Cooking For Engineers

SuperGood · Joined: 03 Dec 2008 Posts: 1

I never thought I would be this interested in reading about cookware before I found this site,you guys/girls have a passion for food and the proper vessels to cook them in.I'm starting to cook a lot more lately and am getting rid of my scared teflon set and starting over.I just drafted my #1 pick out of texas via ebay A 12'' cast iron pan and because of all the info here it's almost nonstick after only a few meals.I've been looking at Tromontina,specifically the 3 quart TriPly-Clad Stainless Steel Saucepan.I found this one for $40 http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5716482&findingMethod=rr and this one for $99 http://www.realpricesavings.com/tramontina-3-qt-tri-ply-clad-sauce-pans-with-lid.html and this sterling II for $65 http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=141913&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thefind.com%2Fkitchen%2Finfo-tramontina-stainless-steel-sauce-pan,is there any real advantage/need to buy the more expensive tools in this case.I'm also open to suggestions on brands of equal or better quality for around the same price but am liking the $40 pan.Thanks.

cbread · Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Posts: 7

I can't give an experience based answer on your possible choices in particular, but in general, your needs depend upon what sorts of food you make, how fussy you are (and how fussy you will be after you learn more about cooking), what sort of stove you use - gas, electric, induction, radiant..., how hard you beat your equipment, what place kitchen aesthetics play in your scheme of things...

I bought several piece of cookware a few years ago, and would have bought dufferent had I known what I want now. I bought a couple of Tramontina pieces with the heavy alumnum disc on the bottom. I believe your selections are better than the ones I bought.

On mine, the disc diffuses heat properly on the bottom, but at the outside corners of the pan, there is what others have called a "ring of fire". Anything that burns easily, burns at the perimeter of the bottom of those pans. The center is fine. I cook on gas and I suspect the hot gasses rise up and wrap around the corners of the pan and overheat the unprotected stainless beyond the disc. I'm annoyed with the limitation that puts on how I cook, so I'm getting ready to upgrade my cookware. If I cooked with electric or induction, that might be less an issue than it is for me now.

If I understand the sites you link to, your chosen pieces look like they have an aluminum cladding all the way up the sides. That tends to be desirable since heat will even out and surround the food and not do what my pans have done. You may want to do more checking around the net to confirm your choices.

C

GaryProtein · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 535

Cooking on most gas stoves gives that "ring of fire" because the gas burner design is faulty almost throughout the industry. Real commercial restaurant stoves (NOT famous name "made for home" knock-offs) have better designed burners. The only "home" gas stoves that don't have that problem are the Thermadors because their burners are "5-pointed star shaped", rather than being the crummy round ring present on other manufacturers $5000 "premium" cooktops. The star shape delivers heat so the entire vessel gets heated evenly. Look up their stoves on their website, you'll see what I mean.

http://www.thermador.com/kitchen-appliances-cooking_cooktops_gas_professional.html

Some of the restaurant stoves, have "8-pointed star" shaped burners, or other shapes that deliver heat evenly to the pan. A round ring CAN'T apply heat to a pot or pan evenly. The star shaped ones do.

cbread · Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Posts: 7

Dilbert · Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: central PA

>>>ring of fire

interesting 'glitch' given the star design....

thermodynamics sez heat (energy) 'flows' through materials. some materials prompt heat flow more better than others - the 'heat conductivity' thing.

so there's this here pot with a marvelously conductive "disk" in the bottom. regardless of _where_ the heat is applied, the heat is evenly distributed throughout the 'disk'

so when the situation is reached where there's more heat going into the perfect distribution disk than going out of the perfect distribution disk, where does the heat energy go?

is it a boundary effect" aka ring of fire? the disk is as hot and as distributed as it is going to get, the excess heat that cannot transfer through the bottom to the pot contents has to transfer from the disk to the pot side walls - it's the only path of escape . . . since the pot side walls don't conduct / distribute heat as fast as it is arriving at the high(er) resistance junction, walla - hot spot, or ring.....

GaryProtein · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 535

Dilbert · Joined: 19 Oct 2007 Posts: 1307 Location: central PA

>> function of the burning flame and burner design.

perhaps not. an underlying assumption of my prior diatribe was:
"more heat going in than going out to the contents"

an electric burner may not have the btu/hr to produce that effect,,,,?

just theorizing here - open to any ideas. I've got some copper pots on a knock off natural gas circular burner cooktop - and you really have to make a concentrated effort to burn stuff. well, I amend that - in ten+ years using copper pots and gas burners I've not managed to burn, uhhh, anything.... rings or not.... so I'm not sure how much effort it would take.

cbread · Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Posts: 7

I believe it is a combination of two things: 1. a certain amount of hot gas and heat rising up and flowing around the pot thus 2. contacting the "unprotected" area just past the disc. Absent either the gas flow or the unprotected ring surrounding the disc, the problem should be nil.

An electric or induction should be better with a disc than gas.

cbread · Joined: 05 Jan 2009 Posts: 7

The best discussion of materials for cookware

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=25717&hl=cookware

enjoy

chefjeff · Joined: 09 Jan 2009 Posts: 5

Personally I get the cheap stainless pans w/clad bottom at Costco and I like them. Also, after 50 years of cooking, I have to say, I prefer electrc stovetops and a genuine Chinese propane wok cooker. I have to use it outside, it's got an enormous amount of BTU's and sounds like a jet engine. Very nice!! chefjeff

Blue Pilgrim · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Posts: 25 Location: Ilinois

Some pots I have don't heat very evenly -- then I use a piece of aluminum about 6"x"6" and 1/16" thick (scrap I had lying around) between the burner grate and pot, which seems to work well enough (although I'd prefer it a bit thicker, or of copper). It spreads not just the heat, but also the flame when it's turned up high. Just don't leave an aluminum sheet on the flame without a pot for too long or it could melt.