According to the National Fire Protection Association, most home fires in the United States are caused by cooking-related accidents.

As cooler weather brings more people indoors at mealtimes, safety in the kitchen is of utmost importance. The Cookware Manufacturers Association offers these tips to ensure the best possible safety environment in the kitchen:

* Keep the handles of cookware away from the edge of the stove where they can be bumped or grabbed by young children. Watch also that handles don’t extend over adjacent burners.

* Never leave cooking food unattended, particularly when heating a skillet. Foods and oils can get so hot that they will smoke and burst into flames if left unattended.

* Keep a fire extinguisher within easy reach of the stove, yet away from direct heat.

* If a pan catches fire, don’t move it. Smother it with a lid, baking soda, etc. and turn off the heat source if it’s safe to do so. Do not throw water on a grease fire.

* Cookie sheets should not be used to catch spills in the oven. Overfilled bakeware can cause dripping food to catch fire.

* Keep knives sharp. A dull knife must be forced to cut, which can cause it to slip toward fingers.

* Clean up spills right away to avoid slips and falls.

* Sweep up broken glass immediately. Wrap pieces in paper before throwing away and then take the trash out. Loose glass in a trash bag can cut someone who doesn’t know about its broken contents.

* Unplug kitchen appliances when not used and keep cords away from heating surfaces.

* Keep pets, particularly birds, away from the kitchen. Particles released into the air from cooking can harm an animal’s sensitive respiratory system.

A vast store of information on cooking, cookware and bakeware is available from the Cookware Manufacturers Association at its Web site: www.cookware.org.

Courtesy of ARA Content

Caring for your stainless steel

As with most cookware, it is best not to subject them to abrasive dishwasher soap. Instead, wash them in warm soapy water, and nylon scrubbers are recommended for stainless steel.

The best stainless steel cookware

Reviewers regard “All-Clad Stainless” as the best stainless steel cookware for its heavy aluminum core; this core that extends up the sides of the cookware makes for great heat conductivity.

When shopping for stainless steel cookware, you’ll often run into different grades of surgical stainless steel. The most popular are 304 and 316. The difference between the two is often minimal, 316 has molybdenum and 304 does not, and it may have more chromium and/or nickel – but not necessarily. 316 is supposed to be better for marine cooking, where the cookware is regularly exposed to sea salt.

In this article, we present a checklist of what you should keep in mind if you are buying professional cookware. At the outset, remember that when construction is stripped down to the basics, there are just a handful of materials used in professional cookware. For your convenience, we will divide this article according to the material used in particular kinds of professional cookware.

Cast Iron

• The simplest and cheapest cookware, made from mild steel. While relatively inexpensive, professional cookware made of cast iron is always vulnerable to rusting.
• It is not particularly easy to clean and if not thoroughly dried, can tarnish overnight. That in turn means cleaning your professional cookware every time you want to use it for cooking.
• Cast iron frying pans are notorious for sticking, particularly if you are cooking items such as fish and eggs, so the pan has to be seasoned before use. One way to do this is to place a layer of salt on the inside base and heat it up. This seals any surface imperfections in the base of the pan. The salt is removed, replaced by cooking oil and heated till it smokes. The pan is then seasoned and ready for use.
• Avoid washing in soapy water if you want the seasoning to last for some time. You will notice that Chinese chefs seldom wash their cast iron woks and never seem to be troubled with food sticking. When cast iron was much more common in kitchens chefs would often keep one pan aside just for omelets.

Aluminum

• This metal, the workhorse of many kitchens, is still the predominant pan metal for professional cookware, particularly in kitchens where budgets are stringent.
• The advantages of aluminum are that it is cheap, does not corrode and is a wonderful heat conductor.
• This makes aluminum a good material in which to boil foods and on cost grounds is suitable for very large cooking vessels such as stockpots.
• However, one of aluminum’s disadvantages is that it can react with acidic food to produce an off flavor.
• It also cannot be used on induction burners and, like cast iron, is prone to sticking when food is fried.
• Cheap aluminum pans are made of a single sheet of metal, but the best professional aluminum pans have a thicker base to spread heat more evenly.
• Medium-duty aluminum pans with a base thickness of 3-4mm are suitable for open-top cooking ranges, but with a solid-top range or for vigorous use, a heavy-duty pan with a base of 7mm is better suited.

