I appreciate the work that went into this, but it might be overthinking it to the point of turning some people away.
If someone wants to get into cooking their own meals to save money, the advice I would give is: go to Goodwill, or a store like TJ Maxx or Ross, where they sell this stuff for almost nothing. Buy the heaviest skillet and saucepan they have. Then buy a colander, some spatulas, scrapers, and tongs, and an 8-10" chef's knife and, if they have one, a honing steel. When you want to make soup, buy a stock pot. Subscribe to some YouTube channels and recipe blogs, and if they make some dish that looks good, but you don't have the right equipment, buy what they use, or something like it. Don't buy everything on day one, and don't get the impression that you have to get the right model of equipment or cooking somehow won't work.
+1 on TJ Max, I have brought many cooking utensils from them. Another place was Costco, they had multi-clad Kirkland signature 13 piece cookware set. It has really great quality, I am using it for 7-8 years and they almost look as good as new.
Same with knife set. I had this Amazon basic knife set for long time with regular sharpening it seems to have lasted longer than I'd expect for a 40 dollar knife set.
I am cook everyday, eat out few times a year type of person. So cooking utensils and knives do get use heavily in house.
Non-stick pans are massively overrated. For starters most foods don't stick much - it's mostly eggs that are a problem - and only then if your pan isn't preheated.
For that small benefit, non-stick pans have become almost the default. They last a couple of years depending on care which means that your cookware is now a consumable as well was difficult to recycle. A decent stainless steel pan costs about twice what a decent non-stick does and lasts forever. It can also go in the dishwasher and works on every hob type. The best basic advice for the majority of people to make regarding cookware is: get stainless steel except for when frying eggs.
The advice in TFA is sort of similar but a lot longer. To be honest I think it could have omitted all the "$1000 budget" stuff - the people who want to buy copper/carbon steel aren't doing so based on a starter guide.
PTFE pans are definitely not overrated. Yes, they do eventually wear out, but more modern NS cookware is much more resistant to scratching than old school Teflon pans. If not abused -- no scraping with metal, dishwasher, scrubbing pad, etc -- I've gotten a decade+ out of even cheap NS stuff.
Stainless, and even coated stainless like Zwilling Clad sticks with many meals, unless you're using massive amount of oil or never stop moving it in the pan. Even a dollar store PTFE pan is better if you dislike using a scouring pad and effort to clean it.
My time is worth more than replacing a $30 PTFE pan every 10 years if I can pretty much wipe it clean with a damp cloth. Compared to seeing a burned-on mess that I know will require 10 minutes of scrubbing.
People always complain about stainless steel when they come to my house and that's what I usually give them as that is the one I'm least worried about them damaging.
I just don't think normies are interested in something which requires technique and understanding. Stainless steel requires some level of temperature control.
That’s really interesting, from a cultural perspective, in the UK and my circle at least, if I was entertaining guests I’d be horrified if they were to so much as raise a finger in the kitchen.
I’ll do the prep, cooking, cleaning, hosting, and everything else, thank you. If you want something, ask and it will be given, but to think of my guests _working_ when I’m hosting is far from my nature and far from how I’ve experienced being a guest.
I’d invite you to come and cook with me if I wanted you to cook with me, but if you arrive as a guest under no circumstances would I expect, nor want them to be doing anything in the kitchen or around the house, personally.
Maybe they’re expecting to be rejected (think of how in Chinese culture one is expected to politely reject a gift the first time) and then are surprised and angry when you literally take them up on their offer, and take it out on your cookware ?
How does stainless require more temperature control than something like non-stick or cast iron? If anything, stainless will cool on-par or faster, especially when compared to cast iron.
If people don't know how to cook to the point where they are burning food based on what type of pan they are using, then I would argue they don't know how to cook... very few everyday dishes need to start on a ripping hot pan.
I don't understand why the author dismisses carbon steel and cast iron pans. They're my favorite. They last forever and cook great. Go into any restaurant and you'll see mostly cheap, carbon steel pans.
Because they require a lot of maintenance for people who aren't even sure they enjoy cooking for 1 minute more than absolutely necessary. I understand that carbon steel is a lot less maintenance than cast iron, but it does require maintenance.
