SC - rec.food.historic

[Philip & Susan Troy]

(side-hote: Balthazar, Calphalon IS aluminum.  Some of it is also
non-stick, but it is all anodized aluminum.)

I have a set of Calphalon.  I have the hard-anodized stuff, not the
non-stick (except for one piece that came as a freebie with my 10-piece
set.)  I love it - it has awesome heat capacity, and it's suitably
non-stick without the help of teflon or the need for seasoning.  I find
it's not quite non-stick enough for very delicate things like homemade
perogies, but I keep a cheap teflon pan around for those rare things.

The one caveat I have is this:  my fiance managed to ruin one piece
rather spectacularly.  We made chocolate chip pancakes in it, and the
chocolate stuck to the bottom like, well, teflon.  Rather than put some
elbow grease into cleaning it, he resorted to the method that works well
with stainless steel - he squirted in some liquid dishwasher detergent
and left it to sit.  Remember when the Joker landed in the vat of
industrial waste in Batman?  It looks like that.  So, they're not
indestructable.  You can, however, scrub the bejesus out of them with
green scrubbies.  They're not delicate, they're just not 100%
non-reactive like stainless steel.

Following that point, also keep in mind that you're not supposed to make
acidic things like tomato sauce in aluminum.  I don't know why - I've
forgotten and used my Calphalon for heating up spaghetti sauce, and it
didn't seem to make a difference to the sauce or to the pot.  I s'pose
it's that Altzheimer's thing.  (What was I writing about, again?)

In summary, I would highly recommend Calphalon - but make sure you have
a couple of other pieces around, too.

- -Magdalena vander Brugghe