I got mine at Dehillerin, but here’s one on Amazon. I use a little wooden disc on a handle. I have seen others use silicone scrapers.
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Most of my pans and lids have drop and dent badges of honor. As long as they do not impair functionality, so what? Ironically, that person who might pitch a pan for being dented more likely than not has clear counters and keeps their pans in drawers or cupboards. My motley crew is out where all can see.
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Enter nonstick. The paper plate of cookware. It makes me crazy for people to think of their stuff as disposable. Choose wisely, Grasshoppers. You should be purchasing stuff that will become old friends. It’s actually quite pleasurable.
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Me too. My stainless steel-lined stuff looks like it’s new, even after over 20+ years, whereas the one, newer, tinned pot, which I haven’t used much, needs to be re-tinned. I’m considering selling it as is. Where’s the best place to sell it? I also have a copper sugar boiler I need to sell; I’ve barely used it as it’s a pain to clean it with salt and vinegar just before using it.
Oh, Hell yeah! If you can’t find beauty in the beaten rim of an extra fort pan, you have a 'ways to go. These dings and blemishes just prove it’s all about cooking, not any particular cook, and certainly not about the current owner or their illusions of perfection.
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The old Corningware casseroles don’t mark as easily when stainless serving spoons are used, and they are glazed underneath.
The newer 2010s Corningware casseroles are rough on the bottom.
I had replaced a 1970s Corningware casserole with a 2010s Corningware casserole, as well as a 2010s Gordon Ramsay ovenproof casserole dish. The 2010s Gordon Ramsay dish was glazed all over, is lighter, and doesn’t mark easily.
It is more similar to the old 1970s Corningware than the newer 2010s Chinese-made Corningware. It washes up better, too.
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Oh and don’t forget to stock up on Butter, you will need about half the Weight of the Potato for Joel Robuchon’s Recipe 
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I’ve tried that recipe, I love rich and buttery but this is an example of too much being unbearable.
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Agreed, we would serve a Quenell or 2 formed in large Soup Spoons max. Fine for a special occasion dinner but not something you want to eat very often.
I have one direct example of this that surprised me. I got a vintage Sunbeam toaster (the kind that lowers and raises bread automatically) for $8 at thrift. It worked but the wires got hotter than I thought it should so I re-wired it then gave it to one of my daughters.
I looked on eBay and the like and was surprised to see people were selling these for $300. Seemed like a “wow” price to me.
Then I started reading about the toaster and why no one makes items like this anymore. Turns out they retailed at about $23 in 1949, making them worth… $300 in today’s dollars. That was the surprising part to me - that people would shell out (today’s dollars) $300 for a toaster.
Otherwise, I think a lot of times older stuff cost more (inflation-adjusted to the time) because manufacturing techniques hadn’t gotten as lined in as they became later.
But to your point about modern equivalents that do last longer, I think automobiles are a good example, with the average car made in the last 20 years outlasting the average car made in the 1970s or 1980s.
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Exactly. I have my crockpot from the late 1970s. While the plastic lid is cracked, I’ve got tape on the outside holding it together. (Or I put a flat metal lid over top of it to keep in the steam.) While I will no longer use it when I’m not going to be in the house all day, it still allows me to make chicken stock or a stew or pulled pork without having to babysit the stove.
Older crockpot cookbooks’ cooking times are still geared towards the lower temps, so when something says cook for 8 hours, it can easily be WAY overcooked in the newer ones (usually done in 5 hours). So to me, the quality of the older crockpots far outweighs purchasing a new one.
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The top of the line items of older generations are sometimes better than the top of the line items now. And due to depreciation, sometimes they can be found now in good condition for much less cost than the inflation adjusted original price and less than the price of current TOTL comparators.
Importantly, because they are not readily available new today, they offer a certain charm due to their rarity and vintage styling.
This sunbeam waffle iron is an example of what I mean. However, the grates are not readily removable for cleaning, which I consider a design flaw. It’s hard to clean out stuck on tidbits without removing them, which requires taking the unit apart.
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I didn’t know about this. I’ve got an older one (~ 40 years old, column-shaped crock, relatively small) and one newer one (large capacity, oval shaped crock).
I hadn’t paid attention to any difference in the low cook temps, but that’s likely because I use them for different food types, with no cross-over. A whole chicken or roast always goes in the new/big guy, whereas the smaller guy is for chili or stew.
I wonder if concerns about potentially being sued for food safety issues is why the newer stuff all runs a higher low temp than before?
I do have a bit of experience with the newer stuff being of spotty quality as to heat control. My current newer large one is the 3rd in rapid succession of the same model. I had to return the first two because neither would get over 180°F on high, and were barely luke warm on low. I found out about the first one during its maiden voyage, while trying to make a beef roast for a large group. We ended up having to order pizza. So I exchanged it and tested #2 right away, and it had the same problem. Third time’s the charm, as they say - this one works just fine.
What should the temperature rise to on high?
I have both an old analog one and a couple of the modern digital ones which I love because of the warm setting which kicks in at the end of the set time.
I wasn’t sure at the time, except I was darned sure it need to be well over 212°F if my roast beef was ever going to get done, and #3 hit a water boil relatively quickly so I accepted it as good enough. I did a quick google just now and The Spruce Eats says there’s considerable variability, but in general low should be below boiling, around 200°F, and high considerably hotter, around 300°F.
Not sure if that’s definitive or not, but close enough for gummint work as far as I’m concerned.
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the gubbiemint decided that putting a whole frozen chicken in a slow cooker would take too much time to exit the temperature “danger zone.”
so they demanded slow cooker/crock pot makers increase the “low” temperature.
the whole story was documented by an association of appliance makers, but it later went behind a paywall.
it’s the same uber-control mentality encountered by the NTSB - a foreign country requested info on testing aircraft cockpit windows against bird strikes.
which is done with a chicken carcass and an air cannon . . .
the foreign government wired back , , , no matter what air cannon velocity they used, the chicken “projectile” busted up the cockpit “real good.”
the eventual response: “Thaw the chicken.”
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Thanks for the explanation/rationale. I didn’t realize people cooked meats from frozen, other than maybe sausage patties and the like.
I think I remember the chicken cannon thing being the subject of a couple of Mythbusters tests (although the foreign gov’t part of the story sounds apocryphal).
I agree. So I only took his tamis page. I use Cacique Mexican table crema.
Gotta love that woven cord sheath!
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the episode is here:
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