I am planning to buy some cookware this weekend.
I want to buy big pans that I can use to make curries, stir fries etc.
I thought I want calphalon ideally, since the food does not stick and
need less oil to fry. (ofcourse it is expensive)
But I see lot of people using thick steel bottom (esp TV cooking)
any advice on why one is better than other.
Thanks!

In rec.food.cooking, Toddlers_mom > wrote:
> I am planning to buy some cookware this weekend.
> I want to buy big pans that I can use to make curries, stir fries etc.
> I thought I want calphalon ideally, since the food does not stick and
> need less oil to fry. (ofcourse it is expensive)
> But I see lot of people using thick steel bottom (esp TV cooking)
> any advice on why one is better than other.
> Thanks!

Thick steel bottoms would make no sense at all. Steel is a mediocre
conductor of heat. Likely what you are seeing is a thick aluminum
bottom, plated with steel.

I got a bunch of discontinued Calphalon on Amazon for cheap. Real cheap.
So far, I like it. It is good for many cooking tasks. It is not the
only cookware I use, but for many, many things, it works better than
anything else I have.

--
In the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought,
by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
-- Dwight David Eisenhower

I have a few sets of cookware. I have thick bottomed stainless steel
with non stick for cooking some things. The so called TV cook ware
hawked by HSN.com. I find it very good for most things. Its called
Ultrex.

But its not good if you want to carmelize and saute. For this I have
wolfgang puck's saute pans made from stainless. I got my 2 pans for a
song at TJ Maxx. They have glass lids, which I like.

Then I have a few TFal pans I use for omelets. I throw these out every
few years or so and get new if they start looking beat up. They do
make very good omelets and there is a small size for just one person.

I also have an ancient set of stainless steel Farberware that is over
25 yrs old that I use. It has a copper bottom wafered between aluminum
but the insides and sides are stainless. It works well too.

It occurs to me that one kind of cookware does not meet all needs. I
prefer a stainless non stick with a heavy bottom for every day and then
augment with other pieces as needed.

Toddlers_mom wrote:
> I am planning to buy some cookware this weekend.
> I want to buy big pans that I can use to make curries, stir fries etc.
> I thought I want calphalon ideally, since the food does not stick and
> need less oil to fry. (ofcourse it is expensive)
> But I see lot of people using thick steel bottom (esp TV cooking)
> any advice on why one is better than other.
> Thanks!
>
I eliminated all non stick pans in preferrence for stainless steel and
cast iron. I'm quite happy with that decision. It works for me.