Cookware
I can no longer market this cookware; as Belkraft no longer has
dealers and distributors but markets only through their website
www.belkraftcookware.com But I did so much research and homework
on this subject I felt you needed to know what I discovered. So I have
retained all my info for you to absorb and ponder so you can make the
right decisions in selecting the cookware for your home. Enjoy and be educated.
I'll get the pics put in soon.
What is best? Why do I need good cookware? This page is a thorough
education in cookware. cookware presentation
There's a big story to tell
here. It's not just about finding the best priced
T304 surgical stainless steel
with titanium cookware on the planet, MADE
IN AMERICA not in China, but about many things you and your family need
to know that affects your health
and well being involving how you cook your
food and what you cook it in to gain
maximum nutrition and flavor from your food.
What pans to stay away from
cookware demonstration links
why waterless/oilless? how it's made-how to use it
cookware facts-faq
T304
- the Rolls Royce of cookware
sets and pieces available
How to place an order
How did I get into cookware of all things?
I'm sharing my hundreds and hundreds of hours of research on this subject.
Our cookware
was a mishmash of junk and pieces purchased from Salvation Army,
Goodwill, St Vincent De Paul, Sears, Walmart, etc. over the years and we knew it
was time for a change. But to
what? Like buying a car; the first step is to get
informed. Little did I know that what I really needed to know, I didn't know.
This
page will get
you up to speed on what you need to know to make some intelligent
decisions
in choosing cookware.
Our First exposure to real cookware
After sitting through both a Lustre Craft as well as a Kitchen Craft stainless cookware
demonstration at our state fair I was impressed enough with all the things I wasn't
aware of to know this was an area
I had to look deeper into. I decided to research
the subject further to determine what was the best cookware set to buy
for us that
didn't fracture my pocketbook like the two brands above; which are also made
by
the same manufacturer by the way. It was obvious the benefits of waterless/oilless
cooking were great health wise.
I knew what we had wasn't good; aluminum, cast
iron, copperclad, teflon, even a
couple stainless pieces, but didn't realize how
important using the right type
of stainless was either. Food stuck to the stainless
pans we were using. This was not a quick research project and led to many deceptive
offerings
and wallet robbing practices prevalent in this industry. I even subscribed
to Consumer Reports to get
their feedback on the subject but they are not up to
speed on what the industry currently has to offer.
I discovered
that www.regalware.com
bought out most of the competition including
West Bend, and now makes, imports or controls 90% of the
cookware sold in
America today through a
gazillion labels. You can see many of these cheap sets
on Ebay where you get
lots of pieces of low quality cookware for too little money
spent; many of which
come from China. If I know their fish is fed chicken droppings,
milk powder from China contains melamine plastic, and
their chicken is sometimes
comprised of dead renderings instead of fresh killed; why would I trust their stainless
steel to
be the expensive surgical T304 stainless instead of scrap stainless; no matter
what
the label says? I will only know after it separates, pits and warps. On Ebay you
can also find good prices on used quality cookware like saladmaster, at a reasonable
price. Saladmaster is considered by the unknowing
as the cadillac standard cookware
is judged by with a price tag to match because of how it is marketed.
Their claim
to
fame is they use 316L stainless instead of T304 surgical stainless like other top
brands, but the difference is only a 2% molybdenum component added for more
salt resistance normally only required for
nautical applications. 304T has 19 parts
chrome and 10 parts nickel. With the Titanium, this metal is 92 on the Rockwell
hardness scale. 316
has 17 parts chrome and 12 parts nickel with 2 parts molybdenum
and is 95 on the
Rockwell harness scale. When either of these
two metals are used
in the manufacturing of cookware, there would be no
significant wear or porosity
difference in the course of use over a lifetime. Both are ideal.
Basically the 316L
stainless claim is a marketing gimmick to help justify the product's high end
cost.
The Saladmaster brand is only a 5 ply pan, NOT a 7 ply with surgical stainless
only on the inside, not the outside also. They don't disclose that on their site.
Good product but there is better for
much less money. Saladmaster can run you
$3.5K - $7k and more for a
set. Crazy. Most Saladmaster cookware is sold
through home dinner parties which pay lots of commissions to the people
who
put on the parties. A really nice
23 piece set of
American made 7
ply - the whole
pan including sidewalls is 7 ply, not just the bottom, T304 surgical stainless inside
and out,
with the three way whistle lid and wrap around cool touch handles,
Belkraft can be had factory direct for much less. All are great cookware, just
depends on what you
want to pay and how many plies wall thickness you want.
