The Healthy Butcher's Essentials Collection

Introduction to Cookware

In today’s technology driven, big marketing budget society, buying cookware is not an easy task. With dozens of materials, brands, sizes, and a dictionary of buzz words, walking into a kitchen store can be a dizzying affair. At the request of a few regular customers, we canvassed over 20 brands and over 50 lines of cookware, and our team of chefs whittled it down to The Healthy Butcher’s Essentials Collection, which you will read about below.

Rather than having cupboards filled to the rim with pots and pans of all shapes and sizes, owning a few well-chosen pieces will give you the flexibility to cook whatever you want and the performance you need to cook it better. Our Essentials Collection includes five "Core Pieces", four "First Additions", and three "Final Touches" for a total of twelve pieces. The goal here is to piece together a personal set that suits your needs and wants.

We have assembled a Q & A to help you make your decision regardless of where you shop or what brand you end up choosing; whether you’re starting a kitchen from scratch, or replacing crappyware one piece at a time, the following information will lead you to happy choices.

Finally, if you begin to wonder why our cookware is priced so cheap... well, we just ask you use our ingredients when your working with your new cookware!

THE HEALTHY BUTCHER'S ESSENTIALS COLLECTION

THE CORE
These pieces are the fundamental building
blocks of any cookware set.

1. A Small Sauce Pan

A small sauce pan is your go-to pan for every small job... from heating milk, making morning oatmeal, melting butter, warming soup. We provide two options:

A sauce pan is your go-to pan for making small batches of soups, sauces, cooking rice, boiling vegetables, cooking oatmeal in the morning, and the list goes on.
HB PICK: The Le Creuset 2.1L Saucier has a wide, shallow design and curved side edges which make stirring efficient, so that any sauce will cook evenly and at the pace you dictate - a quicker boil for reducing volume or a slow gentle simmer to cook ingredients thoroughly. To top it all off, they are just as gorgeous as Le Creuset’s French Ovens, offered in many colours to suit your style. MSRP $225.00; The Healthy Butcher’s Regular Price: $189.99.

Option (a) Cuisinox Elite Stainless Steel 1.9L/2qt Covered Sauce Pan 3-ply with Aluminum Core 18/10 Stainless Steel Close fit cover Cast Stainless handles attached with stainless steel capped rivets Suitable for all cooking surfaces (including induction). Click here for spec sheet.

Option (b) Le Creuset 2.1L Saucier Enameled Cast Iron A "saucier" has a wide top, shallow design, and rounded bottom - which which makes stirring efficient, so that any sauce will cook evenly and at the pace you dictate - a quicker boil for reducing volume or a slow gentle simmer to cook ingredients thoroughly. Especially good to use with puddings, custards, rice dishes and of course sauces.  Comes in many classic colours.

2. A Medium Sauce Pan

A medium sauce pan is essential for making sauces, soups, steaming vegetables and a lot more.  Probably your most used pot of the entire collection.  Our Choice:

Cuisinox Elite Stainless Steel 3.6L/3.8qt Covered Sauce Pan 3-ply with Aluminum Core 18/10 Stainless Steel Close fit cover Cast Stainless handles attached with stainless steel capped rivets Suitable for all cooking surfaces (including induction). Click here for spec sheet.

3. A Stockpot

You can't go far in a kitchen without a workorse large pot to handle soups, stocks, large batches of sauces, blanching, boiling, and steaming and more.  Our Choice:

Cuisinox Elite Stainless Steel 7.7L/8.2qt Covered Stock Pot 3-ply with Aluminum Core 18/10 Stainless Steelbr> Close fit cover Cast Stainless handles attached with stainless steel capped rivets Suitable for all cooking surfaces (including induction). Click here for spec sheet.

4. Stainless Steel Frying Pan

The kitchen workhorse for everything from meat and vegetable dishes to scrambled eggs. Unlike a non-stick skillet, the stainless steel allows food to stick, developing the crusty brown bits of fond that contribute flavour.

We offer the two most popular sizes, depending on your personal needs.  Our Choice:

Cuisinox Elite Stainless Steel 11" or 12.5" Open Fry Pan 3-ply with Aluminum Core 18/10 Stainless Steel Close fit cover Cast Stainless handles attached with stainless steel capped rivets Suitable for all cooking surfaces (including induction). Click here for spec sheet.

