Sunday 28 November 2010

Any Old Iron


Are you the kind of person who buys a new set of kitchen pans when the handle breaks off one of your current set?

My mother had the most eclectic set of kitchen pans imaginable. She swore that her superb chips were solely attributable to her battered old aluminium chip pan (which was probably also partly responsible for her Alzheimer’s). Her pressure cooker produced some of the most mouth-watering stews I’ve ever tasted. The saucepan was inherited from her own mother. Each pan had its own special purpose and attributes and she couldn’t give a tinker’s damn whether any of them matched or not.

Many housewives seem obsessed with matching everything in the kitchen to everything else; a veritable triumph of style over substance.


3 comments:

Roger said...

Saucepan lids today are rubbish. They either split with the heat or the plastic handles on the glass lids hold water when you wash them up. My mother was like your mother, non of her pans (or any of her other cooking utensils for that matter) matched. I was blessed as a child as she was a cook in domestic service and could make a meal from anything.

Steve Borthwick said...

The number (and cost) of cooking gadgets is usually inversely proportional to the quality of the nosh in my experience..

Jem said...

I need some decent pans 'cause mine are all shit. Don't care if they match.