Choosing the good quality cookware

No matter what you’re planning on making, you’ll require some sort of basic cookware. Though prices range upwards of $3,000 – $5,000 for a premium set of pots and pans, there’s no need to empty your bank account in order to purchase quality cookware.

What do you look for when buying new cookware? Do you have a favorite type?

Consider a few factors to find the best set for you:

Pieces: What pieces do you need and use most often? You may not need the 4 different sizes of skillets and 3 saucepans that come in that pre-packaged set. You’re better off deciding the pieces you need ahead of time and buying them individually or finding a set that closely meets your needs.

The staples include:

• Medium –Large skillet
• Nonstick, medium skillet
• Large pot for boiling and blanching
• Saucepan for sauces and rices

Metals: The metal you choose to cook your food in can be key. It is the vehicle that delivers heat to your food and can make or break your culinary creation. Consider buying pieces of varying metals to achieve the best results, dependent on your dish.

It is recommended that beginning cooks or those on a budget stick to the following:

Aluminum: Aluminum cookware remains one of the cheapest, yet one of the best options available. It conducts heat very well and is lightweight. However, it can react with acidic or alkaline foods so it is often coated. Anodized aluminum cookware seals the cookware and prevents it from interacting with foods and leaching any hazardous substances into your food.

Stainless Steel: It’s no secret that stainless steel remains the favorite of cooks everywhere. Watch any cooking show on TV and you’ll find professionals using the silvery pots and pans. One of the most popular metals for cookware, Stainless Steel requires very little maintenance and is very durable. It’s even dishwasher safe, though you may need to polish it every once in a while to keep its shine. If you go this route, be sure to purchase encapsulated cookware. This means that there is a layer of copper or aluminum in the bottom of the pan to avoid hotspots and promote even heat distribution. The quality of construction will determine the price, and can range anywhere from $100 – $5,000 for a quality set.

If you’re cooking like a pro, or have a larger budget available to purchase your cookware, look into the following:

Copper: Copper is most often the most expensive but is incredibly efficient as it heats evenly and very quickly. It requires quite a bit of maintenance to keep in good condition and may react with some foods, changing the color and taste. It is also prone to scratches and dents. To avoid this problem, seek out copper pans that are lined with stainless steel. Be prepared to spend anywhere from $150 – $600 per pan.

Cast Iron: Cast iron cookware heats and cools very slowly, so it’s best for foods that need to be cooked over a low temperature for a longer period of time. Cast iron requires more maintenance than other cookware as you need to keep it seasoned and cannot wash it like your other pots and pans. However, with proper seasoning and care, cast iron will last upwards of 50+ years. (Full article here)

 

Things you should know about cookware

Some cookware is better than others and some is just plain toxic

Teflon cookware is probably the all-time worst of all cookware. Johns Hopkins Medical Center says the chemical PFOA, used in manufacturing Teflon, is now found in the bloodstreams of nearly everyone in the U.S. Early studies suggest that high PFOA blood levels in humans are linked with cancer, high cholesterol levels, thyroid disease and reduced fertility. Teflon surfaces break down and end up in your food and when heated to high temperatures, emit fumes which cause flu-like symptoms in humans (AKA: polymer fume fever) and can be fatal to birds. Manufacturers have to eliminate PFOA from all cooking products by the year 2015.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036029_cookware_non-stick_chemicals.html#ixzz41twMqbtn

Stainless steel cookware is made from a metal alloy consisting of mostly iron and chromium along with differing percentages of molybdenum, nickel, titanium, copper and vanadium. But even stainless steel allows other metals to leach into the foods. The principal elements in stainless that have negative effects on our health are iron, chromium and nickel. If you’re searching for the best stainless steel cookware, find the good options here.

Titanium cookware seems to pose the least health risks and doesn’t react with food while cooking. Part of a good cancer prevention plan is to ditch all others and buy high quality titanium cookware. Premium titanium cookware is more expensive but inferior cookware will actually cost more over time.

It’s not all about the cookware

One thing we should all avoid is cooking at higher temperatures. The higher the temperatures, the more we devastate the nutrients in the food and compromise the integrity and safety of the cookware. Heterocyclic amines (HCAs), are compounds created in meats and other foods cooked at high temperatures that can boost the risk of pancreatic cancer by 60 percent and increase the risk of stomach, colon and breast cancers.

Conversely, some antioxidants are activated by cooking. This includes lycopene in tomatoes and beta-carotene in carrots and sweet potatoes. Researchers found that you actually multiply the antioxidant power of your carrots three times by cooking them – peels and all, and then pureeing them which releases cancer-fighting compounds from the carrots.

For healthy eating, find some quality titanium cookware and learn to cook foods below 200 degrees to preserve the nutrients and receive the best value out of your food.

Sources for this article:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/02/teflon_umbilical.html
http://www.cancer.org
http://cookwithtina.com

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/036029_cookware_non-stick_chemicals.html#ixzz41twT2wY5

Purchasing cookware for home use

There are many factors to consider when purchasing cookware for home use. While some may opt for a set with several pieces included, others may find that several of those pieces will never be used and will instead buy the pieces separately.

A set is good for a wedding or holiday gift, or as a beginner’s option. For the serious home cook or budding chef, splurging on the pieces that will be used most and building up a collection over time could be a better route. These decisions depend on what kind of cooking is being done. (Source: www.tomcorsonknowles.com)

Choosing The Best Cookware

Ultimately, it is best to consider a budget when purchasing cookware. If a home cook usually makes more stir-fry dishes, then a skillet or wok is essential to the collection. However, one who makes more soups or pasta will need a dutch oven or large pasta pot in their collection.

