Cookware that has surprised you positively ?!?

Cooking Discussions Cookware
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so . . . unless you must start your high heat sear within seconds of ‘heat start’ - it is useless information.

the rate at which heat transfers is directly proportional to the difference in temperature.
so scorch marks at a 350’F preheated state would be useful, but flour is not a option to demonstrate that.

using scorch marks to demo more better / more worse induction hob . . . like seriously of interest to people focused on micro-seconds -to-heat level performance.

totally inaccurate to professional kitchens - the burners are on “all the time” - and any pro kitchen that wants flour scorching temps in micro-seconds . . . needs a reality check.

a totally non-realistic / unrelated issue for the home kitchen.

all true representations of “effect” - the problem is the “effect” is a non-issue in real life use.

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“ready to cook earlier already than in my photos”

That I used as a way to tell anyone reading it, that even if I had heated the Darto for 20 minutes there, until that scorch print was in the state that it was, the pan would have been ready to cook food earlier, as it just takes some more time for flour to scorch. Not much else to it.

I said that scorch prints DO tell something for people who have been making them themselves. It tells about the pan and hob setups performance for home cooking quite a bit to these people, when the method is shared also. If someone tells me how they did their scorch print and shows me the photo, I would know about how the pan works on his hob. If they share it on another heat setting, I would get even more info.

You are right indeed, that it would be nicer to get “scorch prints”, or something of a pan in an already preheated state though. For that there would be thermal images, but I dont have the equipment for that.

The scorch prints are an easily accessible way of showing something about the subject at hand here, though. At least for people who understand something about them, that might include you?

I do not understand why you started what you started here about professional restaurants though. I did not say a word about pro kitchens. What I said may not be relevant to (your experiences?) in pro kitchens with burners on all the time, but so what then?

For anyone reading, I might recommend the Electrolux 28cm round dual induction hobs as a good consideration for home use, even based on my limited use so far.

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63

I have a Corningware French White casserole that came with a snap-on plastic lid, and an insulated carrier with hot and cold gel paks. I got a glass lid for it, too. Great set-up.

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under the circumstances presented - scorch patterns rate between deceptive and fraudulent.
they represent / prove / demonstrate a non-existence situation / reality.

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Two pieces

First: A really cheap ( less then $10) 6.5 inch non-stick for frying eggs. Had it about a year now & works great & still looks new.

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Second: A 7 inch Corningware Cornflower fry pan inherited from my MiL when she passed. It’s almost pristine and though not nonstick it almost is. Looks like this but ours has pour spouts on either side.

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I had a few pieces of Visions back in the late 90s. Even when food didn’t burn, there was often a cloudy film left after handwashing. (I didn’t have a dishwasher back then). I had to use either Soft Scrub or a special Corning ware cleaner in order to get them clean. I ended up giving them away.

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I also have 2 corningware “grab it” bowls with 1 long-ish paddle handle and glass lids. Very handy for counter ovens and microwaves. Too bad they’re no longer made.

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Ok. It sounds like people have a more positive opinion of Corningware than Vision, but aren’t they both made from Pyroceram.

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You have to differentiate among the many incarnations of CorningWare. Composition was changed over time from pyro to what they now call a stoneware. All of mine are second hand, garage sale or flea market finds. I have well over a dozen pieces which I use stovetop, wet and dry roasting, microwave. I have broken one piece which I juggled and dropped on the floor from about 5 feet, have chipped or cracked none.

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Maybe. If so, it’s because most people only use Corningware for baking, not on the stovetop. Also, if Ugly Awards were given, Visions’ spooky tints would win every time.

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71

Au contraire. They can be manipulated, but if done fairly and under realistic conditions, scorchprinting can be a very useful way to understand the thermal differences between cookware, between appliances, and combinations of the two.

In fact, most pans and most appliances, alone or in combination, will never heat totally evenly, no matter the length of preheat… Scorchprints are a useful way to compare and contrast evenness.

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Understood. I meant the older and discontinued Corningware like these. I remember even my mom had these (different pattern) on stove top cooking

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I treasure my collection of vintage Corning Ware. Like my Revere Ware, it too is a workhorse.

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The Falk is especially impressive–there’s substantial browning up the sidewalls.

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Yes there was indeed and it’s easy to see in cooking also that they get considerably hot on this hob. The outer element heats it right around the whole flat surface edge, so it does considerably heat the sidewalls, it can be seen on power boil also. I can heat this pan up to it’s evenness considerably faster now vs my old cooktop also as a result of that.

