I just tried this  Hamilton Beach Professional Rose Bunt (sic) Pan that I got at the outlet store, Kitchen Collection.  Original price was $9.99 and a comparable price on the tag says $12.99. The store gave us a very reasonable price of $4.47 (not including sales tax) mainly because we braved the crowds at the Castlerock Outlet Mall the day after Christmas.

Spouse managed to schmooze the cashier/manager while we were checking out and even got us an additional 10% discount….a “just because you’re cute” discount I like to call it.

Kitchen Collection is a great place to shop for almost any kitchen gadget you can think of.  It’s not  a high-end store.  Their prices are great though, some of the lowest I’ve seen…and I like shopping at clearance prices.  It’s not so much I’m a cheapskate, which I am, it’s more a matter of upbringing I guess.  Waste not, want not.  The store is reasonably-sized but crammed with lots of gadgets so shopping has the feel of a treasure hunt.

Before I stray from the topic again,let’s talk about the bundt pan.  I’ve always heard about the great non-stick, flexible qualities of silicone bakeware. There’s at least one infomercial of similar products I see on television quite regularly.

I do have silicone scrapers which I find convenient. I’ve ruined a lot of rubber spatulas by mistakenly picking it up for cooking on the stovetop and the silicone scrapers hold up very well to the heat.

It was only last December when I decided to replace my bundt pan that I finally thought of trying the silicone kind.  And it was only last week that I decided I needed to use it!

Silicone bakeware delivers on its promise…non-stick, great and even browning, and easy to clean.  It’s not perfect. The cake I baked came out a little lopsided, not so you’d notice, but it did.  The vessel itself is too flexible that the cake shifted when I turned it halfway in the baking process.

Perhaps,the manufacturers could think of some kind of metal ring that you could hook up to the top.  This could help hold it’s shape even as you move it around.  It’s really unavoidable to turn your pan around halfway through the baking process.

Instructions said to follow the recipe and grease and flour the pan so I did. Next time, I’ll try to skip that and see how it works.  The cake came off the pan without a problem and I even tried peeling the pan away from the cake. There was no need, but that worked too because it was so flexible.

Another thing I noticed was lint attaching itself so easily to the pan. I was drying my pan with a kitchen towel when I noticed. It would be simpler to wash it in a dishwasher since it is dishwasher, microwave and freezer safe.  Since I’ve only used this pan once, I cannot say how long it will last. It’s fine for now.

Overall, I’m very happy with this pan. Already in my shopping list are silicone muffin pans and the baking mats which would be perfect for Sans Rival.

Now, if only I can wait for the next big shopping holiday!

I just love my cast iron skillet! I got it for under $25 at the ever-reliable Walmart a few months back and have used it several times since. This is a 12-inch skillet by Lodge Logic of Tennessee.  This company has been in business since 1896, so you can be assured they know what they’re doing.

There are a few things to remember about cast iron cookware so it will remain virtually non-stick. Teflon-coated pans emit harmful chemicals if not properly heated.  Yup, there’s a price for that perfect fried egg you cook for breakfast in your teflon pan.

Here are a few TIPS for taking care of your cast iron skillets:

1. After use, clean your pan with a stiff brush over hot, running?water.DO NOT USE soap.

2. If food particles have stuck to the bottom, use salt to rub it off.  Do nut rub too hard.

3. Towel dry your pan thoroughly after cleaning.

4.  Apply a light coat of vegetable oil while the pan is still warm.

5. Keep in an open cupboard or anywhere air freely circulates. If the pan has a lid, separate the two in storage.

6. Do not cook dishes with acids like lemon juice, tomatoes or vinegar in your skillet.  The acid wears off the layers that accumulate as part of seasoning the pan.

7. Do not wash in your dishwasher.

Seasoning: basically, this means treating your pan so it is tempered.

Although commercially available cast iron skillets are now usually pre-seasoned, there may be some need for you to re-season your pan in the future. If you need to clean your pan with soap, you will need to re-season it after cleaning.

After rinsing, drying and applying oil/grease or lard onto your pan, put it into a 350F oven for about 30 minutes. Take it out and wipe the surfaces dry to make sure there are no pools of fat forming in the pan.  Put it back into your oven for another 30 minutes, turn off heat and leave overnight.

