Good lord. I just replied to the 14th post on a 200 post thread. Sorry!
It was the Claude St Blancard video on “how to decoupe a canard” and I was thoroughly impressed. It reminded me of the Bearded Butchers in skill level but in a different domain.
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And all disc-based cookware is not created equal. Which is why Ripert was filmed cooking in Sitram Profiserie.
Is it fair to say that a disc bottom is a quality that matters, at least in that setting? I think I have a few of those!
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I honestly don’t know. Perhaps greater surface area per volume for evaporation. I’ve been looking all over various vendor sites, and the only thing I’ve notices is that for the few brands who make the lower sided models (and i am purposefully avoiding non-stick), the shallower pans all have rolled lips. Maybe they’re just the unholy child of a saucepan and a sauté pan. Beats me. I like mine.
For lots of things lower rims can be a real plus. For example, my favorite pan for cooking eggs is an old crepe pan. The almost nonexistent lip makes it incredibly easy to get a spatula under an egg. I would also imagine it is easier to clean bits like stuck on rice out of the corners of this pan than it would be with a taller pan. The only drawback I could see would be the slosh factor, requiring the cook to utilize wine or other alcoholic potables to maintain serenity while stirring.
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Maintaining serenity is key!! It’s an unacknowledged yet essential technique in maintaining cuisine zen. Until the cat tries to jump on the stove. The refrigerator door shelf with the whites is close by.
@ZivBnd’s post made me wonder if this thread has gotten too long for its own good, but that thought occurred almost contemporaneously with another one I’ll offer here. It may merit either its own thread or being quickly dispatched and ignored.
The various ways people get to wherever they are in their acquisition of cookware is an interesting topic to me. Some start with an inheritance, some acquire sets early on, some build their arsenal over time (sometimes matching, sometimes not), some happen across something that spurs collecting (like the Le Creuset coleur du jour), some start minimal and stay minimal, some make mistakes and try to correct them, and so on. Probably most of us followed several of these paths on their journeys. I know I have made some stupid moves along the way.
My own journey started with two saucepans, a fry pan, and a thin aluminum 10 quart stockpot. The guiding principles for adding pieces were getting shapes or sizes I could use to support a widening range of dishes and a shallow love for old French styles, not just copper but also aluminum, carbon steel, ceramic, and enameled cast iron. As my collection filled out I realized that some things were mistakes, at least for me, and let them start new lives elsewhere. Also, as I found myself able to fill in a few items I certainly did not need but loved anyway, I fell victim to the lures of eBay and Etsy and added them when bargains came along. I still have one lovely mistake, a pomme Anna that is just too large. I should have gotten the smaller one since I almost never cook for more than six.
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My first pieces: A thin aluminum 6 qt stockpot (like mom’s but smaller) a cast iron frying pan (which I still have) and a maybe 1 1/2 qt Teflon saucepan that I used illegally in my dorm room with a hotplate (of course). Added- as a gift from my mom - a maybe 3 qt aluminum nonstick casserole thingy (low like a frypan) straight from Sears. I added a 5 and dime shallow roasting pan and a small Graniteware covered roaster. And that was it, I think, for my first student apartment (studio; kitchenette behind closet doors). Pieces got added and subtracted (always for better) as school went on and on and on. I didn’t give up on bare aluminum for a long time for stockpots. I never had any Farberware, or a set of nonstick, so I assume my frypans remained aluminum. The big jump to “serious cookware” was my beloved slant sided aluminum Toro saucepan, and two Dutch ovens, a little saucepan, and a frypan, all le Creuset, as gifts from my mom. Next up were frypans and a sauté pans in the new hard anodized aluminum from Commercial Aluminum Cookware (later Caphalon). With guaranteed to stay hot aluminum handles! They were from an independent kitchen store on Main Street in Annapolis, where I also go my first 2 Sabatier knives. A wok. From Pier One. Some table service copper followed - from my mom. At some point, I acquired some Cuisinarts (yes with an s) disk bottom pieces (disks were copper sandwiched rather than aluminum) with metal handles rather than the wooden ones made for home kitchens. Again, from my mom. I think she knew something about me that I didn’t recognize! Never had more non-stick than 1 or 2 frying pans, whose provenance varied. By then I was off the cliff; first with all-clad ( bought seconds whenever I found them) and yadda yadda. Crawled though outlet sales, on the ground and online. Got some beautiful copper, and bits and pieces of orignal induc’inox, and demeyer, and you name a brand, I probably have a piece of it, for some reason. No. Sets. Ever. Slow accretion. Mostly task or aspiration based.
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It’s great you like it. What do you like using it for?
Small quantities of any prep. Reheating stuff. Rewarming vegetables. I usually don’t cook for more than 3 or 4. The shallow pots are easier to watch and stir.
I will note that the saucepan I use least is my first all-clad - 1 1/2 qt - that I got as a try-me. I have stared at it a million times thinking about rehoming it, but nostalgia- and stupidity- overtake me.
When comparing lower side vs higher side sauce pan or stock, I find the lower side cookware a much greater angle to use utensils…etc. Like you also eluted, for the same given volume, the lower side cookware mean wider bottom, and this allows them to be placed on the larger hobs. Conversely, the same advantages can be disadvantages depending what you are seeking.
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My smallest high sided all-clad simply won’t work on some burners -particularly induction. The diameter is too small. The shallower wider pans give me more versatility.
have a lot more to say on the topic, but for now, here’s a free link to an amusing take in the times.
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Disc bottom is a general matter of construction. How that construction is accomplished–and with what–matters. Also how thick the disk is matters: the thicker the disc, generally the more even the heat will be and the slower the response will be.
The disc-base cookware used in the majority of restaurant kitchens tends to be thinner because of the powerful, more even cooktops, and to keep response times reasonable. They like this construction because it’s generally cheaper than clad, and most don’t care about conductive sidewalls (i.e., most of what they do they do in frypans, sautes and braisers).
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Thst was great! I’m tempted to share it with my daughter. I hesitate because I don’t think she likes eggs.
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this Hieronymus Bosch land of shopping anarchy
I’ve found 2 irreplaceable kitchen things in TJ Maxx. And I think those are the only two things I ever bought there …
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Not ashamed to say I pulled 2 large metal sheet pans being tossed in the dumpster by the pizza joint a few doors down from my old office
They are nothing to look at but they retain heat well and are lined with parchment when I use them
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I salvaged a cast iron chicken fry pan with lid years ago . Out in front of a house with a free sign on it .Its a fantastic piece.
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Took my mom’s giant stock pot and I don’t even think this thing would fit on my stove under the hood. I have no idea when I will ever need it, but I couldn’t let that go out when we cleaned out her place. My 8 qt pot makes more than enough broth, stock or soup for me to use, and I have no room in my freezer for pints of frozen stock.
She used to use this to boil the rice dumplings she made in May (aka zong zi), and she would cook it in our garage on burner attached to a propane tank. It would take about 6+ hrs given the volume she made.
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Perfect for crawfish boils!
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