I have a set of Magnalite Professionals that I have had for about 20 years. I find myself using them less and less. For all sauté type stuff, I use Sams Club commercial cookware. They work great. I do use the Magnalite 2 and 5 qt sauce pans, but thats about it. The Sams stuff is really good quality and fit my needs better.
I love the Magnalite stew pot and saucepans. But I junked the miserable Magnalite frying pan decades ago for cast iron skillet or a copper-clad Revere Ware pan which itself has been replaced recently by a big high-tech ScanPan titanium-ceramic clad saute pan. But I like the thick Magnalite for slow cooking and boiling. It's 30 years old and starting to get a bit pitted inside, so I may have to upgrade soon.
I'm with you on their frying pan. I haven't used it in a couple of years. I use the Sams stuff. I only use the Magnalite for slow cooking or boiling when it makes sense size wise. I normally cook large quantities that are too much for the Magnalites. My cast iron collection starts at 3 gallons and goes all the way up to 45 gallon. Anything under a gallon, Magnalite. Over that, cast iron.
I use my magnalite roaster all the time for jambalaya and gumbos. The thick aluminum does great for slow even cooking and cast iron is just too much of pain to maintain for me.
What's a pain about it. Wash it, dry it, put it away. I usually use a stiff brush to wash mine while it is still hot, but have a commercial steel wool scrubby (with no soap in it) at the ready if needed. I then towel dry and put it back on the stove, in the oven, or on the burner until it has burned all remaining water out of the pores. The ones I use all the time get put up at this point. My big jambalya pots get a coating of oil before being put up. Edit: I hand wash all of my pots, not just cast iron. I don't put any of them in the dishwasher. It's just too caustic in there. Same with my knives. All that said, when I am doing something small (it's all relative ), I sometimes use my Magnalite roaster. It does a good job.
There's nothing better than a cast iron pan for cooking steaks. At the restaurant, I sear the steaks in the pan first and then transfer them to the char grill for cooking them the rest of the way. Also, cast iron is the ONLY way to go when making cornbread. I get the pan very hot on the range, add about a quarter cup of margarine (one stick) and pour in the batter and then finish in the oven. The margarine turns into Beurre Noir in very short order and makes the crust the right texture, color and flavor. That just doesn't happen with aluminum. Speaking of cornbread, I see the cracklin thread has resurrected and that reminds me to try out that suggestion of cracklin corn bread soon.
My mom always made cornbread in a black iron skillet that she used for nothing else and I inherited it. Best-looking and best tasting cornbread I ever had. The only thing I didn't like about moms cornbread was that she put dry corn meal on the bottom, so it wouldn't stick I guess, and I always thought that bottom crust was a bit gritty, but that was the way she did it.
i wont make cornbread in anything but cast iron. i put butter in the pan and put it in the oven to melt and heat up the pan while i make the batter. when i pour the batter in, you can hear it sizzle and fry that bottom bit that then makes a nice crunchy brown crust on the bottom. doesnt stick at all. damn! now im hungry for cornbread! i may have to make some to go with dinner even tho i was gonna try to cut back on carbs for a while.
I always assumed that only Communists made conrbread in anything except cast iron. I only saw one person make cornbread in anything else and now that person uses cast iron. Same for steaks. People look at me crazy using two pans for steaks until they take that first bite. I feel sorry for people who use aluminum pans for cornbread and don't sear their steaks on a cast iron skillet. As a Louisianian I feel that it's my place to correct these mistakes.
