You don’t frequent this part of Hungry Onion? You’re here all the time and you and I have made several posts and replies to each other.
Are you feeling unwell?
Actually, I am feeling unwell, thanks for asking. 
I spend too much time on HO, but usually not on cookware.
Since I’m here, I would like to understand why home cooks would prioritize “what is used by people who earn their living with equipment”.
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I have most of what I’d like to try, but definitely not all. I’d like a flambadou, and the clockwork rotisserie and lechefrite to go with.
My function? I don’t push people to buy. But I do recommend what I know and test to be good, and I point out low prices on good cookware. I’m pretty far from being a rank consumerist. I think it comes through in my posts that I like to buy used and keep cookware long-term or for life. When I’m asked, I answer and recommend honestly.
Do you really think that people here–on Cookware–should be discouraged from learning about the myriad of choices and making informed ones based on value? I must’ve missed the Nihilism board.
You need to stop by more. Apparently you only came to this cookware twice in the last day. What’s up with the Food Garden thing?
Charlie posted exclusively here, like 6 posts in a hour.
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Random question. What is the single most valued (by you) food in your garden? e.g. if you can only grow one which one will you keep? tomato?
Figs!
Or Blenheim apricots, or sugar snaps peas.
They are all much better picked ripe and eaten quickly.
And on that note, I will take a time out.
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I thought a duck press was your next to get item.
I pretty much have everything I need. I do have a few items on my “Wish” list, that I’ll save up for and can get from Amazon.
I would like to find a small braiser, like the one pictured. This one is perfect, except it isn’t compatible with induction and I’m forced to struggle with my radiant heat stove to use it. I’m looking for…
(1) Approximately 9 inches
(2) Induction compatible
(3) Non-stick
(4) Oven safe
(5) Dishwasher safe
(6) with a lid.
(7) CHEAP!!
It gets extremely hot here during the summer, and I’d like to try to cook outside more, so I don’t heat up the house cooking dinner.
I have a portable induction hob and a small toaster oven for that purpose. The back porch is covered and makes for a pretty good outdoor kitchen area.
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I got a duck press, and even used it some. It’s now been gifted to a dear friend.
I’ll keep an eye out for you. The nonstick aspect is sort of a wild card.
Home cooks tend to worry about dull copper, dings in pan and pot covers, how to get rust off a piece of cookware (using it frequently comes to mind) and a whole host of distractions other than what’s in the pan and on-heat for tonight’s meal. They worry about ‘edge longevity’ when the mise for a meal for six shouldn’t take a decent home cook fifteen minutes. How do I replace a plastic gear? With a piece of equipment that doesn’t use them… getting the theme? If not, read all the posts.
The two or three essential pieces of equipment with moving parts and a cord attached – that probably is worth spending money on for the active and prolific home cook. You won’t find what you need at Williams-Sonoma, as much as that new W-S credit card beckons.
You were looking for a piece of equipment a while back. I can’t remember what it was but I offered to buy it for you as a gift. That offer still stands. Maybe re-read through your posts to refresh your memory.
There was something about your posts up to that point that made me think you weren’t just a gear hound, Jonesing for your next ‘buy.’
Thanks…
I think it does in my beggings of pizza . I have the oven to 550 . Measured with the infrared thermometer. Different heights on the rack in the oven . Trying my fourth pizza tonight . Pizza Napolitano recipe from the pizza bible . Calculates to 62 % hydration. Its going to be good but …
I need higher temperature. At the moment reviewing the Ooni koda 16 vrs the Gozney Xr .
Now leaning towards the Gozney. Tools do make a difference. Based on reviews I’ve read a hundred times . The Gozney has the edge for a hundred dollars more @ 699.00 .
An amusing and entertaining take. I have not cooked for a living for ages, but I treat the beautiful old pieces I have been collecting for over half a century the same way I treated the owners’ things in kitchens where I was working, i.e., with reckless abandon. So my heavy copper pans have their dings indeed. I never even thought about rust on my handles until I read about it here recently. I walked over to the iron handled pans and lids, saw no rust, and shrugged. No rust. My carbon steel pans are dark but smooth and clean inside and nearly black enough for their annual Carbon Off treatment. My knives are all stained, and I have never scrubbed or oiled a handle, but they get sharpened two or three times a year and honed lightly every time they are used.
It is interesting to ponder what highly skilled cooks use, but it is not necessarily useful. As has been noticed, a home cook must keep all of the elements going at the same time and plan for the entire meal to come together on the plate in a simultaneous moment of perfect completion, not just aligning cook times but planning for slicing, buttering, saucing, dressing, garnishing, plating…A careful and thorough mise and a well developed sense of timing are going to be more valuable than using the same knife as Marco or the same pans as Keller. That does not mean, however, that using good tools commensurate with your skill and ingredients doesn’t make sense. Given that the most difficult of all of these elements to acquire is that well developed sense of timing. If you are not yet fully developed in that regard, erring on the side of slight under cooking and using pans with enough mass to hold things (if only for a couple of minutes) is probably a smart way to compensate.
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I just do one meal at a time. Knife expert I’m not. Ask me about fountain pens, or knitting needles.
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I remember, and thanks again for the offer.
There were various opinions, and yours was that I should discard the piece of equipment because a black substance had formed after washing it in the dishwasher.
You generously offered to replace it with one of my choosing ( and I tried to think of a way to get that offer to someone more financially deserving).
I thought about it, felt I knew at least as much as most about the health risk, and for me, it was just, as you put it, a “distraction”.
Again, thank you, and I appreciate your generous offer, but not replacing it (yet) is not a financial issue.
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Maybe we need a fountain pen thread. Got any favorites? Any duds? I just got an old Koh-i-Noor Rapidograph, perfect for grocery lists!
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I still have it … purchased in 1969 for, I think, $42 
Perhaps I can jaccard a steak with it.
I know I had a Rapidograph, too. God only knows where it’s resting today.
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Neapolitan pizza in a “regular” oven won’t work independently of the hydration level. You will need to spend your money on some ooni or comparable pizza oven which reaches the required temperature
