Corduroy Orange

Corduroy–

I’ve read your advice about knives/ what kind to buy, but really I’m more in the market for better cookware. My pots and pans are old and aluminum. I’m well aware that they aren’t an ideal set of pans, but I don’t know what I should be looking for when I go to replace them.

L.

Dear L.:

Acknowledging that you have a problem is the first step towards solving it. Simply by admitting that you have substandard pans, you’ve begun the path toward correcting the situation.

As you’ve suggested, aluminum is not a good food contact surface. Though it is light-weight and conducts heat well, it is a soft metal and corrodes quickly in the presence of acid. These two factors mean that when cooking in aluminum pans, you’re apt to wind up with trace amounts of aluminum in your meals. Some medical studies have suggested that aluminum intake may be a factor contributing toward the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, the aluminum may discolor some foods (especially sauces) and contribute an off-flavor to your cooking. For all of these reasons, I do not cook with aluminum pans.

Copper used to be a popular material for making pans out of, because it conducts heat even more efficiently than aluminum does. Copper has a tendency to react with foods, though, and is very difficult to upkeep. I’m not sure if it’s even possible to buy a pan with a copper cooking surface anymore, but because there are health risks associated with ingesting too much copper, I would not recommend getting any copper pans if you do see them.

Stainless steel is an excellent food-contact surface in terms of being non-reactive. Unfortunately, it does not conduct heat very well; thus, pans that are made only of stainless steel have a tendency to develop hot spots directly over the burner. Unless you keep a close eye on what you’re cooking when using such pans, your food may scorch to parts of the bottom of the pan.

The solution to this conundrum is to purchase pans that have a stainless steel cooking surface, but are lined on the outside with a better-conducting metal: either aluminum or copper. Because aluminum both weighs and costs less than copper does, it tends to be a more popular choice, but either would be fine.

I’d recommend getting one non-stick skillet and using it exclusively for omelettes. Line it with a dish towel when you store it so as to avoid scratching its surface, and never use metal utensils when cooking with it: instead use wooden spoons or heat-resistant rubber scrapers.

I’m also a big fan of cast iron pans. I have at least a dozen pieces of cast iron in various shapes and sizes. For starters, though, I’d suggest getting three cast iron skillets (small, medium, and large), plus a dutch oven. The skillets are great for cooking sausage, eggs, grilled sandwiches, pan-roasted meats, and more. The dutch oven is my go-to container for making stews, braised meats, rice pilaf, and risotto. It also makes an excellent popcorn-popper.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 3rd, 2006 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Advice Column, Cast Iron, Cooking Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.