By comparison, you can soak a stainless steel pan in water for weeks with basically zero negative consequences.
Also, if you live in a culture that frequently cooks acidic dishes, then you're working against yourself by dissolving the seasoning constantly. I also understand that it's fine in moderation.
The author gives several reasons for their decision. I love my Lodge cast iron pan, but I also agree with the reasons that the author gives when choosing to not recommend them for "most" people.
One of their reasons was that they can't find any evidence regarding the long term effects of eating out of seasoned cast iron pans. That rubbed me the wrong way, because it seems to be trying to suggest that, until proven otherwise, the absence of evidence suggests that there may be a problem.
Well… yeah? We know that smoking oil is carcinogenic, and it forms this weird polymer layer when a pan is seasoned. Would not be surprised if further research shows that Teflon is actually safer.
Stainless steel pans are basically as durable as cast iron pans, while being lighter in weight and quicker to heat. I am finding it difficult to justify keeping my cast iron pan around.
Cast iron does wash differently from other things, but in my experience it's less work. Most of my cooking is on cast iron, and when I'm done I rinse it under the tap, rubbing a bit with a scrubber if food is stuck to it. I don't use salt. Then I put it back on the stove for a minute until it's dry. It takes me about 30s to clean a pot, less time than something I need to rinse-soap-rinse, and I end up with a clean pot on my stove ready for the next use.
Our stove almost always has a 10" dutch oven, 6" pan, and 10" pan sitting on it, ready to use.
The only reason people prefer cast iron is an affectation for "old school" things. There is no practical, objective reason to use them over stainless steel. Advocates seem to enjoy the new hobby of cookware maintenance. Similar to how to some Reddit guys are really into shaving with straight razors as a hobby, when it performs worse than a Mach 3.
I'm fully on the cast iron train but it definitely heats less evenly. Nothing 1-2 minutes pre-heating can't solve, though. That said, as you mentioned, it will hold temperature a lot better.
Ah, maybe I was confusing the two effects. Good explanation, thanks. I guess holding the temperature better makes it feel like it heats more evenly, but only after it's well preheated. It's definitely my goto for recipes where keeping a steady temperature despite introducing cold ingredients matters
I find cast iron extremely easy to care for - I basically just heat it up then scrub it under hot water. If you cook meat in stainless, it seems to take a hell of a lot more effort to clean off any residue.
When cast iron is brand new it can take a bit of work, but not a terrible amount - most of the "seasoning" happens just by using it. The two main downsides are things I actually like - the weight, and the lack of even heat distribution.
I have a well-seasoned Lodge cast iron pan, and a 5-ply All-Clad pan. Despite the fact that Lodge is in no way a high-end cookware brand, I can consistently get a perfect sear without sticking in it. The All-Clad is hit or miss.
Maybe I’m just not used to it and need to adjust something, but the cast iron at this point is dead easy to use.
If you are inexperienced enough with cooking that you don't already have your own preferences, this article is way overcomplicating things IMO. Buy a stainless steel frying pan, small pot, and a bigger pot. You might want a nonstick frying pan too, if you aren't sure then just wait a few weeks and see if the stainless steel one is annoying you. Then go from there. That's it.
Later you might want a steamer insert, but they are made so that they fit in any pot. You might also want a baking dish for roasting stuff. There is nothing to know about buying those, just get cheapest one in the size you want.
IKEA's stainless steel cookware is perfectly cromulent.
> You might also want a baking dish for roasting stuff. There is nothing to know about buying those, just get cheapest one in the size you want.
You just never have used the truly cheap stuff. Don’t get a coated baking sheet/pan unless the coating is something durable like enamel. But any respectable aluminum or steel-clad half sheet pan is just fine.
I think it's fairly safe to recommend a nonstick to beginner cooks, but with the caveat that you should only use it cook eggs and something like a grilled cheese sandwich (where any leaking cheese sticking would lead to further problems cooking). It should also only ever be used with a rubber spatula or plastic utensils.
For any other food, stainless steel is great for beginners. It's oven safe, easy to clean if/when you burn the crap out of something, and relatively cheap.
The other important recommendation I would make is cookware with tight fitting lids (or learn how to make one with foil). This excludes IKEA for the most part, whose pans I have in my apartment right now.
