Kitchn Cure: Special Weekend Assignment for Over-Achievers

Boy, y'all are a tough crowd! Complaining to me that you've jumped ahead in the Kitchn Cure assignments.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, fine. If you are indeed one of the enterprising folks who thought this week's assignments were a yawn, well, how about first patting yourselves on the back for being so on top of things? You got ahead and did the natural thing and cooked with food you were cleaning out. If you, indeed, already have cooked up something with what remained of your kitchens, post-Week-Two, then just consider Week Three a little rest before you start really ramping things up.

And watch what you tell the teacher... you're apt to get heftier assignments then you bargained for.

OK, Over-Achievers. While the rest of us catch up to you, you have two choices.

The first is to ensure that you have the two items we Kitchners feel are the two, bare-minimum, essential items of a well-stocked kitchen:

• A good-quality chef's knife
• A good-quality sauté pan

Before you get huffy about the expense, consider these resources.

Chef's Knives:

• a really quick search of eBay revealed these Henckles chef's knives. Try a search yourself.

• Two things to say about what "a good-quality sauté pan" can be anything from a $29 Lodge Cast-iron skillet to a nice All-Clad fry-pan. But please, don't skimp on materials. No plastic handles (if you're just relying on one pan, it needs to be stove top and over safe, and please, no aluminum or Teflon. There are great deals on All-Clad seconds at Cookware & More. That's where we get all our All-Clad. A 12" skillet from their MC2 line, normally retailing $115.00 goes for $78.20. Aside from making soups, rice and boiling water for pasta, this pan will do it all.

• The No-Buy Solution: knock on doors, call your friends and family: does anyone have a good knife and a good pan? Can you borrow it for the next six weeks?

• Make sure that knife - bought, borrowed, or begged - is sharp. It's easy to do yourself, if you have a stone and a steel, my preferred method of sharpening. Flickr page.

Good job, people.

All The Info
• Week Three! Use What Your Mama Gave You!
• Week Two! Going Deeper - Goodbye Processed Foods!
• Week One! Getting Started and De-Cluttering Your Food
• All Kitchn Spring Cure 2008 Posts
• The Kitchn Cure Flickr Page

Comments (13)

You totally read my mind. One thing I severely lack are both a good saute pan and a chef's knife. (in part because I've been reading Anthony Bourdain's book and he talks about how all you really need is a good chef's knife) I've been debating what to get and I think I'm going to go with a Global chef's knife - anyone have one?

Also, I just got an email the other day from Williams-Sonoma about a frittata pan that they are selling and I was wondering whether that might be a good investment (see it here). It's calphalon and would essentially be two pans for the price of one (and a fritatta pan)

Am I silly for considering it?

Mango, it's highly unlikely that you would need 2 8-inch pans, and in my experience, better to have 1 8-in and 1 10-in.

And the Calphalon pans (individual) are really easy to find at TJ Maxx, if you live near one.

For my budget and mentality, Williams-Sonoma/Sur La Table are the last places I'd buy anything, since most things can usually be found at TJ Maxx, Marshalls, or Amazon for far less.

I also see that it has a nonstick coating. Not sure what Calphalon is using these days (is it Teflon), but that may affect how ovenproof it is, and certainly will inhibit making pan sauces with the non-existent sticky bits.

Hrm good thoughts, thanks renata. I also just re-read Alton Brown's piece on pots/pans (in the back of his I'm just here for the food book) and he has a 12-inch lodge that he likes, so maybe I'll just get one of those (since sara kate recommended it as well)

I never thought about TJ Maxx for pots, I'll have to go find one, I know there is one in town...

Yes, I second the TJ Maxx thing - I have a small All-Clad saucepan I found there recently for $20. Check different locations, too - there are some real cookware gems at those discount places.

Marshalls has slightly higher-end stuff and I've bought some of my favorite knives there!

And subscribe to Amazon's Deal of the Day emails - if you weed through all the junk sometimes you find incredible steals and closeouts.

Being a disciple (lemming?) of all things COOKS ILLUSTRATED, the magazine editors recently re-recommended the Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch chef's knife.

I'm pretty happy with my Chicago Cutlery chef knife...nothing fancy or expensive but it does the trick for me as long as I keep it sharp.

JenPDX, I have the Victorinox Fibrox (recommended from this very site actually) and it is a great purchase. Very cheap compared to almost every other chef's knife marketed toward serious home cookers and very, very sharp. I'd highly recommend it.

I just bought my first cast iron cookware this weekend. I got the Lodge 10 in and a reversible single burner griddle/grill pan. I'm excited to start using them!

I have a santoku knife I like--is that considered a chef's knife?

i have a chinese big knife and use it for everything. i like how it fits in my hand so a santoku should work too! whatever you like!

mango - don't buy the frittata pan. real italians finish their frittatas in the oven. just mush the eggs around on a low flame until it's mostly set. sprinkle a little parm on top and put it in the oven to set. you don't need to do fancy flipping with a special ridiculous pan!

The Teflon issue: I was all about not using Teflon, then hooked up with my S/O, whose cookware was all Teflon. It's much easier to cook with and clean up. So please explain to me why it's not considered serious cookware?

Madampince, I think the main concerns over Teflon these days are health and environmental: at high heats, Teflon emits toxins:
http://www.ewg.org/reports/toxicteflon

On a cooking level, nonstick coatings make it nearly impossible to get the sticky browned bits from a saute or browning of meat or veg. These browned bits, dissolved in liquid, make pan sauces good.

Thanks, Renata. I always enjoy your posts (and am glad your picture got on the front page!). Also appreciate your taking me seriously -- I posted a dilemma I'm facing over on Re-nest, and another poster went off on me (thankfully, other readers came to my defense).

When our current set of Teflon-coated cookware gives out, I'm going back to good old stainless steel.

No problem, madampince. I think it's ideal to have a variety of materials, if it's within your means. And I think a good nonstick pan is an essential item, esp if you like to eat eggs. But stainless is ideal for sautes.

Seasoned cast iron is the original nonstick, but I don't have one (maybe I'll get one on the other side of the pond). And I'm pretty sure that companies are making new nonstick coatings, but not sure about the specifics.

Has there ever been a discussion on this site about anodized aluminum cookware? I have a saucepan from college, which is mostly unused now, but my mom just discovered Circulon (with the ridges inside) and she absolutely loves it. I still don't think you get a fond for sauces, but for most other uses it seems to do a standup job (probably better than stainless such as mine, which is lined only on the bottom), and the set from Sam's got very high marks from either Cooks Illustrated or Consumer Reports.