Pick The Perfect Cookware Set

Finding the best cookware set – as a gift or for your own kitchen – can be a challenging task. There are astoundingly expensive sets; there are sets that contain a daunting array of saucier pans, Dutch ovens and teakettles; some sets have nonstick coating, others don’t. Which cookware set is perfect for you?

Good news: buying a cookware set is a great investment, and is often cheaper than buying pans one at a time. Even the most basic sets fulfill many of your cooking needs, from boiling pasta to making an omelet, or frying chicken. 

We’ve compiled a short guide to help you choose the best cookware set for your or that special someone this holiday season. When selecting a cookware set, consider several factors: are you willing to spend more for longer-lasting pans? How many pans do I actually need? What will I use these pans for? 

Whichever set you choose, buy from ChefTools.com and get free shipping for the holidays. Make the chef you know happy with a set under the tree - or treat yourself and outfit your kitchen right! 

Quality on a budget

Aeternum 8-piece set

Want a seriously innovative 8-piece (including lids) pan set for next to nothing? All pans in the Aeternum series by Bialetti (the Italian maker of espresso pots and French presses) are free of chemicals found on most nonstick pans (PFOA, PTFE, cadmium). Instead, these pans have a razor-thin ceramic nonstick coating. This set includes a Dutch oven for stovetop or oven roasting, 2 size sauté pans, and 2 saucepots. Melt chocolate, sear scallops, brew some chili – thousands of cooking permutations with this set. $158.95.

Use: gas stovetops; always with a little fat in the pan; cook anything from burgers to Brussels sprouts.

Cooking With Copper

Emerilware 14-piece copper set

Copper cookware is the gold (or copper) standard among chefs. That’s because it conducts heat exceptionally well. Copper pans give you exacting control over temperature and cook time. The pots and pans in this 14-piece set by Emerilware – the line of cooking tools curated by Emeril Lagasse – all have copper bases and stainless steel bodies. This design is an advantage: stainless steel is much sturdier than copper, so these pans won’t need as much care as all-copper pans. And, since these pans are all-metal, you can use them on the stove, in the oven, with an induction range, or under the broiler. Includes every pan you need: 2 fry pans, 3 saucepans, 1 sauté pan, 1 casserole pan, and a tall stock pot (all include lids; stock pot comes with a pasta strainer).$299.95.

Use: anywhere where there’s heat with any food; always use fat to lubricate the pan; for dishes that require intense heat and a quick cool-down.

Cast Iron Forever

Le Creuset 6-piece cast iron set

 Want a cookware set that will last into the next millennium? Then get this 6-piece set by Le Creuset – the masters of cast iron cookware. Serious, Julia-Child-smashing-open-a-lobster, European-style cooking is what this set was made for. The enameled cast iron surfaces perfectly brown and caramelize vegetables, meats and baked goods. An extra benefit? They look beautiful at the dining table. This set includes a saucier pan, a Dutch oven (cook anything in it), a griddle, and roasting pan.$559.95.

Use: take care to season these pans at least yearly; the Dutch oven is excellent for slow-cook dishes like brisket, and stews; griddle is perfect for Panini.

Nonstick for a Lifetime

Calphalon hard-anodized 13-piece set

The pans in this hard-anodized set by Calphalon have a natural nonstick surface. Soaking pans in an electrolyte bath and charging them with direct current (DC) causes a layer of aluminum oxide to grow, and that’s anodizing. Essentially, it’s a nonstick layer that won’t wear down. You’ll find hard-anodized pans in many commercial kitchens. Like cast iron, these pans will last a very long time, but at a lower price point. Aluminum heats up fast, making it ideal for sautés and searing. This set includes 3 omelet pans, 2 saucepans, 1 sauté pan, 1 chef’s pan, and one 6-quart stockpot. (Also, for starters, check out this 2-piece hard-anodized omelet pan set for only $60.) $398.95.

Use: great for fish filets and omelets; avoid using metal spatulas and turners; these classic pans are great for breakfast – pancakes, hash browns and fried eggs.

