Kitchens are fun places in a home and also the most difficult to outfit. Pots and pans may be very basic and easy to find in supermarkets or home depots, but finding the right kind at the most reasonable prices makes it rather difficult. When you try to buy your cookware, at the back of your mind you would always hope they would last for more than just a few months. It is shocking to know that pots and pans have a wide range of prices and there are a lot of brands and kinds to choose from.
So what makes the process so complicated when at the end of the day they are still pots and pans? The price does make it complicated because some cookware comes with shocking prices. No matter what kind, which brand, and what size they are, they still end up with the same results – cooked food. They settle on the stove in the same way, they do not have special features as most of them look exactly the same. However, manufacturers are charging much for them.
So how do manufacturers justify the prices they put into these cookware? Science and cooking will help unravel the mystery behind these shocking prices.
Reactivity and combination metals
Cheap cookware is either made of a reactive or non-reactive metal. Click here to learn more about cookware materials.
If you are cooking something acidic and you are using a reactive pan, the metal that made up the pan will react with the ingredients and you will end up with an altered taste of the food you are cooking. Most of us do not want our food to taste differently as we expected, right? In order to achieve the right taste of the food you are cooking, you will need a non-reactive pan. However, materials used to manufacture a non-reactive cookware is are usually slow conductors of heat so there might be issues in uneven heat in the pan or unevenly warmed surface, which would still affect the food you are cooking, and you would not want that either.
In moments like this, you would wish that you have bought the expensive counterparts instead. The expensive ones have a great advantage on the cheap ones in terms of quality and efficiency. Higher quality pots and pans are often made of combined metals. They are often made in such a way that the core pot is made with aluminium, a reactive metal, and the inside is coated with non-reactive metal so that whatever touches your food does not give any reaction at all, therefore not altering the taste of your food. With these expensive choices, you get the best kind of cookware.
Managing Heat
The expensive cookware is made in such a way that they conduct heat easily and fast, this characteristic makes a difference in cooking. https://www.webstaurantstore.com/blog/postdetails.cfm?post=976 discusses the relationship between heat and cooking.
For example, when you are sautéing garlic, the pan will heat up fast and when you put your garlic and sauté it, when you have reached that spot of just being cooked right, not too much until it is burnt, you can easily get the pan off the stove and then the pan will cool down immediately so it prevents the garlic from burnt.
Pots and pans at higher prices are well-made and materials are thicker. Thicker materials would allow heat to be evenly spread out so even heat is applied to the food you are cooking; this would mean an evenly cooked food.
What you paid for is what you get
Generally speaking, expensive means quality; the more expensive, the higher the quality.
For beginners, this is going to be a big deal because you will not have to replace your cookware every now and then. The quality ones are built to last for a long time. Longevity would make it reasonable and cost-efficient to buy the expensive ones, rather than the cheap and low quality ones.
With cheap cookware, the quality of materials plus construction is also lesser. So you will be expecting broken handles in no time, holes, and other issues that would affect its efficiency. Hence, choosing the right quality and the best kitchen essentials could eventually mean unconsciously saving money which you would spend for repairs and buying replacements later on if you had chosen the cheaper versions. Also, it would add more flair and class to your kitchen aside from your way of providing good food for your loved ones. Convenience and safety in the kitchen is also an important facet in a comfortable home and good family life.