The Search for Cookware  

Good cooks have special relationships with their cookware. This may sound silly at first, but you really need to be as comfortable with your cookware as you are with your favorite bathrobe, or your spouse.

It needs to be near and dear to your heart and just as dependable. Take a good look at your pots and pans. Have you got an awful mish-mash of stuff under your cupboards: a warped non-stick type fry pan that needs to be replaced every year, something an old roommate left behind when you parted, and maybe another pan that you borrowed from mom and never returned?

Okay, so you admit that it's time for an upgrade. Relax. The hard part is over. The rocket science has already been done by the manufacturers and the folks in test kitchens. 

Take a look at products from various manufacturers. Visit a major department store near you and stop by the kitchen and housewares area; or go to a kitchen specialty store such as Williams-Sonoma. A good piece of cookware has to heat evenly (it should have three layers of stainless steel, aluminum or copper-fused together), be usable on the cooktop as well as the oven, have a handle that is always cool-to-the-touch and have a tight-fitting lid. 

Look at the pans. Feel them. Decide which ones are comfortable to hold, and to carry. Note the prices and your impressions. Manufacturers that you'll want to consider include All-Clad, Cuisinart and Calphalon. Take a look at LeCreuset, too. It's a line that's more of a niche, but down the road, you'll want one of their casseroles, frequently called a "French" or "Dutch Oven."

Keep an eye open for sales. Watch the "bricks and mortar" stores, as well as on-line retailers. Manufacturers frequently have 8" fry pans, one quart sauciers and two quart sauté pans on sale. Buy a piece from each and try them out for several months. 

Get to know them. There's no hurry or pressure to buy an entire set now. If you can, buy two fry pans: one with a nonstick interior and one steel. Watch for things like how quickly they heat, how they clean, and, in general, how they look and feel. Before long, you'll develop a preference.

Once you decide what's right for you, you might want to buy a set, or just keep buying individual pieces over time as your need for cookware grows. They make great presents too. You'll always have something to ask for when your birthday draws near.

This does call for some investment up-front. Chef's Catalog is currently selling the Cuisinart 8" stick-free fry pan for $39.99 and an All-Clad Master-Chef² one quart saucier pan for $34.99.) However, a quality pan you buy today can really last a lifetime if it's taken care of correctly. It won't wear out.

Sure it might get a little worn looking after a lot of years, but it will still perform like a champ. And, the odds are good that it'll be on your stove for as long as - well, shall we say, longer than you'll ever need. That's even more than you can say about your favorite bathrobe.

So, go ahead. Do it! Develop that lifelong relationship. You'll never regret tossing out that cheap, old, warped non-stick pan... which always stuck anyway.