Stainless Steel

• Stainless steel is fast becoming the material of choice for professional cookware used in hotels and restaurants because it doesn’t tarnish, is easy to clean, hygienic, hard-wearing, relatively less prone to sticking and looks great.
• Because it is so popular, there is a wide variation in the quality of stainless steel on the market. However, as with aluminum, the base of a stainless pan will typically be layered. This usually takes the form of a three-layer sandwich with stainless steel on the bottom, aluminum in the middle to give good conductivity and stainless steel on top. Some top of the range pans can have up to seven layers.
• Cheap stainless steel pans look serviceable, but are unsuitable material for professional cookware. The thin gauge of the metal makes for poor heat distribution, in addition to which the cookware tarnishes easily. Because the metal surface is poorly polished, sticking can also be a problem.
• Cheap stainless steel pans can also be dangerous when it comes to workplace safety. The welding that secures the handle of a pan on may snap without warning when the pan is brimming with hot liquid.

Non-stick Professional Cookware

• Most professional kitchens have a small selection of non-stick cookware. It is perfect for frying delicate fish such as sole and plaice, omelets never stick and because you use less oil, it means low-fat cooking.
• The cheapest non-stick is coated on aluminum, but because of the relative softness of aluminum, the non-stick layer will not last as long as it does with steel.
• The main source of damage to non-stick professional cookware, apart from the obvious one of using metal utensils, is too-high temperatures, which damage the coating. While normal frying is done at about 390°F, flash frying over a fierce heat can send the base temperature over 480°F, causing the non-stick coating to split. That is why true wok cooking works better with cast iron rather than non-stick.

Copper

• Once the material of choice in all true blue professional kitchens, copper has now given way to stainless steel. Earlier, the commonest kind of copper professional cookware used copper (for conductivity) lined with tin to protect the food from contamination.
• It is still possible to buy copper-tin pans, but professional cookware using copper lined with stainless steel is growing in popularity, because it combines the qualities of stainless steel with the conductivity and good looks of copper.

Now we are done with pots and pans, it would help a prospective professional cookware buyer to take a brief look at the world of professional cooking dishes:

Stoneware: While these colorful dishes are more often used for food presentation, they have a lot of temperature tolerance and can withstand extreme temperature ranges, making them suitable for oven to counter use. Most are dishwasher-friendly and all can be placed in a microwave, but definitely not on a stovetop, as the sudden burst of heat will cause the ceramic to shatter. Many cooking pots are available with matching lids for closed-lid cooking in the oven and to keep food warm while on a service counter. Baked-on food debris will benefit from soaking in water before going into the dishwasher, but avoid scouring pads as they may damage the surface. Stacking the dishes inside each other can also cause surface scratching.

Enameled cast iron: These pans and casserole dishes are built for strength, conductivity of heat and heat retention, then coated inside and out with an enamel paint which is baked onto the cast iron at high temperature to give a smooth cooking surface and prevent rusting. The colorful nature of these pots and dishes make them suitable for oven to counter use, a basic in professional cookware. However, the enameled surface is not suitable for frying due a tendency for sticking. In addition to enameled cast iron, a variation is enameled stainless steel.

Materials: Cake pans are traditionally made from tinned steel, stainless steel, aluminized steel, or aluminum. Some pans have non-stick coatings. There are even some new varieties of flexible cake pans that use silicon-coated fiberglass.

Depth: The standard depth of a 9-inch cake pan is 2 inches. That gives you an idea of the proportions for other sizes. However, some 9-inch cake pans can be 1½ inches or 2¾ inches deep.

Insulation: Some cake pans are actually made from two layers of metal with airspace in between. Insulated pans are designed to prevent too much browning.

Weight: Cake pans can weigh from 5-25 ounces. For obvious reasons, heavier pans are more often used commercially or professionally.

In addition to these basics, you need to see if your cake pans satisfy the following requirements:

• Cake layers must release easily from cake pans. Portions of the crust or even whole chunks of cake often stick to the pan.
• A cake pan should brown the cake without roasting it. Obviously, therefore, your cake pans must conduct heat evenly so that the crust is uniformly colored and the cake rises evenly.
• Cakes usually release better from pans lined with nonstick coatings.
• Another thumb rule is: the darker the pan, the darker the crust. However, dark cake pans can create a darker crust without making it too brown. In fact, cakes baked in darker cake pans may prove sturdier and more resistant to crumbling.
• Aluminum cake pans with light-colored or shiny finishes also make well-browned cakes because aluminum conducts heat evenly and quickly. Tinned steel (but NOT stainless steel) cake pans with a nonstick coating also produce a dark finish.
• Insulated pans are also low on the list of preferences because the two layers of metal separated by airspace slow down the browning process.
• Cake pans with handles on either side are easier to handle for obvious reasons.

So now you know all, drop us a line to let us know how you get on with your baking!

