Debbie Deutsch wrote:
>
> It is Vox who has quoted other opinions, not I. All I have been asking
> is for an explanation about what makes "waterless" cookware different and
> why similar results cannot be obtained using regular good quality
> cookware or different methods.
>
> A simple explanation is all I expected or hoped for. If the explanation
> is too complicated for you to be able to remember it, it also would have
> been difficult for you to present to your audience.
>
> Debbie
>

Years ago, I actually endured one of those in-home demonstration. The
saleswoman performed the "same" tests using a couple of my pieces of
cookware and a Waterless saucepan (or some kind of extremely expensive
MLM stainless cookware). I quotated "same" because the tests were
manipulated to make my cookware perform as badly as possible so the
Waterless (or whatever it was) would *shine* in comparison. IIRC, the
saleswoman had me pick 2 pieces of cookware without first telling me
what we would be doing. I picked an old Corningware casserole dish and
my wife picked a cast iron skillet. Saleswoman put some water and
baking soda in the *cast iron* skillet and boiled it briefly, then
showed us how yucky it looked and smelled. She put a *bunch* of cold
water in the corningware dish and a few carrot slices, and put them on
high heat until they eventually boiled and overcooked. So of course it
took a long time and they were pretty much tasteless. The baking soda
and water test in her stainless steel looked like water and had no
smell. The carrots, she cooked over medium-low heat with maybe a
teaspoon of water until the carrots were just done. The carrots were
better than the ones that were boiled to death in much water (big surprise.)

But what I learned from all this, and it was a good lesson, is that if
you turn the heat down you can cook in a covered stainless steel pan
with very little water or fat. And the food doesn't stick. Any
stainless steel cookware will stick badly if the heat is too high. And
any well-made stainless cookware will cook "waterless" if you have the
flame adjusted right -- and a lot lower flame than you would expect.
Now I often cook "waterless" in my old revereware and my one piece of
calphalon.

Best regards,
Bob