Don’t read the rest of this post if you felt any tinge of sympathy for the fishpan lady…

We obviously cook a LOT in the Marketman household(s). Or I wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace of daily or near daily posts on Marketmanila for nearly five consecutive years with a cumulative total of some 2,350 posts in the archives. So it would follow that I have a lot of cooking paraphernalia, and much of it is non-essential. I have mentioned my use of Le Creuset enameled pots often in several recipes, and lots of readers have asked me for my opinions on pots and pans. I once wrote this post to summarize some of my views on pots and pans, and that particular post was one of the key sources used by a writer of The Anchorage Daily News (article now only available through their archives) when they did a feature article on pots and pans back in 2007 (how’s that for MM Alaskan trivia?)…

But if Le Creuset is the “Mercedes” of the kitchen pot line-up, then Staub must be the “Maybach” or perhaps even the “Rolls Royce” of enameled cast iron pots. And after a year or two of desiring one, I finally got my first Staub La Cocotte at Sur La Table a few months ago. Think of it as a personal goody for having managed to keep the blog going for so long… :) Staub is similar to a Le Creuset, but it feels a bit heavier, looks sturdier, and has a more handsome finish. To me it has better lines, and they come in the most fantastic colors, this first one in “Graphite” – a rich grey that I find very appealing. Sitting beside a Le Creuset, their differences in styling, weight, etc. become more apparent. And the lid of the Staub has these little “nipples” that let the moisture at the top of the pan drip back evenly into the stew or whatever you are cooking… rather than the steam running down the sides of the pot. I love my Staub La Cocotte. And at some 15-20% more expensive than full-price Le Creuset, it isn’t outrageously expensive; though I gather the Staub’s NEVER go on sale. At any rate, if you were planning to get your first enameled pot, I suggest you seriously consider a Staub… why start with a Mercedes if you can jump up to a Maybach for less than the cost of a beef stew ordered at a mediocre restaurant? :)

When I photographed the Staub, I also happened to have several newly acquired prep dishes out so I decided to include their photos in this post. Whenever I cook and there are lots of ingredients that need to be prepared, chopped, portioned, etc., I rely on lots and lots of little bowls to keep everything organized. These are some of the latest ones I got… some in green silicone, others in renewable wood, white porcelain/ceramic, and still others in glass. But actually, the ones I use the most are cheap stainless bowls in all sizes that I purchased at the SM kitchen department several years ago…

It’s always so much easier to have everything “mis en place” or all ready and in its proper place before you start cooking…

And if you got this far down in the post, I figured you must be a die-hard cook, food enthusiast, kitchen equipment fanatic, or marketmanila.com regular, so I thought I would sneak in a rare view of part of our kitchen at the beach. This is where Marketman feels most at home and where I test many recipes and cook many meals for family, friends and loved ones. :)

P.S. – Oh my gosh, I had not expected the deluge of comments in just a few hours overnight on this post, so I decided to add one other photo I have of another “side” of the kitchen at the beach. This side is the washing up side, with double sinks, and three half-dishwashers from Fisher Paykel. They make for easy clean-up after large lunches or dinners. The large windows face a really lush green landscape, so one can daydream while clearing the dishes… The counters are white carrara marble, not the most practical and I wouldn’t have them in a kitchen you cook in daily, but they look great. The stove is a Viking, see previous post here.

We personally designed the lay-out of our beach kitchen but it was executed by our brilliant architect(s). In the city, we have an appallingly ugly kitchen in a 50+ year old rental home. It is cramped and not so appealing… but most of the food on this blog was probably prepared in the city kitchen. :)

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