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Comment by yurishimo | Hacker News Reader

I think it's fairly safe to recommend a nonstick to beginner cooks, but with the caveat that you should only use it cook eggs and something like a grilled cheese sandwich (where any leaking cheese sticking would lead to further problems cooking). It should also only ever be used with a rubber spatula or plastic utensils.

For any other food, stainless steel is great for beginners. It's oven safe, easy to clean if/when you burn the crap out of something, and relatively cheap.

The other important recommendation I would make is cookware with tight fitting lids (or learn how to make one with foil). This excludes IKEA for the most part, whose pans I have in my apartment right now.

Once you decide that you want to "upgrade" something, I would recommend a nice Dutch oven with a heavy lid.

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I disagree with your caveat, it's a little wasteful (because it might only last a couple of years) but if you only have a nonstick frying pan you will be just fine. In fact it's better than overthinking it so much that you end up ordering another 20 takeaway meals instead of just cooking in what you have.

Sure, if you literally only have a metal utensil, it's fine for a couple of uses, but there are other side effects as well. When you use metal and the the nonstick coating begins to scrape off, that means it's going into your food and you're likely eating it! It's not good for your health or your wallet. I think every discount store I've ever been to has a set of plastic spoons/spatulas for 1 €/$/£ so there isn't really an excuse not to use them long term.

Having personally melted one of these spatulas into a pasta sauce, I would buy a nice one for maybe $5 :)

Or a wooden spoon. The ones without a surface coating are not always easy to find, but they’re very cheap, don’t melt, and last for years.

> cookware with tight fitting lids

Not sure what you mean? Lids should cover the top, but they need to rest loosely so that steam building up pressure can escape.

I don't even know what a "tight fitting lid" means (unless you're talking about a pressure cooker). Or why you would want one.

I mean a lid that fits snug in the pan it’s designed for. Unless you’re cooking at insane temperatures, most steam will hit the lid and then condense and fall back into the food. The tight lid is to help prevent liquid from being lost during braising or boiling. If you only want to use the lid to reduce splatter, then a snug fit is not important.

I apologize for my inaccuracy when describing the “tightness” of the lid. Sometimes I get caught up in jargon that is common amongst veteran cooks.

>It should also only ever be used with a rubber spatula or plastic utensils.

Why not? Nonstick cookware scratches easily, aren't heat resistant silicone utensils a good way to avoid damaging them?

I thought “rubber” included silicon as well. Yea, silicon is great for nonstick, although it can absorb aromas and oils from food easier than plastic (even food grade silicon).

Thanks, I've also just learned that a Dutch oven is not just a crude prank, but also an allusion to how the cookware might work.

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