I think I'll be the voice of disagreement here. The idea here is that you have $250 and you need stuff, not what some random set of magazine editors or restaurant chefs want you to have. What were the things you used the most? If a cookware set fits your needs, buy it. It all depends on what your household needs the most.
When was the last time you actually needed to start something in the stovetop and finish in the oven without putting everything in a roasting pan? Restaurant/professional workflows are very different from household workflows -- most recipes I make either start and finish in the oven or the stovetop, the few that start in the stovetop and have to be finished in the oven in the same pot (as opposed to a roasting pan) require only 350F which is perfectly safe for most pots and a lot of pots can take 400F. It's rare that something needs 450-500F and buying all-metal pots and lids just for the rare cases is insane -- I'd hate to *have* to use a potholder for all my cooking including dealing with the lids all the time like I see chefs doing on TV and in restaurants. Even if you have recipes like that, they usually need no more than one cast iron Dutch oven and one metal frying pan (usually cast iron or All-Clad) to make. Unless you have an induction stovetop, you don't need the expensive All-Clad everything.
Make sure the stuff you buy can go in the dishwasher -- it takes just a fraction of the energy it takes to hand wash them (the majority of the energy is to heat the water).
Same thing for conventional vs. non-stick: in our household, most recipes don't need to create a fond, so we only have two items (one All-Clad frying pan and one 5 Qt Le Creuset Dutch oven) that stick and everything else is non-stick. Even then, I only got those as a splurge, one can certainly find equivalent items for way less money.
Find out if a cookware set fits your usage patterns, if it's close, buy it. It's cheaper to buy the extra couple of things you are missing than individual items. In our case, we tend to use a lot: non-stick covered pots (3 Qt, 2 Qt and 1 Qt), non-stick 5Qt Dutch oven, 8" and 10.25" non-stick frying pans. We paid less than 100 bucks for a set like that at either Kmart or WalMart (http://www.t-falusa.com/All+Products/Cookware/Non+stick+cookware/Products/PROFESSIONAL/PROFESSIONAL.htm). We also bought a 12 Qt covered dutch oven from the same company (http://www.t-falusa.com/All+Products/Cookware/Non+stick+cookware/Products/Non+Stick+Stock+Pots/Specialty.htm, about 30 bucks), but we make an awful lot of soup.
We also use a lot of Pyrex pans (loaf pans, 13x9 in, 8x8 in etc), but those are inexpensive, as are the metal equivalent pans, but metal pans tend to not last long (and I find that the only thing that tends to demand metal pan are things that need broiling and a couple of cake recipes, most cake recipes will do just fine on Pyrex and bread tends to do better on Pyrex). When you're looking at Pyrex, see if any of the available sets also fit your use patterns, they are cheaper that way -- the sets don't much fit our pattern, so we got them as separate items. Pyrex tends to be about 5-10 bucks each on average, so it's not that much of a splurge.
What else? Cookie sheets... Measuring cups (dry and wet), measuring spoons... an electronic scale, they tend to go for less than 50 bucks... get yourself an instant read thermometer that you can stick in the food and keep the console out of the oven (10-20 bucks). Use the rest of the money to buy stuff you really like.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-05-24 01:57 am (UTC)When was the last time you actually needed to start something in the stovetop and finish in the oven without putting everything in a roasting pan? Restaurant/professional workflows are very different from household workflows -- most recipes I make either start and finish in the oven or the stovetop, the few that start in the stovetop and have to be finished in the oven in the same pot (as opposed to a roasting pan) require only 350F which is perfectly safe for most pots and a lot of pots can take 400F. It's rare that something needs 450-500F and buying all-metal pots and lids just for the rare cases is insane -- I'd hate to *have* to use a potholder for all my cooking including dealing with the lids all the time like I see chefs doing on TV and in restaurants. Even if you have recipes like that, they usually need no more than one cast iron Dutch oven and one metal frying pan (usually cast iron or All-Clad) to make. Unless you have an induction stovetop, you don't need the expensive All-Clad everything.
Make sure the stuff you buy can go in the dishwasher -- it takes just a fraction of the energy it takes to hand wash them (the majority of the energy is to heat the water).
Same thing for conventional vs. non-stick: in our household, most recipes don't need to create a fond, so we only have two items (one All-Clad frying pan and one 5 Qt Le Creuset Dutch oven) that stick and everything else is non-stick. Even then, I only got those as a splurge, one can certainly find equivalent items for way less money.
Find out if a cookware set fits your usage patterns, if it's close, buy it. It's cheaper to buy the extra couple of things you are missing than individual items. In our case, we tend to use a lot: non-stick covered pots (3 Qt, 2 Qt and 1 Qt), non-stick 5Qt Dutch oven, 8" and 10.25" non-stick frying pans. We paid less than 100 bucks for a set like that at either Kmart or WalMart (http://www.t-falusa.com/All+Products/Cookware/Non+stick+cookware/Products/PROFESSIONAL/PROFESSIONAL.htm). We also bought a 12 Qt covered dutch oven from the same company (http://www.t-falusa.com/All+Products/Cookware/Non+stick+cookware/Products/Non+Stick+Stock+Pots/Specialty.htm, about 30 bucks), but we make an awful lot of soup.
We also use a lot of Pyrex pans (loaf pans, 13x9 in, 8x8 in etc), but those are inexpensive, as are the metal equivalent pans, but metal pans tend to not last long (and I find that the only thing that tends to demand metal pan are things that need broiling and a couple of cake recipes, most cake recipes will do just fine on Pyrex and bread tends to do better on Pyrex). When you're looking at Pyrex, see if any of the available sets also fit your use patterns, they are cheaper that way -- the sets don't much fit our pattern, so we got them as separate items. Pyrex tends to be about 5-10 bucks each on average, so it's not that much of a splurge.
What else? Cookie sheets... Measuring cups (dry and wet), measuring spoons... an electronic scale, they tend to go for less than 50 bucks... get yourself an instant read thermometer that you can stick in the food and keep the console out of the oven (10-20 bucks). Use the rest of the money to buy stuff you really like.
Good luck.