Talk to me about copper cookware

[Too Tall]

Nice pan my brother. I love our copper goods.

[ericpmoss]

Nice pan my brother. I love our copper goods.

Thanks -- it's just big enough to sear the smallest steak one can legally call a steak, and make a jus. It goes with my other two stainless-lined pans of the same diameter -- altogether they are just right for a full meal for one.

I was happy with the iPhone photo -- just held it up a few feet from a room corner in diffuse light.

[mzilliox]

12cm shallow sauce pan by Atelier du Cuivre. Hidden rivets, silver lined. Report at 10.

Attachment 112622

that looks thick!

[ericpmoss]

that looks thick!

2.2mm thick.

Oh, some tin-lined cannele molds from the same place, ~2" diameter at top, ~2" high:

IMG_0595.jpg

[Too Tall]

You need to stop....Eric.

That mold is so pretty it has be thinking of what I'd make with that.

Form, function, art should be in more of our pursuits and less teflon cookware. ouch

[ericpmoss]

You need to stop....Eric.

That mold is so pretty it has be thinking of what I'd make with that.

Form, function, art should be in more of our pursuits and less teflon cookware. ouch

So I was showing off to my French-trained pastry friend, and she said, "Oh, that tin lining is why they were only 15 euros each." Sheesh. The story is... something about the tin lining prevents canneles from getting the right crispy caramelized exterior after a half-dozen uses. Apparently, canneles take 2-3 days to make, because the proper (tm) approach involves heating up the raw copper molds, coating the interior with a super-thin layer of hot beeswax, letting drain, harden, making the batter, fridging it for a full day, then doing a two stage high/low baking to crisp the exterior then slowly cook the interior. The beeswax thing is apparently for every single batch, not just a seasoning thing. Sheesh^2.

Maybe I'll do green jello and canned pears if her prediction comes true.

[Too Tall]

Yeah but there are two zillion other things you can make and look amazing doing it.

FWIIW The tin coating is traditional, but you know that. I purchased my bucket list soup/stock pot from a sell of old copper who nearly did not sell it to me until she was satisfied I would not ruin the lining.

Worry not old man, you know what to do.

PS There are several USA based outfits who will re-tin your pots. I found a very nice (abused) sauce pan for $20 at a yard sale and sent it out, looks like new.

[ericpmoss]

2.2mm thick.

Oh, some tin-lined cannele molds from the same place, ~2" diameter at top, ~2" high:

IMG_0595.jpg

Attempt #2 , using food grade beeswax from glorybee.com -- I need to bake a bit more, but the very custardy interior is really good.

IMG_0598.jpg

[caleb]

@ericpmoss I'd eat that! Nice work!

Also, any further review/photos/reports on the AdC pot? Now that they have a more or less functional website, I'm running out of excuses for not trying at least one of their pots out.

[caleb]

The copper pots just keep spawning. Last night I unwrapped a 24cm soup pot. Here it is next to the 20cm version I've been using since Christmas.

It's a bit out of season for most of what I'd usually cook in a vessel like this one, but I'm thinking I'll use it to braise lamb shanks and make stock this afternoon.

This summer it'll boil potatoes for potato salad, before going into heavy rotation next fall for all the fall and winter foods.

Oh hey, looks like I managed to break the photo link in this post from last May. Here are the pictures I meant to attach.

24cm Bourgeat soup pot:



20cm, 24cm, and a pepper shaker for size.




And here's the 28cm Bourgeat rondeau I've been using for a couple years, just for good measure since I polished it and took a picture.

[Too Tall]

What is your fav. thing to cook in the rondeau?

[caleb]

@Too Tall Weeknights in the winter, it's Jaques Pepin's chicken jardiniere. Whole Foods' frozen pearl onions are the most brilliant cheat for this dish.



On winter weekends, it's Ina Garten's beef bourguignon over mashed potatoes, which I think is similar to something Julia Child did, which is probably more or less verbatim from a thousand French cookbooks, but I don't have French cookbooks or read French.

Get it started in the morning, go skiing for a couple hours, and come home to make the mashed potatoes in time for dinner.



In the summer... I polish it up and put it on the shelf.

[ericpmoss]

@ericpmoss I'd eat that! Nice work!

Also, any further review/photos/reports on the AdC pot? Now that they have a more or less functional website, I'm running out of excuses for not trying at least one of their pots out.

Thanks!

The 12cm stainless lined sauce pan is perfect for one person's oatmeal, cooking sugar for caramel, pan-toasting hazelnuts, and whatever else a small saucepan is good for. The lining is perfect after 5 years of use. I would have gotten a 16cm version if they had had a lid available, just because it fits my favorite ramen perfectly. However, cooking for one means lots of little pans are perfect.

The 12cm silver lined sauce pan is a bit shallower, which limits it somewhat. That said, it is amazing for beurre noisette, just like the frying pan cousin. Something about the silver just makes butter foam beautifully. I don't know if silver is any better for sauces, but the butter alone justifies it in my toy-obsessed mind. I really wish they offered a Windsor sauce pan for reducing sauces, but if I'm careful, I can do that very nicely in the silver-lined frying pan. I'd go for the stainless lined if I needed to scrape fond with anything more than a wood spoon, but short of that, silver.

edit -- I see they have a photo of a Windsor sauce pan, and if you want something specific, they say to ask them, and they can probably make it.

So if I were doing it all from scratch, cooking for one person...

(3) stainless 12cm pans (acidic sauce, toasting nuts, small deep fry)
(1) silver 12cm pan (buttery things)
(1) silver 16cm pan (one-pot meals needing initial searing)
(1) silver or stainless 18cm Windsor sauce pan (in case I learn French cooking, or feel like baking a souffle in it)
(1) tin 20cm pan (for pasta)
(1) silver frying pan, either kind of handle (26cm is big enough for 3 egg omelet and some veggies)
(1) biggest available stainless saute pan for all-in-one meals if I need leftovers)
Lids for everything
As many canele molds as I can manage (most half recipes need 7 molds)

If you never need to sear anything, the tin pans are fine for frying.

I really like my Bourgeat rounded corner saute pan for risotto, but the larger AdC sauce pans work just as well, if not quite as easy to scrape all around.

There used to be giant 30cm silver-lined saute pans, but I haven't seen them lately.

[caleb]

I've fallen off the polishing wagon.

[9tubes]

2020 has been a weird year to say the least. For a while all the stores were closed with the lock down. When they opened up again I was wandering through a local shopping mall here in Seattle and Williams Sonoma had their doors wide open and no one was inside. Bored, I decided to walk around. They were having a clearance sale of floor display items and I picked up a full sized copper Ruffoni roasting pan and lid for $200.

I didn't realize until I got home that it was tin lined. I wasn't too sure about that but I have to say now I'm completely sold. That stuff is more nonstick than Teflon and browns perfectly. Cleanup is so easy. Tin seems a waste for sauce pans but for a roasting pan it's ideal so long as no one decides to turn on the broiler and accidentally melt the tin.

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[Too Tall]

You dog.