5. Sauté Pan with Lid

With its high sides, this pan has a greater capacity for liquid than a skillet. Make sure handles are long, comfortable, and oven safe. This pan is what you use for pan-frying or for browning meat and vegetables before adding liquid, such as smothered chops, fricassees, and meat pasta sauces. Buy at least a 3 Qt. We also offer a 4.5qt as a good "family" size.

Cuisinox Elite Stainless Steel 3qt or 4.5qt Sauté Pan with Lid 3-ply with Aluminum Core 18/10 Stainless Steel Close fit cover Cast Stainless handles attached with stainless steel capped rivets Suitable for all cooking surfaces (including induction). Click here for spec sheet.

FIRST ADDITIONS
Whereas the Core Pieces derive from necessity, the First Additions make up the joy of cooking. From the perfectly seared steaks & fish, to heart-warming braises; these pieces are likely where you're going to have the most fun in your kitchen, and realistically, you'll quickly realize that you use these pieces more than the Core.

6. Cast Iron Skillet

No matter how much you spend on your stainless steel cookware pieces, a kitchen ain't a kitchen without a cast iron skillet. These old faithfuls are inexpensive, indestructible, naturally non-stick, and frankly, the best for searing steaks or fish. Nothing takes high heat better or holds it as long as simple cast iron.  Period.

Thermalloy 10" or 12" Skillet Our top choice for cast iron skillets is Thermalloy.  They are dirt cheap (see prices at top of page), are very well balanced with a great handle, and made of extremely heavy gauge cast iron. The skillets are pre-seasoned, but we also provide our instructions for seasoning and caring for a cast iron skillet - we find that seasoning it again prior to use will provide the ultimate working surface for many years of non-stick cooking.  Click here to access The Healthy Butcher's Guide to Seasoning and Caring for a Cast Iron Skillet.

7. Non-Stick Fry Pan

It's next to impossible to cook the perfect omelette without a non-stick pan. But who isn't scared of the harmful effects caused by non-stick coatings (read below to learn of the harmful chemicals PTFE and PFOA). Fear no more! Paderno - a Canadian company - just recently launched a series of guilt-free non-stick pans. NOTE: There are a lot of brands of PTFE-free pans these days, but only a few are well made. Don't be fooled by the seemingly "to good to be true" prices in big box stores.

Paderno EcoPan 8", 10" or 12" fry pan 100% ceramic, non-stick coating which is six times stronger than the traditional non-stick coatings. Completely PFOA and PTFE chemical free, this ceramic non-stick coating allows high heat cooking up to 400C. Dishwasher safe, 25 year warranty.  Good for all cooking surfaces, except induction (we will be receiving some similar pans soon that are induction compatible).

8. Dutch Oven

It's next to impossible to cook the perfect omelette without a non-stick pan. But who isn't scared of the harmful effects caused by non-stick coatings (read below to learn of the harmful chemicals PTFE and PFOA). Fear no more! Paderno - a Canadian company - just recently launched a series of guilt-free non-stick pans. NOTE: There are a lot of brands of PTFE-free pans these days, but only a few are well made. Don't be fooled by the seemingly "to good to be true" prices in big box stores.

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron French Ovens We offer four sizes to choose from, which are (in order of popularity): 5.2L Round French Oven 6.4L Oval French Oven 4.7L Oval French Oven 3.3L Round French Oven An essential piece for nose-to-tail eating… whether you have meaty short ribs or lamb shanks braising in the oven, or a piquant pork pozole bubbling away on top of the stove, success depends on having the right pot. You need one that can maintain a gentle, even heat during a long, quiet simmer. Although there are many more brands out today then a few years ago, in our minds there’s still only one option you can be proud to showcase in your kitchen – Le Creuset. We love using these incredible pots for everything - from making sauces to baking bread.

9. Roasting Pan

For roasting large joints and other large items, such as turkeys. If you buy a large size, then you can use it for doing whatever you want, whether roasting a small number of potatoes or large birds (or both at the same time!).

Cuisinox Elite Stainless Steel Roaster 16.5"x13.5"x3.5" 3-ply with Aluminum Core 18/10 Stainless Steel 2.0mm thick Close fit cover Cast Stainless handles attached with stainless steel capped rivets Suitable for all cooking surfaces (including induction). Click here for spec sheet.

