Oh no...I have an expensive cookware problem :(

[ROF Expat]

I strive to have fewer things of higher quality.  When I pass away and my grandchildren come to clear out my house, I hope they'll look at my stuff and say "Wow, look at all this great, high quality stuff!" and fight over who gets to take it home, rather than sigh sadly at the memory of their "hoarder" grandpa and argue whether it is worth taking all his junk to Goodwill or straight to the landfill. 

I have relatives fighting over who gets what while a parent is still alive. You do not want this, trust me.

It is more of a philosophical point than an actual issue for me since I only have one child.  I have seen families divided by inheritance issues, though, and I hope never to have something like that in my own family. 

[Metalcat]

Update: I have not bought a new pot, or a new stove, I have done as @Zikoris suggested and have modified how I cook due to analysis paralysis.

Truth is, a new stove turns out to be the best option, but if I'm going to replace an appliance, then I would much rather replace the fridge with one that has a freezer on the bottom. So until I'm willing to replace both the fridge and the stove, I'll probably just continue to modify how I manage my cooking routine.

However, I did mention having two giant copper pots. One is so big that it looks like a cat bathtub. Well, I now have a Sphynx cat who needs weekly baths and am actually using the pot as a cat bathtub. Not even joking.

[Dicey]

Update: I have not bought a new pot, or a new stove, I have done as @Zikoris suggested and have modified how I cook due to analysis paralysis.

Truth is, a new stove turns out to be the best option, but if I'm going to replace an appliance, then I would much rather replace the fridge with one that has a freezer on the bottom. So until I'm willing to replace both the fridge and the stove, I'll probably just continue to modify how I manage my cooking routine.

However, I did mention having two giant copper pots. One is so big that it looks like a cat bathtub. Well, I now have a Sphynx cat who needs weekly baths and am actually using the pot as a cat bathtub. Not even joking.

Ooh, pictures please!

[jeninco]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

Spoiler: show

I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (yes, it was a total fucking waste: don't ask me). After scraping away for weeks, I finally brought it home, tossed it in my mom's biggest stock pot, cooked it for an hour or two, and poof! Done. We always after referred to it as "the cat pot", and now that I've moved out, the one that's about that same size has the same name. (we are happy cat owners, and I'm sure they recognize that it's just dark humor.)

[Metalcat]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

Spoiler: show

I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (yes, it was a total fucking waste: don't ask me). After scraping away for weeks, I finally brought it home, tossed it in my mom's biggest stock pot, cooked it for an hour or two, and poof! Done. We always after referred to it as "the cat pot", and now that I've moved out, the one that's about that same size has the same name. (we are happy cat owners, and I'm sure they recognize that it's just dark humor.)

LOL, incidentally, I've actually done something very similar.
It's a tedious process isn't it?

[RetiredAt63]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

Spoiler: show

I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (yes, it was a total fucking waste: don't ask me). After scraping away for weeks, I finally brought it home, tossed it in my mom's biggest stock pot, cooked it for an hour or two, and poof! Done. We always after referred to it as "the cat pot", and now that I've moved out, the one that's about that same size has the same name. (we are happy cat owners, and I'm sure they recognize that it's just dark humor.)

LOL, incidentally, I've actually done something very similar.
It's a tedious process isn't it?

If there are no preservatives, dermestid beetles are better.

[Metalcat]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

Spoiler: show

I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (yes, it was a total fucking waste: don't ask me). After scraping away for weeks, I finally brought it home, tossed it in my mom's biggest stock pot, cooked it for an hour or two, and poof! Done. We always after referred to it as "the cat pot", and now that I've moved out, the one that's about that same size has the same name. (we are happy cat owners, and I'm sure they recognize that it's just dark humor.)

LOL, incidentally, I've actually done something very similar.
It's a tedious process isn't it?

If there are no preservatives, dermestid beetles are better.

They really are when they're an option. The alternative is...Ugh...tedious.

[jeninco]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

Spoiler: show

I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (yes, it was a total fucking waste: don't ask me). After scraping away for weeks, I finally brought it home, tossed it in my mom's biggest stock pot, cooked it for an hour or two, and poof! Done. We always after referred to it as "the cat pot", and now that I've moved out, the one that's about that same size has the same name. (we are happy cat owners, and I'm sure they recognize that it's just dark humor.)

