We cook a lot at Chez Diamond, and we’re pretty particular about making sure everything from the ingredients to the tools we use to get the dinner done is just right. Yet a few weeks ago I noticed that a few of the pots we’ve been cooking with—almost all of them bought from various Chinatown kitchenware spots when Obama was president—had started getting to a point where I was probably putting myself at some risk when used. It’s one of those things that’s easy to overlook or, even worse, notice but continue riding out. A handle on a frying pan is there for a reason and I shouldn’t try to tell myself I can work without it, and there is a certain shade of discoloration in the metal that’s got to have some impact on my food, so I decided to say goodbye.
Well, not entirely. We still have our Le Creuset Dutch oven and a trio of skillets from the same brand that we’ve collected over the years, all of which I take a somewhat obsessive stance on caring for. You know the deal, it’s a real NO DISH SOAP SHALL TOUCH THIS sort of thing that some people have told me isn’t as big a deal as people make it out to be, that a little dish soap isn’t bad—but I don’t care! I like caring for my things. It gives me some sense of control that I’ll probably mention to my shrink next week.
For our new kitchen set for the everyday stuff, we went with the Cuisinart stainless steel 11-piece. After unwrapping it, I promptly walked over to my laptop and began looking up everything from YouTube videos to Reddit conversations about the best way to care for your stainless steel pots and pans. It’s all relatively simple, and soap is OK, but the odd thing is how much I look forward to doing the dishes now. Nobody else can clean my pots and pans but me. My wife is fine with this, but the thing is that it makes me a bit uncomfortable. I’m worried there’s some hidden Freudian thing at play here that I’m starting to uncover, but I also do like the feeling of having everything looking beautiful after use.
Is anybody else equally obsessed with the upkeep of kitchen stuff? I remember reading a great Kat Kinsman essay a few years ago with the headline “Don’t be Weird About Cast Iron,” and I told myself I’d try not to be, but it didn’t last long. Now, I’m not just a cast iron guy but a stainless steel bro as well. I suppose we all have our things. Some people get obsessed with cars or home brewing or something else to occupy their time and also maybe run from the weird hangups trying to move from their subconscious to the front of their brain, I’m a pots and pans dude.
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