FINAL TOUCHES
Three more pieces... add to your liking to create your own ultimate kitchen.

10. Large Stockpot

If you frequently make your own stocks or very large batches of soups, the 8.2qt pot we suggested as part of The Core simply won't do... so, instead of adding another expensive stainless steel model, we went with a more affordable enamel on steel pot.

Le Creuset Enamel on Steel 11.4L Stockpot Beautiful and practical, Le Creuset enamel on steel stockpots are designed to coordinate with Le Creuset's classic enameled cast iron cookware. Made of heavy gauge carbon steel these kitchen essentials are enameled in vibrant Le Creuset colours. Truly the perfect addition to your Le Creuset collection. The enamel-on-steel construction of Le Creuset's stockpots provides uniform heating for slow simmering or cooking pasta. Its tight-fitting lids seal the flavourful bouquet of time-seasoned and caring creations. The steel rims prevent chipping and the enamel interior won't absorb odours or flavours. Clean up is easy and they are even dishwasher safe.

11. Steamer

A good way for vegetables to retain their nutrients and color is to steam them as opposed to boiling them. 

Cuisinox Steamer Simply insert this steamer into a 20 cm pot (which is #2 on the list, POT-320 the 3.8qt covered sauce pan) and the boiling water in the receiving pot provides hot steam to the steamer above. Use the receiving pot's cover on the steamer above to seal in maximum heat.

12. Rimmed Aluminum Sheet Pan

For baking cookies, biscuits, scones, and jellyroll cakes, as well as for roasting oven fries. Seek out the most durable, sturdiest one you can find - a thick 13 gauge aluminum pan won’t warp or buckle and will serve you well for years in making pizzas, cookies, biscuits.

Ideal size is 18”x13” with a 1” rim. (Most pans on the market are 18 gauge which won't last you very long as they start to warp.  The gauge thickness is an inverse relationship, so the lower the number, the better. Sheet pans are fairly cheap and spending $20 instead of $10 will ensure you don’t burn batch after batch of cookies.

We're still looking for the best bang for your buck... 

How much should you spend on pots and pans?

How much you spend on pots and pans is a personal choice determinate on your budget, how often you cook, what it is you cook the most, and how diligent you’re going to be in caring for them. We’re not fans of pre-assembled sets – more often than not manufacturers pair lesser-selling pieces, that are mainly unnecessary, together with their more popular and essential pieces. So even if the set is attractively priced if you were to add up the prices of the individual pieces, your savings are more an illusion. Further, sets are generally composed of only one material and as you will learn below, the different materials have different strengths.

All in all, we encourage you to piece together your own set of top quality cookware one piece at a time. If it’s budget that worries you, let’s put things into perspective using our Essentials Collections as an example. Our Essentials Collection of top quality cookware adds up to an MSRP of about $1100, which we offer for about $800. Sure, you can spend half that amount by purchasing a set from Canadian Tire, but keep in mind the following: (a) buying better cookware will last you a lifetime – not 2-5 years as with low-end cookware which will start to warp, scratch, break handles, etc. – so in the end it’s less expensive to spend more upfront… an investment in a Le Creuset piece, for example, should be amortized over a lifetime, and you never have to worry about it going out of style – take comfort in the fact that they are the same style as they were 80 years ago and appreciated more today than ever before; and (b) your meals day-in and day-out will be better cooked, with less cussing in the kitchen, using better tools.

That being said, we don’t propose breaking the bank; we have selected pieces that are neither cheap, nor the most expensive. We would have loved to select some copper pots – like those made by Mauviel, but that would have increased the price of our Essentials Collection by several hundred dollars and we can’t honestly look a customer in the eye and say that those significantly more expensive pieces are significantly more effective at doing their jobs. So, we encourage you to spend more, but within reason.

Which materials are best?

There are no clear answers to this question because different materials have different attributes that are advantageous for different cooking methods. No one type of cookware is perfect in all aspects, they all have distinct strengths and weaknesses. Here is a list of pretty much every material that is used today, and their associated attributes:

Stainless Steel
Stainless steel is the queen-bee of cookware because it’s beautiful, durable, easy to clean (even dishwasher safe) and completely non-reactive with acidic foods. However, stainless steel is a poor conductor of heat all by itself, and therefore requires the addition of a heat conductor like aluminum (less expensive and great for heat retention) or copper (more expensive and great for quicker responsiveness). The heat conductor is either attached to the bottom (which yields less expensive pieces) or sandwiched between layers of stainless steel throughout the piece (also known as “tri-ply” - the standard for high end cookware).