LOL, incidentally, I've actually done something very similar.
It's a tedious process isn't it?

If there are no preservatives, dermestid beetles are better.

They really are when they're an option. The alternative is...Ugh...tedious.

This was, as I said, in 9th grade biology. Looking back, it had such learning potential, and it was such a freakin' waste.

And, yeah, formaldehyde. This was way back in the day, when school was uphill both ways and it snowed year-round.

Anyhow, it's an entertaining description of an extra-large stock pot, one that (to forcibly drag this somewhat back on topic) is large enough to hold an entire turkey carcass -- after I've picked off all the meat, which I then froze in 1 to 2 lb bags, of course.  That's chicken soup/pozole/caldo tlalpeño for the next few months, right there.

[fredbear]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

[spoiler]I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (...

LOL, incidentally, I've actually done something very similar.
It's a tedious process isn't it?

I did the head of a pronghorn, and was peremptorily sent outside for the boiling, which stank.  And was very slow.  I ended up fashioning canopic hooks to fish out the cranial bits, in a not very effective attempt to accelerate the process.  I ended with H2O2, but all I could get is the supermarket 3%, not the bone-bleaching 35% you get from a supply house.  It's there with bike-commuting 6 miles at -10F; I have done it.   

[Metalcat]

Ooh, this reminds me of a not-safe-for-easily-disturbed-cat-owner-story:

[spoiler]I had to skeletize a (preserved) cat in 9th grade biology (...

LOL, incidentally, I've actually done something very similar.
It's a tedious process isn't it?

I did the head of a pronghorn, and was peremptorily sent outside for the boiling, which stank.  And was very slow.  I ended up fashioning canopic hooks to fish out the cranial bits, in a not very effective attempt to accelerate the process.  I ended with H2O2, but all I could get is the supermarket 3%, not the bone-bleaching 35% you get from a supply house.  It's there with bike-commuting 6 miles at -10F; I have done it.

Check back in with me at -40 ;)

[fredbear]

Check back in with me at -40 ;)

I check.  I'll see you but not lower you.  I've been outside at -40F but certainly not bicycling, first on a moonlight hike to see the Gunnison River smoking and floe-crusted in the moonlight.  Lovely, even romantic, but the air burnt through your jeans - actually seemed to activate burn-receptor nerves.  Much of the rest of the evening was trying to get cars running, and the final part was driving down toward Silverton with lights on high beam, heater on warp 10, the rear window defroster toasting away, radio alternately picking up one of the 50000W rock stations from Oklahoma City or Tiajuana, and (when the ionosphere was up for it) producing odd fragments of Navajo from a station down on the Res.  All this load, plus the inefficiency of the alternator (for all I know the belt was too cold to move) meant that about the time we got into Silverton the battery went dead even though we'd been driving, so it was a black-dark motel search at about 3AM, wondering how I would solve it the next morning when first light was on the crags and it had warmed up 10 degrees or so.

If you were biking at -40F I yield the thread, now and forever.  Over to you, Miss.

[Metalcat]

Check back in with me at -40 ;)

I check.  I'll see you but not lower you.  I've been outside at -40F but certainly not bicycling, first on a moonlight hike to see the Gunnison River smoking and floe-crusted in the moonlight.  Lovely, even romantic, but the air burnt through your jeans - actually seemed to activate burn-receptor nerves.  Much of the rest of the evening was trying to get cars running, and the final part was driving down toward Silverton with lights on high beam, heater on warp 10, the rear window defroster toasting away, radio alternately picking up one of the 50000W rock stations from Oklahoma City or Tiajuana, and (when the ionosphere was up for it) producing odd fragments of Navajo from a station down on the Res.  All this load, plus the inefficiency of the alternator (for all I know the belt was too cold to move) meant that about the time we got into Silverton the battery went dead even though we'd been driving, so it was a black-dark motel search at about 3AM, wondering how I would solve it the next morning when first light was on the crags and it had warmed up 10 degrees or so.

If you were biking at -40F I yield the thread, now and forever.  Over to you, Miss.

