Steel

I am often asked what my favorite cookware is, and I have to answer as my sainted father always instructed me not to – with a question. What do you want to cook? A roasting pan does not contain a decent stock, and, whilst you may sauté in a sauce pot, it is not a good sauté pan. So what do you want to cook?

My every-day, go-to pans are made of French rolled steel. They started life as white steel pans, and they are now black as night. The cure is deep and heavy, and soap never touches them lest that cure be destroyed. They occupy a place of honor on the pot rack, and to my jealous eye, they are as beautiful as polished copper.

These pans are the French versions of cast iron, and they serve much of the same role served by cast iron in American cuisine. Steel, like iron, absorbs heat and redistributes it evenly. It can take ferociously high temperatures, either on the stove top or in the oven, and, like iron, it is entirely induction friendly.

Many modern cooks are skeptical about steel, thinking that, while it may be fine for pan-cooking a steak, its use with delicate items such as eggs and fish must be limited. Not so. Steel pans develop a cure that renders them virtually non-stick. It is true that a knob of butter is necessary before executing a perfect omelet, but with a little practice, these can be used for the most refined of preparations.

These are my favorite sauté pans. They are well made with robust steel welds. They are indelicate in feel and appearance – there are no silicon handle protectors here, just broad steel handles that get hot as the hinges of Hades if left over high heat. They hearken back to the days of Marie-Antoine Carême, iron stoves and brick ovens. These are the serious implements of high cuisine.

These used to be cheap, and, when compared to copper, they still are. If you can find them packed in mineral oil and plastic, they will be exceptionally ugly coming out of the box, and they will cost half of what they will through the gourmet store. Either way, however, they are bargains. Once you have two or three of these in your possession, you will feel as though you can take on the world. Of cuisine.

Unicorn Magnum Plus Peppermill

I am taking a brief sojourn into the realm of product reviews. This is not the focus of this site because there are so many other sites that do equipment reviews so well, but there are a few items that I think are extraordinary, and I really want to share them with you.

The first of these is the Unicorn Magnum Plus peppermill made by Tom David, Inc.

Through the years, I have owned a number of peppermills. To me, peppermills are like fountain pens and old kitchen forks: they are both functional and beautiful and they are things to be collected. I can only justify two or, maybe, three peppermills at a given time, but given limitless space and money, I would likely have an extra pantry room devoted to them.

Of the mills that I have owned, some have been beautiful machinations, like the Peugeot mills, and others have been less so. Some have been utter crap too, but those don't warrant a post. Though not the most aesthetically pleasing of mills, the hands down best working one I have ever owned is the Unicorn Magnum Plus. It is a peppermill designed with the professional kitchen in mind, and, startlingly, I have never seen another with that design goal. They make two sizes of Unicorn Magnum – the Magnum Plus is the one that I own, and it is the larger of the two standing at 9". It is made of a very high impact plastic, and it is a polished jet black. My wife thinks it looks like the Darth Vader of peppermills. It is easy to fill, with a sliding ring at the top, and requiring no disassembly. The grind is adjustable, as it is on all good mills, though it comes set a bit fine for my taste. It holds a ton of black peppercorns – probably about ¾ of a cup, keeping most household cooks in pepper for a month or more.

But, the most notable thing about this mill, and the real selling point from my perspective is the throw. The throw is the amount of pepper that a mill grinds per revolution, and the Unicorn Magnum is unparalleled in my experience. It easily throws four to five times more pepper per grind than a typical mill, making seasoning at the stove top quick. I cannot tell you how many times I have had others grab my Unicorn Magnum to season a salad and be totally startled at how much pepper a single grind produced. It is fantastic.

I mentioned that the mill was made out of a very high impact plastic (or polymer, or whatever they call it now), and it is. I have had mine for a decade, and there are a couple of barely noticeable dings on the bottom rim where it hit the floor tiles, but it is otherwise unscathed.

I have read a very few negative reviews of this product anywhere, but among the complaints that I have seen are a) the huge volume of the throw, and b) that the filling hole comes open and dumps pepper when it is being used. In regard to the first complaint, that is something that you get used to and adapt to. Regarding the second, it has been called a design flaw, but I find that to be a bit harsh. I have experienced that, but, again, it is something that I am now aware of and it has not happened again.

There are very few truly wonderful things that you can have in your kitchen, and fewer still for less than $50. The Unicorn Magnum Plus is darned near perfect, and, for that price, it cannot be beat.