Once you decide that you want to "upgrade" something, I would recommend a nice Dutch oven with a heavy lid.
I disagree with your caveat, it's a little wasteful (because it might only last a couple of years) but if you only have a nonstick frying pan you will be just fine. In fact it's better than overthinking it so much that you end up ordering another 20 takeaway meals instead of just cooking in what you have.
Sure, if you literally only have a metal utensil, it's fine for a couple of uses, but there are other side effects as well. When you use metal and the the nonstick coating begins to scrape off, that means it's going into your food and you're likely eating it! It's not good for your health or your wallet. I think every discount store I've ever been to has a set of plastic spoons/spatulas for 1 €/$/£ so there isn't really an excuse not to use them long term.
I mean a lid that fits snug in the pan it’s designed for. Unless you’re cooking at insane temperatures, most steam will hit the lid and then condense and fall back into the food. The tight lid is to help prevent liquid from being lost during braising or boiling. If you only want to use the lid to reduce splatter, then a snug fit is not important.
I apologize for my inaccuracy when describing the “tightness” of the lid. Sometimes I get caught up in jargon that is common amongst veteran cooks.
I thought “rubber” included silicon as well. Yea, silicon is great for nonstick, although it can absorb aromas and oils from food easier than plastic (even food grade silicon).
Yeah I'm not making a point about cookware, I'm making a point about the length and detail of the article! You could replace my comment with any number of other reasonable recommendations.
I guess I'm a bit frustrated by the internet-hobbyisation that I see of cooking. People are talking about "when it's time to upgrade" your cookware as if cooking is a sport that you need to excel at and where your score can be limited by your pots and pans.
I've been cooking enthusiastically my entire adult life and I've never "upgraded" my cookware, nor my knives for that matter (also "a set of knives" are not necessary, unless perhaps if you are butchering meat you only need one knife).
I'm not saying people shouldn't enjoy nerding out over kit if it makes them happy (I do have a very expensive coffee grinder after all) but I object to Experts providing Advice that it's necessary or that there are any important decisions to be made here.
I think it's also a bit of a reaction to British class signalling where some people of my parents generation will loudly proclaim that you Absolutely Must Have at least one good Le Creuset pot. At least to tide you over until you get married and you can have a full set.
Why does this have "(2014)" in the title of the post? This article was written, or at least updated, in late 2022 or 2023: "data for 2022 and beyond are still being finalized, so this does not include inflation taking place in 2022 and beyond"
This is good as a survey, but can be easily simplified.
1) Get a duxtop induction portable burner. Around $100-$120.
2) Get a flat bottomed carbon steel wok ($40-$50)
3) Get a carbon steel 8" and 10" frying pan $20 & $30.
4) Get some good sauce pans (Like about $34 Cuisinart), and stock pot
No cast iron - it just takes too long to heat and to cool.
That is really all. Nothing fancy. Turn on the duxtop, it gets hot. To the same temp each time. Turn it off. There is no heat. If you use carbon steel the cooking stops almost immediately.
The need for expensive, fancy pans goes away because the heat is so consistent, reliable and fast. I have tried many ways to stir fry with both gas and electric and they just can't do it. Stir frying with an induction burner and carbon steel wok is a breeze and fun and just works.
As for non-stick. Want to cook eggs that don't stick? Heat the carbon steel until it just starts to smoke. Then add oil and let it smoke a little for 10 or 15 seconds. Done. Add the eggs, no stick.
If you have to cook for twenty people a single duxtop will not work, but then, just get a second one. In my experience that is all there is to it.
I was surprised how fast this article dismissed carbon steel. Carbon steel is my default pan. It’s lighter than cast iron and heats up faster. It’s also not really any heavier than stainless.
Plus most the time I just need to gently wipe them clean and then a light coat of oil before I hang them up.
Most my by pans are De Buyer carbon steel. I do have some stainless steel pots and pans for when I need them. A couple cast iron pieces mostly use my Dutch oven.
I don't understand why the author is so dismissive of cast iron cookware. I have a cast iron pan that I inherited that is at least 80 years old. It requires little to no care and works great with my induction stovetop. Let it heat for at least 5 minutes and you have a nice evenly heated surface. I also recently bought a small cast iron rectangle pan for cooking a Japanese omelet - works perfectly. The complaint about cast iron being heavy is valid, but my hands got used to it quickly.
