs (like with eating egg yolks who gives a rat's b-hind over a
few grams butter), a couple inexpensive carbon steel (sm. & lge.) can cook most
anything like a fine stradivarious, and a fine quality heavy weight stainless
steel pan, one what can sear a steak and take oven use as well. Some folks
swear by cast iron cookware, I've sworn off those dinosaurs forever.

If you're the type who is into displaying cookware then by all means buy
matching sets, and of the most recognizable name brands you can find, the most
expensive ones. And get one of those huge pot racks you can affix to your
kitchen ceiling for displaying all your shiney, brand new, never-used cookware,
the brands that say someone with more dollars than brain cells lives here.

Restaurant supply stores carry many grades of cookware... here is one grouping
where you'll find typical examples of fine true commercial quality products:
http://www.lincolnfp.com/products/products.htm


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Sheldon
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"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."