Jeans??? Who wears jeans in -40????

[G-dog]

Check back in with me at -40 ;)

I check.  I'll see you but not lower you.  I've been outside at -40F but certainly not bicycling, first on a moonlight hike to see the Gunnison River smoking and floe-crusted in the moonlight.  Lovely, even romantic, but the air burnt through your jeans - actually seemed to activate burn-receptor nerves.  Much of the rest of the evening was trying to get cars running, and the final part was driving down toward Silverton with lights on high beam, heater on warp 10, the rear window defroster toasting away, radio alternately picking up one of the 50000W rock stations from Oklahoma City or Tiajuana, and (when the ionosphere was up for it) producing odd fragments of Navajo from a station down on the Res.  All this load, plus the inefficiency of the alternator (for all I know the belt was too cold to move) meant that about the time we got into Silverton the battery went dead even though we'd been driving, so it was a black-dark motel search at about 3AM, wondering how I would solve it the next morning when first light was on the crags and it had warmed up 10 degrees or so.

If you were biking at -40F I yield the thread, now and forever.  Over to you, Miss.

Jeans??? Who wears jeans in -40????

Well I am not wearing shorts!  I’d be wearing jeans because that is the warmest thing I have.  Maybe now with tights, leggings, or thermal underwear underneath.

[Dee18]

Just happened to notice that Williams Sonoma is having a big sale on Le Creuset and Staub today, with some items 50% off.

[RetiredAt63]

Jeans are the worst in cold.  Really, cotton in general. Wool or synthetics all the way.  That includes the thermal underwear.  Silk is also good for thermal underwear.

Worst cold story. Many years ago we were being typical winter Canadians,  going to a Club Med. It was -42C with a wind chill of -52C at Mirabel, and the plane wouldn't start.  We left more than an hour late and missed the connecting flight.

The silver lining was that the Club Med staff put us all in a bar with free drinks while they found flights for us.

[mountain mustache]

Check back in with me at -40 ;)

I check.  I'll see you but not lower you.  I've been outside at -40F but certainly not bicycling, first on a moonlight hike to see the Gunnison River smoking and floe-crusted in the moonlight.  Lovely, even romantic, but the air burnt through your jeans - actually seemed to activate burn-receptor nerves.  Much of the rest of the evening was trying to get cars running, and the final part was driving down toward Silverton with lights on high beam, heater on warp 10, the rear window defroster toasting away, radio alternately picking up one of the 50000W rock stations from Oklahoma City or Tiajuana, and (when the ionosphere was up for it) producing odd fragments of Navajo from a station down on the Res.  All this load, plus the inefficiency of the alternator (for all I know the belt was too cold to move) meant that about the time we got into Silverton the battery went dead even though we'd been driving, so it was a black-dark motel search at about 3AM, wondering how I would solve it the next morning when first light was on the crags and it had warmed up 10 degrees or so.

If you were biking at -40F I yield the thread, now and forever.  Over to you, Miss.

I have never experienced a cold quite like Gunnison River valley cold. I have several friends who live there and love it, but I stick to the warmer parts of the CO high desert!

[deborah]

This is supposed to be a thread about choosing cookware. How did we get to clothing for cold weather?

[Metalcat]

This is supposed to be a thread about choosing cookware. How did we get to clothing for cold weather?

Or about using bugs to eat the flesh off of skeletons of animals.

It's the MMM forums, this is how our threads go here. It's like the best part of this place.

[fredbear]

This is supposed to be a thread about choosing cookware. How did we get to clothing for cold weather?

Or about using bugs to eat the flesh off of skeletons of animals.

It's the MMM forums, this is how our threads go here. It's like the best part of this place.

I can take the hint.  How about "When I've got a mule deer head to flense, I like

https://www.amazon.com/Norpro-649-Stainless-12-Quart-Roaster/dp/B000SSYY7O/ref=sr_1_51?keywords=roasting+pan&qid=1576190217&sr=8-51

because it keeps those expensive dermestid beetles on the job, without any chance to escape into the rest of the kitchen and denude my turkey leftovers."

[Cranky]

A few years ago, a popular school project was mummifying a chicken. I never could get our science teacher to try it, and I even had an anthropology grad student lined up to help.