Greener Nonstick

Scanpan 8-piece set

 Like Bialetti Aeternum, Scanpan (or, if you prefer, Scandinavian Pans) has found a way to make nonstick pans without questionable chemicals. The surfaces of the pans in this 8-piece set (unlike Aeternum) have a nonstick coating, but (like Aeternum) are PFOA and PFOS free. These pans are a super-strong alloy of titanium and aluminum, which means they heat up fast and distribute heat evenly. These pans are good in and out of the oven, and the nonstick surface is guaranteed to last longer than conventional nonstick pans. Set includes 2 fry pans, 2 saucepans, and 1 Dutch oven. $399.95.   

Use: to cook nonfat, simply wipe just a penny-size drop of oil on the pan and cook as usual; use the Dutch oven to make paella, chili, or beef stew

Buy A Bag of Uncle Woody's Popcorn Right Now

An excellent stocking stuffer or gift.

There is no time to mess around: If you like popcorn, or if you just like food that tastes good, you need to get on this Uncle Woody’s popcorn.

We’ve had this stuff in stock for a couple of months now, but I just got around to trying it. I polished off a bag of the truffle-salted variety, and I feel like I’ve tasted the future. 

For too long I’ve been a drone of microwave popcorn, mindlessly munching the exploded kernels drenched in whatever ridiculous mixture of vegetable oil and salt they pass off as "butter." And microwave popcorn tastes OK, but Uncle Woody's is - like I said - the future; it has awakened my taste buds.

I don’t have the brainpower to describe how wonderful the truffle salt variety tastes. It has the pleasant, salty sting of cheddar cheese with the deep, deep, rich taste of truffles. In fact, the popcorn has the texture of a mushroom – moist and dense, but still filled with air, and all its microscopic chambers filled to the top with flavor. 

Best of all? Uncle Woody’s is made by the Seattle Popcorn Co., and is just a couple of doors down from the Chef Tools HQ. That means I have access to this stuff all the time – and by the miracle of interstate shipping, so do you. 

I have an exciting task ahead of me: trying the 6 other Uncle Woody’s flavors. There’s chipotle, butterscotch, caramel (2 types, original and butterscotch-caramel), white cheddar, and – the unspeakable – butterscotch-caramel-cinnamon. I can’t wait.

I urge you to forget microwave popcorn, eschew the giant Christmas tin of mass-produced “popcorn” floating around your office, and get a bag of Uncle Woody’s! Get one (or 2) for yourself. Put them in your kids’ stockings, or give as gifts to your mailman or officemates – you will delight them and enlighten their taste buds in one action. Taste the future of snacking now!

The Best Black Friday Deals @ ChefTools.com

Come On, Pilgrim! Head to Chef Tools For Black Friday Deals! 

It’s time to answer an important question: do you really want to get up at 3 a.m. (or stay up until midnight) after Thanksgiving, your belly full of starch, cheesecake and tryptophan, just to save a couple of bucks? 

Of course not! You want to spend Friday in your pajamas, in front of the fireplace, with a nice big leftover sandwich. 

But you still want Black Friday deals, you say? Then just grab your laptop, open up your web browser, and head to Chef Tools. 

I don’t want to tell you about all of our deals just yet – it’s a surprise. But, of course, the deals are going to be good. I can tell you that there will be some steep (steep) discounts on housewares like glass bowls, plates and drinkware. There are also going to be some cool discounts on famous brand cookware, practical cooking gadgets, and – my favorite – Christmas decorations. 

So come join us on Friday. Your reward will be excellent deals, and a quick, easy shopping experience. For now, head over to our BlackFriday preview sale where you’ll find a ton of fine Revol white porcelain sets that we’ve put together especially for Black Friday. 

And our Cyber Monday deal? That’s an even bigger secret – we promise, it’ll be worth taking off a couple minutes from work to do some shopping.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving Chef Tools Suggestions

Thanksgiving is quite possibly the best holiday: Food, football, napping, beer, snacks, parades, tryptophan, etc. Even if the turkey’s dry, the potatoes don’t mash right, and someone decides to make “real” cranberry sauce (I digress: real cranberry sauce is great, but it’s a food entirely separate from the canned, jellied cranberry sauce we’re used to, and it cannot be replicated in a home kitchen – it’s like someone saying they’re going to make “real” Doritos, or “real” Sprite. At any rate, I frown when someone makes it instead of just sticking with The Can.), the Lions lose and the Charlie Brown float goes down over Central Park, you still get to spend time with friends and family and bask in the glow of The Holidays.

