Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 3)

[boilsover]

On 7/1/2018 at 2:25 PM, kayb said:

But I would have doggone sure jumped on that deal. What a find!

 

I hate to be the pee on the campfire here, but... 

 

Early in my cooking life, I invested quite heavily in Le Creuset, and had most of the saucepans--and most everything else (in Rotuts Blue).  Both  the wooden-handled  and hollow "blob" saucepan versions.  I even had a strange third variant with a flat cast iron handle that "mated" with an even stranger cover/tiny poele.  In my humble opinion, these are possibly the second-worst saucepans ever conceived (Visions, take your bow!).  They are sluggish in the extreme, and the rims chip easily.  The only good thing about them is the spout, I think.

 

At the time I bought my large batterie of Le Creuset, I thought it was the sine qua non of performance cookware.  From where I look now, I think Le Creuset cost me at least a decade of cooking advancement and enjoyment.

 

Sorry, carry on. 

Edited July 3, 2018 by boilsover (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

I'm guessing the old writing is part of one of their poems.

 

So much for my guess.

 

It is a poetic couplet, but describing the scene. In modern Chinese we think it is  

 

文章华国

诗礼传家

 

which in my rough translation reads

 

Magnificent national writing

Spreading poetry's gifts

 

The couplet is generally used as a kind of metaphor to exhort people to pass Chinese culture on from generation to generation. and/or to exhort the young to learn from their elders.

 

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

@Lisa Shock

 

One of my more eagle-eyed friends has spotted that your find is from Taiwan made by the Taiwan Pottery Company.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, boilsover said:

 

I hate to be the pee on the campfire here, but... 

 

Early in my cooking life, I invested quite heavily in Le Creuset, and had most of the saucepans--and most everything else (in Rotuts Blue).  Both  the wooden-handled  and hollow "blob" saucepan versions.  I even had a strange third variant with a flat cast iron handle that "mated" with an even stranger cover/tiny poele.  In my humble opinion, these are possibly the second-worst saucepans ever conceived (Visions, take your bow!).  They are sluggish in the extreme, and the rims chip easily.  The only good thing about them is the spout, I think.

 

At the time I bought my large batterie of Le Creuset, I thought it was the sine qua non of performance cookware.  From where I look now, I think Le Creuset cost me at least a decade of cooking advancement and enjoyment.

 

Sorry, carry on. 

 

 

Visions is the only cookware I have ever thrown out.

 

[Kerry Beal]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

My guess is a tiki mug.

 

A very attractive tiki mug! Was my first impression as well

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Kerry Beal said:

A very attractive tiki mug! Was my first impression as well

 

I'm 99% sure it's a calligraphy brush holder. That it is from Taiwan and features the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove is a big give-away.  That image  is very typical of Chinese brush holders. Here is an example , although this one is carved bamboo rather than ceramic:

 

Brushpot with depiction of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, China, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th century AD, bamboo - Ethnological Museum, Berlin

 

Public Domain Image via Wikicommons

 

Many more here.

 

Tiki mugs didn't emerge until the 1960s  - and far from China.

Edited July 3, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[rotuts]

the carving is extraordinary. 

[Lisa Shock]

@liuzhou, thank you and thanks to your friend! For anyone interested, I found THIS with a brief bio of the seven sages.

[kayb]

9 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Visions is the only cookware I have ever thrown out.

 

With you. That stuff is horrible.

 

That said, I am loving my Paderno, purchase facilitated by @chocdoc. 

[rotuts]

is this ' visions ? '

 

https://www.corningware.com/visions/

[ElsieD]

10 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Visions is the only cookware I have ever thrown out.

 

 

Me too.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

59 minutes ago, rotuts said:

is this ' visions ? '

 

https://www.corningware.com/visions/

 

Unfortunately.  Burns everything you cook in it.

 

[rotuts]

Wow

 

I missed it.

 

[kayb]

3 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Wow

 

I missed it.

 

Count yourself fortunate.

 

[rotuts]

I will say this :

 

the LeCreust  " blues "

 

that I have and still have

 

were stunning for their time

 

some technical faults for sure

 

but so much better than anything from its peak time

 

and you let those faults slide 

 

because all the other benefits far out weighed them

 

the skillet  I might still have in the basement :

 

 

mine is the same as this one down to the cool(u)r

 

was a major disappointment

 

although  fairly classy looking

 

P.S.:  had this been in Blue , Im sure it would have been a much better pan.

Edited July 3, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[Jacksoup]

@rotuts  I have the very same Le Creuset pan/skillet only in red.  My mother bought me a starter set of Le C about 40 years ago.  As @boilsoversaid, the rims on the saucepans chip easily.  I don’t use them much anymore but when I first got the set I felt like a pro, even though my culinary skills were lacking.

[rotuts]

yep

 

mighty fine for their time.

 

no more , no less

 

one can see the chips on the larger blue sauce pan of mine.