See these clips power boiling water:

https://imgur.com/a/AwqAFxU

See also this. There is ground beef and a kilogram of canned tomatoes and while I was reducing the liquids, it bubbled all over. It’s almost impossible to witness something like this on a poorly sized induction hob. This actually did not really happen in my thick oversized Fissler or Silga sautes either on my old cooktop, even if they did do a better job at searing around the edges when preheated full. The volumes of food and liquid just challenge the setup enough, that it will show where the heat is applied.:

https://imgur.com/a/frllOuf

I think this Falk pan is about as well sized for the hob as can be, 24,5 cm flat on a 28 cm hob. I would bet there probably is no induction hob in existence that would heat this pan much more evenly. I also think this could accommodate a Proline 32 probably quite well still with its advertised 26cm bottom.

I’m not claiming perfect. When I as a test changed to a high heat setting suddenly from a medium setting for just the beef, I could see the increased fond development took a bit more time to appear in the middle in that scenario. One can deduct it from the power boil video, of course there will be some unevenness always on at least the present day induction on higher heat. But it does work pretty well indeed.

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Well, maybe some single suitably large coil…

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Hardly positive, but I am surprised at the popularity and soaring prices of vintage Corning Ware, given the levels of lead in its paint. I read that even though the paint is not on the interior, every time you wash it, stack it, etc. small amounts of lead may come off and eventually be consumed. Due to the way it accumulates, that seems imprudent to me. Ditto for vintage Pyrex measuring cups and the vast number of china patterns with painted designs.

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Yes, there is no such thing. What you are seeing is that this combination–under the conditions–is even enough to appear perfect. If you “goose” the heat (and were somehow able to dust the pan with flour again), you would probably see an uneven pattern.

Your large hob… Just one coil, yes? And have you determined the smallest pan that will trigger heating?

Good job with your testing. If you want to explore this more deeply, you can find affordable thermal cameras that will show the fluidity of the thermal transfer. AFAIK, no one has posted thermal videos showing, e.g., how long it takes different pans to fully preheat, and how responsive they are.

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Here’s my positive surprise cookware story. I recently bought something at Aldi that was sold as “lightweight cast iron.” As an owner and user of many pieces of Griswold, this was intriguing. I’ve been using this stuff now for a few months on my induction range for a range of tasks, and it is truly impressive so far. It is very light compared to normal CI and does a good job. After doing some research, it appears this is actually a new thing (to me anyway) called “spun iron.” It is iron not steel, but it’s not cast iron that’s cast in a mold. You can actually see a spiral pattern radiating out from the middle of the pan. It is hard to find examples – even Amazon has very little of the stuff, mostly from an English producer called Netherton Foundry (way more expensive than the Aldi stuff naturally). So far it cooks reasonably evenly and is very much like CI. All metal (handles) so high heat is fine. It should be seasoned, but I never got too serious about that and just let some seasoning accumulate over several uses coupled with some mild burning out from time to time before starting. But even so it is very non-stick and I have been frying eggs in it without problems. Anyway this type of thing may be a very good version of CI – does the job well and the light weight is a definite advantage. I threw the packaging but being from Aldi I’m sure it was made in China.

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What exactly is underneath this one, I have not seen it, but it’s listed as an 18/28cm double zone. In the manual, smaller wattages for pans 145mm-245mm and larger from upwards of 245mm. How those wattages are laid out, is what bothered me going in, regarding pan sizes. I was worried pans with bottoms smaller than 245 might not trigger the outer part.

https://imgur.com/a/aeHVlGL

I would guess there to be an 18cm element surrounded by another one. That’s how the power boil looks on the Falk 28cm IMO, two donuts.

The painted lines on the hob are cut so, that they suggest the outer part will come into play at about 20cm bottoms.

I did test so that a 19cm bottom exterior saucepan does not trigger the outer part of the element. My smallest pan, Darto n15 can be heated on it.

Then I have tested, again with a power boil, that for example my Falk 24cm frypan with 20cm+ exterior bottom already triggers the outer part. I have not cooked with it there.

It was my biggest concern before buying this cooktop, that what will happen to some of my medium sized pans on the hob, but I was positively surprised. I was more worried about what happens with my saute and frying pans around 22-24cm bottoms though.

Certainly if I did my Falk scorch on a higher setting, I would have seen some unevenness in the scorch print. I suppose it should come in the form that the power boil videos suggest.

Thanks for the idea with the thermal cameras, it’s tempting to be honest, but I think I won’t be looking into getting one. I have essentially done enough testing now for myself with the couple scorch prints and finding out what pans sizes trigger the element.

I expect my thick bottom pans to work well, but I think my Falks work well also for me now with the usual “thinner”, but properly sized pan caveats. Different animals, I think it’s nice to have more responsive, “fast” pans in the form of the Falks and then thicker pans, too.

If I have something serious to sear, or just want more evenness, I’ll go to a thicker pan, but I might often be using Falks now, since the larger pieces certainly improved. That is, if I’m not using my cast irons