Not sure if this means I've arrived? TRUMP COOKING THREAD.

[Tail Chaser]

Accomplished fisherman... CHECH
Master Chef... half CHECK

COOKING MUST HAVES???

Uhh I'm drunk (it's the norm) Cooking some Dorado, cauliflower, and Potatoes.

Thinking about expensive tools for cooking our catch, and wondering what is expensive and what just makes sense...

How many of you ladies and gentlemen are the master of both sea and kitchen... what are your indispensable tools?

Costco had a nice set of All-clad pots and pans for $400... wife was all in and I said we only needed a few things not all these... She agreed but she SHIT later when I showed her only our needs... ha ha THOUGHTS?
I convinced the wife we needed to add these:

 

[wils]

Who pan fries dorado?
Merry Christmas.....
Fire Magic Echelon Diamond E790S 36-Inch Propane Gas Grill W/ Side Burner, Rotisserie, & Digital Thermometer - E790S-8E1P-62 : BBQGuys

 

[yakdout]

Why is the cast iron so expensive? That thing should be $40-$50 tops. I have a mix of stainless steel and a few other non Stick pans, can’t remember the coating but they are not Teflon.

 

[Tail Chaser]

Who pan fries dorado?
Merry Christmas.....
Fire Magic Echelon Diamond E790S 36-Inch Propane Gas Grill W/ Side Burner, Rotisserie, & Digital Thermometer - E790S-8E1P-62 : BBQGuys

Oven today... panko crusted actually. In general I am talking... halibut is almost always pan fried for me. You?

 

[Tail Chaser]

Why is the cast iron so expensive? That thing should be $40-$50 tops. I have a mix of stainless steel and a few other non Stick pans, can’t remember the coating but they are not Teflon.

I have a few good cast iron pans all 10" this is 12" with a lid? Expensive compared to china thina pans but for the good USA stuff you either find OLD or Spend $

 

[wils]

Oven today... panko crusted actually. In general I am talking... halibut is almost always pan fried for me. You?

Cheap Weber whenever possible for me. Although your Panko crusting sounds like an excellent diversion from the BBQ.

 

[One_Leg]

Who pan fries dorado?
Merry Christmas.....
Fire Magic Echelon Diamond E790S 36-Inch Propane Gas Grill W/ Side Burner, Rotisserie, & Digital Thermometer - E790S-8E1P-62 : BBQGuys

At that price, it had better be made out of diamonds!!!

 

[Tail Chaser]

Cheap Weber whenever possible for me. Although your Panko crusting sounds like an excellent diversion from the BBQ.

ON POINT!
That "cheap" Weber... changed my life... I used to be a Strictland Propane kinda guy... till I went to a picnic without my grill... bought that weber at walmart and proceeded to cook the best salmon I have ever tasted... since then went Kamado... but kitchen tools are still priority.

 

[wils]

At that price, it had better be made out of diamonds!!!

Well... he did say that he wanted expensive.

 

[Jimmy Boy]

That Smithey carbon steel pan is pretty sweet but that is a hefty price tag. I have a Smithey #10 cast iron skillet that I received as a gift and it's nice but I wouldn't spend that kind of money on it on my own.

For cast iron my go-to's are all Lodge (both new and vintage) and most everything I cook is in cast iron. You can't argue that the newer hip cast iron brands like Smithey, Finex and Field to name a few are cool and nice to show off but a simple Lodge or even Camp Chef if you don't mind overseas product, will perform the same for a fraction of the price.

The Wife and I did buy a set of Cook Best stainless clad years ago that takes care of anything else that I won't cook in my cast iron. There are many brands of stainless clad sets that get the job done for far less than the All-Clad brand in my opinion although they are nice if you don't mind the price.

Good luck on the purchases, looks like fun!

 

[Tail Chaser]

That Smithey carbon steel pan is pretty sweet but that is a hefty price tag. I have a Smithey #10 cast iron skillet that I received as a gift and it's nice but I wouldn't spend that kind of money on it on my own.

For cast iron my go-to's are all Lodge (both new and vintage) and most everything I cook is in cast iron. You can't argue that the newer hip cast iron brands like Smithey, Finex and Field to name a few are cool and nice to show off but a simple Lodge or even Camp Chef if you don't mind overseas product, will perform the same for a fraction of the price.

The Wife and I did buy a set of Cook Best stainless clad years ago that takes care of anything else that I won't cook in my cast iron. There are many brands of stainless clad sets that get the job done for far less than the All-Clad brand in my opinion although they are nice if you don't mind the price.

Good luck on the purchases, looks like fun!

I agree I have the old lodge cast iron skillet and Dutch oven... in the Trailer... just need some refinements.

 

[Rocket Dog]

I found a few 14 and 18' cast iron pans that where getting throw out because they were rusty and looked horrible. Few minutes with there wire wheel and some salt n oil, seem like new now,

 

[Jimmy Boy]

I found a few 14 and 18' cast iron pans that where getting throw out because they were rusty and looked horrible. Few minutes with there wire wheel and some salt n oil, seem like new now,

If you don't mind the smoke an oven self clean cycle will strip cast iron bare so that you can start fresh with your seasoning process.

 

[Rocket Dog]

If you don't mind the smoke an oven self clean cycle will strip cast iron bare so that you can start fresh with your seasoning process.

I don't but my wife, well that is the perfect excuse for her to get new matching appliance set when all I wanted was to fry chicken.

