There is a pot in my kitchen that could tell its own story – it was passed down from my grandmother’s kitchen. It may seem like a strange heirloom to pass down, but my granny was a great cook and she understood the importance of good, solid cookware – because this pot is still going strong after 20 plus years, and you’d still think to look at it that it was brand new.
I’ve bought cookware in recent years that I thought would be as solid and long-lasting as this thing and they couldn’t touch it, so it definitely helps to have the right products for the right jobs in the kitchen – it may not help you become the next Jamie or Nigella, but it’ll make your life a lot easier.
When you’ve had a hard day at work, the last thing you want to do sometimes is go home and cook, and when you do, it can be tempting to just lift the first pot in the cupboard. But there are different pots out there for a reason, and they all do something different. Generally you’ll need two or three saucepans of different sizes, a milk pan and a good frying pan. You may ask why, well they all have their own uses:
- Saucepans – the workhorse of your cookware, saucepans can be used for a lot of jobs, including heating and boiling foods and making sauces (the clue’s in the name after all). If you buy a good set of cookware, they will usually contain 3 or more saucepans.
- Milk pan – technically another saucepan, a milkpan can also be used to make or heat sauces.
- Frying pan – usually used for searing, browning and frying foods. Most frying pans are now made of stainless steel or aluminium, and most are coated with a non-stick surface.
There’s a wealth of cookware out there on the market, so take your time and shop around before you buy anything. I found a great Stellar cookware set online at Sterling Furniture, which includes 3 saucepans, a 26cm frying pan and a milk pan.
Being a slightly lazy cook, I was attracted to this set because the pots are stainless steel. Stainless steel cookware has a number of advantages which are a godsend to cooks like me who don’t necessarily want to spend hours in the kitchen, but still want a decent meal at the end of it.
The main benefit of stainless steel cookware is that it’s durable and doesn’t scratch or burn easily and doesn’t rust either. It’s also really easy to clean, which is a blessing for someone who doesn’t enjoy washing up – which could be roughly 99% of us to be honest!