The more plies, the higher the heat retention and more even the cooking.
There
isn't a better grade of cookware out there that can beat the Belkraft
label cookware.
How cookware is sold
I also discovered most cookware is way over
priced because of the way it is
sold; through fairs, home parties, home shows, TV ads and demonstrations,
etc. There are simply too many middlemen in the
distribution chain getting a
piece of the action so you end up paying 3 times or more what the cookware
is actually worth.
Typically, if you are buying Saladmaster, Kitchencraft,
Lustrecraft, Healthcraft, or other brands marketed in this fashion, you are paying
for up to 8
different levels of commission. It is not like you get what you pay for.
You pay for a lot of different people in the marketing chain involved taking a piece
of the profit such as:
Master Distributors
Regional Distributors
Master Dealers (even here they have different levels of dealers)
Secondary Dealers
Managers
Senior Consultants
Consultants
Referral commissions needing to be paid, etc.
Buying
directly from a wholesaler/manufacturer or the manufacturer's rep and
eliminating the middleman overhead is where you want to
be headed. I'll show
you where
our journey took us.
Want a better price without 8 hands in the cookie jar?
You can get a 16pc Master set (sets A and B) that we sell here for
less money than you would have paid for a 5 pan - 3 lid Basic set of
Lustre Kraft at their
"fair special" of $1695 (a 2014 price - I didn't pick up a
sheet at this year's fair) and even though 7 ply, their set doesn't have the
whistle lids to tell you when to turn the heat down. The difference is in
steaming your veggies instead of vaporseal cooking them at lower
temperature (165 - 180 degrees) which preserves more nutrition. Our
16 pc Master set (sets A and B) contains everything most families
need at
a very reasonable price and there is no better quality out there - Lustre
Kraft,
Kitchen Kraft, Health Craft, and SaladMaster included.
Non stick; really?
Most waterless stainless
cookware is not as non stick as they would have you
believe. Easy to clean yes,
most of the time, if you didn't apply too much heat,
but not absolutely non stick like they try to
demonstrate at the fairs. The T304
stainless with titanium is very closed pored though so sticking is not a big problem
and
guidelines on how to clean an overheated pan with a resulting sticky bottom
mess
work well if followed. T304 surgical stainless is as close
as
you will ever get to non stick for a stainless pan. As you master low heat cooking,
you will master the non stick feature
of T304 surgical stainless where you can
simply wipe out the residue with a paper towel. But I would question
selling a
person any
stainless pan and claim it is as absolutely non stick as a brand
new teflon pan or a
titanium pan. Teflon
pans are a real no-no today. Here's why.
You have to move into a titanium coated aluminum to really get non stick;
and it is absolutely non stick. We own two HG-Pro titanium ceramic
skillets
made by Vollrath and like them very much, have had them over a year now,
use them almost every day and they are still non stick. They are not a
super
thick pan and won't heat the sides evenly like 7 Ply will but have a fairly
stout base. Cost is $80 - $120/pan on up. http://www.pro-hgcookware.com/
The best titanium pans are made by http://www.titaniumexclusive.com
in Germany, are very expensive - like $250 for their smallest 8" frying
pan,
are 7 - 8mm thick, but they are the most non stick pan you can get and
should
last forever. However, none of their pots and pans stack on top
of one another
like this line of pans do for cooking a meal on a single
burner, and only a few
models of their fry pans or
deep fry pans contain a ferritic steel layer in them
for use on induction stovetops or
with a countertop induction unit like the
Nuwave Pro1800 cookstation (~$180) you see at
http://www.hsn.com/shop/ming-tsai/11559
which can be regulated to within
10 degrees of what temperature you want to maintain the pan at.
Think no more burnt popcorn or anything with such control.
All our stainless pots and pans are induction burner ready.
