Recent publicity about the public health menace of wide-spread obesity in the U.S. has ignited a move among America’s producers of cookware and bakeware to introduce products designed to allow quick, easy and healthful food preparation in the home. Portion control and ingredient selection are assured with home cooking and baking and many manufacturers are including healthy, tasty, yet quick recipes with their offerings.
For instance, Columbian Home Products has introduced its new Bake, Broil and Grill set. Ideal for low fat cooking, the pan includes a wire rack for broiling and a flat inset pan perfect for baking seafood, chicken breasts or grilling fish or vegetables on an outdoor grill. The pan and its components are really a no fat substitute for a skillet. According to the firm’s D. R. Ryan, The Bake, Broil and Grill pan can broil a steak or bake chicken breasts in about 20 minutes, and cook a fish fillet in 15 minutes or less. The pan and the inset are produced with Columbian’s traditional hard vitreous finish over sturdy steel that resists dents, staining and scratching. Another time-saving introduction from Columbian is a new four quart vegetable steamer. Just about any vegetable will cook in less than 15 minutes with the steamer and its perforated inner pan. Suggested retail is $19.99.
Cooking solutions by Design is the trademark for Meyer Cookware’s introduction of Circulon Premier cookware, new for the fall of 2003. Suzanne Howard, vice president of marketing for the firm says that consumers have said that Number one, they are looking for convenience. The new line has a non-stick exterior to protect the anodized surface from stains and make it even faster and easier to clean than traditional cookware. The line also has ergonomically shaped handles with silicone inserts to provide non-slip, stay cool grips that are oven-safe up to 400 degrees. A specially formed lid—called a brasier shape--is designed to recirculate moisture during the cooking process so that foods are self-basting and therefore more moist. Retail pricing will be in the $299 range for a complete set.
Another well-known name in the cookware business, Calphalon, is introducing Calphalon Contemporary, cookware the firm designed to make foods easy to prepare and easy to share with friends and family. The collection features an exclusive nonstick interior that is formulated for durability and effortless clean-up, at the same time making preparation of healthy, low-fat meals a snap too. Constructed of heavy-gauge, hard-anodized aluminum, Calphalon Contemporary heats evenly, sears quickly and browns foods beautifully. It also is guaranteed to last a lifetime. Each shape in the line accommodates several different cooking techniques. Many feature two loop handles, for ease in handling the pan on the stove or in the oven. And all the pans are oven-safe to 450 degrees. The Entertainer pan, one of the introductions, sautés, braises or bakes with equal finesse. The pans are even designed to be used as serving dishes and feature a unique full-capacity line to help prevent over-filling and to make handling easier. Covers are a combination of glass and stainless steel and the handles have been made extra long to provide cooler performance on the stove top. Retail pricing is in the $399 range for a ten piece set.
T-Fal has introduced cookware that is says makes perfect cooking easy every time it is used. The firm’s new Perfection brand hard enamel cookware with Thermo-Spot ™ is made with a copper-bottomed disc for even and fast heat distribution. With a lifetime limited warranty, the line’s deeper shaped sauté pans feature a no-drip pouring rim and comfortable, ergonomically designed handles. The Thermo-Spot™ is a visual heat indicator built into the non-stick surface that signals when the pan has reached the optimum temperature to begin cooking. The line also comes with tempered glass lids. Perfection is offered in white, black and steel-blue colors and bears the Good Housekeeping Seal of approval. Sets are retail priced between $79 and $99.
