The Romance of Pots

As much as I cook, and write about cooking, you might be surprised to learn that I haven't had a decent set of pots in which to whip up my concoctions until quite recently. September 28th, to be exact. I had book club that day, and over lunch beforehand at the très cute Cook & Book I was telling my girlfriends about how I finally decided what type of pots I wanted, but that we couldn't afford them, so I'd just have to save and wait. Well, later on that afternoon Troy impressed my friends by calling to tell me that he was leaving work early so that we could head to the International Home of Cooking before it closed to buy my pots. (Hey, I was impressed too. He's a peach, what can I say?) I never thought I'd find the spontaneous offer of cookware-buying romantic, but it really was sweet.

Though ultimately the execution was quite quick, it was a lengthy process getting to the point of sale. First, some background: ever since college I had been fairly interested in healthy eating and buying organic to a certain extent. However it wasn't until we moved to Brussels, and I had the time to really devote to it, that I got super serious about all things bio and ecolo. One of the first steps we took was switching to cloth napkins most of the time. (Thanks to my friend Sarah in Iowa for inspiring that one!) I have super sensitive skin, so I had already been using non-allergen laundry detergent and cosmetics for years, but from there I started investigating gentler personal care and cleaning products, getting rid of any bad plastic and using more glass, and generally trying to "de-chemicalize" our lives. Now, this process can really drive a person crazy as the modern world is nothing if not chemically-supported. And, to be fair, not all chemicals or modern conveniences are bad. I love my refrigerator and dishwasher, I am profoundly grateful for long hot baths and showers, and I have one or two "conventional" cleaners that work so well I wouldn't dream of replacing them. We just try to do our best to buy local, "green", non-toxic, low-carbon-footprint, and organic/farmer-raised products as much as we can. I am extremely lucky that Troy cares about this stuff nearly as much as I do, so I don't get any grumbling from him.

Now back to the pots. Troy and I got a lot of beautiful things for the kitchen when we got married, plus we have picked up some nice odds and ends since then. Somehow, however, we never really thought about our cookware until this last year. We inherited pots and pans from a variety of sources, and they worked fine for a while. But, as we worked through project "green" and really looked at our cookware, well, it wasn't pretty. In a way, I'm glad that we waited as long as we did to get nice pots because I'm not positive if I would have chosen well even a few years ago. And, to give credit where credit is due, it was Troy who first clued me in about stainless steel. So, after much product research (what did people DO before the internet?), consulting friends, and visiting several stores and websites, I finally landed on the perfect pots. We got a 5 piece set in heavy, oven-proof, sleek, beautiful, stainless steel from a German company called Fissler. Here's pretty much the same the set via their US website. They make everything, so we can also add pieces in the future if we wish.

This was a much-anticipated, and yet also a surprise, purchase and I was extremely excited. To celebrate, I've been cooking up a storm. First up was my favorite slow-cooking bolognese sauce, courtesy of Mr. Emeril Lagasse believe it or not, and it tasted better than ever!



I started out in the sunny afternoon with some lovely ingredients.



Softening the prosciutto and odori (aka celery, onion, carrot)



About an hour of cooking later and the sauce was starting to look very nice indeed.



Et voila, after another 45-ish minutes of cooking on a low flame plus the addition of fresh parsley and a healthy dose of heavy cream, we have the finished sauce. And did you notice how pretty the pot is?