The fraction you see – like 18/10, 18/8, 18/0 refers to the percentage of chromium and nickel. To be stainless steel the composition needs to contain at least 10.5% chromium. So, 18/10 stainless steel will contain 18% chromium and 10% nickel. The chromium is what makes the steel “stainless”, and the nickel mainly determines the level of polish. Today’s industry standard is 18/10.

Non-stick Coatings
How can you not like a pan that is completely non-stick, easy to cook with and a cinch to clean? Well, we’re about to tell you how. The history of non-stick technology is lengthy, but worth a brief overview because it matters to your health and the health of our environment. In 1938, Dr. Roy Plunkett at the DuPoint research laboratories discovered polytetrafluroethylene (also known as “PTFE”). As with most discoveries, it was by fluke – he was working with gases related to Freon refrigerants when he noticed that a sample of tetrafluroethylene had polymerized spontaneously into a white, waxy solid to form PTFE. PTFE was first marketed under the DuPont Teflon® trademark in 1945. The molecular weight of Teflon can exceed 30,000,000, making it one of the largest molecules known. The surface is so slippery, virtually nothing sticks to it or is absorbed by it. Unfortunately, it's too good to be true - two serious issues have arisen with PTFE.

Fast forward to present day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific advisory board found that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical compound used to make Teflon, is a "likely carcinogen" (see: Potential Human Health Effects Associated with PFOA). In a 2004 lawsuit filed by residents near DuPont's manufacturing plant in Ohio and West Virginia based on groundwater pollution from this chemical, DuPont settled for $300 million. The problem for DuPont is that it cannot produce PTFE (i.e. Teflon) without the use of PFOA at this point in time. DuPont maintains that there should be no measurable amount of PFOA on a finished pan, provided that it has been properly cured, however, a 2005 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study detected PFOA in finished PTFE products including PTFE/Teflon cookware. Most manufacturers of PTFE (there’s five of them around the world) have reduced the use of PFOA drastically, and are aiming for zero PFOA by 2015. Until PFOA is eliminated from the manufacturing process of PTFE, it is still a serious issue.

Even if, as DuPont and other manufacturers of PTFE claim, no PFOA leeches into your non-stick pans, there is a second issue – and that is with PTFE itself and it has become known as the “dead bird” problem (for lack of a better term). You will notice on most any package of non-stick material that the pan should not exceed 500F. Above 500F, the pans can emit toxic fumes. You might think that 500F is extremely hot, but it is actually easily attainable if you have a direct flame underneath a pan for 2-5 minutes and a dry spot above with nothing to absorb some of the heat. In humans, the fumes can cause an illness called “polymer fume fever” which resembles the flu, with symptoms including tightening of the chest, mild coughing, nausea, and sweating. There have been numerous cases of birds dying in kitchens where non-stick pans were being used. Birds do not have livers or lungs as sophisticated as ours, so the toxicity is such that the PTFE fumes can literally suffocate a bird within a few minutes. To top it all off, the National Toxicology Program has found PTFE to be a human carcinogen (see: Tetrafluoroethylene CAS No. 116-14-3). Nothing more needs to be said on this topic.

Luckily, there are alternatives! Within the last couple of years, a few companies have introduced non-stick skillets based on ceramic and titanium materials. Unfortunately, as with cookware in general, countless brands have popped up for supposed "PTFE-free and PFOA-free non-stick" - and the quality varies huge making the purchasing decision difficult. Don't be fooled by the seemingly "to good to be true" prices in big box stores. A good pan fry pan should have a heady base with a conductive material to distribute heat, an oven-proof handle, and read the fine print! Some companies have chosen to word their marketing of PTFE-based non-sticks in such a way that they sound like a cleaner choice, but they're not! We currently carry the EcoPan line of Paderno, a Canadian company.  Reviews have all been positive so far!