What type of pans to stay away from
See cookware toxic pans
for some pics of what I mean. Read all of that
page. First stay away from aluminum pans unless they
are clad (the aluminum
is encapsulated between other layers and doesn't touch your food) . Aluminum
intake enhances alzheimers and all aluminum pans
scuff off some aluminum into
your food during each use. ALL of them! The results at the University of California
found that 90% of
autopsies of people who died from Alzheimers had high levels
of aluminum in them. From where? Probably many sources including
aluminum
pop and beer cans, the high quantities of aluminum powder being dumped into
our atmosphere via
chemtrails; but a huge source is aluminum cookware. In
Canada
it is illegal to use aluminum cookware when preparing food for the elderly
in
old folks homes. Next they are trying to get aluminum pots and pans outlawed
for use in public
restaurants. I help prepare a meal for about 120 homeless each
week at our local church. Huge
kitchen, beautifully done with stainless tables
and all. We have ONE pot that is all stainless; EVERYTHING else including all
the
large pots and frying pans is aluminum.
Aluminum cookware is a huge problem
people are not yet aware of.
Stay away from Teflon pans of any kind - think TFal.
The teflon eventually comes
off, ends up in your food, and is a poison to you as is the aluminum left underneath
the teflon once the teflon
leaves. Also when you find a teflon coating you also find
flouride along with it. Teflon cookware contains
perfluoroctanoic acid (PFOA) and
is now found in the bloodstream of virtually every US citizen. As the teflon surface
breaks
down PFOA's, think increased cancer risk, are allowed to enter your
bloodstream.
Cast iron rusts and sluffs off iron oxide as you use it, is too porous
and harbors
bacteria in those pours.. Men don't need more iron. Too much iron
in the body increases free radical damage to too many
tissues. The only way
men can decrease iron content in their blood is through blood donation so they
are
making new replacement blood cells and diluting the overall blood volume.
Copperclad, like Revereware, heats
unevenly and the cookware warps if over
heated. Copper cookware can release
copper into the food by leaching through
the usual single layer of low grade stainless
it is attached to and is often used
with nickel in the coating, both of which
increase cancer risk. Ceramic, enamel,
and glass cookware may contain lead, an unknown fact to most
people. Lead
gives the cookware shock resistance and color uniformity. Lead
toxicity can
damage the nervous system.
Stay away from cheap made in
China look alikes. Wholesalers buy cheap
Chinese cookware sets as low as $35 for
a complete set and then turn around
and market that junk for $150 - $200 - $300 so people think they are getting a
great deal in a
price range they are willing to pay for; but in fact it's terrible stuff;
pits, warps, separates, and sticks. You are probably
getting stainless scrap
metal in your china cookware and not high quality T304
surgical stainless.
Some cheap cookware says made in America but is really a
Chinese pan with
handles put on in America so they can say it is American made.
Beware
of
paying too little for your cookware.
History of cookware
www.belkraftcookware.com
belongs to the original founder of Belkraft cookware,
Cy Bulke. Cy started the Belkraft
Company about 56 years ago, late 50's,
and built it to where at one point there were 590 salespeople. Each were
expected to produce at
least $2500/month in sales. They supplied free samples,
did their own financing,
etc. This company earned a very excellent reputation.
This cookware was originally manufactured in Canada but later manufacturing
was moved to the New Era facility in Clarksville, Tennessee which made the
same pots and pans for them and put their label on
them.
New Era makes pots and pans for some 36 different labels. After 30 years
of
running the business Cy retired, and gave the business to one of his sons. The
son
started lowering the salesman's commissions, removing the perks, and one by
one
the salesmen left. It took only 3 years to see the business flounder.
Then
Cy took the company back and decided to change the way the cookware was sold,
using the Internet and selling product factory direct instead of using
home parties,
fairs, TV ads and a sales force.
This has proven successful and Cy has other
family to take over his position if
he chooses to retire again. Us type A's never
retire we just do something
different.
Waterless cookware demonstrations
Go to www.youtube.com and type in
"waterless cookware demonstrations" and
watch a few videos to get the
hang of what this is all about and why cooking in this
manner is such a health boost.
A good one to watch is from Health Craft and can
be
found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXvAQaN1doo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXvAQaN1doo&feature=pyv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtzDFYSuSYA
is yet another.
Watch several videos from different companies and don't be lured by the ads
as they are all trying to sell you overpriced expensive stuff
due to their multi level
deep commission structure as I mentioned
above. Return here and
continue on
for the rest of the facts and where to obtain a high quality set for a reasonable price
without having to ransom your
daughter in the process.
So why would I want or need to do
waterless/oilless cooking?
What's wrong with broiling, boiling, frying, or baking at 375 degrees?
