Saucy
March 30, 2005

Practically Cooking: Pots and Pans

One of the biggest myths about cooking is that you have to be great at it in order to do it. The truth is, you just need to be practical about it. If an extra 10 cents per gallon at the pump makes you steam at the ears, why are you spending much more than that in a week on restaurants and packaged foods? Knowing how to cook reasonably well and, of equal importance, knowing what to buy in order to cook reasonably well, are two of the easiest ways single people can save money. So why do so few young people bother to cook, especially when they're usually the ones with the least income? (Microwave dinners do not count, sorry.) It's daunting at first, sure, and forcing yourself through your own cooking mistakes isn't fun, but the satisfaction of a food coma achieved through your own devices is like nothing else in the world -- except maybe realizing that your nearly-gourmet meal cost you less than yet another burrito from the Chipotle down the block.

I can't claim to be a phenomenal cook. But I feed myself pretty well, and I've had no complaints from my friends, at least not since a six-month period of living almost solely on unemployment checks forced me to learn how to cook well on the cheap. I knew how to cook before, to some extent, by watching a handful of great cooks -- my mom and some of the chefs at restaurants I used to wait tables at. Most of what I learned then and since was through a lot of trial and error. I don't have any intention of turning you into a gourmet. I couldn't if I tried. But what I can do is help you learn what you need in order to cook yourself fast, delicious, healthy and, above all, inexpensive meals.

When you walk into a big-box grocery store like Jewel or Dominick's, you'll find aisles and aisles of packaged foods, all teeming with preservatives and tasting like spongy, salted styrofoam. But even worse than their near-total lack of nutritional value or flavor is their hefty sticker price. Why buy boneless skinless chicken breasts at over $5.49 per pound when you could buy a whole chicken for $1.49 per pound (or less)? Why pay Tyson an extra $4.00 per pound so they can sell that separately? It's simply a waste of money.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before you can start worrying about what to make for dinner, you need some things to make your dinner with. That is, you need some cookware. Since this column is about spending less money on food and, at the same time, getting more out of the money you put into it, it might sound strange that the first thing I tell you is to spend as much as you can afford on your pots and pans. It's not.

If you get an El Cheapo Brand skillet, you might spend $14, saving yourself $6 on the list price of, for example, the Circulon Steel 8" French skillet, but it won't last you as long. Once, several years ago, I grabbed some no-name brand nonstick aluminum pan, and it worked fine. But before three months were up, the nonstick coating was flaking off into my food and the base was beginning to warp. So, rather than driving a little out of my way and spending $20 on a Circulon Steel skillet, I effectively ended up spending $33 instead. Three years of almost daily use later, its shape and nonstick coating are still in perfect condition.

So what kind of pots and pans should you get? Unfortunately, there isn't really a universal answer for that.

Aluminum pots and pans are good for the budget conscious, but unless they have a nonstick coating, they'll react with acidic foods, which will alter their taste and color. Anodized aluminum is nonreactive but unlike stainless steel is not naturally nonstick. Without a nonstick coating, they're hard to clean, but all nonstick coatings eventually wear away. The sturdier the pan, however, the longer it'll take to wear away. As for the warping, the thicker the aluminum, the more durable the pan will be and the more effectively it will distribute heat.

Copper is an excellent conductor, but, like aluminum, it is reactive to certain foods. It's easily scratched, difficult to maintain and expensive, to boot -- less than ideal for novice cooks with busy lives.

Pure stainless steel isn't a great conductor, so it's often coupled with aluminum or copper. 18/10 stainless steel means that the pan is constructed of an aluminum layer (the second number), sandwiched by two stainless steel layers. Layered stainless steel is one of the best cooking surfaces available, because it's an effective conductor and naturally non-reactive. Good pans will be layered all the way through, such as with Farberware's higher-end lines or All-Clad, but some lines such as All-Clad's Emerilware are only layered on the bottom, meaning that the heat will not be as effectively conducted throughout the pan. Of course, using layered stainless steel throughout results in a more expensive pan.

Me, I go with the Meyer Corporation's Circulon brand cookware whenever possible, because it's sturdy and easy to clean, and in general, Circulon's nonstick coating is both the most effective and the most durable among the brands I've used. Overall, a terrific value for the price. The Circulon Steel and Circulon 2 lines have a fat, rounded handles that fit comfortably in my hand and stay cool on the stove.

