dmickley

Hi there, Sam - First and foremost, thanks for your writing - which you allege to be overly lengthy, and I will counter with comprehensive and cohesive - in this thread. You've taken on a Sisyphean task in instructing troglodytes like myself in the fine points of cookware, and I hope I'm asking this before you have followed the path of other luminaries and sunk into a dark depression, a darker cave, or a show on the Food Network. I have questions for you. Let me try to give you some background, while immediately acknowledging and apologizing my own (actual) overly lengthy florid writing: I'm a college student who just graduated - let's see - six days ago, and has since experienced the stunningly prompt transformation from triumphant graduate to unemployed homebody. Life is cruel. That said, I have decided to get deeply involved in cooking, both as an invaluable skill for myself, and another means of curtailing favor with my parents, my girlfriend, my girlfriends' parents, and any other potential people who will house and/or support me in the near and distant future. I'm the type of person who really dives into an interest or hobby - and so my last couple weeks have been spent pouring over cooking sites like EGullet and Chowhound, reading Bittman's column on NYT.com, watching Top Chef, etc. I may be the most informed cook in history who has never really actually - you know - cooked. This thread has convinced me of the merits of copper cookware. I'm on board with you - it's the best. But perhaps it's the best for the true EGulleteers, the culinary adventurers and the people who have the taste to discern between shades of roux sauces and hollandaise. Meanwhile, I struggle with meatloaf, and buy my pie crusts from Whole Foods. I feel like copper, with the polishing and the general complexity, might be too much for me. Right now, I have the most sincere of intentions to hand-wash my pans everytime I cook, and carefully place them amidst a bed of cushions. But in reality, I'll probably want to dishwash them, and be less than delicate, eventually. So I was thinking about buying stainless covered aluminum, maybe with a copper core. Anyway, reining in the floridity - I have some money lying around, and I also happen to have an "in" with a restaurant wholesaler, so I'm looking at about 50% off list price for the majority of the pieces I'm interested in, which makes life easier. I have access to All-Clad, some Sitram, and Demeyere. I'm thinking Demeyere's Atlantis line. Having gone to Sur la Table and handled it, I like the handles, and I hate All-Clad's handles. And it's quite shiny, and, hamster-like, I am pleasantly entranced by shiny things. What I'm not certain about is which pieces are the most wide-ranging kitchen tools - my ideal is to construct a minimalist kitchen, but of the utmost quality - and I'm questioning why I should even bother buying a skillet (sacrilege, I know!) instead of a saute pan, a dutch oven, a cast iron skillet, saucier (perhaps both the 1.6 and 3.5 Atlantis sauciers?), some cheap sauce pots, and a plethora of shiny kitchen tools. So: 1. Why buy the 11" skillet over the 11" saute pan? What purposes can the skillet serve over the saute pan? (Assuming both Demeyere atlantis, which, I think, has smaller sides so I could still crisp well? I'll look the diameters up for you if needbe) Or, if there is a crisping issue with the saute, when would I use my 11" skillet over the cast iron? Or are there some other functions that I'm not considering? 2. Am I making a boneheaded mistake with the Demeyere? I know it's ludicrously expensive, but I've managed to avoid that with the 50% cut - so is it really the best quality for my buck? 3. Am I wrong about copper? I know that there's a huge amount of overlap to pans, and it's tough for me, as someone who is somewhat perfectionistic in nature, to be reasonable and wing it with a few Target pans and see how they hold up. I'd like to have that initial psychological pleasure and investment in my cookware that I got the best, and what's right for me. So I'd love your thoughts on any of this. Meanwhile, I hope to progress as a chef - I got Pepin's Technique, and Cook's Illustrated Best New Recipe, and Bittman's huge tome - but I want to have my cookware and start building that bond. And make some nice meatloaf. Oops - this message has reached Tolstoyian length, so I'll cut it 'short' for now. Thanks so much.