A vast selection and saving a boatload of money. Sometimes the first venture in was for soft goods, like large, cheap rolls of plastic wrap, butcher paper to wrap smoking briskets, or carbon off.
2 Likes
Unless you want Cu. I love Etsy.
Hi Vecchiouomo,
There are lots of ways to get really good home cook prices from home cook oriented places. Home cooks are the biggest market. You went to restaurant suppliers because it was a comfortable world for you.
I’m very price conscious–and I shop carefully and patiently among suppliers for home cooks like me.
Without going to a restaurant supply store, I’d be curious to know the best deal you can find on a heavy gauge aluminized steel, non-coated jelly roll pan, 13 by 17 1/2 or thereabouts.
1 Like
Hi Vecchiouomo,
I don’t use them. Don’t even know what they are.
If you’d be open to visiting restaurant supply stores you’d know what jelly roll pans are… 
Below is a perfect example of an item that is only available in specialised cookware stores (or amazon), because shops catering to home cooks do not value high quality items enough imho. And it really makes a difference if you use such a thick heavy professional cake pan.
2 Likes
Do you roast vegetables?
2 Likes
It’s a rimmed baking sheet, a close cousin of a half-sheet pan, and one of the most versatile tools in a home cook’s kitchen. You haven’t noticed all the buzz about sheet-pan dinners, I guess. Aside from baking, they’re used for roasting vegetables and proteins. A wire cooling rack fits nicely inside, makes roasting meat even better. One of the best kitchen tools available IMO. But I’m afraid one wouldn’t fit in any of your ovens. They do make doll-sized quarter sheet pans for teeny weeny counterovens, so all is not lost.
4 Likes
I’m a huge advocate for shopping at restaurant supply stores. Functionality, practicality over form or packaging. Tons of gadgets etc to expedite prep and cooking. After all the goal of a restaurant is to turn as many tables a night as possible while maintaining consistency from one table to another. Couple of my favorite places to shop in store or online is JB Prince and MTC in Manhattan, NYC.
I’m a home cook but aspire to professional 3* chef skills in this hobby. A skilled professional chef by default can downgrade oneself to a be a “home cook”, not vice versa as suggested by other(s) in some prior posts I came across.
My contribution in the spirit of this thread. More of an appliance rather than cookware, recently came across an article about Thomas Keller replacing sous vide machines with this Rational combi oven https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UF00O-Ps6g. Honestly no clue how they work but I am intrigued to learn more.
5 Likes
Another great use is skinning peppers, tomato, etc. Put them skin side up on one and blacken them thoroughly under the broiler. Pull the hot pan out and immediately put another of the same size on top, forming a clam shell. After a few minutes of steaming in there, the skins pluck right off. I like it way better than the plastic bag approach, and clean up is easy.
2 Likes
Hi Vecchiouomo,
Yes. Every week. Gourmet potatoes and sweet potato or acorn squash.
I use the roasting pan that came with my “roaster” oven.
Ray
Hi damiano,
I don’t do any cooking that would require such a pan. I’d think that home cooks with your interests would buy them before restaurants would.
They’re the ones that “are too cheap” here in the USA.
Everyone should have at least 2; they’re that versatile. I like that method you describe. I can never do the blister over a burner flame thing because our building has no gas. And you can spread stuff out on the pms to pick though, or to vool quickly. When all else fails, you can use it like a school cafeteria lunch tray ( well, when I was a kid our trays were metal and that’s what they looked like0.
1 Like
Hi Meekah,
I’m a different kind of home cook.
I don’t bake. I used to buy cookie dough and make little chocolate chip cookies–using the pan that comes with my little ovens–but I don’t even do that any more.
I thought about getting into baking and buying a special oven. I sort of know how.
but that was something I chose not to do when I started up my hobby.
Hi Sgee,
I’ve focused all my efforts on avoiding even a hint of restaurant culture. I spent a year observing an experimental hotel kitchen–so I sort of know how the game is played–but it was pretty easy for me to ignore all that when I started my hobby.
My model is still my grandmother–not a professional chef.
1 Like
Nothing wrong with that, everyone has their personal goals.
2 Likes
If, you’d read what we said about the uses of sheet pans, nothing about baking was mentioned. I don’t bake, and what little I’ve done, doesn’t involve sheet pans. It’s their use for things other than pastry baking that makes them so useful and versatile.
Hi Meekah,
I think the roasting pans that came with my ovens are all that I need.
I’ve never seen any need for the pans you describe in my cooking.
1 Like
Hi Sgee,
My grandmother taught me Swedish family culture–something I’ve been able to further adapt and blend with my American culture.
That’s what makes me a home cook.
Chefs are artists who work with food–not conveyors of culture.
I’m much more interested in culture.
Pretty much not in line with the understanding of numerous renowned chefs. Try telling Jacques Pepin he is not conveying French culture. The litany of similar examples is very long. Some of the more recognized ones on my shelf include Madhur Jaffrey, Marcella Hazan, Escoffier, Stanley Tucci, David Chang, Diana Kennedy, Anna Willan, and Aaron Franklin. Chang is also a very fine example of what I view as fusion cooking. Speaking of fusion and your collaborative experimenting with knives, how do they align with the Swedish culture of your grandmother? What sorts of dishes did she prepare?
5 Likes