 

I have the smallest ( I think ) # 14 ( on the back )   5 1/2 " diameter

 

and the next one up

 

combined  the two posts must have made  a bazillion gallons of Hollandaise and Bearnaise Sauce

 

not coating various white sauce's

 

and indeed I also feel Pro'ish

[Toliver]

12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Visions is the only cookware I have ever thrown out.

 

 

2 hours ago, kayb said:

With you. That stuff is horrible.

 

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Unfortunately.  Burns everything you cook in it.

 

You're preaching to the choir. This horrid line of cookware has been mentioned before in another discussion.

Corning should have been ashamed of themselves for putting out that Visions crap. It burned gravy. How in the hell do you burn gravy? 

[andiesenji]

On 7/2/2018 at 8:14 AM, DianaB said:

Many thanks @rotuts and @kayb for your kind messages.  Your blue pans certainly seem to have come from the same place of origin as our ‘new’ collection.  Taking artistic photos is not amongst my skills but below are a couple of the new editions.  We are sadly lacking in storage space so the whole set is waiting for us to get around to fixing more hooks so that they can join the existing kit hanging from the beams in the kitchen...

 

 

If there’s an award for the least well taken photo this must be nominated.  I know there is a lot of helpful advice elsewhere on eGullet and one day I shall set aside time to improve my food related photography.

 

I posted a response to this night before last and I saw it then but today it is gone.

There is a metal polish called PEEK, available in the UK, that is used a lot by the Pyrex folk to clean utensil marks and dishwasher damage from the colored bowls and etc.  it also works on enameled cast iron or steel.  I fully restored a Descoware Dutch oven using MAAS, an almost identical product,  to give to my daughter a couple of years ago, removing all the burn marks on the bottom, utensil marks inside.  You could barely tell it has been used, except for some staining inside from cooking chili in it. 

 

Here are some photos.  I bought this in 1971 to complement the Descoware  Red flame I purchase in 1968.  I didn't really "need" it but it was so pretty I couldn't resist.  I didn't use it quite as much as the solid color ones.  In my opinion, Descoware is superior to Le Creuset.  I certainly like the handles much better, no problems with them in an oven.

 

 

 

[Smithy]

@andiesenji, as always you are a trove of valuable information.

 

I'd never heard of those compounds before now, but I have a trashed Descoware piece I'd love to restore. Are these the products in question? If so, which would you recommend given that both are available in the US?

MAAS International Metal Polish

Peek multipurpose metal polish

 

I arbitrarily linked to relatively small tubes. Should 4 oz. be about right for one or two pots?

[boilsover]

On 7/3/2018 at 7:21 AM, rotuts said:

is this ' visions ? '

 

https://www.corningware.com/visions/

 

Yup.  They come in handy if you ever want to make spicy hot aluminum sauce, though. 

 

 

Everyone should try Visions at least once.  They usually can be found for a $ at thrift stores.

[rotuts]

I guess it's possible that a was the Beginning of the End of Corning 

 

re cookware.

 

nice telescope reflector glass they made , though 

 

200 inches !

Edited July 4, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[boilsover]

6 hours ago, andiesenji said:

 

I posted a response to this night before last and I saw it then but today it is gone.

There is a metal polish called PEEK, available in the UK, that is used a lot by the Pyrex folk to clean utensil marks and dishwasher damage from the colored bowls and etc.  it also works on enameled cast iron or steel.  I fully restored a Descoware Dutch oven using MAAS, an almost identical product,  to give to my daughter a couple of years ago, removing all the burn marks on the bottom, utensil marks inside.  You could barely tell it has been used, except for some staining inside from cooking chili in it. 

 

Here are some photos.  I bought this in 1971 to complement the Descoware  Red flame I purchase in 1968.  I didn't really "need" it but it was so pretty I couldn't resist.  I didn't use it quite as much as the solid color ones.  In my opinion, Descoware is superior to Le Creuset.  I certainly like the handles much better, no problems with them in an oven.

 

 

 

I inherited a saucepan in this leaf pattern.  It's not very good, but it is pretty and collectible.  I agree with your judgment that vintage Descoware is better quality than LC.  I also have a cornflower yellow wood handled Descoware skillet and a small saucepan  I keep around for color.   I like the grey interior enamel.

[andiesenji]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

@andiesenji, as always you are a trove of valuable information.

 

I'd never heard of those compounds before now, but I have a trashed Descoware piece I'd love to restore. Are these the products in question? If so, which would you recommend given that both are available in the US?

MAAS International Metal Polish

Peek multipurpose metal polish

 

I arbitrarily linked to relatively small tubes. Should 4 oz. be about right for one or two pots?

Yes.  I buy the MAAS in large tubes because I use a lot of it on my vintage chrome toasters and other appliances.

[andiesenji]

5 hours ago, rotuts said:

I guess it's possible that a was the Beginning of the End of Corning 

 

re cookware.

 

nice telescope reflector glass they made , though 

 

200 inches !

 

 

I like Visions.  I use it mostly in the microwave but I have the large oval covered roaster and it is great for braising, long, low oven.