cheap kitchen ware vs posh

[ViolentPanda]

Japanese Water-Stone pr0n.

 

[Pingu]

good video on how to hone using a steel. usng a stone will eventually shorten the life of the blade

http://www.videojug.com/film/sharpening-a-knife-with-a-steel

apols for the mcds adverts

 

[ViolentPanda]

good video on how to hone using a steel. usng a stone will eventually shorten the life of the blade

http://www.videojug.com/film/sharpening-a-knife-with-a-steel

apols for the mcds adverts

I mostly use a steel to sharpen. I only use a stone if the blade takes a nick.

 

[Pat24]

My boyfriend is a bit like yours, he insists on splashing out on more expensive things, because he says, they are better quality. Ok, fair enough. I have accepted this because i've come to realise that he's right about it. However, it won't make me spend ridiculous amounts of money on stuff, because after all, i am the sensible spender. He's the middle class boy, and I've been poor all my life..hehehehe

 

[geekpenguin]

If I'm honest, I love the look of kitchenware like Magimix and Dualit and all that. My nan gave me a Kenwood Mixer (with gadgets) for my 21st this year, which I *love*. However, I'd probably go to Ikea or the like for plates and stuff, because as you say, they break easily however much they cost. At least if they're cheaper, they're less expensive to replace.

If you're going for something like a wok, the cheaper the better - apparantly (according to the Wagamama's chef team) it's because you're supposed to oil it, which gives it it's quality, rather than the actual wok itself being really expensive. Probably also because you're going to end up bishbashboshing it around the hob tho, too.

If I was going to buy an expensive item of kitchenware, it'd be a toaster. ALL of the toasters we've had for the last I-don't-know-how-long have been absolutely awful, and the last one - a John Lewis' dealy - has just gone home after 6 months, so that'll be going back. Thankfully the warranty is still in. Must convince those at home to go for a Dualit one it'd be worth it, even if it's just a two-slice cause they last for ages!

 

[tarannau]

Yep, the best woks are cheapo carbon steel ones imo, same with black iron griddles and hob to oven pans - cheap enough to get a few of and worry about later.

Le Creuset for casseroles perhaps, but I'm not particularly brand fussy or one of those people who go after a complete set. I've got a real mish-mash of bits and pieces and I'm happy enough. Could do with a larger casserole if I come into money. Plates and crockery all came cheap from the habitat sale years ago. Various other chinese bowls and bits and pieces.

I'm a bit into knife porn too - 8 Global knives. I can't quite justify or bring myself to buy a ninth to finish off the block. I've got a couple of assorted Henckels and Gustavs to finish off the needs.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

Yep, the best woks are cheapo carbon steel ones imo, same with black iron griddles and hob to oven pans - cheap enough to get a few of and worry about later.

*gasp*

Good ones are for life-- no worries ever.

 

[scifisam]

The cheap plates I got from Wilkinson's (£12 for a set of 12 in ivory - they also had other pretty colours) the other day have turned out to be even more of a bargain than I was expecting. They're really thick - less chance of my GF breaking them - and HUGE. The side plates are the size of dinner plates, and the dinner plates are like servng plates. That means we now have enough matching plates big enough to serve everyone at Christmas.

It becomes clear

Bloody archaic spellings ey?

It's not an archaic spelling - whet is a different word to wet. It means to sharpen.

 

[spanglechick]

I'm toying with going for really pretty plates / glasses etc bought one at a time. Mismatching being the name of the game. I reckon you can get really pretty old stuff much more cheaply than if you have a set. Ditto new stuff. Insane to buy a whole set of plates at a tenner each... but treat yourself to one, once in a blue moon?

 

[tarannau]

*gasp*

Good ones are for life-- no worries ever.

Heh. If you've got a good vintage pan you've every right to treasure it - I prize my gran's 70+ year old tawah as much for sentimental reasons as the fact it's a superb pan and cooking surface.

But I'm not quite as misty-eyed about my cheap cast iron griddles (£5 from Robert Dyas years ago iirc), as useful as they are.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

I've found yard sales are great places to find fine old cast ironware if you know your trademarks. Often it looks hideous and rusty, but as long as it's not badly pitted it can be resurrected with a metal brush attachment on your power drill and not too much effort.

I also have a wok that's from some hotshot craft foundry in Japan. Admittedly, it cost a fair bit; but you wouldn't normally expect something you'll use nearly every day for the rest of your life to come cheap.

 

[oryx]

I bought some friends a Le Creuset omelette pan for a wedding present and the handle snapped off in less than a year.

And it was genuine Le Creuset, bought from some department store not from a Del Boy Trotter lookalike on East St Market!

Le Creuset looks nice but I find it far too heavy.

Our stuff is all mismatched. I like some really old stuff like my mum's 1960s mechanical whisk and a wooden potato masher that was my great-gran's.

 

[Epona]

Don't you think that just might be cos you bought it from Global though?

Whetstone is a proper word that doesn't result from any company or branding, it's been in use for centuries, it means a stone used to sharpen knives/blades. If you "whet your appetite", it means to sharpen or hone your appetite, as in sharpening a blade.