Regarding woks, it's definitely possible to get some nice high temperatures even in the apartment where your only option is electricity. I have a carbon steel wok with a round bottom and I got myself an additional concave induction cooktop from a store that sells equipment to restaurants. I paid about $170 for it, normally it goes for about $300. It is rated 3.5KW and 220C. Frying food for about 10-20 seconds on the highest setting gives it a nice taste like you'd get in a restaurant.
It's Sunday night and I dont want to write a HN reply that has some ulterior business motive. I wanna share how I make eggs and maybe read a reply that gets me to improve.
1) Get some flakey oven biscuits-from-a-tube or thick sliced baguette and have them toasted, buttery, and ready on a plate for just before your eggs wrap up. After making it three times it becomes about obvious how to time these.
2) Get one of those infrared temperature thermometers you can aim down into your pots and pans. I get a pot just smaller than a pyrex bowl and boil water just beneath the bowl, a double boiler. Wait for the water to boil.
3) Toss some eggs (6 eggs is a nice breakfast for two with the biscuits) into the bowl. With a spatula, keep stirring the eggs while you monitor the temperature. Try to keep the temperature near the bottom of the glass around 70C, 160F or so. But keep the eggs constantly stirring. Literally dont put the spatula down once the eggs are in.
4) It can take like 10 minutes, but the eggs will start to thicken; if you're stirring them enough, they will be a homogenous, pleasant orange color. As they start to move beyond paint consistency, they will start to rapidly approach their end of cooking. When they just start to really thicken up, take the bowl out of the pot using a mitten. Bring the bowl to the plates with the biscuits, and put them on the plate.
There is no cheese, no butter required for the eggs. Some salt is nice. I've gotten a lot of compliments for these eggs; this recipe is one of the most common egg recipes out there and I dont know the name for it. My wife calls them 'Frenchy Eggs', I believe because of a technique origin I don't know. A rasher of bacon or ham is a lovely complement but it will not be the star compared to the eggs themselves.
You can spend the rest of the day washing that bowl with a scouring pad.
I looked into these choices in detail from a heavy metal contamination point of view recently.
* Cast iron: this site implies that cast iron may not be safe, but it is the safest option if you need a little iron in your diet- most people do and an iron panel will tell you if your iron levels are too high. Safer than cast iron may be wrought iron- it is less likely to have accidental contamination issues [1]. Darto sells wrought iron pans at a reasonable price [2].
* Stainless steel- also a great option and this site does mention concerns of nickel leaching out. Nickel is not as concerning as lead contamination, but it is a concern for cooking acidic food. This site refers to all low nickel stainless steel as low quality, but there's a potential health advantage here to having a no nickel or low nickel pan even if it doesn't hold up as well.
* Rivets and other issues. I just bought a Noni no nickel stainless steel pan. It's made from a single piece of stainless, including the handle. [3] Rivets in pans can be contaminated with lead.
More details from XRF testing of cookware are here [4]. I also saw some other Century Life articles. They recommend silicone utensils but most silicone is contaminated with low levels of cadmium [5]. Undecorated wood is a safer bet. Century Life also mentions Le Creusset and enameled products without a discussion of lead contaminated. [6]
This read like pan recommendations for people that never intend to learn to properly cook. In which case, there is no point. All pans will perform equally badly.
