Which set of Pots and Pans should I buy?

“Calphalon”

I have a set of Le Creuset cast iron pans and they are fantastic. OK, they are bloody expensive and if you drop on on your foot you’ll know about it but on the bright side it will be years before you have to worry about buying pans again.

I’ve had a set of Saladmaster stainless steel since the 70’s. They still look wonderful. You’d better have deep pockets for them now, but they’re wonderful pans.

AllClad, the kind that’s not non-stick (or – do we say “stick”?) – last forever, conduct heat evenly, don’t warp, and the teflon that isn’t there will never come off. The handles are just regular, so you do have to use a hot pad. But they’re beautifully made.
They cost the earth. I get one from time to time at the local equivalent of TJMaxx.

In Julia Child’s omelette segment from her TV series, she insists that no one needs fancy
pans. Amazing. She said any old thin crappy pan was fine. Just sayin.

I’m happy with my set of All-Clads “sticks” too. I got them at a January white sale several years ago.

@susanc When Ben and I lived in Paris we had the worst set of pans ever. So, Ms. Julia Child, you are a LIAR!

@andrew And I remember you got deathly ill. Maybe it was the pans?

Saladmaster is what I have. Very expensive, but they last a lifetime. I love my electric frying pan. In fact, I have two of them. They clean up easy also.

Another vote for All-Clad, but dont worry about a set pick and choose the ones you need/want.

Except that sometimes you can get a better price if you buy a whole set. Just choose it carefully.

@andrew – Can’t get my head around this. You had bad pans in Paris, therefore when Julia says bad pans are okay, she is a liar? I know I’m missing a beat here. Help me.

Randomly, I found that the ‘professional’ line of stainless steel pots and pans from Kirkland (the in-house brand at Costco) works extremely well – they have held up nicely under lots of use, they clean very easily, you can put it in the oven, under the broiler, so on and so forth. Copper bottoms, stainless steel tops. Not as expensive as the other brands, but definitely a good product. One thing – they do tend to come in a set, which can be good if you’re starting from scratch as they come with lids as well.

They were good enough that when my old roommate moved out, and took his set with him, I went to Costco and bought a set the same week!

@janbb Thats a good point that I didnt look at.

I have also found some reliable “cheaper” pots and pans at a restraunt supply store, like my super slick crepe teflon pan its a $15 dollar one from restraunt supply.

Thanks everybody.

All Clad. You can buy all sorts of cheap stuff, but you want heavy and thick-something that distributes heat evenly in the oven and minimizes hot spots on the burner.