A question for culinary experts!!!

[texaspimp]

What is/are the best non-reactive (stainless steel???) cookware and cutlery.

I need something really good, but not thousands of dollars.

Any help would be appreciated!!

[PoBoy321]

Well, Calphalon is probably the best. I work at a Williams-Sonoma store, which is basically high end cooks tools. It's a little bit more expensive there, I think that a complete set goes for about a grand although you can get the individual pieces, but there's good staff who'll really help you with what you need. If you do a little more research, you can probably get the same stuff at walmart or something for less. But yeah, calphalon is the way to go.

[texaspimp]

Thanks for the reply. I'm assuming that's cookware. What about cutlery?

[the42]

I have calphon knives and they're pretty good. I don't know where you live but in MA we have marshalls and they sell about 1/2 the price. don't have any pans by them

[jakethebake]

I saw a nice set of Henkel knives at Sam's Club recently.

[turnipmonster]

find a restaurant supply store near you, and go there. I got my pots and saute pan for a very reasonable price from a place that supplied a restaurant I worked at, and I love them. I have tried out a number of pans in various stores and never found anything I liked half as much. allclad pans are pretty good though.

--turnipmonster

[PoBoy321]

Wusthof and Henckels are probably the best cutlery around. A friend of mine got a job selling knives door to door for some company named cutco and they put out a pretty good product, so you might want to look into them too.

[turnipmonster]

I am no culinary expert, but I cook quite a bit and worked as a line cook all through high school. the only knife you really need is a good chef's knife, 8". you need a good saute pan, a good saucepan, and a soup pot and that's pretty much it. most everything else is window dressing, and you probably don't really need it.

--turnipmonster

[elwoodblues]

Cutco knives are fantastic (though pricey.) I have a full-set of their knives, but in the alternative you would be very well served if you don't want to pay for a full set to just buy a few of them and work your way up over the years to a full set (cutco.com). I was actually just looking this morning on ebay and you can find some of their knives there as well. One thing that is great about cutco is they are lifetime guaranteed. If they break FOR ANY REASON they will replace the knife at no cost. Also, they sharpen the knives for a very reasonable price --- some of their knives look like serrated knives (though they aren't) that need to be factory sharpened every few years. My mother has a set of the same knives and broke the tip of one of the knives cutting through some frozen chicken. After 20 years, no questions asked they replaced it. I can't recommend them highly enough.

If you are going to buy just a few, the trimmer and chef's knife are essentials.

For cookware I have the Revere PRO line. They're pretty nice, though I wouldn't say I can fully recommend them (like I do with the Cutco knives.)

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
Wusthof and Henckels are probably the best cutlery around.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this, and so does everyone I know at knife forums. Stainless steel is good for cookwear but if you are going to get a Chef's knife, you might want to look into high carbon steel. Nothing holds an edge like high carbon steel. My high carbon steel knife at home will remove a nice big ball of hair off my forearm in one swipe!!! The downside is high carbon rusts so you have to wash it by hand and make sure it's dry before you put it away, but it's worth the extra work. (Which isn't much) Make sure you get a good steel. (The rod to realign the blade)

If your lazy they do have high carbon stainless blends. They are not as good as high carbon, but better than stainless and you don't have to pay as much attention to it.