Here's the short answer and go to cookwarefacts
for a more complete answer.
Oilless cooking should be a no brainer. Oil
is fat, worth 9 calories per gram
as opposed to 4 cal per gram for either
protein or carbohydrates. Both
unburned protein as well as unburned
carbohydrates are converted by the
body into fat and stored as fat. So why would you compound that problem
further by consuming fat in the form of cooking
oils, even olive and coconut
oil, if you could cook food in their natural juices and not have to add any oil
at
all? Your dietary fats should come in the form of nuts and the natural omega
3 rich oil in the fish you eat and from avocados;
not from external oil, especially
processed liquid artery clogging transfat oils, sold and promoted for cooking
your food in. The soy oil,
canola oil, and liquid vegetable oils you see on your
grocery store shelf are simply poison to you. You can cook your fish
or steak in
a bare heated T304 surgical
stainless pan without any additional oil whatsover.
In fact you may probably have to drain off some of the fat that liquifies as it
comes out of the meat during cooking.
Vapor cooking is a process of cooking your vegetables
and meat in
a
vacuum vapor. Other methods, such as steaming or boiling (a 58% loss
of
nutrients) or Microwaving (even worse as it changes the molecular structure
of
the food) all bring the foods to 100 Celsius or 212 Fahrenheit or
more,
which is the temperature where the vitamins, minerals and nutritional goodness
break down. See my page at microwavemadness.htm
for why you don't want
to do microwave cooking at all. My wife will not allow a microwave
oven in the house.
When cooking in a vacuum vapor the temperature should not exceed 74
Celsius
/ 165 Fahrenheit to 180F, therefore retaining 98% of all the natural vitamins,
minerals,
color and taste. Without
features such as the vapor seal, vacuum-control valve,
heat conducting inner core
that extends up the sides of your cookware also,
you cannot cook the proper vaporseal waterless way. This heat conducting
inner core also offers energy
savings, of up to 70% compared to your normal
way of cooking foods.
Other cookware companies such
as Saladmaster,
Lustre Craft, and Kitchen Craft you see demonstrated at fairs
will make claims
of retaining all the vitamins but in reality, the old fashioned waterless method
is simply steaming your vegetables and steam is the same
temperature as
boiling water or greater. They have no mechanism to tell you when to shut
off or lower the heat to stay in between the 165F to 180F cooking
range that
preserves all the vitamins in your food. Only this line with the 3 way whistle
lid does that.
There is
only a 2% average vitamin/mineral loss with the vacuum vapor control
method of cooking.
This means a 98% nutrient retention using vacuum vapor
control stainless
cookware. Your vegetables stay colorful and sweet. They don't
shrink and
you can cook several kinds of vegetables in the same pan because
the flavor of one doesn't
bleed over into the other.
There is also a lot less
shrinkage of your meats. You sear both sides 3 minutes
each at medium heat
and then turn the heat down or off to finish cooking the meat.
The multiple
plies in the bottom and sidewall of the pan retain the heat
necessary inside
the pan to finish cooking your food.
Flavor is retained because you didn't throw the
baby out with the bathwater.
Since you use no oil, you will consume less
calories. Start the pan on
medium heat. When the lid knob starts to whistle,
close the vacuum
control knob and turn the heat to very low or off. The food will
then cook
automatically with the heat locked in the vacuum vapor. You WILL notice
a
taste difference cooking in this manner. The food is much more flavorful.
My wife's mom from Russia sent her two small pots designed for waterless/
oilless
cooking and we love them. I had a fit when I found out she paid over
$300 each
for them. You can stack cook with these so one burner cooks
several levels
of food; putting meats in the bottom maybe potatoes in second
level and veggies
in top level. You can even bake a cake in the top level, not
having to use your oven at all.
Your oven simply becomes an energy waster.
As heat conducts upward
there is very little difference in temperature from the
lowest pan to the
highest pan in the stack. Each cookware set comes with an
instruction book
as well as an instructional DVD as there's differences from
using normal pots
and pans that you should adhere to when using waterless
cookware.
See more
about this at my very extensive FAQ page "Cookware
Facts"
Stack cooking - using one burner to cook your whole meal
Using pots, pans, and lids that are made to work with each other you can
stack cook a whole meal using only one burner as the inside temperature
of the top pan is very close to the inside
temperature of the bottom pan.
