Question for the Cooks on a cookware issue

[Matt Meiser]

We bought several Calphalon One non-stick pots and pans a few+ years ago. Last year our 8 qt stock pot had the non-stick coating start coming off and it appeared that the aluminum underneath was bubbling up from corrosion, even in places where the coating was intact. Calphalon replaced it but the non-stick Calphalon One was discontinued so they sent us a hard anodized version. In less than a year, the anodizing is pretty much gone on the bottom and starting to come off the sizes. The bottom is rough and that causes stuff to stick and burn. We don't have any problems with the other pots. other than some scratches here and there.

Mostly we use this pot for stuff like chili, large batches of spaghetti sauce, and boiling noodles. Sounds like the chili and spaghetti sauce are the culprits in this failure according to Calphalon. They "shouldn't" have cause the first failure on the non-stick. And I also make smaller single-meal batches of spaghetti sauce in one of our smaller pots without trouble. They don't say you shouldn't use the anodized pans for that and they are going to cover it under warranty. They don't make Calphalon One anymore so they gave me three choices for replacement.

First is another hard anodized pot from the commercial series but it is 2qt smaller. The smaller size would be a problem and she agreed we'd probably have the same problem given our use.
Second is an 8qt non-stick from their Unison line with the "latest technology."
Third is an 8qt from their Tri-Ply Stainless line.

Any recommendations?

[Conrad Fiore]

Matt,
If you are making large pots of acid base sauces and just boiling water, I'd go with the SS. I don't see any advantage of a trick non-stick finish for your use. If you get a little sticking on the bottom of the pot, clean it the old fashioned way with a bit of elbow grease, you won't ever rub off the SS. I have taken stock pots of SS that have been burned black on the inside and brought them back to new looking. Just boiled water in them for an hour and then went to work with a light scrubbing to clean them out. The Tri-Ply should give you the advantage of SS with the added heat conduction of the aluminum.

[Steve DiMasi]

I have a whole set of the Tri-Ply and I love them. They conduct heat so well, when I boil water it bubbles from the sides of the pot, not just the bottom. I got them the day I switched to gas, so your milage may vary for electric but I doubt it.

I only have one non-stick pan for eggs and it gets babied. As tough as hard-anodizing is, it is still pretty much a coating and will eventually wear. I've had the SS set for almost 4 years and they still look brand new, but the hard-anodized pan of the same age shows wear. Not peeling, but it's no longer slippery and its shiny cooking surface is now dull.

One warning about the Tri_Ply: they recommend against using non-stick spray oil such as Pam. It won't hurt the performance, but it can stain the SS. I just rub a little oil on the pan before I cook something with the potential to stick.

[Matt Meiser]

We've got gas and don't use sprays so we should be in good shape. Just need to box it up and send it off. Which is dumb, because the address I have to send it to is physical address 10 miles from my house. I could run and drop it off quicker than boxing it, printing a label, etc. But they don't allow drop offs.

[Eric DeSilva]

Another vote for SS. For stock pots/sauce pans, I switched from Calphalon's hard anodized to SS years ago, and like the SS better. At the same time, the only "non-stick" anything I've got is the insert for my slow cooker. I was told that nonstick coatings tend to off gas nasty stuff at higher temperatures, and find that well-seasoned cast iron works as well, or better, than any nonstick surfaces I've come across.

[Jim Koepke]

I could run and drop it off quicker than boxing it, printing a label, etc. But they don't allow drop offs.

Dress up like a package delivery person and don't forget the clipboard for the signature.

None of my cast Iron pans has lost their coating.

One of my enameled pots is almost 40 years old and the bottom is kind of wearing through. My understanding is it is still covered by warrantee.

jtk

[David G Baker]

We went back to cast iron for many of our pots and pans. We do have a few non stick coated pans but they never go into the dishwasher and we always use Pam prior to cooking with it. We also have a few favorite SS pans that have the thick aluminum bottoms on them. We have gone through three sets of different brands of the non stick pans and every set lost a lot of its coating after a few years.

[dave toney]

All I will use is stainless steel or cast iron.
Cast iron is non stick when well seasoned and is a great frying pan.
Good stainless steel pots and pans for boiling and simmering.
I have some cast iron pans that must be 60 plus years old.
I tend to believe that aluminum is not something healthy to ingest, along with most chemical coatings, but that is just my opinion.

[Rod Sheridan]

Matt, I'm with Dave Toney on this, we only have sandwich construction SS/copper pots and pans or a few cast iron pans.

We paid a fortune for the SS pans 30 years ago, and they look and work as well as they did when new. Kind of like buying good tools, do it once, it's less expensive that way......Rod.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, luckily we don't have to invest anymore in this (other than the cost of mailing it 10 miles) but I don't want to keep having them replace it every few years either.

Except for eggs, my favorite frying pan is the cast iron one. Its probably even seasoned enough for eggs now--haven't tried in a while.

[Mike Henderson]

To clean a burned on SS pan, put a small amount of water into the pan, enough to cover the burned area. Then add powdered dishwasher soap and let it simmer for a while. It'll take the burn off pretty well.

If that doesn't get all of it, take a bit of sandpaper and sand the burned area. It always cleans up with that.

Mike

[David Weaver]

US made cast iron, All Clad and for stuff that goes in the oven only, glassware.

We used to get pans with coatings, etc, but I've never been that excited about how they work. We've also gotten some calphalon stuff, also not excited about it, and I gather they're phasing out good quality stuff with import junk as time goes on.

it doesn't take long to learn to work with all clad (it's expensive, though, but it's so evenly heated and so hard to screw up what you're cooking that I don't care, and it's a local brand here where few parts are foreign - lids last time I looked) and seasoned cast (even better, because it's cheap).

For a long time I avoided buying all clad because of the price, and got some of the clad bottom only (thin walled, etc). It is not comparable in the results you get cooking - most notably in how much less you burn food that has cladding all the way around, sides and bottom instead of just bottom. I buy all of my all-clad piece by piece on ebay, though, you can usually find it about half price there. Figure their retail price is for places like williams and sonoma, and I try to avoid pretentious retailers.

[Eric Franklin]

I've started switching to the All-Clad d5 series which is exclusive to Williams Sonoma. They are expensive but I buy a piece that I want when they are on-sale. The best way I have found to clean SS pans is to use the powder form of Bar Keepers Friend.

[Marty Paulus]

I have a couple of non stick pans. One is a 10" that I baby for doing egss and such. The others are used by the kid for cooking so you can guess how they look. The rest are SS. My wife makes spaghetti sauce a couple of times a year and I make beer so we invested in a 60qt SS pot. It has a laminated or layered bottom and conducts the heat very well and does not burn her sauce like the old cheap (thin bottom) pot we used to use. As for cleaning I use Barkeepers friend. I have the liquid right now but have used the powder as well. The pots and pans look as good as the day they were taken out of the package. My cast iron doesn't get used as much as I want but that is because the wife isn't used to cooking with it.

Bottom line is I would go for the SS version. If you watch any of the cooking shows they rarely use non stick. In fact the only time I can think of the chefs using non stick is to make fried eggs and then they actually recommend an inexpensive teflon coated aluminum pan.

[Lee Schierer]

Try Farberware aluminum clad stainless pots. Ours are 40+ years old and still going strong.