Here are two frying pans; actually one’s an omelette pan but never mind that snivelling detail; both have been used to fry food.
Now guess the difference in price between them. I’ll make things easier: guess what multiple of price distinguishes one from the other.
Still not interested? OK, a more telling clue. One’s a Le Creuset.
And the Le Creuset costs six to eight times more than the other (off the shelf at Tesco).
Plus I owe VR an apology. She bought the Le Creuset more than thirty years ago when we lived in Kingston-upon-Thames. No doubt I ate many an omelette it cooked. But these days VR’s condition has meant I now operate the kitchen and with it the Le Creuset. The standard of culinary competence has dropped to what we in the UK call the “greasy spoon” level.
Recently VR discovered I’d hotted up a fish finger in the Le Creuset. Said, “You can’t do that in an omelette pan.” But omelettes are not part of my repertoire and if what VR said is an unbreakable law then the Le Creuset would gather dust. “Besides,” VR added, “the Le Creuset cost a lot of money.”
I may have replied prices are relative with the passage of time.
Tell the truth, the Le Creuset looked very robust. Alas, I found its weak point. I accidentally caused it to fall from the shelf. The handle speared the floor causing massive leverage; as you see the handle and a large segment of the pan are now separate from the pan’s main body.
I decided to replace it at my expense. That’s when I discovered the passage of time had updated VR’s claim about price. Hence the cheapo.
Happily, our 63-year-old marriage remains in one piece.
We have some Le Creuset that's still hanging in there but any replacement is way out of my preparedness to invest. I suppose if you're only say 29 it's longevity may make it a worthwhile investment, but that may also include 30 years of worry about damaging it one way or another. C'est la vie!
ReplyDeleteSir Hugh: I have to say I was unlucky. In most instances the Le Creuset would have survived a fall had it arrived flat on the floor. Unfortunately, as I say, by falling tip of the handle first it suffered unsurvivable leverage.
DeleteMy husband, once a professional cook and cookbook author, breaks things in the kitchen all the time. There was a time when it would make me angry. I have learned to look the other way and bite my tongue. I imagine VR does the same.
ReplyDeleteColette: There's an elephant in the room here. I infer that your husband spends a good deal of time in your kitchen; by extrapolation I conclude he cooks many of the meals you and he eat. My recommendation: keep on biting your tongue.
DeleteYou may have dropped it because it’s so heavy. We have a Le Creuset Dutch oven that was given to me by an elderly woman who couldn’t lift it anymore. It gets heavier every day, as does our collection of cast iron frying pans. Had you used the cast pan properly in the past I think you’d be too spoiled to convert to what’slon treated aluminium. Spelled to your liking.
ReplyDeleteMikeM: Your comment evokes a short but unique period of my life, never repeated. Hence my most recent post.
ReplyDelete