To move on to other comments on this thread, I have never had nor wanted a Le creuset of any description - I have sodding weak joints and arthritis which makes heavy pans a risky proposition! It is generally a good tip to go for pans as thick and heavy as possible, because they retain heat better and spread it more evenly over the cooking surface - but that should never be at the expense of being able to pick it up once it's filled with spuds and boiling water

 

[wayward bob]

I'm toying with going for really pretty plates / glasses etc bought one at a time. Mismatching being the name of the game. I reckon you can get really pretty old stuff much more cheaply than if you have a set. Ditto new stuff. Insane to buy a whole set of plates at a tenner each... but treat yourself to one, once in a blue moon?

this is what i've always done - i love crockery and pretty glasses and couldn't bear to limit myself to a single design, or tastefully plain, and could never afford to get a whole set at a time. i often treat myself to a single item, or if i want matching buy in threes (as one will get broken sooner or later). i stick to blue/white for china and clear/green for glasses (those just seem to be the "right" colours to me), to make it a little less random. it's great, i have loads of different shapes and designs which are all favourites for different types of meal.

couldn't stick odds and sods of cutlery though - i'm really fussy about weight and proportion so i've gradually collected a mostly matching set in a classic, simple design.

 

[Ms T]

*gasp*

Good ones are for life-- no worries ever.

I've got two woks - one is much better than the other because the steel is much thicker. It's very nicely seasoned now - even my friend who's Chinese Malaysian from Singapore was impressed.

 

[tarannau]

Intrigued by that Ms T - I'm not convinced that the thickness of the wok makes that much of a difference with most oriental cooking (ie various stir fries). The carbon steel heats up quick, the food's tossed around for a few mins and that's about it - the power of your hob seems far more vital than anything else. I'd kill for a superpowered wok burner - then stir fries for more than a couple of people at a time would become a real option.

I've got a thicker ponicified carbon steel wok and I use it most of the time, simply because it's larger. But I do find the cooking not that dissimilar with the thinner one tbh - it's slightly easy to flip around and toss if anything. If the food's being cooked for any longer then the thicker, but similar shaped, Karahi comes out.

 

[Ms T]

Intrigued by that Ms T - I'm not convinced that the thickness of the wok makes that much of a difference with most oriental cooking (ie various stir fries). The carbon steel heats up quick, the food's tossed around for a few mins and that's about it - the power of your hob seems far more vital than anything else. I'd kill for a superpowered wok burner - then stir fries for more than a couple of people at a time would become a real option.

I've got a thicker ponicified carbon steel wok and I use it most of the time, simply because it's larger. But I do find the cooking not that dissimilar with the thinner one tbh - it's slightly easy to flip around and toss if anything. If the food's being cooked for any longer then the thicker, but similar shaped, Karahi comes out.

The thicker one is definitely better, and seems to season better than the thin one. I've had it a lot longer, but it's completely black and non-stick now. I do have a wok burner, but I find you have to be very careful not to burn your garlic/ginger. I'm forever turning it down!

And I'm not convinced that stir-fries for more than two people at a time are ever possible, unless you use more than one pan. If you put too much stuff in your wok it steams rather than fries, ifswim.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

I've never coveted a dedicated wok burner because for most of the year I cook on a wood-burning cookstove. For stir-frying, I just lift off one of the key-plates over the firebox, replace it with the wok and arrange the wood so as to concentrate the flames directly onto the convex bottom. I don't know exactly what that means in terms of BTUs but it has to be in the 40,000+ range.

 

[ViolentPanda]

Our stuff is all mismatched. I like some really old stuff like my mum's 1960s mechanical whisk and a wooden potato masher that was my great-gran's.

Same sort of thing here. We've got a hand-whisk from the 1960s, a lovely palatte knife from the 1970s, a mouli-grater and a mouli-herb and various other kitchen antiques, because they do the job.

 

[Gromit]

Pots and pans? I'm the only one who needs to see em really so sod what they look like. They have to do the job and not stick or scratch easily etc.

Plates and cuttlery. Ikea. Cheap, solid, easily replaced. Yet still stylish.

Washing: Dishwasher tablets. Mid range price.

Knives. A mix of good ones and cheap ones.

 

[kyser_soze]

Pity wry can't see this thread, cos she's been an ultra-keen and price conscious buyer of Le Creuset stuff over the last year - got some original LC stuff off of eBay for something like £100 off retail, so worth looking around for bargains on it.

Seconded on the knives as well - I bought a carbon steel one (can't remember the brand) about 10 years ago and it's still going strong (if somewhat smaller than when I first bought it!!).

Crockery...Doulton and the rest of them are lovely if someone else is buying you a set, but I'm with cheap-low mid price stuff that's chunky and durable rather than gorgeous to look at...same goes for cutlery, altho again, I like something with some weight and thickness to it...

Washing - Fairy Liquid. When I was living in my last share house, we did an experiment. Someone got the value Lidl stuff and I got the Fairy, and there was a (very long) 'wash off' and the Fairy won...Lidl ran out at about the 2/3 mark on the Fairy and it was a bigger bottle, so I've stuck to Fairy ever since

 

[pennimania]

Well, the best plates I ever got cost nothing because I found 12 of them being thrown away in a skip in west Regent Street in Glasgow. Very plain, very large. Perfecto

Also got 18 brand new Dos Equis lager glasses (still in the box). Coould have had more stuff but we couldn't carry it.

Seems a bistro had shut down and they were just dumping the stuff