Bourgeat

[slkinsey]

What else does one use a jam pot for???

Boiling wort for making beer. Not too many other things you can do with unlined copper. I suppose you could make a ton of caramel? The world's largest zabaglione? Traditionally, polenta is prepared in giant unlined copper vessels over an open fire.

The thing to remember is that copper is poisonous. Personally, I wouldn't use it for anything other than sugary stuff (which includes wort).

Would 40lbs. of Bar Keeper's Friend not be very difficult to store?  How long would it last? I have the Falk Culinair pieces and a much larger collection of the Cop R Chef from All Clad, and a couple of Mauviel pieces.  But I wonder if 40lbs is still an overkill.  What say you?

40 lbs would last a long time, for sure. But that's the beauty of it. BKF is useful for a zillion cleaning applications. Probably something you could store in a closet or something. The web site probably gives you some idea of the size of the container.

[Richard Kilgore]

That's an amazing collection of Falk, Suvir. Congratulations. I am sure they look great and that you will have a fine time using them.

Jam Pot suggestion: Put it on the floor in your living room, with a round glass top it will make an attractive coffee table.

[fifi]

The thing to remember is that copper is poisonous.  Personally, I wouldn't use it for anything other than sugary stuff (which includes wort).

Actually, I was wondering about that. It is a "jam" pot and jams are typically acidic and will react with the copper. What is up with that?

[Suvir Saran]

That's an amazing collection of Falk, Suvir. Congratulations. I am sure they look great and that you will have a fine time using them.

Jam Pot suggestion: Put it on the floor in your living room, with a round glass top it will make an attractive coffee table. 

My sister did that with some old oversized Indian copper and brass cookware. Looks amazing actually.

[budrichard]

Calaphalon pans warp, we gave away all of them after I acquired an extensive set of Falk Culinair with more on the way, (new 11 qt stock pot). I emailed All Clad and asked them for the thicknesses of thier copper pots and was told that this information was propietary. Of course, this was to not reveal that thier copper pots are really not copper. Once you use the Falk Culinair, you will never go back. Michael Harp is great to deal with and they are the only ones offering a large saute pan with a loop handle as a 'helper'. The only drawback is that the bigger pieces are quite heavy and if you are of slight build, you should avoid them. I disagree about the lids. They are attractive, functional and not that difficult to keep. The benefit is that one lid can be used for a number of pots of the same diameter. Falk Culiniar is hands down the best cooking pots and pans avaliable today, period! -Dick

[slkinsey]

I disagree about the lids. They are attractive, functional and not that difficult to keep. The benefit is that one lid can be used for a number of pots of the same diameter.

I don't think the suggestion that copper lids are more trouble to maintain when compared to stainless lids is subject to dispute. Clearly they are more trouble. It is also the case, of course, that stainless lids may be used on a number of pots of the same diameter, and I invariably find myself reaching for a stainless lid whenever possible. I'm only interested in the maintenance hassle if I'm going to get performance out of it.

My point about the price is also fairly solid, I think. Let's say you were buying an 11" curved sauteuse evasee (they call it a sauciere) and a 5.2 quart saucepan from Falk. If you buy the copper lids, you end up spending 75 dollars for the 11" lid and 60 for the 9.5 inch lid. If you buy heavy stainless Paderno lids instead, you only spend 24 dollars on the big lid and 20 on the smaller lid. That's a 90 dollar difference, which is almost enough money to buy a 1 quart sauteuse evasee (they call it a chef's pan). Personally, I'd much rather have another heavy copper pan for my money instead of two pretty lids that require more maintenance.

The only reason I can think of someone would want the copper lids is for the looks. It used to be the case that Falk sold all their cookware with the copper lid included. I voiced my opinion that the lids were driving up the price of Falk's cookware with practically no added functionality to Michael a few times over in rec.food.equipment not long after they set up e-shop, and I like to think that my feedback helped influence them to lower their prices and offer the copper lids as an add-on.

Anyway, I am glad you like Falk. I have always been a strong advocate of stainless lined heavy copper and Falk has often offered the best value. That said, as I point out in my cookware class, I don't think it is the best solution for absolutely every cooking task, and I don't see how it offers much benefit when it comes to stock pots.

[budrichard]

The benefit is that they look great! The 8 and eventually the 11 qt will not replace my 16 or 20 qt SS pots because of volume. I am somewhat of the belief in functionality and form and I just happen to like the way copper looks. Of course you can save money on SS lids and other types of pots. In actuality we spend very little time on maintenance of the Falk. How it looks, it looks. Thanks for talking Harp out of selling each pan with a lid, Saved me a few $.

One other aside, whether true or not, I believe that non stick cookware was developed to sell aluminum cookware which is cheaper to manufacture but must have some type of non stick coating. The Falk SS lining is extremely easy to clean. Non-stick Aluminum cookware is lousy. -Dick