Cast Iron & Enameled Cast Iron
To say that we are fans of cast iron is an understatement. Three out of the six pieces in our Essentials Collection are cast iron (one plain cast iron, two enameled cast iron). Nothing takes heat better or holds it as long as simple, non-technically advanced, cast iron – it turns out that grandma was way ahead of the game. These two attributes of cast iron – ability to withstand high heat, and the ability to hold heat – are advantageous for searing and grilling a steak to perfection or braising a muscle using even surround heat. Conversely, cast iron has its limitations - you would never use cast iron for sautéing which requires a pan to be responsive – meaning that the pan should do what the heat source tells it to, and pronto. If you sauté garlic just until fragrant and then turn down the flame, the pan should cool down quickly so the garlic doesn't burn. You could not accomplish this using a cast iron skillet.

Plain Cast Iron - To live life without a cast iron skillet is not to have lived at all… these old faithfuls are inexpensive, indestructible, naturally non-stick, and frankly, the best for searing steaks or fish. And if you’re feeling anemic (iron deficient), then cooking with a cast iron skillet is just what the doctor ordered – iron content increases in the food cooked on cast iron. To top it all off, cast iron skillets start as low as $20 and a top quality cast piece costs only 40 bucks! Plain cast iron needs to be “seasoned”, which means applying a layer of animal fat or vegetable oil and heating the cookware to bond the fat to the metal (click here for our complete Guide to Seasoning and Caring for Cast Iron). Seasoning also occurs as a natural by-product of using the cookware to cook foods that deposit oils or fats on the pan. Because ordinary cookware cleaning techniques like scouring or washing in a dishwasher will remove or damage the seasoning on a bare cast iron pan, cast iron cookware should never be cleaned like most other cookware – simply wipe with a rag right after use or use hot water and a stiff brush. The fact that plain cast iron is absorbent is one of the reasons why cast iron can’t be used for all cooking, as the cast iron will react to acidic foods and impart a metallic taste. Enter the process of enameling…

Enameled Cast Iron – The result of firing an enamel on cast iron is a pot that retains the benefits of plain cast iron, with the added benefit that it is completely non-reactive, easier to clean, and colourful. Le Creuset stands tall in the enameled cast iron world, and they set the high standards to which all other enameled cast iron products are compared. The prices on enameled cast iron vary just as much as the quality. Beware of cheap enamels that chip easily (either because the enamel was not applied at high enough temperature, or there is only one or two coats of enamel), or contain other unwanted elements in the enamel, such as lead. We will discuss enameled cast iron and Le Creuset more below. If you’re a fan of nose-to-tail eating, then you’re a fan of stewing and braising, and nothing comes close to providing more even, radiating heat than an enameled cast iron dutch oven.


Aluminum & Anodized Aluminum
Aluminum is a top-notch heat conductor and is lightweight and easy to handle, but it reacts with acidic, sulfurous, and alkaline foods. Aluminum is often used as a core or bottom layer for better heat conduction on stainless steel cookware.

Anodized aluminum is aluminum that's been electrochemically sealed, making for a nonreactive, hard surface. Essentially, anodizing involves placing a sheet of aluminum into a chemical acid bath, allowing the sheet of aluminum to become the positive anode of a chemical battery and the acid bath becomes the negative. An electric current passes through the acid, causing the surface of the aluminum to oxidize (essentially rust). The oxidized aluminum forms a strong coating as it replaces the original aluminum on the surface. The result is an extremely hard substance called anodized aluminum. Anodized aluminum can be nearly as hard as diamond under the right anodizing process. Many modern buildings use anodized aluminum in places where the metal framework is exposed to the elements. Today, anodized aluminum is also a popular material for making high-end cookware such as frying pans and pots. Heat is distributed evenly across anodized aluminum, and the process of anodizing provides a naturally protective finish.

Copper
Not only are copper pots and pans gorgeous, copper is a superb heat conductor and the best at achieving responsive heat. A copper pot will do what the heat source tells it to do - heat up, cool down - almost instantly. The disadvantages of copper are that it is extremely expensive, difficult to maintain, and as with plain cast iron, reactive with food, so the pans must be lined. Most frequently copper is used in high end cookware either as a bottom layer or sandwiched between layers of stainless steel to enhance heat conduction. Traditionally, copper pans have been used to make preserves, jams and jellies because of the high temperatures that can be reached allowing for quick evaporation and thickening.

