Cookware Love Affair

Recently my husband and I forced ourselves to let go of some very dated cookware, which resurrected an old “discussion” regarding the sentimental staples of our cookware collection. My husband has fought tooth and nail for a melted spatula purchased in college (over 20 years ago) for about $1. It is totally useless and drives me insane, but he feels like it is the seed of his culinary roots. Since he actually spends a lot of time creating in our kitchen, I have chosen to leave the spatula alone.

My cookware love affair is with an All-Clad pan that had been burned over and over again in the test kitchen and finally was discarded about 8 years ago. I took it home because I was single and had nothing All-Clad. So even burned up, it was a prize. I cleaned it 1000 times until it was semi-shiny. Since then, it has been my #1 go-to pan for almost everything. I love this pan because it is so well made that it went to the brink of destruction and came back semi-shiny and completely fantastic. The burned-up spatula, not so lucky. It’s finally been replaced with a mesh grill skillet. Now we really can cook the whole meal ON THE GRILL!

All this leads me to ask… what is YOUR cookware love affair?