High-end Cookware - What you get for the money

[Dr. Teeth]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

No wonder. Have you looked at some of the prices?

My mother-in-law was suckered into spending a fortune on so-called waterless cookware in the 60s. 

I stand by my cynicism of the  value of extremely expensive cookware which unavoidably burns carrots and sweet potatoes. 

There is also a note on their site that it is their policy to never put their product on sale: everyone pays full sticker.   In the interest of fairness of course.

[TdeV]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

My mother-in-law was suckered into spending a fortune on so-called waterless cookware in the 60s. 

 

My mother bought waterless stainless steel cookware in the 60s also. Maybe we're related, Anna?

[Smithy]

Just now, TdeV said:

 

My mother bought waterless stainless steel cookware in the 60s also. Maybe we're related, Anna?

 

That's three of us. I still have one of the smaller pans, but the others are long gone.

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, Dr. Teeth said:

There is also a note on their site that it is their policy to never put their product on sale: everyone pays full sticker.   In the interest of fairness of course.

Of course. 

[weinoo]

21 hours ago, Anna N said:

I stand by my cynicism of the  value of extremely expensive cookware which unavoidably burns carrots and sweet potatoes.

 

I always thought it was the cook who burned shit, not the cookware.

[weinoo]

I like this, from the website:

 

 

Quote

 

Rice, redefined by cast iron.

The Oven Pot's prowess culminates in a pot of rice. Each satisfying bite is a testament to years of Japanese craft harnessed to deliver the highest expression of taste and texture.

 

 

 

My guess is that less than 1% of people in Japan are cooking rice in cast iron.

 

I'm sure we all like Sean, Albert, et al., but they're all just shills, same as Emeril, Bobby, Chang, et al.

[Porthos]

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

That's three of us. I still have one of the smaller pans, but the others are long gone.

I'll make the fourth. I don't know what happened to it all over the years. I don't remember any of it still being in her kitchen when we helped her clean things out prior to her moving from California to North Carolina when she turned ninety. I claimed the Revereware 3 qt sauce pan that pre-dated my birth. I used that pan growing up; I started cooking the family dinner when I was 13 and that was my "vegetables" pan.

[palo]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

IMy guess is that less than 1% of people in Japan are cooking rice in cast iron

The rest probably have a Zojirushi 😀

 

p

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, palo said:

The rest probably have a Zojirushi 😀

 

p

 

Indeed.  Though I am minded of Shizuo Tsuji's description of the restaurant rice cook:

 

"The rice cook washes the rice in a stone sink, puts the grains in a flanged iron rice pot with heavy wooden lid of ancient origin, uses only fresh well water for cooking, and carefully tends a wood-fed stove, always adjusting the embers to control the heat."

 

 

And unlike lesser rice cookers, the selling point of my newest Zojirushi model is that it comes with an iron coated pot.

 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

And unlike lesser rice cookers, the selling point of my newest Zojirushi model is that it comes with an iron coated pot.

 

But is the purpose of that iron coating to improve the texture and flavour of the rice or to maximize the efficiency of the induction heating element?

From the Zojirushi website (May not refer to you exact model):

“Iron Coated & Platinum Infused Nonstick Cooking Pan

2.2mm thick inner pan is made of highly conductive aluminum and durable stainless steel clad.

Iron coating on the exterior aids IH by generating and storing heat more efficiently for even cooking.

Platinum-infused nonstick coating on the interior changes water quality for sweeter tasting rice.”

(Not quite sure how you can change the quality of water.)

 

Edited October 22, 2022 by Anna N
To comment on the quality of the water being improved. (log)

[palo]

Anna, whatever their reasoning or explanations, they make a damn fine rice cooker.

 

p

[palo]

What does Shizuo Tsuji use at home to cook rice?

 

p

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, palo said:

What does Shizuo Tsuji use at home to cook rice?

 

p

A bit late to ask him.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

But is the purpose of that iron coating to improve the texture and flavour of the rice or to maximize the efficiency of the induction heating element?

From the Zojirushi website (May not refer to you exact model):

“Iron Coated & Platinum Infused Nonstick Cooking Pan

2.2mm thick inner pan is made of highly conductive aluminum and durable stainless steel clad.

Iron coating on the exterior aids IH by generating and storing heat more efficiently for even cooking.

Platinum-infused nonstick coating on the interior changes water quality for sweeter tasting rice.”

(Not quite sure how you can change the quality of water.)

 

 

I believe the purpose of the Zojirushi iron coating is to evoke in the soul of the consumer the mystique of the traditional iron cooking pot.

 

Platinum, on the other hand, acts as a catalyst to increase the water pH slightly.

 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, palo said:

Anna, whatever their reasoning or explanations, they make a damn fine rice cooker.

 

p

That wasn’t the question as far as I know. I have a Zo and think it is a fine rice cooker. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, palo said:

What does Shizuo Tsuji use at home to cook rice?

 

p

 

This secret he does not share.  He does say:

 

"Boiling rice can be very simple, or it can be carried to complex extremes.  Today rice is made daily in practically every Japanese household in an automatic gas or electric rice cooker.  The automatic rice cooker...makes perfect rice every time."

 

However the everyday rice recipe presented calls for "a tight-lidded, heavy and deep pot."

 

[Anna N]

28 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I believe the purpose of the Zojirushi iron coating is to evoke in the soul of the consumer the mystique of the traditional iron cooking pot.

 

Platinum, on the other hand, acts as a catalyst to increase the water pH slightly.

 

Aha. The mystical magic of marketing. 

[Kerry Beal]

On 10/21/2022 at 1:31 PM, Anna N said:

No wonder. Have you looked at some of the prices?

My mother-in-law was suckered into spending a fortune on so-called waterless cookware in the 60s. 

I stand by my cynicism of the  value of extremely expensive cookware which unavoidably burns carrots and sweet potatoes. 

Was the waterless cookware sold via home demos?

 

I recall someone coming over to the house - they took their fancy pot and a variety of my mom's other pots and lined them up just so on the stove ( we had a Tappan stove with four burners in a line that pulled out so they were all side by side). She boiled a little baking soda and water in each pot then starting with her fancy stainless pot had us taste the water in each successive pot. I recall the aluminum was the last one. Each material resulted in a more bitter taste - so of course mom's favorite aluminum pot was the worst. 

 

Mom then said - "well let's go back and taste the mixture in your pot again" - and surprise, surprise - it was the most bitter of all! Essentially it was the cumulative effect of the baking soda solution on the taste buds. So mom explained this to the person and why they had been instructed to line up the pots in a particular order. They apparently stopped selling them after that.

 

Never diss my mom's favorite aluminum pot!

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Was the waterless cookware sold via home demos?

Yes. They were sold door-to-door just like encyclopedias and fancy vacuum cleaners. You had to take advantage of whatever sale was going at the moment and sign on the dotted line immediately to save hundreds of dollars. My mother-in-law was easily taken advantage of.