I did buy dh a book on how to make dinosaur skeletons out of chicken bones, though.

[RetiredAt63]

A few years ago, a popular school project was mummifying a chicken. I never could get our science teacher to try it, and I even had an anthropology grad student lined up to help.

I did buy dh a book on how to make dinosaur skeletons out of chicken bones, though.

Sounds like a cool book.  Of course chickens are dinosaurs.

[roomtempmayo]

The Lodge is a great value.  I've had mine for over a decade of regular use, and it's been great.

But Staub is also great.  I now have two of them, and I'm not tempted to buy another Lodge.  The interior of the Staubs has worn much better than the Lodge, and they're a more refined vessel from the tapered sidewalls to the shape of the handles.

Buy whatever you want and damn the torpedo's!

But seriously if this is something that you use regularly to do something as fundamental as feeding yourself it feels liek a halfway decent investment. $300 for a pot is a lot of money, but if it lasts for 15+ years does not sound bad to me.

Like @ Jon Bon says, the cost of cookware is barely a blip in your longterm budget.  Buy whatever makes you most likely to enjoy cooking and eating your own cooking.

[freya]

You say you have a new apartment sized stove?  Did you recently move and this came with the place, or did you downgrade stoves? I suppose a new pricey soup pot is less than a new stove, but if you’re going to have to replace a lot of things to fit the new stove, I would consider selling the stove and getting a stove that supports your cooking habits.  Cooking from scratch is so important that I would consider that worth it. If it’s only the soup pot that won’t fit, then ignore this.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I've cooked on apartment size (24") stoves most of my adult life, until I moved into my current apartment which has a standard (30") stove.  The difference is breathtaking.  If you're big into cooking (I am too), and can possibly upgrade to a full size stove, you should consider that.  Otherwise, if you're cooking on a 24" stovetop you are going to have to compromise on batch size. There's no such thing as an 8 quart pot that will fit on that stove.   Even if you somehow found a narrow, tall pot that will fit, it won't cook the same way as the 8 quart pots you have now.

The answer, for you, is to find alternatives to using your stovetop.  One hack I use frequently is to turn my oven into a slow cooker by setting it on low temperature of 200 or less - if that's possible with your stove.  It also requires that your large pots be oven safe - are they?  Otherwise, just get yourself a good quality electric slow cooker...although I much prefer the oven method as it heats more evenly, whereas slow cookers heat only on the bottom.

You could also buy a sufficiently large portable induction burner (if your pots are induction compatible) or regular electric burner.  Check that you have an appropriate circuit in your kitchen to handle the load.

Finally here's a crazy idea:  is there a griddle top accessory for your stove that covers at least 2, preferably all 4 burners?  Assuming it gets hot enough you can then put your soup pot on that.   Since soups are typically low temperature adventures once brought to simmer, this should work fine.

[KBecks]

Reviving this thread to chime in and report that we are the owners of a fancy-dancy 7.5 quart Lodge enameled cast iron dutch oven in red.  It was under $100 at Target and is now in use with a load of french onion soup.

My spouse decided this morning that he wanted to a) make more soups and b) get the fancy-dancy dutch oven. And he wanted a big one. Right now. Being that he wanted it TODAY, we went with the Lodge and Target because one was available to purchase. So, yay.  Macy's has the Le Creuset but they are closed as far as I know.

I was starting to explain to him the Staub brand and how we could have gone super duper fancy schmancy dancy.  But, he agreed that this Lodge is just fine.  No report on the taste tests yet but perhaps down the road we will try the finer brands, too,

[Metalcat]

Well, if we're going to revive this thread, I'll let everyone know that I went the @Zikoris route and just modified my cooking pattern.

Ultimately, the only real solution was to upgrade to a larger stove, which I don't want to do as where the stove is in the kitchen it right, which is why the former owners obviously put in an apartment size. Also, I like the small oven, it heats up so quickly and I never use it for anything large.

So instead, I use my a Staub on the induction element and the copper pot on the stove. I've learned how to get the copper pot to work on one of the elements, it takes some damn time, but if I strategize, then it works just fine.

However, if I can ever find a small stove with more powerful elements, that's what I'm getting.