pots & pans - question
I like non-stick
Anodized?
Ceramic?
Porcelain Enamel?
Stainless Steel?
Copper?
Generally I don't do a lot with pans that have a non-stick coating. You need to be careful with temps on those. They're great for scrambling eggs and doing other relatively gentle cooking, but I wouldn't use them for anything high-heat.
Cast iron skillets are what I use for anything that's going to be high-heat and that I think needs to be close to "non-stick". Carbon steel is great for a wok. The downside to both obviously is that you need to make sure they are well cared for so they remained seasoned and don't rust. But it's not really hard. For example we made blackened mahi mahi a few nights ago in a cast iron skillet. Monday we're doing salmon cakes and that will be in the cast iron skillet. They get used frequently.
The bulk of what I use is stainless. Generally the best is heavier stuff that either has a very heavy base, or even better a tri-clad construction where the exterior is stainless but they'll have a thick layer of copper or aluminum (better conduction) as the middle layer so that you get good conduction across the entire cooking surface.
Enameled cast iron is AWESOME stuff. We have a Lodge 3.6 qt enameled cast iron braiser, a Le Creuset 5.7 qt dutch oven, a Lodge 6.5 qt dutch oven, and a Le Creuset 15.5 qt dutch oven. The last would be overkill for most people, but we have to cook for 5, including a 15 year old boy, so we need the space lol. All of them see heavy use in our kitchen. IMHO Lodge is the way to go. Le Creuset puts out great stuff, but I'm not sure the advantages are worth the cost. My wife had the 5.7 before we got married. I would have bought Lodge for the 15.5, but they don't make one anywhere near that big. Even then, it would have been hard to pull the trigger had I not bought it at the Le Creuset outlet in San Clemente, when they were having a 35% off sale, and the outlet was already discounted vs MSRP.
Generally I'd avoid anything "as seen on TV".
