Purchasing your next cookware utensil or set can be confusing. I will attempt to help you become more aware of what you are purchasing. Take stainless steel cookware as an example. By itself stainless steel is not a good conductor of heat therefore you will usually find aluminum or copper bonded to the base of stainless steel cookware to improve their conductivity. This is done by a process called lamination where copper or aluminum is laminated between two layers of stainless steel. Let’s have a closer look at stainless steel and a few of the more popular cookware materials.
Stainless Steel Cookware:
Basically stainless steel is basic iron with up to 8 alloys added to it depending on the quality. The major alloys in stainless steel are chromium and nickel, the chromium providing the stainless steel cookware with rust and corrosion resistance and durability and the nickel will providing additional rust protection, hardness and it gives stainless steel its high polishing characteristics. Remember what we said above, that stainless steel has up to 8 alloys added to it depending on the quality. There are ways that you can determine what quality stainless steel cookware you are buying.
The different ranges of quality in stainless steel cookware can be established by a set of numbers on the product or on the package. These numbers are 18/0, 18/8 or 18/10. What do these numbers mean? 18/0 and 18/8 refer to the percentage of chromium and nickel contained in the manufacture of this particular cookware. Before it can be classified as stainless steel, it must contain at least 11% chromium, although stainless steel cookware is normally made with 18% chromium and 8 to 10% nickel, therefore 18/8 or 18/10. Low end stainless steel products will not usually contain any nickel, hence an 18/0 rating which may be subject to rust spotting and not usually highly polished.
Aluminum Cookware:
Aluminum cookware is manufactured either by pressing to shape the cookware or by casting it. Most aluminum cookware today is pressed as casting is a slower more expensive process. However, casting produces a superior product that is usually thicker than pressed aluminum cookware, especially at the base and sides which helps to prevent warping. Also because of its porous nature, cast aluminum cookware will retain heat much better than pressed aluminum cookware. Unfortunately when polished it is difficult to know the difference between pressed aluminum cookware and cast aluminum cookware.
Copper Cookware:
Copper cookware is a great conductor of heat which makes it ideal for stove top cooking and as food serving utensils. Copper cookware usually contains nickel, tin or stainless steel to prevent the copper cookware from reacting to foods with a high acid content, which in some cases can be toxic. Also any cooked food which has been in direct contact with untreated copper will discolor and although not dangerous, it does take away from the appeal of the food.
When tin or nickel is added to copper cookware, you should be aware of the possibility of the nickel or tin wearing through to the inside of the copper cookware and as they are not very resilient. At this point you would want to have the copper cookware recoated. For better heat distribution copper is laminated between two layers of stainless steel.
Cast Iron Cookware:
Cast Iron cookware and cast iron products as a whole have been greatly improved by adding iron alloys to increase its strength. Cast iron cookware is excellent for browning, frying, stewing and even for baking. As a result they make excellent skillets, roasters, Dutch ovens, broilers, griddles and also muffin and corn bread pans. Cast iron cookware is also available with porcelain enamel exterior and interior finishes.
Some of the advantages of cast iron cookware are that it is relatively inexpensive to produce and holds heat longer than most other cookware. Disadvantages include rusting (should be lightly coated with cooking oil after washing), could react to food and tends to be heavy.
In conclusion, I hope I have made it somewhat easier for you when making your next cookware purchase. Whatever cookware you choose, you can be reassured by the fact that cookware today is of a far superior quality than in the past; that is not to say there are no low quality products on the market, you just have to apply what you have learned an if in doubt, ask questions.
About The Author
David Lynch is the owner of
A Cook’s Best Friend He enjoys baking, cooking and collecting recipes. His website has been on the internet for two years.