But we here at Chef Tools want you have a perfect Thanksgiving. And since we’re in the business of providing people with cooking tools (or, chef tools, as we of course refer to them), here’s a list of necessary Thanksgiving cooking tools, plus a few cooking pointers. If you order any of these items today, you’ll get them before Thanksgiving. Visit our Thanksgiving Essentials Department for even more useful gadgets. Happy turkey day! 

Norpro Poultry Timer

The Norpro Reusable Turkey and Poultry Timer: Because you can cook a turkey any day of the year. This little guy is both cute and functional – its timer is set to go off when the interior hits between 160 – 165 degrees. That’s the perfect temperature for a moist bird; it’s also the recommended cooking temperature from the USDA. ($11.95)

Chicago Metallic Commercial II Nonstick Roast N Broil Pan (withrack): A reasonably priced turkey roaster pan that will hold up for generations. Made of aluminum, this roaster pan distributes heat evenly; the removable rack sits just above the bottom of the pan, allowing juices to accumulate (and later turn into delicious gravy). But the best part? It’s entirely dishwasher safe, minimizing cleanup. ($44.95)

Trudeau Gravy Fat Separator & Strainer (4-cup capacity): This tool is self-explanatory; use this fat separator so you’re healthier and thus live longer to experience more Thanksgivings! ($12.95)

RSVP Potato Ricer

RSVP Potato Ricer: Can you say “perfect mashed potatoes?” P-E-R-F-E-C-T M-A-S-H-E-D P-O-T-A-T-O-E-S. If you mix potatoes in a food processor they get gummy, and no one wants to eat potatoes with the consistency of roofing tar. If you mash potatoes with a hand masher, they come out lumpy (some people like this, and that’s fine, by we think your guests will enjoy creamy potatoes better). The ricer squeezes potatoes into fluffy little jewel that you can mix with butter, salt, pepper, sour cream (dear lord I’m starting to salivate), milk, garlic … whatever your recipe. Perfection. ($13.95)

Fat Daddio's 12” Pie Pan: My family was big into pies. My mother, aunts, great aunts and grandmother(s) would each bake a pie at Thanksgiving. And though everyone in the family was within a 45-minute drive, no one liked to leave their precious pans at Aunt Pat’s or Cousin Jim’s. You won’t have that problem with the Fat Daddio’s Pie Pan. Why? The low price means you can get 3 or 4 – enough pie pans for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and July 4 (red, white and blue cheesecake). These pans are made of anodized aluminum, so they distribute heat evenly and won’t scratch. On second thought, keep an eye out that Aunt Pat doesn’t abscond with Fat Daddio’s pie plate. ($7.95)

The versatily LamsonSharp slicing knife

LamsonSharp Pro 10" Slicing Knife: Ultra sharp, reasonably priced, and made in America. Use this LamsonSharp knife to carve turkey, duck, roast beef, tofu turkey or anything else you want to serve up in slices. This knife features a hygienic polypropylene handle– it does not absorb bacteria, oil, and flavors like a wood handle. ($22.95)

Not getting the ChefTool du Jour? Sign up now!

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As Groupon’s imitators continue to pop up and its stock continues to trend downward, we here at Chef Tools decided to go DIY and run our own deals. We call it ChefTool du Jour (get it? Chef Tool of the day?), and we’re very happy to report that our customers have been quite pleased. Our daily deals have quickly become one of the most popular parts of ChefTools.com.

Here’s how it works: Each Wednesday we send out a newsletter that contains updates, new products and the Chef Tool du Jour. All you have to do to get the deal is sign up for the newsletter and click the link when it arrives in your inbox. Oh, and we know how annoying it can be to get constant, daily emails from a website, and we’re not going to do that to you (and, of course, we don’t share your email address with anyone). This is a weekly email.

If you head over to ChefTools.com right now, you’ll see we have two deals going this week, both centered on designer Jill Butler’s Parisian-themed Rendev-Vous collection. With one deal, you buy 4 high quality placemats for only $29.99, and you get 6 machine-blown glass tumblers for free. With the other deal, you buy an awesome serving tray for $19.99, and you get a set of 4 appetizer plates for free. 

I don’t want to spill the beans on future deals, but they’re going to be good. When we put these deals together, we’re thinking of you, but we also have the holidays in mind. Many of these sets would make great gifts for friends and family. 

Don’t miss out: Sign up for our newsletter and get in the loop on the Chef Tools deal of the day!