Sorry to have ignored this blog for so long. Its been just about 2 years since I first had my pans. To this day the only 2 I use are the sauce pans and those are becoming troublesome. Last night I made pad thai, I can't use the skillet to do the stir fry so I only used the sauce pan to boil the noodles. 3 noodles got stuck to the bottom of the pan. I tried to get them off last night and failed, so I soaked the pan with hot water and soap for approximately 15 hours. The noodles were basically a part of the pan still. I tried boiling soapy water, no dice. I finally broke down a used a butter knife to scrape them off. Thankfully the pans are made of stainless steel so my butter knife didn't do any damage. In the end, I wouldn't recommend these pans to anyone for any reason. There's reason they don't sell them in the stores, if they did the return rate would be astronomical and the store would stop carrying them.
DON'T BUY VITA-CRAP PANS THEY ARE A NIGHTMARE.
Oy.
ReplyDeleteI have sold and used both Vita Craft and Ekco Home Products waterless cookware.
You can abuse it all you want, and it will survive. I gave sets to each of my siblings as wedding presents; they're all using them 50 or more years later. My sister just got an entirely new pan (as have I in the past) because a handle mount failed. Lifetime means just that. They won't ask you who you got it from, nor even when or where. If it's broken, they'll replace it. Handles and knobs are cheap replacements if you need them; the finger guards are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThat was just part one, the form won't take all of what I had to say, so, next:
If you insist on burning your food, have at it. If you can't turn the heat down enough that the lids will seal after they float, move the pan slightly off-center; they conduct so well that it won't matter. If moisture is escaping, the heat's too high. A slight vacuum (after the lid floats, to make the seal, reduce the heat; a vacuum forms) will accelerate the cooking time for anything with any moisture in it.
ReplyDeleteIf you forget and turn off the burner with the lid on, you'll never get it off without heating enough to make the vacuum release. I found an antique version (iron core) at a yard sale; I still use it, and I live on a boat, now - but it's got to be from the mid-50s or so, and still works like it's supposed to.
New ones are brilliant, stunning, and beautiful. Bon Ami or BarKeeper's Friend will keep your set brilliant with regular use. Prior posters have identified that if you manage to burn something, mere water just over it, boiled, and poke at the burn with a wooden spoon will pop it right off. Heat discoloration is removed with the above cleaners. Have you ever seen the top of a stainless steel barbecue? It's the same sort of discoloration, from heat. The stainless is still just fine.
ReplyDeleteA prior poster is a current vendor, and there have been several decades-using posters who have figured it out. When I was selling,they came with cookbooks. Do they no longer?
I wouldn't fry eggs without Pam or some other light lubricant, and I =do= use the bacon grease if I cook it before. There are many ways to better cook bacon than frying it, so I don't, much, but that, too, works. Put the lid on to accelerate the cooking, at a very low temperature. Sunny-sides will be closed-eyed, but only because there's heat all around; you can make them as runny or hard as you like, or over-easy or over hard, etc. Toss in a teaspoon of water to accelerate clabbering the whites.
How you buy it, and under what financial terms are your business; financing is not a reflection of the quality of the product nor the morals of the seller, nor is the price. You can buy anything today for half or double or more what someone else sells it for; Vita Craft and their distributors are no different. Cash is good, regardless of what you're buying, or for how much.
ReplyDeleteFor the one who thinks they paid $200 in the 60s, it's possible. But look up the current value of that year's $200 and you'd be amazed. If it's the last pot or pan you buy, and it looks great 60 years later, I'd think you got your money's worth, and so will your grandchild that you pass it to, as they're indestructible (unless you run over it with the car, accidentally, and maybe even not destroy it then).dd
Learn to cook with it, whether on electric, glass, gas (what we use aboard is propane), and you'll wonder how you ever did without it before.
I'd take the 11" fry pan into the (this will show you how old I am) home ec departments of schools, and, on a simple hotplate with a rheostat I installed in place of the on-off switch that came with it, make a jiffy cake.
ReplyDeleteFlipped it out onto a plate, put some Hershey bars on the top, and inverted the pan over it; the chocolate melted, I spread it, and in about 20 minutes from the time I started talking, they were eating cake. Cleanup was a swish with a dishrag; you prepare it just like you would a cake pan, except that I used the mix instead of flour, so that all I had to carry was the Jiffy box, my hotplate and my cookware; the labs had the rest (soap and water and a plate, a knife and forks for the students).
All the negative comments I've read could be summarized simply. You're using too much heat. Get it to where the lid will spin on the steam, and reduce - and don't peek.
ReplyDeleteTry again, that way. If the bottom stains on gas, it's your burner, not the pot. A slight heat discoloration will disappear easily with those two cleaners (either works just fine).
L8R
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We just got the pots... any updates... and I wanted to know about the interest cause I also believed all factored in.
ReplyDeleteMichelle, I gather you're not the original poster.
ReplyDeleteYour post is a bit challenging to understand in the context of this thread.
Are you a new buyer? What do you mean you just got any updates? Or do you mean "are there any updates to this thread that I haven't seen?"?
What interest? Financing? Interest by onlookers? Factored into what?