That's where the 7 layer construction shines as it really evens out the
temperatures inside the pans.
This line of cookware is American made in Clarksville,
Tennessee by the same company, New Era in the
same plant,
who used to
be the Vollrath Corp but was purchased from Vollrath by New Era
in 1982.. Although they are the manufacturer for 34 other different brands
and
manufacturers of waterless cookware, it is the factory direct sales
outlet for this line of cookware; a 7 ply all the way up the sides T304 with titanium
surgical stainless as the inside layer and outside layer. This
manufacturer has
an A+ Better Business Bureau rating. There isn't better cookware out there.
My research reveals this line of cookware is by far the biggest bang for the
buck in cookware
today. It has the three way whistle lid and cool grip handles
that extend far enough out so burner flames can't reach your fingers.
View http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3fwGfHneQ
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmBPa2lM2rc&NR=1
for a good introduction to this type of cooking and cookware.
Other good youtube videos to watch to
introduce you to this
mandatory vapor method of cooking can be found at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1GBhTpaSXk
How it's made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY2X51qByGo
How to use your
new cookware and how take care of it
http://www.healthcraft.com/pages/cookware-use-care.html
Use, care
and how it's manufactured video from Health Craft - one of the most complete
and informative of videos available. Watch all of this
one. Health Craft (made
by West Bend, now Reverware) makes a good product but it is only 5 ply,
doesn't have the
whistle lid to tell you when to reduce or shut off the heat,
and costs about the the same as this line factory direct at 7 ply. Healthcraft
is demonstrated at fairs,
home shows and on TV so has much higher marketing
costs associated with it. Joe Public can't get as good a buy on it as
he can on
factory direct sales.
Buy American Made - WHY?
Here's why; short and quick. https://www.youtube.com/v/4FrGxO2Fn_M
Here's some more reasons - what's in your pan besides stainless steel?
If Made in the USA is important to you, you know that most American
made
products cost more. For one, American workers earn considerably
more than
our foreign counterparts, and because of it, our families enjoy
a higher
standard of living. Equally important, is quality. What is in your
foreign made cookware?
Stainless steel cookware
varies in price and is determined by the quality
of the stainless steel. 18/10
stainless is the minimum standard to qualify
as stainless steel (18 parts
chromium, 10 parts nickel total 28 parts out of 100).
“What then, are the
other 72 parts of “filler metals” in foreign made cookware?
This line of cookware is manufactured to strict standards and specifications
in Clarksville, Tennessee.
The same manufacturer has been in business since
1874, and they have been manufacturing cookware
since 1965. Only
the highest quality filler metals of Vanadium, Titanium and Steel are used to
create surgical stainless
steel quality in this line waterless cookware. We
guaranty it for a full 50 years!
Our newest and innovative 7-Ply
Induction Cooking System incorporates
Full-Body
Construction (not just a slab bottom) to provide perfect heat
conduction,
preventing heat loss during and after cooking. The technology
used in
creating our Full Body Construction cookware was developed by MIT
and it is
exclusive to this line .
We believe that your
family deserves the best, without compromise, and
we make the
World's Finest Cookware, in the USA, saving jobs and the
American Way of Life.
You might ask why would I buy this premium line instead of cheaper
cookware as is found on EBay? This cookware is a 7 ply
construction versus other
supposedly premium lines such as Saladmaster that is only 5 ply construction.
And most pans are only single wall sides with a multilayer bottom. The 7 ply
pan has 7 plies all the way up the wall for even heating. And the sidewalls
of the pans are thicker in this line. It's a stout piece of goods.
Most stainless
sets sold on E Bay are foreign made with questionable stainless quality.
Stainless lifetime waterless cookware at
reasonable prices
You get what you pay for outside of paying for the marketing distribution chain.
Saladmaster www.saladmaster.com is one of the better brands (but not the best
brand as everyone thinks) out there quality wise, but the way it is distributed
through shows, fairs, TV
commercials and home parties make it one of the
most expensive products you can buy. A good set of saladmaster can cost you
3.5k to 7k and up or more plus your daughter's right arm. And it's only a 5 ply
product. and you won't find pricing on their site. We liked the quality of both
the Lustre Craft and Kitchen Craft products
(7 ply and both made
by the
same manufacturer) but to pay $1695 for only 8 pieces (and 3 of those 8
pieces are lid covers) or
$1995 for a larger sized
pot/pan set of 7 pieces
too large for just two people (you need to use the
smallest pan/pot you can
so the pan is as full as you can make it) , which didn't include the smaller
pieces,
or $3195 for a more inclusive 15 piece set, or $5495 for an all inclusive set
which included small pieces and large pieces just didn't set well
with us. Go
to here to see the brochure I got at our
2014 state fair so you know I am not
kidding.