I read somewhere you can toss your oiled cookware into a lit fireplace.  Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this.  Oil will burn in an open flame and that’s not a very good idea unless you have one of those huge fireplaces where you have room to hang some pots and pans.

Treat your cast iron cookware well and you can use it forever…if you make it to forever anyway.

I’m so happy to report  I finally got a fish pan for my kitchen!  It’s a 12-inch oval fry pan by Wolfgang Puck that also comes with a lid.   I got it for a very good bargain on Ebay, new but not flawless.  It had some scratches on the handle…something I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t so anal about handwashing my favorite pots and pans.  But I got it for only half its market price.  So yes, it was a very good deal at $15.00, including shipping.

Every Filipino household should have one of these pans.  Even if we Filipinos can eat fish three times a day, everday each week, an elongated fish pan like this is uncommon in the Philippines.  Yup, we’re a nation of fish eaters and anything edible from the sea.  The Philippines is an archipelago with 7,100 islands after all…you’re never far from water…and fresh fish.

The pan worked perfectly.  I did my old trick of thoroughly heating the pan before putting in some oil and it was virtually nonstick.  But I think that was mainly due to the very smooth, mirror-like finish of the pan. There are no angles around the inside which made turning the fish  so easy.  That no-angle sides would make it  perfect for omelette-making as well.  The pan is oven-proof up to 400F so I can use it for roasts and steaks.  In fact, this pan would be great for longer sausages and so many other things.  It’s so easy to clean too, nothing stuck to the bottom so it was a quick rinse and soaping with a light sponge…nothing more.

It’s 18/10 stainless steel with an encapsulated aluminum disc at the bottom that gives you incredibly even heat all over the pan.  Indeed, the whole fish (head included as you can see)  came out perfectly and evenly browned and crisp on the outside.  This, despite the fact that my round burner didn’t match the oval pan.  The inside of the fish was perfectly flaky and moist, Spouse pointed out how it was the best fried fish I’ve cooked. 

Of course, anyone could be biased if they had a shiny, new pan that was made especially and  perfectly for fish.  Kinda like auto-suggestion, don’t you think?

It’s hard to imagine a frying pan getting controversial but it did in one popular food blog. I’ve never met anyone who was so sensitive that the mere mention of a certain type of pan could send them ballistic and rabid. I don’t think I want to meet anyone like that.

The incident really caught me offguard. It’s a pan for goodness’ sake! Some people can afford better ones and that doesn’t prove anything so I cannot understand how having a certain pan can earn someone the label "elitist" – fortunate maybe, but elitist?

It also brought forth all my pots and pans fantasies back to the forefront of consciousness. It’s not unsound to have obssessive desires for pots and pans, is it? If it is, pardon me please. Seriously though, an obssessive desire for certain pots and pans does not make a loony out of us who obssess about it. Honestly.

IMO, it’s all part of natural evolution. Just look back at man’s ascent (?) from those days we were all monkeys. As we evolved to become bi-peds, we learned to hunt and became nomads roaming the earth for the best game. Then we settled down and toiled the earth for our living. Ancient man must have come up with some kinds of tools for making the pre-civilization housewife happy. Otherwise, civilization would not have progressed to where we are now.

Do you know what implements they were using back in the Stone Ages? Stone probably, huh? Then came the other ages…Iron, Steel, Teflon…. The men of those ages all had to keep their mates happy as well.

As the Ages came and went, people got smarter and improved on technology so we could cook with better pans and hence, live better lives. Sometime inbetween those Ages, someone invented a fish fry pan that is nothing more than ingenious. I’m surprised it’s not popular in the fish-eating countries around Southeast Asia…..mmmm…another story there…

Eventually, people realized there are just pots and pans that you cannot improve on – these are the classics that will never lose their appeal whatever Age we discover ourselves in. These are also the pans every cooking nut out there is dying to own.

Here’s a list of all the dream pots and pans I’d love to possess one day:

1. Le Creuset Enamelled Cast Iron – the whole line in Flame or Red.

2. Copper Cookware from France – unlined. the whole line.

3. All-Clad Cop-R Chef Line – the whole line.

4. All-Clad Fish Skillet – in stainless steel with the fish turner.

5. Copper Fish Poacher – 18- 24 in. long

To put things in perspective, I’ve lived without these things the last forty-something years…and I’m pretty sure I can go on living another forty-something years without ever missing them. But then again, that’s what I told Spouse before we were married.