I am a bit torn over several awesome saucepans on Amazon. I definitely want an all stainless steel body and interior. So all anodized, non-sticks and enamels are out. I am not a very careful or gentle dishwasher so glass lids are out. I am pretty sure I will eventually break them and slice my hand open or maybe both.
I am attracted towards cast iron saucepans but I don't think I actually have the patience to do all the maintenance that a pre-seasoned finish requires. When I see a cast iron pot in any sink, my cleaning OCD kicks in. I know I will end up scrubbing all the seasoning out every time. That sort of defeats the purpose of having a seasoned cast iron pan. And of course, I doubt if I have the muscles to handle the weight of a 3 quart cast iron pot.
So after some elimination, I am staring at this: the 3 quart Norpro Krona Stainless Steel Saucepan:
But sigh. It has only two rather non-specific vague reviews. Do you think this saucepan is worth $35?
I just made a comment about enameled cast iron pots in the other post, but I am not sure that the leaching from seasoned pots is so much to be of much concern. The thing is if you maintain the seasoning, and don't scrape the dish like the maniac, the leached out iron is actually very minimal. Think about it though - you get WAAAAY more iron from consuming myoglobin and haemoglobin from the muscles and blood from non-vegetarian sources.
Iron salts have a peculiar flavour enhancing effect on food. I know for a fact that tomato sauce cooked in a cast iron (under-seasoned/fairly new) cast iron pot tastes very different from tomato sauce cooked in say, a stainless steel pot. In fact, I think some people really like the additional flavour that iron salts impart to foods. Rotis and paranthas cooked on my mum's griddle have several slightly dark spots that are DELICIOUS. I don't think I have ever managed to replicate those...
So yeah, I am not sure any modern seasoned cast iron pot can ever reach comparable iron leaching levels as the pots of the Bantu tribe that suffers from siderosis. And even that theory of leached iron causing siderosis is now being questioned because research now points that only some people with genetic variation in iron metabolism genes can suffer ill effect of more-that-ordinary levels of iron from cooking vessels. See: :::link:::
I always thought cooking in iron pots was bad for you because of the iron leeching. Especially in men who don't bleed as much as women. You being anemic changes all that but what about other people? I am thinking pots vs skillets. Like if you cooked tomato sauce in an iron pot.
I also want to use this saucepan for making the Lahey-method no knead breads that I am really fond of. Glass and other plastic lids don't do too well at 450 to 500 deg F in the oven. I sometimes make myself purposefully ignore food while cooking and wash dishes instead because I end up aggressively stirring and spoiling crusts otherwise. So an opaque lid will hide it away from my stirring tendencies.
What would you pay for this pot? It is an encapsulated aluminium base sandwiched between two layers of stainless steel for even heat conductance. It's the next best thing (or maybe somewhat similar) to a copper bottomed vessel.
I love cookware and I was thinking about getting a cast iron pot but not sure I want to try to find the space for it. I have a cast iron pan and I love it. Mike hates it because I won't allow any one to use soap in it and I scrub it out only with very hot water and an old disgusting scrub brush. If you have any iron deficiencies cast iron would be a good option. It seems that it would be very difficult as a vegetarian to really keep cast iron in good shape. When I first got my pan I cooked mostly really fatty meats to break it in.
That pot you have pictured looks pretty good. Are you sure you don't want to get a clear lid? That would drive me crazy not to be able to see what is happening. I think my lids are glass or some type of plastic that looks like glass and they are very durable.