Stainless steel cookwear

[Lizzo]

I know this topic is floating around somewhere...but this is more specific.
I am trying to decide between buying all-clad cook wear and the kind reccomended in the back of NT- from healthclassics.com.
I am also looking into cast iron.
What would you choose, what experience do you have? I have onlyu sed all clad, which I love.

[cristeen]

I would start with some good quality cast iron, tbh. You can find all sorts of stainless that will do the job for a decent price, but I'd spend the extra money on several pieces of cast iron (skillets in different sizes, dutch oven, etc.), and a good stainless skillet (or two). If you would use them, a good stock pot and roasting pan are also good investments.

I also have some older glass pans (not baking pans, stove-top pans), that are great. If you can find them in a thrift store, I recommend them. Like cast iron, they hold the heat well, and don't scorch as easily.

Honestly, I do most of my cooking now in either the cast iron skillet, or the glass pans, with the stainless skillet only being used for things like curries that get simmered, or cooking sauces that I don't want to be discolored.

[tabitha]

both cast-iron and stainless have their place. cook things in stainless that you cook with water and in cast while using oil. ikea has a decent quality set of stainless pans for cheap. not all stainless is equal. if you can't tell the difference than stick to all-clad you won't go wrong except your pocketbook will suffer a bit.
lecreuset has the happy medium enameled cast-iron also pricey--target has copies not sure of the quality.
we use all three methods but have a huge set of stainless two cast iron skillets and one enameled skillet.

warm regards,
karl (i'm tabitha's husband)
omelays.blogspot.com (my side of the story)

[foogoomomma]

I love my cast iron skillets... They're easy to clean and quick to fix as in if for some reason I left them in water (ack) too long then I just scrub them really well and season them again. super simple. I also have a set of stainless steel pans from costco and I love them as well. Prior poster is correct they each have their uses. I love my stainless steel stockpot especially it's great and easy to clean if you have the right scrubber. I cook in large quantities so that pot gets a lot of use. I love how the cast iron conducts heat so for a quick heat up and quick cook it works great.