I've read good things about Calphalon and Anolon, as well, but if you've got the money for it and a bit of extra time to keep the stainless steel clean, All-Clad's LTD line is probably the best cookware available. Whatever you do, don't just order a bunch of stuff from Amazon.com, at least not until you've stopped into a store and actually held a few pieces in your hand. Is it heavy enough? Does the handle fit well in your hand? If you're eyeing a stock pot, can you fit your fingers through the handles without touching the sure-to-be-hot sides of the pot? Imagine what it's going to feel like with five pounds of hot food in it; you want it to be easy to maneuver, because when you're juggling a main course and the traditional two sides, things can get pretty hectic.

Here are the barest cookware essentials that you'll need for your kitchen:

• Open French skillets or omelet/fry pans
Open French skillets are one of the most versatile pans available; my two 8" Circulon Steel French skillets are the cornerstone of my kitchen. An 8" skillet is the perfect size for efficiency stoves in most smaller apartments, and just right for two servings of a dish: one for dinner, one for bringing leftovers to work tomorrow. Side by side, they'll save you from the monotony of eating single-dish meals. A 10" skillet is great for making larger amounts of dishes when the amount of food you make is dictated by the size of the cans you need to use for the recipe.

• Covered saucepans
For small batches of soup or sauces, or for boiling pasta. 1 or 1-1/2 qt. and 3 qt. sizes are good enough for feeding yourself and the occasional guest. The lid to my 3 qt. saucepan turns my 8" French skillet into a small, ghetto-style sauté pan.

If you have company over often, or you don't mind eating leftovers for several days at a time, you'll also need these:

• Covered sauté pan
Essentially shallow, wide saucepans, covered sauté pans are great for dishes like risotto or paella, but because of the number of ingredients, these dishes almost inevitably balloon to fill the entire pan, so unless I'm cooking for company, my sauté doesn't often leave its hiding place.

• 6–10 qt. stock pot or Dutch oven
Dutch ovens and stock pots -- which are similar to Dutch ovens but tend to be larger -- are good for making large amount of pasta, soup, stews and stocks, but you can also roast meats inside them. For smaller batches of all of these, though, a 3 qt. saucepan will do fine.

If you do a little quick research, you'll probably notice that many 8-piece cookware sets contain all of the pieces I've mentioned so far. Buying a set will save you a ton of money over buying the same pieces individually, but usually they may also saddle you with one or two sizes that you will not find terribly useful. The higher-end Farberware lines make good starter sets, for people trying to stock a kitchen on a tight budget. Most of my eight-year old stainless steel Farberware cookware set is holding up well, but the pieces I use most -- the 1 oz. saucepan and the covered sauté -- are overdue for replacement. In order to make sure your pans are as versatile as possible, be sure to get ones with oven-safe handles (Circulon's handles, for instance, are oven-safe to 350°, high enough to bake paella in your sauté panafter the initial stovetop magic).

After you've bought the basic pots and pans and cooked a few meals with them, you may want to start filling out your kitchen a little more, in order to broaden your cooking repertoire. Here are few other pieces you're likely to find useful:

• Roasting pan
I love my roasting pan. Circulon has discontinued the oval pan that I have (and use about once a week), but its replacements, the pricey Circulon Classic nonstick oval roaster with lid and a much cheaper 16" rectangular nonstick roaster with rack, both look like equally fine tools. After you've roasted your first chicken and are faced with the intimidating, burnt mess at the bottom of the pan, you'll fully appreciate Circulon's nonstick coating.

• Cast iron skillet
A seasoned cast iron skillet is the only way to sear meats or seafood. It will also last you your entire life, if you take care of it properly (i.e., don't leave it soaking in water). The trouble is, most iron skillets don't come pre-seasoned. Those that do are, if online user reviews are to be believed, sometimes not as effectively seasoned as a home-seasoned skillet and so don't hold up forever, as they should. No matter: iron skillets come cheaply, and you can season it yourself easily. Or, you can do it the way I did: ask Mom for hers.

• Rice cooker
I know, a rice cooker isn't really cookware, but in addition to rice, most rice cookers come with a steaming plate for quickly steaming vegetables or potatoes (to make mashed potatoes), freeing up one of the burners on your stove and one of your pans for other dishes, so I find mine indispensable all the same. No need for the fancy computerized ones; a simple one-button rice cooker will work just fine.