That I can understand. I brought up my canning pot the other day and really struggled to get it from the sink to the stove when it was filled with water. I love our Cuisinart Pro pots because they are so responsive to changes in heat but they are not light.
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See. Maybe each of us hear/read different things. The thermal conductive message from Le Creuset and enameled cast iron cookware never really stuck with me. What I remember most misleading is the part that enameled cast iron cookware touted being the healthiest cookware and that all other cookware leak harmful metals. Granted that those messages were unlikely from Le Creuset themselves, but a few years back I remember reading these messages.
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I think your advantage over me starting out is that you thought critically (and maybe a little cynically).
I bought all that LC on the basis of the hype and “status”, not knowing at the time that CI is a poor conductor, and not having any basis for comparison. And it basically kept me locked into a state of disinterest and lack of confidence. If LC was the sine qua non of cookware, the problem had to be me, right?
Conductive cookware is an epiphany when you compare. Even Ray doesn’t prattle on about ECI much anymore, now that he’s acquired some All-Clad, Demeyere and Hestan aluminum layer cookware. Same with induction, now that I think about it.
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Mortar and pestle, food processor, Keurig
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I recall those, too. Here I am, careening towards ill health and a premature demise cooking on Sn, Cu, and Fe, the same stuff that obviously killed my forebears.
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I totally get the Keurig, but I am unable to go more than a day or two without using my mortar and pestle, and last night’s pesto made in the food processor was awfully good. You must cook different things from those I tend to make. If you are on the what did you eat/cook/bake today threads I’ll be on the lookout for you. I rarely have things worth posting but usually read them, often to live vicariously.
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I’ve got the same thing except one long oval burner in place of the center burners. I thought I’d use it a lot but with a family of 6, it just wasn’t enough surface area (~ 180 sq. inches) and I was better off running two square 12-inch griddles on the left/right burners (288 sq. inches total, zoom zoom). So I just stowed the custom griddle in the bottom slot oven and put the grating back on.
Maybe with most of the kids out of the house during the school year (and cooking for 3 instead of 6) it’s time to start playing with it again and see if I like it now that space/area is not such a consideration.
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Frankenturkeys!
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Fryer - it’s much neater when I really have to fry something, but I really don’t fry that much. I bought this year’s ago when I was experimenting with a few fried dishes.
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Stove top steel - don’t really remember how this was marketed. It mimics having a griddle and can also be used in the oven if you need that hot surface for good searing. Works fine, but not significantly better than a bigger pan and it’s crazy heavy and a pain.
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Hand held mixer - this was before I could afford the full Kitchenaid mixer.
I really do need to just donate or clear this out.
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Agree, Vecchiouomo,
From the very beginning I purchased my ECI and SS for separate “batteries.” I have no ECI or CI frying pans, and I have no cladded cocottes.
I do have an ECI 11" crepe pan that makes great Swedish pancakes–but it takes awhile to get it “set in” to that perfect temperature.
ECI and SS are complementary, and actually get along quite well together.
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No doubt, Linda,
but there are ECI advantages. For starters, they have handles on either side vs. one on a loaded SS pan. Once you’ve got that pot on the hob, kit stays in place–and you’ve got two hands free. When the dish is done, the pot becomes your serving dish.
Now, if you have a friendly helper . . . .
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Hi Chem,
I always appreciated the ECI one pot meal concept the most–especially using lower temperatures–more water and steam–less cooking oil–easier clean up.
Since I was about 50/50 ECI/SS, I didn’t really want to glorify enamel.
Cats with no opposable thumbs. Besides, they’re cats. So yeah, that’s not going to work. 
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So many things. I’d probably start with a cast iron skillet, a cast iron Dutch oven, and a griddle that is neither big enough, nor small enough to earn pride of place.
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Griddles seem to make the “needs to go” list pretty often. I wonder how it would be if someone developed a 6mm thick piece of uncoated aluminum with a moat and lip around the edge and made it large enough to cover one full side of a 30" stovetop.
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That’s pretty much what I’ve got now (stock photo below), for the stove-top grill mentioned above. Except cast iron rather than aluminum, and right at 5mm thick.
In my complaint above I mentioned lack of surface area, and the end-portions of the moat contribute to that - only about a cm wide on the sides, but more than 2.5 cm on each end (presumably because one will pour grease by tilting toward one end or the other).
It’s designed to fit over a long oval center burner but will go on the sides [Edit - I mean if I lift out the grates, it sits down into the gratewell comfortably]. I’d have to fiddle more with the flame heights given large front / small rear burners. Or purposefully run it with 2 temp zones.
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I gave away 10 cast iron pans and a griddle yesterday. Very satisfying 
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NOOOO! Mail `em to me. The CI pans, I mean. Esp. if they were oldsters.
Pretty cool, but the reason I want aluminum is to even out the heat. I have a hard time managing around hot spots with cast iron.
Ah, thanks; I see now. I tend to use cast iron mostly on “blast furnace” range (on stovetop, I mean, not in the oven for cornbread), so I’m fairly ignorant of the difficulties in trying to get more even heat.
