Destination was Tahquamenon Falls, but also hit up Kitch-iti-kipi and the Cut River Bridge was on the way. Add my pictures of the falls to the pile from this vantage point.
Look around and inspect the well regarded cookware brands like All Clad, Demeyere, Hestan, Ruffoni, Mauviel, Le Creuset etc and note the features they generally have in common. You'll notice a pattern.
It's mostly cladded stainless steel. That's stainless steel outer layers with different more conductive metals sandwiched between, usually aluminum, sometimes copper or other materials. There are variations in number of layers and thicknesses of said layers but they're not terribly important to this discussion. The major take away is this: at least three layers of metal running throughout the pan, not just as a disc on the bottom.
They aren't not non-stick and they generally don't have any gimmicky patterned or textured bullshit. Some high end brands will have products with certain qualities that stand out (e.g. Hestan Titanium). The merits of which could be debated separately. But they aren't important to consider. Most of what you'll see will be normal stainless, normal aluminum.
They have metal lids. Glass lids are good for looking at your food, but they're worse for cleaning, storage, movement, and weight.
The handles are riveted on and often have some kind of design feature that helps limit the transfer of heat from the body of the pan into the handle. Usually in the form of connecting to the pan in a Y type shape. There's one noteworthy very high end brand that welds their handles but it's the exception, not the rule. Generally speaking rivets are more reliable albeit slightly more difficult to clean. The shapes of the handles will vary greatly and is often a deciding factor for certain people.
The price differential among the boutique brands at a bougie store will often come down to name, country of origin, materials (copper$$$), design flourishes (Ruffoni and their ornate decoration, sealed edges making the pans dishwasher safe), and thickness of the conductive material. There's a point of diminishing returns and a lot of products exist just to sate those customers who need to have that last 2% more efficient heat transfer or retention and are willing to pay beaucoup bucks to get it.
None of that really matters when you're shopping on a budget. If it's fully clad, it's probably BIFL. And Cuisinart, Tremontina, Viking, Henckels, KitchenAid, Farberware, etc. all make shit that falls into this category. And it's A LOT more common to find while thrifting... for example. See attached pictures.
These Cuisinart pans were between $5-10. There's a 3.5qt saute pan, an 8" fry pan, a 2qt sauce pan, and a 3qt sauce pan. These pans probably weren't cheap when they were new, at least not by the working class standard I had when growing up. Probably between $60-100 to buy separately, or a few hundred as a set. But way better than most of what you'd find on the shelf at Walmart. But say the 8" pan was $60. The AllClad pictured would retail for $230. The AllClad pan is not $170 better than the Cuisinart. Frankly, it's not $50 better. If all I had was the Cuisinart, I wouldn't want for something better.
Cast iron is different. Cast iron you should just buy a lodge and cook with it. Same with carbon steel.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
This is advice if you're like I was and don't even know what constitutes good cookware. Go to a fancy kitchen store and look around. Inspect the usual suspects of well regarded brands like AllClad, Le Creuset, DeBuyer etc. Take note of the qualities that they have in common. Thickness, construction, materials. You'll see a lot of fully cladded stainless steel (aluminum, copper sandwiched between layers of stainless steel). A lot of riveted lids and handles, mostly metal lids. Reasonably thick and shared design elements (handles connected in a Y shape to mitigate heat transfer).
Leave and take what you've learned and go thrifting.
Your pans don't need to made in the USA, they don't need to be new, they don't need to be made by a fancy brand. Cuisinart, Tremontina, etc. all make nicer products that end up being donated and sold for pennies on the dollar compared to what they cost new, and especially compared to boutique brands. They're a lot easier to find and absolutely worth a place in your kitchen.
I just found a bunch of 5 ply made in China Cuisinart pots and pans between $5 and $10 that all share very similar features to my AllClad and Misen stuff. If I didn't have money these would absolutely be worth a spot in my kitchen. Instead they'll go to my niece who just moved into her first apartment.
I want it to make Detroit style pan pizza but god damn look at the size of this thing.
It was by the cookware but it has the finish of something that could have been used for industrial purposes. Would you think it's worth cleaning up and trying to use as a Detroit pizza pan?
What a fun and hilarious movie. My partner and I were laughing our asses off throughout. It was especially great having just watched The Fog, another movie where Tom Atkins sleeps with the hot, MUCH younger leading lady, despite looking like how an ash tray smells.
We especially liked the character of Tom Atkins's wife, who argues and berates him in every scene where she's featured. Which is mostly through a disembodied voice yelling at him over the phone.
My partner was watching the Halloween movies on her own, having never seen them. She asked if I wanted to join her. I said no, but tell me when you're about to watch 3.
Copper is second only to silver for conductivity. It's frequently used in the highest-end cookware (with a tin or stainless steel lining) to provide the most controlled and even heating possible. It's expensive and higher maintenance than most people are used to dealing with. There are copper smiths like Duparquet who sell purpose-made copper diffusers for the same purpose, sold at much higher prices. This is the same thing.
