My dear Mama, who I have always believed was the best cook in the world ever, swore by her Club Aluminum Cookware! My Grandmother loved her pressure cooker. And then there was my mother-in-law loved her Iron Skillets and a beautiful old French Enameled, Cast Iron Dutch Oven that was a light Turquoise with a little design around the bottom. Her other favorite was a Speckled (Graniteware) Navy Blue Oval Roaster that always showed up in her oven for Sunday Dinners. There were so many dents and dings in that old pot but the food was always so moist and flavorful!
When I first got married we bought one of those sets of “Waterless” Stainless Steel cookware. You remember, the kind you purchased at a Home Demonstration Party?? They were good but not my favorite. Ended up giving they away.
Then came a set of those new Teflon pots that were touted as being non-stick and they were indeed until the Teflon started to flake off into your food!! Not good at all.
I received a great Presto Pressure Cooker that I loved and used all the time after I finally learned how to use it and not blow it up!! I had this one for 49 years and just sold it at a garage sale!!
Next came probably the most expensive cookware I have ever purchased…..well, almost! It was a set of All-Clad Triple Ply Stainless Cookware. Wonderful pots, but I found something I loved even more and so much more affordable……
Here are pictures and a list of my current favorites!!
Curtis Stone Cookware…I must admit that I had a huge collection of All-Clad cookware. They were very pricey so I would have save up and buy one at a time when they went on sale. They are wonderful pots, they cook great, but I had to have the fanciest ones with the black coating on the outside and so they could never be put in the dishwasher……(not that I do that anyway) and required careful handling to not get scuffed.
One night at 3 a.m. I got a Tornado alert on my television. I went to take cover in an inside bathroom with no windows, got under a pile of quilts and pillows and waited in the bathtub until I got the “all clear”. With my heart still racing a half hour later, I just couldn’t go back to sleep so I started flipping through the channels and came across a demo of these pots with the man himself!! Home Shopping Network at 4 a.m., Really Chiqui??? In a weak moment after being so impressed, I ordered a 14 piece set and called it a night! Woke up the next morning and asked myself, “What have you done?? The last thing you need is another set of pots!” So I calmed myself done by rationalizing that I could always send them back if I didn’t like them in person……right??
Can I tell you that I am in love with these pots? Great to cook in, food never sticks, great variety of sizes and that tall pot with the handle is indispensable!! Perfect for brewing iced tea, cooking grits, and especially great for making Pralines and Almond Butter Crunch Toffee!! I also LOVE the see-thru lids with the tiny steam release vent! Great for cooking rice or a recipe that says not to raise the lid! Best part you can pretty much use any utensil in them but I always avoid metal whenever possible. I do take care of my cookware!!
Goes without saying, I gave my whole set of All-Clad to my daughter and son-in-law and have never looked back!! I talked so much about these pots one night while teaching a fancy cooking class that before I could finish singing their praises, one of my students ordered them right there on his phone!!
Now the ones in the picture with the Dura-Pan sticker are brand new ones I got for my son and his wife as a Housewarming gift and obviously have not been used yet; you do need to remove the stickers first! The others have been used all the time! By the way, they do come in a stainless steel version instead of a color! Continue reading