The solution is to use wooden or other “soft” non-scratching utensils with copper. Copper cooking surfaces are usually lined with tin or stainless steel. These linings, especially tin ones, are not very durable, and therefore should be reapplied when they wear thin. However, because tin melts at about 450°F, you would be wise to take as many precautions as possible to prevent overheating.

Other than this one major drawback, copper has none. It has about 10 times the heat conductivity of stainless steel and glass, and twice that of aluminum. Top class copper cookware may use a combination of copper and stainless steel or other metals. Others use a core of solid copper sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel to distribute heat uniformly.

To sum up, this is what copper cookware is all about:

o Excellent conductor of heat. So much so that you may need to reduce cooking time and temperature
o Must be lined with tin, nickel, or stainless steel
o Acidic foods cause copper to tarnish
o Copper cookware is a highly susceptible to scratches
o It reacts to some food other than acidic foods
o Tin or nickel linings are not very durable, and must be professionally repaired

Maintenance

1. Always wash copper cookware in hot, soapy water immediately after cooking
2. Dry immediately and do not store with the lid on. This might allow moisture to collect inside and cause corrosion
3. It is not absolutely necessary that you keep the copper bright and shiny, but you must keep it clean. Though commercial copper cleaners work best, you can also use a paste you can make with a little flour, salt and water

Nutrients Remain in Food

One of the biggest benefits of using waterless cookware is the fact that the original nutrients in food stay there while cooking.  Research studies have shown that when water is used to cook or boil foods, many of the nutrients are lost in the process.  However, waterless cookware uses the food’s natural water and juices to cook it, thus the nutrients remain for your benefit when you eat the food.

Food Doesn’t Absorb Metal

Using waterless cookware is also healthier since your food doesn’t absorb any metal from the pan.  This is due to the fact that it is made from stainless steel, while traditional, common cookware consists of aluminum material that flakes off microscopic pieces of metal into your food.

Food Tastes Better

Another benefit of using waterless cookware is the fact that food tastes better than when other types of cookware and water are used.  Waterless cookware requires the food to use its own water and juices to cook.  This allows the food to have better flavoring and a richer taste.

Cooking Takes Less Time

Individuals with limited time enjoy waterless cookware due to the fact cooking takes less time.  When water is added to a pot or pan to cook a food it takes additional time as the water must heat up before the actual cooking process can begin.  Since waterless cookware uses the food’s natural juices it takes less time as the water from the food and the food heats up and cooks at the same time.

Easier to clean

In addition to cooking being easier, cleaning is also easier when waterless cookware is used.  Steam coats the inside of the cookware, which prevents items from sticking and burning to the bottom and the sides.  This makes it very easy for you to clean up after you have provided your family with a healthy, tasty meal.

Waterless cookware is a relatively new type of cookware available for you to use.  It provides many benefits as it saves you time and makes your food healthier to consume.  You can experience the benefits for yourself by purchasing waterless cookware today.

There are literally thousands of different brands that you can choose from when it comes to cookware, but one of the most popular and worthwhile without a doubt is Tramontino. Tramontino cookware is cookware that you can trust to be reliable and durable, and well worth every single penny you pay for it.

The Details

When it comes to high quality cookware, one name you need to include is Tramontino. Their gourmet cookware and cutlery balance the beauty and sophistication of European design with efficiency and reliability. All the Tramontino products are designed to be used over and over without showing any wear or tear.

Tramontino cookware was actually originally designed and produced for use in fine restaurants, which explains the elegance and beauty that it displays. All Tramontino cookware is able to withstand use in the most demanding kitchens, making it great for both personal and professional use.

Options

There are actually a few different types of Tramontino cookware that you can choose from, including Tramontino Sterling II cookware, Tramontino Tri-Ply Clad cookware, Tramontino Domus cookware, Tramontino Professional stock pots, and Tramontino pressure cookers.

Their chafing dishes are especially popular, and are designed for use in hotels and buffets. They are premium stainless steel chafing dishes that are available in a variety of sizes and styles. Their canisters are also very popular and are made of stainless steel with glass covers. They are ideal for storing dry goods in the kitchen, and in a trendy modern fashion.

When you are looking for cookware that is not only efficient and which works well in the kitchen, but also which is aesthetically appealing, you should look no further than Tramontino cookware. Sophisticated, modern and durable, it is also very affordable and so you do not have to spend a fortune to supply yourself with the necessary cookware.

You can find Tramontino products in your local cookware stores, and you can also shop directly from the Tramontino Company, either in person at one of their retail stores or online on their website.

This is important because you want your cookware to be attractive, especially since many people leave their cookware on display in the home when they are not using it. With Tradeprice cookware you are able to showcase it wherever you want in the home and not have to worry about covering it up.