See the section on cast iron:
>I can’t really recommend cast iron and carbon steel for most people. Cast iron/carbon steel pans are heavy (heavier than any other cookware of comparable size and thus an automatic “no” for anyone with weak wrists/arthritis/etc.), require seasoning and sometimes re-seasoning by burning oil onto its surface (seasoning can wear off, and for those of you trying to escape Teflon nonstick, I’ve found no scientific studies about the long-term health effects of eating tiny particles of seasoning), require care to avoid rust (will all members of your household treat it right, including kids who might decide to soak the pan in water?), unevenly heat up and thus require more babysitting on the stove (constant stirring), can’t be used with acidic foods or the iron leaches and give off-tastes/colors (unless you get enameled cast iron pans but those cost a lot of money and still have the other disadvantages of cast iron, plus enamel is brittle and can chip), typically have horrible handle comfort that also get hot during cooking much faster than stainless handles would, can take longer to clean since you can’t just use abrasives or scour like you could with stainless steel, and takes a long time to heat up and cool down (which can hurt unaware pets/kids and also means higher energy bills). Cast iron is fine for low-heat stovetop cooking or oven use, but it’s not all-purpose the way other pans can be. You don’t even need a cast iron pan for searing: it’s a myth that only cast iron/carbon steel hold enough heat to sear meat without collapsing in temperature. Sure, thin aluminum nonstick pans crash hard in temperature. But thicker aluminum and copper pans can match or even beat cast iron, and the aluminum/copper-based pans also spread heat much more evenly. That’s not to say that you can’t cook with cast iron on the stovetop, but if the objective is to make cooking easier so that you’re more likely to eat healthy home cooking, then most people would be better off with something lower-maintenance and easier to use
It's tough to put into words how wrong this is. I'll agree on comfort, but I'll follow it up by saying it matters little. If you can't maintain cast iron because it's too complicated, you probably aren't an accomplished enough cook to be hand tossing things in the pan. Use both hands to move it, and a wooden spoon to stir with.
The list goes on: requires seasoning (yes, put it upside down in a hot oven for an hour with a thin layer of oil - simpler than cooking even the most basic of recipes), re-seasoning (with non-stick this is the point where you'd throw the pan out), there have been scientific studies that show health benefits, they heat unevenly and slowly, so just add 1-2 minutes preheating,
The great thing about cast iron for new cooks is that you cannot ruin them. Throw cold water in. Leave it to soak in the sink. Try your best to scratch it with a metal spatula. Leave tomatoe sauce in it overnight. In a year when your non-stick teflon pan is sticking, and your stainless steel tri-ply is coming apart, and your alumimun pan warped, get out the scrubber, scrub the rust off your cast iron, put a thin coat of vegetable oil on it, flip it over and bake it in the oven for an hour. Good as new.
In my experience, most people don't want good cookware -- the new generation doesn't even seem to own any sort of cookware at all, they live on take-away.
A large anodized aluminium sauté pan is probably the best for normies, preferably on induction, while foodies will want carbon steel and an overpowered gas stove.
The true aficionados will also have silver-plated hand-hammered copper to do their Michelin star sauces.
"True" foodies are largely being converted to induction, albeit they sometimes drastically overpay for it [0]. The control is better than gas on all but the cheapest of models, and indoor air quality is dramatically better. Nobody wants to pay to heat outside in the winter, but if you don't crack a window or turn on the venthood, you're sucking in tons of CO2.
Induction is very convenient, and is better for some stuff, but overall isn't as good as it doesn't heat the pan as evenly -- how much of a problem that is depends on the pan -- or allow you to move the pan as much.
In particular if you want to cook with a wok, gas is much better.
Sure, it is a good product, but for most cooks, I would argue it’s absolute overkill. Even skilled chefs likely don’t need that much control for “creative” cooking, though I can easily accept an argument for consistency in a commercial/professional kitchen.
I don't see it as being about more control. I see it as being about easier and more consistent control.
If I want to saute some onions, I can set it to 300F and focus on the onions. With a stove that controls power instead of temperature, I need to pay attention to how done the onions are as well as how hot the pan seems to be so I can adjust it. With a slowly-responding stove like an electric radiant stove, this is unpleasant.
This is an especially big deal when using a nonstick pan. A temperature-controlled stove is pretty good at automatically avoiding overheating it.
If someone wants to get into cooking their own meals to save money, the advice I would give is: go to Goodwill, or a store like TJ Maxx or Ross, where they sell this stuff for almost nothing. Buy the heaviest skillet and saucepan they have. Then buy a colander, some spatulas, scrapers, and tongs, and an 8-10" chef's knife and, if they have one, a honing steel. When you want to make soup, buy a stock pot. Subscribe to some YouTube channels and recipe blogs, and if they make some dish that looks good, but you don't have the right equipment, buy what they use, or something like it. Don't buy everything on day one, and don't get the impression that you have to get the right model of equipment or cooking somehow won't work.