The way they were marketed, just like Saladmaster, increases the
end cost
way too much and there's not enough choices to get exactly what you
want in
the sets they make available.
Wouldn't you rather buy factory direct, get better product, get to choose
exactly
what you want, and save a whole bunch of money?
Belkraft doesn't do free food cooking demonstrations. The merits
of the product and the price they can sell it
for sells the product. Cy's been with
this cookware under the Belkraft
label since 1975, he must know something
about pots and pans. I just didn't like the "fair price specials"
prices I got
quoted at the fairs. People watch the Saladmaster, Health Craft, Lustre Craft
and Kitchen Craft demonstrations and come away from those liking the concept
but sticker shocked at the prices and want to know where to get the stuff by the
piece at a reasonable price. Belkraft can provide the answer and
solution to that.
Absolutely the Best Quality
available
Go to here
to see all the different sets and pieces available in this line
such as the 12 piece family set you see below.
View http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F3fwGfHneQ
and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmBPa2lM2rc&NR=1
for a good introduction to this type of cooking, cookware construction,
and care
and use of this cookware.
Health Craft is also American made but is only 5 ply and costs close to
Belkraft,
within 10%. Probably a bad move to buy Health Craft when 10% more would get
you 7 ply construction and the three
way whistle lids.
This cookware is marketed factory direct, normally
over the
internet, which is
a best buy for Joe Public because he can get a very high quality piece
of goods while spending the least amount of
money.
If you are Joe Public,
it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you
can either save
money on the cookware by buying it factory direct or you can put that money into
some show demonstrator's pocket
along with his chain of command pecking order.
This cookware with a 7ply bottom, 7 ply sides, T304 surgical stainless
with titanium inside and outside, is a top of the line piece of goods. The
main reason these cost less money than
Saladmaster, Lustre Craft, Kitchen Craft,
or Health Craft is simple. They are a wholesale supplier of cooking products and
accessories, and
not a retail outlet. They market their products over the Internet
where you can
order them and there is no warehousing of inventory. Your order
is shipped
directly from factory stock. They do not advertise, nor do bulk
advertisement mailings. They do not conduct the very popular cooking
demonstration
parties that many of the other cookware brands do. If you buy this
product under
the Belkraft label at a party or fair you will pay more for the same thing. Because
of
great pricing resulting from direct internet sales, they sell more sets
and are
able to purchase the sets directly from the manufacturer themselves and are
therefore able to
receive great discounts on each set, which they pass on to
their customers.
You will be amazed at the difference in how
your food tastes using
this cookware. I like the frozen Alaskan breaded codfish pieces you get at
Costco. When we fried these in a regular pan we had to add too much oil
and they still stuck to the bottom. If we baked them in the oven they got too dry.
If we used our tabletop hot air
convection oven it dried them out too much and
left them tough. By using the waterless/oilless stainless pan we just put the
frozen fish
pieces in on the bare pan after the pan was brought up to temperature,
put the lid on it, set it to whistle
mode, when it whistles we turn the heat down
to very very
low, and the fish comes out moist, flavorful and with the breading
cooked just
right. Truly - I was amazed and more than pleased. That was a biggie
for
us. Now our favorite is stir fry which used to be so so; but the difference in
flavor with the vegetables slow cooked in their own vapor is truly astounding.
The trick is to make all your vegetable pieces about the
same size; so the
broccoli is about the same size as the carrot pieces and the snap peas, and
onions, and water chestnuts, and orange
pepper slices, and the mushrooms
and we even add some black olives and bean sprouts to the mix also. Cook
your meat slices first
in no oil, leave the meat juice in, and then add the veggies
and throw in some
Yoshida or orange sauce to mix in when the veggies are
about done and you could probably eat that every night. We do
a fajita burrito
thing also in a similar manner that now turns out a lot better than it used to
because the veggies now
have a lot more flavor.
