Home Goods Score Thread

[NashVegas]

Which I was at yesterday and got a 10" Rachel Ray frying pan at modest savings, and a 20 cm frying/sauté pan from a French manufacturer I'd never heard of - Aubecq - but gets recommends in the few places I've been able to find any info.

I snagged the RR pan because my sis had one that I used for omelet-making and was very impressed with its non-stick + control.

They also had in their clearance section - and I snagged - a huge bottle of extra virgin, unfiltered, olive oil. I'll let you know the brand later after I sample it, if it's any good.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I LOVE Home Goods

But I am no longer allowed to go there.

[NashVegas]

2. LMAO

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I'm limiting myself. Somewhat. Yesterday was a splurge day because I've been good for a while. I may go back and get another of the French pans, though.

The olive oil was Romulo and it's fairly tasteless. Considering today's prices what I paid was not unreasonable, but it's no where in the same league as, say, Morea. I s'pose it will be good for cooking.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Do you have a Marshall's near you, too?

They have a lot of the same kitchen stuff (food, and pots and pans) as Home Goods (maybe even owned by the same company?). Ours is just a few doors down from the Home Goods, so that shopping center is a double hit for me.

Well ....... it used to be.

I'm not allowed there, either.

See ....... wherever there might be copper ...... Sparkly put those places on my Off Limits list.

[Sparkly]

4. Correct.

:spank:

[NashVegas]

5. Aw, Sparkly

There are worse addictions to have, you know. Would you rather be married to someone who will steal and sell your heroin to buy copper cookware to make brilliant, seductive meals, or vice verse?

[sandnsea]

6. How do you identify real copper

I was at a yard sale yesterday and there was this very small copper, well sort of like a cup with no handles. It was heavy, about 1/4 inch thick. How do I tell whether it's a nice piece of copper, or some kind of plated junk. I can usually tell thin plated junk, but the weight and sheen of this one was a bit different.

[Stinky The Clown]

7. For cookware, copper is (almost) always lined with tin or stainless steel

And the copper is very thick. About the thickness of a penny ..... maybe a bit thinner. It is usually sold by thickness - 2 mm, 4 mm and, rarely, 4 mm or thicker. You can usually see the copper's full thickness on the edge of the pot. Copper visible on the outside and tin on the inside, with copper and tin sorta mixed in visibility at the edge. The tin is put on by hand with rags while molten, so the edge is never perfect.

Some pots have rolled edges, so no thickness edge is visible. There you just sorta hafta know. If it is tin lined, you may well see some rag marks (think of brush marks in a painted surface) or some wear-through where the tin is gone.

If the pot is stainless lined, the only thing you have to be mindful of is whether the pot is copper with a stainless lining, or if it is three-ply ..... stainless inside, aluminum core, and copper outside. These are lesser pans than all copper with a thin stainless lining.

All my copper is tin lined.

A word about the tin lining being worn. If the pot is heavy, it could well be worth having it retinned. The cost is about 4 bucks an inch. You measure the diameter of the pot and add twice the height. A 4" deep pan that is 10" in diameter would be 4+10+4=18x$4=$72. The copper pretty much never wears out, so replacing the tin is essentially getting a new pot. They can also remove dents for you if you care about that sort of thing. A used pot is, therefor, a good buy if it is worth, new, something in excess of .... I dunno ...... twice the retinning cost? The actual retinning cost? A newly tinned pot, properly used, should last ten or twenty years. A well cared for quality copper pot will serve at least your grandkids.

[sandnsea]

8. That helps so much

I never know what to look for on old copper pots and whatnot. Now I do! :)