I use well regarded stainless steel clad cookware for most of my every day cooking. Even a pan designed for even heat distribution will have the temp drastically fall off a cliff once you get 8+ inches away from the center of the pan. Cast iron or carbon steel? Forget about it. It'll get ripping hot directly above the flame and most of the real estate is wasted. This is the curse of a shitty stove I can't do anything about.
The ideal solution would be to get a different stove, get something like the Iwatani portable stove or the Brevelle Control Freak. Unfortunately the first is straight up impossible and the second two are expensive or take up too much counter space.
You probably have a metal supplier near you. There's one in Michigan called Alro who I was able to call up and ask for an 8" x 8" 1/4" sheet of copper. They only had 3/8" on hand but I could have waited for the thinner sheet if I wanted. I went and picked it up about 15 minutes after the call and it cost about $50 for 5lbs of copper. I had such a good experience I'm going to get them to cut me a pizza steel sometime in the future.
Lastly: I don't know if this needs to be said, but you don't cook on it. You place it on your burner and place your pan on top of it. The copper evenly distributes the heat across the entire surface of the plate.
Disadvantage: a sheet *this* thick probably isn't ideal if you're cooking something that requires tight control. Even though copper is *excellent* at quickly heating and cooling, this much mass is going to hold onto heat far longer than you're used to. So if you're boiling over or burning and need to quickly turn down the heat, your best bet is to switch to a different burner.
You may have heard of defusers before. The junk they sell on Amazon sucks, and to get a real "purpose made" copper plate like this costs beaucoup bucks. Duparquet sells one that's $120 for 8x8x1/8" this is 8x8x3/8".
I have this annoying issue where even with excellent cladded cookware, the hobs on my shitty apartment stove are way too small to evenly heat the bottoms of my larger saute and frying pans. With a 5qt All-Clad Copper Core saute pan the outer 3 inches of the pan have a huge drop-off in heat that makes it less than ideal for the large batches of food it was intended for. This has effectively solved that problem. It's also excellent for keeping things at an ultra-low consistent simmer.
Bonus use, it's great to help defrost things quickly and gently.
It cost $50 from a local metal supplier. I'm planning to get a pizza steel from them soon.
I plan to pass it on once I digitize the reels that I have of my dad. In the meantime I know nothing about its value or its function. Did I score here? Is there something I should inspect or fix before even attempting to turn it on and see if it works?
My dad had a reel to reel recorder and I have a bunch of tapes in storage that I'd like to hear since he passed away. No idea what I'm doing but I hope I scored!
To say nothing of supporting a local tradesman, if money really is the biggest factor. I see a lot of discussion about how expensive end grain cutting boards are to make in just materials alone. I'm wondering what the compromises on store-bought cutting boards are. I understand labor exploitation is the biggest trade off made in the purchase of any mass produced product.
Before this, I was doing surgery on my peppers that would result in uneven results, wasted time, and wasted pepper. Between this and Kenji Lopez-Alt's onion dicing method, it's like I've seen the light and really want to make an effort on how to actually use a knife.
Cut off the top, cut off the bottom. Cut the membrane and remove the core and seeds. Slice down one side. Cut out the remaining membrane.
You now have a long strip of pepper that's extremely easy to chop to any level of fineness.
This isn't the only way to chop a pepper. Some people will have opinions about other ways they think are better. This is the way that I have found the easiest, fastest, cleanest, and produces the least amount of waste.
Actually, scratch that. This is the only way you're allowed to cut a pepper from now on.
Ignore this basic how-to if you already know or are set in your ways. You don't need to reply saying you already knew.
A salt box. Kosher salt and table salt. These are the two single most called-for ingredients in any recipe and having a box that has both is a huge boon to my productivity in the kitchen. Not having to futz with jars or other bullshit to get the #1 most used thing is ayyyyyy.
Grill scraper. This things is maybe the MVP of all MVPs. You need to peel garlic? Smash them with this. You need to scrape your cutting board. It gotchu. I use this constantly,.
3;. Multiple sets of measuring spoons and cups. I have a spoon already in my most frequently used products (sugar, metamucil). These are hanging off a rack I have in my kitchen. I never have to think about or worry about where my measuring spoons are.
Simple tongs. Not sophisticated mechanically. I use these as chopsticks sometimes. Easy to store. Easy to clean.
A high quality knife. This is a Wusthof classic 6" but a cheaper Victorninox wouldn't really be any worse.
Milk frother. This was $10 at WalMart. Need to wisk some eggs? Need to do ant kind of mixing on a really small scale? Get a cheap milk frother.
Metal chopsticks. I'm never not using them.
A good cutting board. Saves your knives.
Took it home. And it's a monster!