Bundt pan bakers will be excited by Nordicware’s introduction of its new Rose Bundt® Pan. This pan has been a real hit thus far this year, reports Nordicware’s Reed Winter. The ten-cup capacity pan creates impressive deserts with the greatest of ease and the detailed design produces cakes requiring only a dusting of powdered sugar for decoration so that less labor is needed and calories are saved. The durable cast aluminum material conducts oven heat quickly and evenly to produce superior performance and the premium non-stick surfaces mean easy release of the cake and quick clean-up in the kitchen. Retail is expected in the $29 range. Nordicware features a whole family of Bundt® pans that many consumers collect for their unique shapes as well as their cooking performance. Other popular shapes include, Sunflower, Cathedral, Star, Fleur De Lis, Bavarian, Festival Party and even a Bundt® Rose muffin pan. Nordicware has also introduced a line of Professional, non-stick cast aluminum cookware that is produced in heavy gauge thickness for superior and even heating. The pans have insulated handle grips that make it possible to use the pans both on the stove top and in the oven as well. The grips provide a safe and secure control of the pans in use and both into and out of ovens. The pans also have a hard-coat nonstick exterior.
Pizza—at least that available for delivery—has a reputation for being a diet-buster. But home-prepared pizzas can be healthy with any number of toppings that can limit the calories. All-Clad has produced a pan that can transform the kitchen oven into an old-world brick heath with its new Pizza Grilling Stone set. The set comes complete with a round pizza stone, stainless serving tray and a large pizza cutter. According to All-Clad’s Cathy Fischer, The baking stone traps and disperses heat evenly, and helps produce crisp crusts without burning or scorching. It’s perfect for baking flatbreads, pizza and quesadillas. The All-Clad Professional Tools Pizza Cutter features All-Clad’s signature, ergonomically-designed stainless steel handle and sharp-slicing edge. The east-to-lift stainless steel tray holds the pizza stone firmly in place and can also double as a serving surface for hors d’oeuvres and individually prepared foods. Suggested retail is about $100.
Good Housekeeping magazine awarded Lodge’s Logic line of preseasoned cast iron its 2003 Best Buy award and one of the best new products of the year. Cast iron users that didn’t inherit their pans from their parents have often been flummoxed by the necessity to carefully season their traditional gray iron pans before use. Lodge’s addressed the problem by completely seasoning a large selection of traditional cast iron pieces, thereby opening cast iron up to a whole new world of cooks. While the Logic lines is slightly more costly than traditional cast iron the convenience of being able to go from the box to the stove top offsets the costs to most consumers. Cast iron is one of the less expensive types of cookware any way. Lodge’s Chairman Bob Kellermann says, The Logic pieces are coated with a proprietary vegetable oil formula and the oil is baked into the oil in hot industrial ovens. The high temperatures allows the oil to penetrate deeply to create that prized heirloom finish right out of the box. The Logic series pieces will be priced at only a few dollars more than traditional cast iron pieces, which are already some of the lowest priced cookware items on the market.
Regalware has introduced, under its Kitchen Nutrition series of cookware, the Mega-Skillet, a unique kitchen helper of choice for family cooking and entertaining. The skillet, made of multi-ply with stainless steel surrounding a heat conductive core, is a generous 15 inches across to accommodate one large meal or several smaller dishes - perfect for one pan meals. The Temp-Tone knob is designed for easy low-fat, waterless cooking. A precision engineered lid provides a vapor seal to aid in healthy food preparation. The neavy gauge 5-ply aluminum core construction promotes even-heating for professional cooking results. The phenolic resin handles are oven-safe to 350 degrees. Available from independent home party distributors, the piece retails for $489.
There’s no better way to acquaint children and young people with the joys of the kitchen than to bake something really delicious. Wilton, the leading purveyor of hundreds of shaped baking pans that release the creative instinct in bakers, offers fun fall treats in several varieties. For example, there’s a gingerbread haunted house cake, a football cake, and even a jumping pumpkin cake ideal for Halloween or Thanksgiving. Wilton projects are easily accessible over their extensive website at www.wilton.com. Wilton has also introduced its 2004 Yearbook of Cake Decorating with more than 225 projects featuring of character pans, candy molds, and numerous seasonal celebration ideas. Wilton showcases creative projects in its annual book as it seeks to lead the decorated cake industry in innovative baking ideas. The book, available in English or Spanish, retails for about $10.