Heavy Gauge
A heavier pan is essential to achieve even heat diffusion, even though they are often difficult to handle. A thicker pan has more distance between the cooking surface and the heat source. By the time the heat flows to the cooking surface, it will have spread out evenly, because heat diffuses as it flows. Mass holds heat (heat is vibrating mass, so the more mass there is to vibrate, the more heat there will be). The more pan there is to heat, the more heat the pan can hold, so there's more constant heat for better browning, faster reducing, and hotter frying. Conversely, thinner-gauge materials spread and hold heat unevenly, and their bottoms are more likely to dent and warp. This means that food can scorch. To decide if a pan is heavy enough, lift it, look at the thickness of the walls and base, and tap it with your knuckles—do you hear a light ping or a dull thud? A thud is good.


What should you look for in lids and handles?

Beside the material the pot is constructed from it’s also important to note the handles and lids. The two most important qualities we look for in handles is the ability to stay cool when on the stove top, and the ability to throw them in the oven without fear of them melting. As an example, look at the design of the Calphalon Contemporary stainless steel pieces we include as part of our Essentials Collection; the handles are hollow stainless steel that are completely oven proof; because stainless steel is a poor conductor, the handles stay cool on the stove top – brilliant! Handles are attached by either welding, riveting, or screwing. Welded handled are permanent and durable, but unattractive so they are more common for commercial cookware. Screw-on handles loosen over time. Riveted handles are the standard for high-end stainless steel pots and pans because they are so durable, however one fault of rivets is that they make it difficult to stir properly and allow food to build up around them.
As for lids, the tighter the fit, the better job it will do at trapping heat. Tempered glass lids have become popular because you can see what’s happening underneath without lifting it up. As with the pot handles, ensure that your lids are oven proof.

More Information about our chosen suppliers

To say that we’re obsessed with Le Creuset’s enameled cast iron pots is an understatement. We love everything about these French-made pots: how they feel as we carry them to the stove, so heavy and capable; how their cooking surfaces help brown meats beautifully and then release the flavourful charred bits with a splash of wine; and the ease of cooking, serving, and storing leftovers in one dish. That they’re easy on the eye doesn’t hurt, either: frankly they are stunning and come in an array of colours to match any kitchen… sometimes just looking at these beauties makes us want to cook.

When we decided to put together the “HB Essentials Collection”, we knew from the get-go that one or two enameled cast iron pots were going to be at the centre of our collection. Anyone who knows anything about cookware knows that Le Creuset is the standard to which all others are compared. Nonetheless, we proceeded to do our homework and compare other brands, such as Calphalon, Lodge, and Le Cuistot, in the hopes of finding a “real deal”. At the end of the day, Le Cuistot – although much less expensive – visibly did not compare in quality; although Lodge and Calphalon’s enameled cast iron series seemed well built, spending between $20-to-$50 less on a 5qt. French Oven – an investment that will last your lifetime, your children’s lifetime, and your children’s children’s lifetime – didn’t make sense to veer from the industry standard. Aside: Le Creuset call its versions French ovens for the American market and cocottes in France, others know these pots as Dutch ovens.

Cast iron retains heat as no other material does and distributes it evenly, and the tight-fitting lid of dutch ovens traps moisture, making the pots ideal for succulent, slow-cooked dishes. People use Le Creuset’s for everything from simmering soups to braising short ribs to making ragù to baking bread! In France they are the all-purpose pots – French home cooks don’t have a dozen different pots, they get a Le Creuset cocotte when they get married and use it for life. The real element of pride in owning one of these beauties comes from the fact that they are still made by hand the same way they have been since the company was founded in 1925. To make a Le Creuset pot, two sand molds are cast to fit together and molten iron is poured in; when the iron is cool and hard, the molds are cracked away, the pots are sanded, and three coats of enamel are applied at a temperature of 1472°F. Since the finishing is done by hand, each Le Creuset piece is completely unique.

Cuisinox Elite

Cuisinox has quickly become Canada's best wholesaler of the renowned multi-clad professional cookware 'Cuisinox Elite'. Cuisinox, as a brand, rapidly became a respectable stainless steel houseware manufacturer with a wide range of upscale kitchenware items. Cuisinox offers premium quality stainless steel multi-clad cookware which has received several "Best Cookware" ratings and "Best Buy" accolades in Canada and the USA. Cuisinox Elite cookware is specially hand crafted and meticulously inspected for quality assurance. Cuisinox provides professional chefs with professional cookware that really cooks as good as it looks. Click here for a spec sheet on Cuisinox Elite.