All Tradeprice cookware pieces are durable and long lasting and will not wear and tear even after lots of use. This cookware is designed for use in the toughest kitchens and so whether you are using them for personal or professional use you are not going to be disappointed.

Where to Buy

If you are interested in buying Tradeprice cookware for yourself there are several places that you will want to check out. Walmart is one great option, and definitely one of the cheapest. Although the prices will usually remain around the same no matter what retailer you go to, Walmart offers sale prices and so you will definitely be getting the best value for your dollar when you shop here.

When shopping for your cookware there are a few things you want to consider. If you are just starting off and starting your collection of cookware then you are going to want to get the basics, such as a few pots and pans and some chafing dishes. This will be enough for you to cook most dishes but then you are going to want to add on to this as soon after as you can.

Although Tradeprice cookware is very reasonably priced, it is still rather expensive and so you are going to want to make sure that you put some thought into your purchases rather than just going all out and buying everything you see.

No matter what pieces you do end up choosing, by going with the Tradeprice name you know that you are getting serious quality and value for your money. The Tradeprice name is one you know you can trust and one that offers pieces that are going to last you a lifetime.

Heath Benefits

Titanium cookware is non-porous, which makes it a genuine non-stick material. This means there is no chance of potentially harmful toxins or poisons making their way into your food. This has been a concern, at times, where more conventional cookware is used. This characteristic also eliminates the need to add large amounts of water and cooking oil to your food. Obviously, with less cooking oil, you’re not going to have as much fat or as many calories as you would have otherwise. Surprisingly, using less water for cooking also has its advantages. When used for cooking, water can dilute the flavor and nutrients in your food. Using titanium cookware, you can cook with the confidence that your food will come out as healthy and delicious as it was meant to be.

Lightweight And Durable

Another unique feature of titanium cookware is that it weighs considerably less than common cast iron pots and pans. At the same time, it’s also stronger and more durable than conventional cookware. Anyone that has experience cooking will appreciate the lightweight characteristic of this cookware. This is especially true for those that have arthritis or any other problem that prevents them from lifting  heavy objects. Obviously, this also makes titanium cookware ideal for camping and backpacking.

The durability of titanium cookware is another reason it’s such a popular choice. Again, the cost of this type of cookware can be quite high, but chances are, it’s the last set you’ll ever have to buy. It will also maintain its attractive appearance as it is very resistant to scratching and warping.

Ease Of Cleaning

Perhaps the most popular feature of titanium cookware is the ease with which it can be cleaned. The non-stick surface makes cleaning as easy as simply wiping the pan off. Anyone who has scrubbed and scoured their ordinary pots and pans will surely appreciate this. You’ll never again need to use abrasive detergents or cleaning agents if you choose titanium.

This cookware is fast becoming one of the most popular options for use in kitchens of all kinds. If you can afford the initial investment, you’ll find that the benefits are well worth the price. When you consider how often you have to throw out or replace your conventional cookware, you’ll also find that titanium cookware will also be more cost effective in the long run.

College Bound Nephew

If you want to help your nephew spruce up his dorm room and get in the habit of some healthy cooking as opposed to always eating junky fast food, get him the best cookware for his needs by not spending a lot of money on the cookware but spending a little time on the gift instead. What this means is that buy him a basic cookware set from Target or IKEA for under $50 which has a frying pan, a medium sized sauce pan, a skillet and a larger pan if he has company. Then add the time factor by packaging the best cookware you find in your budget with some easy recipes which he can follow so that cooking doesn’t seem like a bore. Look for healthful ingredients that guys will love and that are a snap to make. This way you’ll be giving him a gift of healthy eating which is very rare to find in college life.

Empty Nester In-Laws

Your mother in law may have been the best cook in her day but now that they are empty nesters, they are downsizing and it is due time that she say goodbye to her ancient cookware. You can get them the best cookware by looking for medium sized pieces from reputable companies like Farberware or Philippe Richard which are good quality but not very expensive either. This is because while good quality is important; the elderly do not entertain all that much and they wouldn’t want very heavy cast iron cookware that can be burdensome to move around.

Moreover, the handles on the cookware you choose should have safety cooling vents so that hands are not accidentally burnt. Plus, the best cookware for seniors is definitely one that is dishwasher safe as they do not have the strength to stand and hand wash pots and pans.

Cooking Pro Sister

If your sister loves spending time in the kitchen and is always having guests oohing and aahing over her wonderful concoctions, the best cookware for her would be something new. This could be a pink handled frying pan which will not only turn heads at a breakfast party when she is whipping up her famous omelets but help support breast cancer research as well.