After 14 years of reliable service, my favorite frying pan was on its last legs. It had recently become scratched and rust was beginning to appear around the scratched area.
I make almost all of my curries in this pan and it was sad to see it was due to be replaced.
But instead of being unhappy, I figured that this would give me a opportunity to ring myself up to date. There must have been a lot of advancements in kitchen utensils over the last 14 years?
Saturday morning found me searching in the kitchen supplies sections of a two department stores.
To be honest, I was at stunned at how many electric appliances had entered the kitchen. There was a wider range of electric frying pans and electric woks than the non-electric type. The electric versions were a lot more expensive than the non-electric type, usually more than double the price.
But I avoid such electric products. They need to be cleaned and can’t just be put into the dishwasher, because of the electric connectors. They need to be washed carefully to keep the electric connectors dry. I assume that this is so. Maybe I’m wrong. But in my simplistic mind, electricity and water don’t mix.
Going by the electric frying pans and woks, I also noticed some models of slow cookers that looked interesting. But I wasn’t looking for slow cookers. I wanted a good frying pan.
And I was really in for a big disappointment here. None of the non-electric frying pans came with lids. I could buy a lid separately but these lids were flimsy looking affairs and wouldn’t be an integral part of the frying pan. My frying pan has a lid that fits snugly around the edge and the lid has a release valve that releases steam if I open the valve.
And, to be honest, most of the frying pans were thin, flimsy pans. Not surprisingly, all of the brands on sale were made in China.
I wanted something a lot more substantial than those on sale and didn’t see why I should have to accept anything but the best.
I went back home and checked out the bottom of my old frying pan and found the brand name. A few minutes of surfing on the net quickly found the manufacturer’s website and very soon after that an email was on the way requesting a list of retailers that stock their brand.
Deep within myself, I know that I’m going to buy a twin of the frying pan that I’m replacing although the new pan will not doubt be shinier and, I’m sure, a more expensive than the one that I’ve got.
But you have to pay for quality that will last for 14 years of hard use.