There is a sentiment that equipment does not matter or at least does not make you a good cook. There is also a sentiment that high quality cookware is intrinsically fun, easier to use, and so on. Some think it can yield better results in the hands of a skilled cook. Some can cook beautiful dishes with cheap knives kept sharp and thin, scorch prone pans, simply by bringing talent and attention to bear. I collect cookware and take a lot of pleasure in it, but I can cook pretty much as well with my daughterâs Cuisinart clad. I submit, however, that there is a standard somewhere in the middle that will help the average home cook to have fewer epic fails. A thin, steel only pan is just harder to use and requires more attention than some heftier clad. Will that cook benefit from paying up for even better cookware? Probably not. If they go straight to tinned copper it may even cause more problems. Where do those not normally in the fray of this discussion fall?
Better cookware will make a cook who can cook a better cook, if only to minimize errors and mishaps, and maximize consistency.
Very few top-level chefs use crappy cookware, just as fery few professional violinists use crappy violins.
Will an F-22 make you a better fighter pilot?
With the exception of a couple of cast iron skillets/dutch oven, all of my cookware is junk that came from Goodwill.
Although I do have the occasional âfailâ, it is because I deviated too far from the original recipe in an attempt to âmake it my ownâ.
I canât really think of an instance where the cookware was at fault.
When I use to do software support, we referred to some calls as PICNIC errors⊠Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. I can say all of my fails were my fault and not the fault of the equipment/cookware.
We called it PEBCAK. Problem exists between chair and keyboard.
I think thereâs a good spot where an upgrade in quality will help decrease errors and increase the possibility of decent outcomes (I have gifted several sets of Cuisinart multi-clad for exactly that reason). After that, itâs learning the hows and whys of cooking that hopefully spark a personâs interest in moving on to building a collection of equipment and recipes and wisdom. Iâve enjoyed my long journey, but I still get annoyed at the aspirational marketing of high end or pretend-high-end (just high cost IMO) items to people with more money than good sense, but thatâs the way of the world. Or marketing. Or something.
Having found world-class cookware at Goodwill, I donât think that is a good sorting criterion.
Have any of your mistakes been of a hot-spotting variety? Do you think you couldâve benefitted if your food had cooked more evenly or cooled more rapidly?
Closely related to I D 10 T.
Upgrades in cookware quality almost always rate in terms of diminishing marginal returns. This is not at all the same as saying thereâs no improvement in upgrading.
Does cookware equipment matter? Of course, it does. Does cookware equipment make a person into a good cook? No, not that I can see.
This isnât pretty true for everything else. Cookware is no exception to this. Does the quality of a car matter? Of course. Will a better car makes me into a better driver? Unlikely.
I think the question can be stated if a particular task is skill-limited or tool-limited. I will use cutting boards as an example. Does it matter I use a glass cutting board vs a wood cutting board. Yes, it will affect me in many ways. Now, does it matter I use a walnut wood cutting board vs a maple cutting board⊠now maybe the difference too small to be noticed.
Not really. Thereâs so much more to cooking than heat transfer, like ingredient quality & freshness, seasoning, knowing what âdoneâ looks like, and presentation.
No.
See Top Chef challenges, passim.
I know I can cook with more confidence with some things in my kitchen rather than others, but Iâm not sure how much it has to do with cost. It has the qualities I am looking for. Is that the same as âquality cookwareâ?
I donât buy things at prices I consider ludicrous, but Iâm sure there are folks that would consider the cost unnecessary.
FWIW , I think a better car makes me a better driver; less hesitant merging onto the freeway when the car responds just so, less hesitancy parallel parking with all the cameras, less fearfulness in a car that seems safe .
My pots and pans tend to be of at least moderate quality when I buy them, but pots, pans, serving dishes are rarely
replaced. OTOH, I buy stick blenders, remote thermometers, vacuum sealers and the like âwilly nillyâ.
Itâs at least somewhat relative, right? I donât buy things that stretch my budget, and I would rather spend on kitchen and garden than clothes, shoes and bourbon (for example).
Wait; what was the question?
Am I usually in the fray?
Im in the process of pizza .
Started off with the oven . Every rack height with pizza stone in the electric oven . Broiler on high it will reach 521 degrees max . Not good enough.
Next i bought the insta read thermometer for dough and water temperature
i am working off the pizza app. Tried it . Next im using a recipe from the pizza bible .Napolitano.
Purchased 2 scales . One for grams for yeast . Another for flour , water , salt weights .
Purchased the infra red thermometer also for heat measurements.
Im ready to purchase the Ooni Koda 16 .
Tools do make a difference.
Yes i am a carpenter by trade with 40 years experience.
Just like the Fein multi tool i bought 20 years ago .
Its a game changer .
Equipment doesnât matter nearly as much as knowing what youâre doing. Rather than contemplating oneâs next purchase, contemplate learning these kinds of breakdown skills so you can actually cook.
Amen to that. A $1,500 vintage French copper roasting pan can only do so much for a cheap supermarket chicken.
I easily spend more on veal bones in a year than the entire batterie I use every day cost when new. Easily. Not even close.
Another favorite from a great chef, working with average knives (knife block in background⊠gasp!)
Ah, did anyone else notice the goalposts being moved? The leading proponent of cookware-doesnât-matter now says it doesnât ânearly as muchâ as knowing how to cook.
So there you have it: the equipment matters. I guess we can proceed to address the degree to which it matters.
This has always been a red herring issue.
No, they were too busy noticing Michelin starred cuisine being fabricated with $20 knivesâŠ
âMatter as muchâŠâ parsing phraseology is apparently the last arrow in the quiver, eh?
Figures.
Personally, I havenât found any âworld-classâ cookware at my Goodwill.
What I have been finding and using are these âRed Copperâ skillets. For my use, they are great. Both oven/dishwasher safe and non-stick (without PFOA/PTFE). Iâve taken my angle grinder and cut the handles down on two of them, one to fit in the dishwasher and one to fit in a toaster oven. Because they were only a couple of bucks, it didnât bother me to âchop 'em downâ to have them suit my needs.
Love this. A lot.
No⊠not really. What I have found useful is using an induction burner/hob for controlling temperature. My radiant stove top cycles and that was causing some issues for me.
Once I switched to induction, no more issues/problems with burning or boiling over messes. I can âdial-inâ the induction burner/hob to the perfect heat for that application.
