French Copper Cookware…by (French Copper Studio)

Published March 13, 2014

Here is some interesting information regarding the care, maintenance and advantages of cooking with copper….

“With regards the cookware lining ,copper is not inert and will react with food i.e  acid, so the interior is typically lined with tin or SS. The allure of tin is that it gives an even heat through cooking (no hotspots) and the food has a better flavor & texture and also is cooked at a lower temperature (saving you on gas/electric) and can be served straight to table, looks beautiful and keeps hot in the pan for extra servings. Also when cooking at a lower temperature, the kitchen is not smoky with overheated food and the flavor is kept in the food rather than on the pan surface. See comments on website from clients writing in at www.frenchcopperstudio.com.

The disadvantages are from scratching from using a sharp utensil or abrasive cleaner as tin is softer.

So stainless steel lined advantages, it takes anything you throw at it ,doesn’t scratch and doesn’t need too much attention on cleaning .

The disadvantages of stainless steel lined, however are numerous , heating time side by side with tin lined is doubled and when it does come to boil you get a cook line in the pan akin to a burn. This means the heat isn’t evenly distributed as the SS keeps heating up on the inside above the moisture line so when a sauce,for instance, is poured into it serving bowl or dish the flavor of course, cannot help but suffer.

Tin used every day and if treated with respect will last 10+ years. Tinning is easy when you know how to do it, my husband was trained by the people who produce our cookware in France and does tinning for most of the French restaurants in the Vancouver area, and those further afield who have purchased from us or found us on the internet

However you can use unlined copper in certain cases . One, is the copper bowls we manufacture, which was an idea by KitchenAid’s upper-management at the time for their mixers, a decade ago .These are specialty copper bowls of course and can only be purchased from ourselves, but they sell worldwide for making amazing Meringue desserts, the whipped cream is unbelievably thick and smooth and chocolate mousse is as good as any top restaurant can produce. Think of all the top chocolatiers  and they use massive unlined copper bowls to stir up their chocolate and fudges and of course the copper fountains with chocolate cascading down, to dip your strawberries in. Our copper bowls of course are for only egg-whites / cream and sugar ingredients and it is clearly stated on the boxes to this effect! We make three models for the KitchenAid Mixers, the Artisan / twist lock, Heavy duty / K5 and the 3rd model is the Professional 600 (6qt).

There is an interesting scientific article about the reason for using copper unlined for this purpose on line called About.com chemistry /egg whites .It explains in detail why this occurs ,well worth reading 

For cleaning….we recommend BarKeepers Friend or Copper Glo made by the same manufacturer and both cleaners make easy work of copper cleaning.

So although the statement copper is poisonous and in some aspects it is true , such a sweeping statement is frightening to those who may be thinking of trying it out, yet when the cookware is used intelligently, it is as safe as using any cookware produced, and the results are in a higher echelon.

Further to cooking with Copper, one of the best examples is when cooking fish. The SS lined copper cookware dries out the fish but the copper tin lined cookware seals in the natural juices of the fish and the results are always better. Remember start with a heated pan so the fish will sizzle and then turn down the heat to a medium. Have your fish dipped first in egg and then (Asian rice) breadcrumbs, place fish in hot frying pan that has a drizzle layer of olive oil in. Always give the fish a shake after putting it in the pan so it will not stick and then turn over put a nob of butter under and then turn over again and shake. I tell you fish that is golden brown and tender served to the table in a copper tin lined frying pan is a joy to eat , we all want to eat more.

 

Our website is www.frenchcopperstudio.com We would love to show you our copper-ware and in the future you may even buy a piece or two from us.