 

[Grandpa]

All-Clad and Lodge for iron.
Plus a cast iron flat griddle.
Handles most needs.

 

[KnotyBuoyz]

I don't but my wife, well that is the perfect excuse for her to get new matching appliance set when all I wanted was to fry chicken.

I found a few 14 and 18' cast iron pans that where getting throw out because they were rusty and looked horrible. Few minutes with there wire wheel and some salt n oil, seem like new now,

If you are going to let your wife go get an 18’ matching appliance to go with that 18’ cast iron pan, you better start catching more fish bro. Sounds like one hell of a fish/fried chicken party coming soon.

An 18’ Wolf rangetop would make the cost of those wils posted up seem like a Weber. Can’t wait to see it

 

[jiggermyster]

If you don't mind the smoke an oven self clean cycle will strip cast iron bare so that you can start fresh with your seasoning process.

You can season 'em in the oven too.

 

[marlyn]

Lodge for me,I sand them and re season them when i get them and they are as smooth as a 100 year old griswold.Smithey,finex,field and stargazer are just taking advantage of the cast iron trend but in the end its just cast iron with a smoother finish and a fancy box.
A 10.25 lodge skillet is 20.00 or less on ebay.

 

[mrkrabs]

 

[Laukia]

The only "indispensable" one around our house that I see there, is the wok.

Stir fried tuna (or yellowtail/dorado) is da kine. Best is the thin pieces that are collected scraping the meat off the spines after your filleting. A designated bowl for small pieces or scrapes is set out before major cleaning starts. Surprising how much is collected before the carcass is thrown out. Wok oil, garlic, purple onion, red bell pepper, soy sauce, w/oyster, tiger, pickapeppa sauce, over rice.............killer!

 

[jiggermyster]

Iron skillets bring back a childhood memory.

I'd bought me a sinker mold and hit up the service station down the street for some wheel weights.
Drug out dad's oxy/acetylene rig to melt the lead.
Tossed the weights into a coffee can... and melted the can.
Then the light bulb moment... mom's iron skillet!
Worked a dream.

Ever been beaten with a lead lined cast iron skillet?

Mom drove me down to Long Beach Surplus so I could buy her another skillet. Then she taught me how to season it.

 

[Jimmy Boy]

Iron skillets bring back a childhood memory.

I'd bought me a sinker mold and hit up the service station down the street for some wheel weights.
Drug out dad's oxy/acetylene rig to melt the lead.
Tossed the weights into a coffee can... and melted the can.
Then the light bulb moment... mom's iron skillet!
Worked a dream.

Ever been beaten with a lead lined cast iron skillet?

Mom drove me down to Long Beach Surplus so I could buy her another skillet. Then she taught me how to season it.

There may or may not have been some kitchen utensils that fell victim to the old smelting pot and ended up in old Lyman molds at my house growing up.....

 

[FishinMcNuggets]

Honestly, I can't see being without Pyrex. We love baking fish. Pyrex: Pani popo, cake, flan, lasagna, enchiladas. Shake and bake fish! Yummm!

 

[Tail Chaser]

Non stick steel

 

[Brad I]

I worked my way through school cooking and catering and manage to catch my share of fish, so I guess I qualify.

IMHO, if you really want to know what to get, then over 3 months just write down what you wish you had when you were cooking, and take a look at the list. That's what you need.

But my must haves are a good and complete set of SHARP knives. I like Froschner, especially with the fibrox handles which offer a more solid grip.

Next would be a set of good 7, 9 and 12" saute pans with lids coupled with 1, 2, 3 and 5 qt saucepans (the 5 qt doubles as a dutch oven) and a stockpot (at least 12 qts), also with lids.

A complete set of stirring spoons, spatulas, ladles, etc. are requirements.

My last true "must have" is my 6qt pro model KitchenAid mixer (I do a lot of baking).

Next level would be the largest size Breville countertop toaster oven you have room for, a blender of choice, I love my Meco electric smoker and weber grill. 10" and 12" skillets with 2-3" sides are very useful; I also hae a 14" one that gets a surprising amount of use. If you live in a home, an herb garden is also key and you can slip thyme (and esp lemon thyme), rosemary, sage, tarragon, oregano, mint and many others into the landscape and no one would notice that they are cooking herbs (even the front yard, but not near the sidewalk where curious dogs might sniff and well, you know ). If you bake, then clay bread pans and a pizza stone are pretty much "must haves". Cushion-aire type bakeware also goes a huge way to eliminating burnt crusts and bottoms on cookies, cakes, etc.

Over-rated? Most food processors (more of a pain to haul out, clean, dry and put away than they're worth, unless you do a LOT of cutting), more than a couple of cast iron pans (too heavy and unwieldy and good quality cookware will suffice for most jobs), a wok (great in a professional Chinese style kitchen, but being mounted on a ring in a western kitchen takes them too far away from the heat source and you don't get the true heat blast that makes them so good for stir frying), a rice cooker (why get another appliance that takes up room when rice and water can easily be cooked in a pot?). Most any single purpose appliance or pot/pan--do you really make paella enough to justify a paella pan?


I'm sure that there's enough there where almost anyone will nod in agreement with some of my ideas and think "WTF" with others. To each his own, which is why my first suggestion was over the course of three months write down what you wish you had at some point in your cooking and that should be your starting shopping list).