Absolutely
Iâm late and didnât read all the responses, but I read quite a few. Outside of some really exquisite pans for very particular uses, I think the equipment matters very little. Yeah, I like the stuff Iâm using right now, and certainly I can get a much better sear on a tuna or swordfish steak (or any beef steak, too!) with my current pans than the stuff I used 30 years ago.
But knowing what I do now, I could have gotten a pretty great result with the crappy pans I was using 30 years ago, too - knowing what I do now.
I think.
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Nice
NY style pizza doughs tend to be different than neapolitan style (different flour, use of oil etc) which leads to a quite different result (and technique ) - a pizza screen wouldnât be helpful for a neapolitan pizza
if I could organize a second oven I would. but thatâs not a problem.
Iâm afraid to ever get it rehabbed - theyâd swap out all the original parts. Oh well, let my estate worry about it.
Our late friend Cullen was a fountain pen repair man. He was also a machinist and so could fabricate any parts he needed.
Pen collectors are a very interesting subculture.
He knew folks all over the world.
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Iâm afraid the Youngs donât know how to use them. On several occasions Iâve bought boxes of disposable fountain pens and packs of nice notepads and handed them out to my college classes - then I ask them to try writing - most donât even know how to put the nib on the paper correctly (think upside down). I tell them to enjoy trying, and make sure that they put the caps back on securely when the throw them in their backpacks. 
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I my opinion you have not described a better car. Just a car thatâs smarter than the typical driver. Modern cars can make up for the lack of attention and skill of a typical driver.
A better car is something else. Itâs got a higher power to weight ratio for more acceleration, a taut suspension so you can hit the corners just right and ideally manual transmission so you can adjust the gears to the conditions or at least flappy paddles.
I have a high performance coupe that I take out on sunny days and drive on the wonderful windy road over and around hills where I am up and down shifting like crazy. The engine howls and makes sounds like a bass symphony. It corners like itâs on those proverbial rails in tight turns. Does it make me a better driver? No. But it makes driving so much more enjoyable and when you know how to use a car like it, itâs glorious.
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Michelin three star chef Eric Ripert doing fish in Vollrath non-stick restaurant supply pan:
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Would that be considered a âcrappy panâ?
I love watching (and hearing!) him cook. Can you tell when that was?
NVM; I found it.
I love that he uses Wondra flour. When I read that, my years of secret shame vanished.
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I am currently just aspiring to be as smart as the typical driver.
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Not sure if I agree - that is like saying that there is bread without recognizing that there are many types of bread or would you say a baguette and a whole wheat sourdough boule are practically the same ?
Also a NY-style pizza tastes and has a very different dough consistency than a neapolitan one - perhaps you should try to eat different styles of pizza and see their differences
And I doubt that your pizza is comparable to one cooked at 900F
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Lots of professional cooks use things that many home cooks who are trying to become Escoffier even though this is the 21st century would treat with disdain. They also know when they can take shortcuts. Read any Bourdain cooking book. He loved revealing those things. I am not saying they all do (although personally I would not rule out the possibility), but a fair number do. If some necessary ingredient in the kitchen has a problem (too thin, not enough, tastes funky, etc.), a good cook with waiting tables canât stop and say, âHey, letâs make some new demi.â But they can probably find or throw together quickly something that will still yield a wonderful dish. As to Wondra, clumping in the middle of service is an easy risk to eliminate. So use it!
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Not sure how your comment is related to the pizza discussion - I am not saying you canât use shortcuts but saying all pizza styles are pretty much the same is very unrealistic.
Looks great . But not making New York style pizza .l will be making pizza Napolitano. The oven needs to be close to 900 degrees. After the fifth try in my oven using the btoiler different rack heights and working with different dough recipes. I have decided on the Gozney arc XL
Expensive. Yes . It wiil reach that temperature. Its a very nice tool for outdoor cooking this summer .
Pizza ready in 90 seconds
Not crappy at all.
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