We have a large Guardian Service aluminum dutch oven (I think) that was my mother-in-law’s and was made in the 1950s. My wife uses it to make chicken soup and yams (for Thanksgiving). Otherwise it just sits in the cupboard over our ovens. Not sure why but I don’t think it conducts heat as well as our Le Cruesets.
It’s better at conduction than cast iron. Not even close. Those Guardian pieces are great. Don’t let the styling throw you off. The 3-segment inserts are classics.
It looks like it should be carried by a knight in armor.
After I watched it, I went and looked at the vintage Toastmaster I got at a vintage shop last month to see if I could figure out what year it is.
Those are a bunch of classics. I loved the Henckels carbon steel with wooden handles.
These are my old keepers:
Pourable 1950’s Pyrex bowls
Metal mixing bowl
Whisks - Sauce and Balloon
Heavy fork for whisking eggs
Soft boiled egg cutter
spatulas
Ricer
Food mill
Microplane
Box grater
Immersion blender
Glass 2, 4, 8 measuring cups
Stock pot
12" fry pan
Braiser pot
1/2 and 1/4 Sheet pans
CorningWare with lids
Deep dish lasagna pan
9"×13" Pyrex
Meatloaf/bread pan
Sharp Chef knife and paring knife
French rolling pin
Offset spatula
Slotted spatula
Wooden spoon
Hand mixer or KA stand mixer
Can opener
Regular and serrated peelers
Sieve/colander
Wooden and plastic cutting boards
Thermometers meat and candy
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Nice list! Any secrets to getting a 9"×13" Pyrex to ahem…look like new?
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Are you talking scratches or black from spraying oil?
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Thank you, I feel very blessed to have inherrited many of the items.
I would say black, but I don’t know that it’s from spray oil. I’ll save it for another thread. They don’t look as bad as I remembered.
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A cleaver from China. It was very old when given to me in ~2000.
I had a skillet that purportedly made its way from Germany with my grandparents. I’m not sure of that but it was their’s. Nonetheless it has been MIA for some time.
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Cover it with lasagna or enchiladas!
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I got an Anolon boxed set of their non-stick about 15 years ago. Some of those pieces are still in service (the large stock/soup pot and a small sauce pan). The others got replaced piecemeal in the last few years as the non-stick surfaces wore thin and eventually wore off, but I think only one skillet had its non-stick die in just a few years[1]. I was very happy with how long everything lasted for a relatively inexpensive set, and really liked the look, and the flush rivets.
To @Vecchiouomo’s question, I’ve got some Super Maid pots (ca. 1920s) with bails that are very handy for campfire chili, that we got from my wife’s grandmother. I got curious about it at one point and found this original sales pamphlet which the seller nicely packaged in a hard-bound Winnie The Pooh book.
Another is a 7-quart Calphalon hard anodized (not non-stick) pan that I got about 20 (?) years ago. Sort of a monster flat skillet with square sides; sides 3 inches tall and overall diameter about 15 inches. They call it a sauteuse but I use it for paella.
[1] I’ve been cooking breakfast for my kids for decades, usually involving scrambled eggs. Daily scrambled eggs seems to destroy non-stick surfaces. Has anyone else noticed this?
The Anolon egg-skillet died in a few years, replaced by a series of Calphalon and others. Now I just buy super-cheap non-stick fry pans at the local grocer for the daily scrambled eggs and replace as they die.
Edit - Oh, and this thing one of my daughters got me for $4 while thrift shopping a few years ago. It’s great for long-braise meats like goat stew or others that call for a brown sugar caramelization step up front, because I don’t want to screw up the surface on a non-stick or on a Dutch oven. It’s a Wear-Ever 5.5 quart something or other. Maybe you’d call it a Dutch oven but I’m not sure.
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Try a cheap carbon steel frying pan for scrambled eggs. It is nonstick with just a wipe of peanut oil and will season quickly with use. Also it will last forever.
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That is one cool pan. I especially love the twisted handles.
Is there any mark or brand visible?
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Great list. It reminded me that I need to add Green’s Gripstand mixing bowls to my list–sort of the great grandaddy of the current crop of Mason-Cash type bowls.
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Thanks you,
I had three MC bowls from my Grandmother.
They all experienced my tile floor, a very unfortunate accident yet I was grateful to have them.
Yes, it’s a Wear-Ever No. 2306, 5.5 quart. I looked at ebay etc. and found several selling in the $25-$30 range, depending on whether there’s a lid or not. So I guess she got a good deal at $4, although I’m not positive the lid (which fits great) is original. Many I’ve seen online have a blue lid with angular ringlets stamped on it (image below).
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Thanks, I think I will give this a try.
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Thanks. Is it as thick as it looks?
To me it’s a fairly light-weight pan. Measuring at the lip, it’s right at 3 mm thick. The lid is even lighter weight, quite thin (another reason I think my lid wasn’t original). After having used it many times, if I hadn’t gotten it for $4 from my daughter, I think I’d be willing to shell out the $30 I see people asking to get the same.
The SuperMaid stuff by contrast is 5 mm thick at the lip. But still quite light - I wonder if it’s some kind of foamed aluminum? I’m kind of fuzzy on manufacturing details for this kind of article.