Visit www.detailshere.com/salsa.htm
for some good Mexican recipes.
Neither Lustre Craft, Kitchen Craft, Health
Craft, nor Saladmaster have
the
"whistle when I'm hot enough" 3 position lid feature that I believe is mandatory
so you don't overcook the food. You don't want to
steam your veggies in 212
degree heat; you want to slowly cook them in a 165-180 degrees vapor if you
really want to get all the
nutrients and flavor out of them as well as have the
least amount of shrinkage. The Belkraft line has this feature.
And you don't want to listen to an annoying lid (think saladmaster that goes
clickety
clickety clickety). When the Belkraft lid whistles, put it in the closed position
and
turn the heat way way down or off and let it continue cooking properly in
it's own juices. That's why you want
the thick 7 ply sidewalls. Nothing works
as well as the 7 ply.
You can
buy a really nice starter set A of a 2 qt saucepan and lid, 12" large skillet
and lid, 6
qt dutch oven and dome cover, and
a steamer/grater insert which allows
you to stack cook a full meal for a little over a grand.
The steamer grate fits inside
either the 6 qt dutch oven or the 12" skillet.
The 12" skillet is a good fit on top
of the 6 qt dutch oven dome lid for
the second level of the stack.
The 8" dutch
oven in the Universal set is the same diameter as the 6 qt dutch oven, but is
deeper
so holds more. That's not always good as whatever pan you choose
you want to fill it up as much as you can with food. Bigger is
not always better
in this case. Use the smallest pan you can to hold whatever it is you wish to cook
is the rule so it is filled up with food when you cook it. You don't use a 12"
skillet to cook a handful of veggies in. The lids on the 6" and 8" dutch
oven
and the 12" skillet are the same size diameter and are therefore
interchangeable,
like if you wanted less airspace in the dutch oven you could
use the large skillet
lid, or if you wanted more air space inside the skillet you
could use the dutch
oven dome lid. If you bought the master chef set which
includes starter set
A as well as starter set B; you gain the 1.5 qt saucepan and lid, the 3 qt
steamer/collander which
fits both the 2 qt and 3 qt pans, and the small skillet
and cover. The steamer/collander
also fits inside the small skillet. You could
have an efficient triple stack
just by using the 2 or 3 qt sauce pan or small skillet,
with the steamer /collander
on that and a sauce pan or small skillet on top of that.
Cook the whole meal on a single burner. The chef set comprised of both the
pans in set A as
well as set B, leaves little left to be desired unless you wanted
to add the poached egg steamer rack.
You can buy the poached egg steamer rack in a 3 egg version (fits in a 2 qt or
3 qt pan) or 6 egg version (fits in the large
skillet or 6" dutch oven) separately.
Again,
go to sets and pieces
and see the sets that are available as
well as individual pieces
available. The 16 piece Master Chef Set (includes
sets A and B) with a poached egg
steamer rack, a $3900 retail list, and can
be had factory direct for about half that to give you an idea of savings to expect.
You can buy USED Saladmaster sets on EBay for $3000 and more. You
have to go to a home party
or sit through a fair demonstration to find out
what the new stuff costs but it's guaranteed to empty your wallet. You can buy
Belkraft at 7ply sides and bottom, much better quality than 5 ply
Saladmaster
at less money because there isn't 8 hands in the food chain cookie jar getting
a piece of the action.
This cookware is the Rolls Royce of
T304 surgical stainless with titanium 7 ply
throughout (bottom and sides for
even heat distribution) waterless/oiless
cookware that is out there
today. 50 year warranty, special whistle vent to
let you know when to
turn the heat down or off, vapor seal self storing lids
and lids, and you can stack
cook several dishes on one burner.
There is no other cookware has all the features this does. Even
saladmaster at 5 ply doesn't whistle at you and tell you when to turn the heat
down or off and close the lid which is a very important feature. Saladmaster
has a very annoying lid rattle ; clickety, clickety, when it gets up to temperature.
I hope I have helped in YOUR search for suitable
cookware for your home.
I know the search has been an eye opener for me but well worth the time
spent in the endeavor to know I've had to spend the least amount
of money
for the best cookware out there.
Ber
email me at berry@detailshere.com
as
I also manage sites at www.detailshere.com
, www.heavensfountain.com
,
and my wife's site at www.iisusbog.com ,
a real education in Godly mattters.