For those items that will be staple cookware in the household, quality cooking will come from a variety of different factors:

• Reactivity: Different types of metal will react with food they come in contact with. Some metals, such as aluminum and copper, react with acidic foods such as vinegar or citrus. These metals may absorb into the food.

• Durability: Overall, stainless steel and cast iron metals have the best durability because they are stronger metals.

• Heat Conductivity: This factor measures the ability of the metal to cook food evenly and respond to the changes in temperature. Copper is known to be the best of cooking pots in terms of heat conductivity, stainless steel is generally a bad conductor of heat.

• Maintenance: Copper and cast iron metals tend to require more work to maintain.

Reference: http://www.tomcorsonknowles.com/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-cookware-for-you

Related information:

• EarthTalk: The healthiest non-stick cookware
• Toxic teflon

Never overlook the need of using the right cookware

I remember walking down the confectionary aisle in  supermarkets as a kid, awe-struck and sensing the first signs of gluttony kick in. I wanted every last bit of chocolate on display there. Now that I’m older, wiser and more independent there’s a new devil in town.

All those flashy cooking shows render cooking like a pro to be a cakewalk. And those high power cooking appliances and utensils – Oh my. I. NEED. THEM. ALL.

I’ve realised people either overlook the need of the right kitchenware or just invest too much in them. So how much is too much or too less?

First, prioritisation is everything. There’s no point buying kitchenware on impulse. There’s a ‘Banana Slicer’ in my kitchen collecting dust proving just that. Spoons, forks, knifes, straining spoons, ladles, spatulas and measuring cups- now those are a must. Although, the megacorps have us all spoilt for choice with highly diverse ranges for each product. Make a list of the kind of kitchenware you would need based on the kind of food you make on a daily basis. Weeding out the kind of pots and pans suitable for your needs won’t be all that tough once you figure that out.

Which brings us to our second indicator – the material. The kind of material your utensils are made of, play an essential role. Now, copper is a good conductor of heat, so it reacts faster to temperature change and the heat is distributed evenly all through the cookware, which in turn doesn’t burn the bottom part of your morsel to black bits.

Stainless steel on the other hand is easy to maintain but not so balmy on the conduction of heat side. Teflon coating is such a blessing to kitchenware(try cleaning burnt noodles off a copper pot), but if you’re one of the goody environment conscious ones, cross it off your list!

Now for the heart wrenching factor- Price. This is a deciding factor for most. I go by the rule of thumb of kitchenware when I go shopping for my kitchen products, ‘Buy the best you can afford’. That alone eliminates all the exorbitantly priced swanky kitchenware.

No matter how hard you try to convince yourself you need that shiny cherry red Lamborghini of coffee makers, stick to the economical  Toyota of the lot and it’ll make you just as good coffee. (I tend to blame the appliances for my bad cooking skills, I still burn my soup).

Not many people pay head to this, but some metals react to the food you cook in them. Aluminium is quite reactive and tends to make your food acidic. So make sure you know how reactive the metal is before rushing to the cashier.

Durability and Maintenance is quite essential. Stainless steel is highly durable and easy to maintain despite other drawbacks. Make sure you can use the products for a while to come and they can endure that kind of handling. If you’re someone who puts off the dishwasher duty for judgement day, opt for plastic and stainless steel utensils. Maintenance is a time consuming activity, so choose the  kitchenware based on how much time you’re willing to spend on keeping them sparkly clean. Make sure you have enough storage area to store all your kitchenware. – See more at: http://www.funbuzztime.com/choosing-the-right-cookware

How to pick the best knives

 

A lot of people don’t know how to pick the best knives to get the job done within their home. To simply help you with this specific if you’re trying to boost your performance in the kitchen, consider getting info through top cooking knives evaluation.

You should try searching for stainless steel kitchen knives that are long lasting enough for slicing different kinds of food items including the ones that are hard to cut.

Related post: Chowbound – http://www.chowhound.com/food-news/633/the-complete-guide-to-buying-your-first-knives

Greatest cooking knives are several of the most preferred methods by cooks in various restaurants globally and aspiring masterchefs at home. An excellent knife is some thing one can’t do without in the kitchen. If one can have atleast one great knife in the kitchen a chef’s knife’s the best option. To get the best kitchen knives, you needs to have an idea why you need a specific cooking knife.

Prior to you choose which brand name of cooking knives to purchase, find out a bit about the different types that are available. For many individuals, there are really couple of points learnt about the differences between kitchen knives. Knowing before you look exactly what you require and which materials will finest fit your needs will certainly ensure you find the most effective purchase.

A nicely balanced, beautifully forged knife comprises several sheets of folded steel and then slowly sharpened up until it is good to use.

Our Holiday Trip at the Beach

It was a great holiday trip. The kids had lots of fun, spending most of their time building sand castles on the beach and swimming in the sea. And my husband and I too had a wonderful time doing nothing much except enjoy the nice weather and having good food.

 

Our hotel package included 3 meals per day. In the morning, we would always go for the toasts for they have the best toaster I have ever used before. The toasts came out perfectly toasted all the time. It was so good that this morning, we had 6 toasts each!

The lunch and dinner set meals were great too but we always look forward to making toasts in the mornings. Unfortunately the trip was only for 4 days. We would have loved for the trip to be longer but we had to get home and my husband had to work the next day. The kids were already asking if we can come again next year.