Nordicware - My new obsession…

I have always been into baking since working at Pots and Pans, and over the years I have collected a range of different brands, shapes and sizes. I’ve tried lots of different materials from the classic metal and pottery to the newer innovations such as silicone, but nothing has quite rocked my world like Nordicware!

It was Christmas 08’ and I was thinking about creating personalised gifts for my friends and family. After all nothing says ‘I love you’ like home baking! After much debate, I decided to invest in a Nordicware Holiday Tree cake pan. If im honest, I thought it would be rubbish, and wasn’t convinced that it would look remotely like the pictures but the baker in me was keen to have a go!

That night I armed myself with the necessary equipment and set to work on my masterpiece. I knew it was important to grease the tin well with butter and also decided to lightly flour the interior of the pan. I was hoping and praying that this would help the mixture get into all the nooks and crannies and help it to come out more easily after cooking. So after whipping up a quick cake mix and pouring it in, I eagerly awaited the results. So much so I kept peeking through the oven door every five minutes, probably more excited than one should be! The timer pinged and I pushed the special Nordicware cake tester into the cake, which told me it was cooked through nicely. Time to see if this stuff was as good as everyone said.

I was stunned! Lain before me were two perfectly formed Christmas tree halves, each decorated with intricate details of candles and baubles. The cake was evenly baked, with a golden brown finish and a beautifully fluffy inside.

After icing and finishing off my 3D masterpiece, I decided it was perfect to give away as presents – easy to make, but definitely providing the wow-factor! Im told it was enjoyed by all.

Now i'm itching to expand my collection with other shapes as the pans can be used not only for cakes, but for sweets, jellies and ice cubes.

My only dilemma is whether it’s to be ‘Teacakes and Candies’ or a ‘Butterfly Bundt Cake’!

Vicki

The benefits of non-stick cookware (Or why I love Circulon)

Non-stick, PTFE, Teflon. You either love the stuff, or hate it. I love it unashamedly, and firmly believe it makes me a better cook. Whether I am doing caramelised balsamic onions, or just good old porridge, nothing sticks to my trusty Circulon pans.

I didn’t always love non-stick though. As a student, my knowledge of it was limited to the horrible frypan lurking in the back of the cupboard, with its non-stick all scratched and peeling off. I just ignored it and used the equally nasty stainless steel pans. The thing is everyone has seen one of these awful frypans (usually purchased from a now defunct high street store) and it makes non-stick seem a bit unappealing.

Then I started working at Pots and Pans. Sales skill being no small part of the job, I started to believe the hype about Circulon products. A sauté pan came on special offer so I bought one, to see what all the fuss was about. It was the best thing I had ever used. Nothing stuck to it, not even a bit! Better than that it cleaned up brilliantly (even though I left it until the next morning). I was a convert from that moment on.

Many years later, and though the branding has changed (the range now includes Circulon Elite, Circulon Infinite and Circulon Steel) the quality remains the same. My cooking skills have improved somewhat though, and I now appreciate the subtleties of the range. The heavy gauge aluminium body means the heat conduction is excellent, which in turn means you can cook on a lower temperature, saving power. The superb non-stick means barely any oil is required when cooking, and you will not believe how easy they are to clean until you try it. And the sauté pan I bought so many years ago? The longevity of these pans is great, so it’s still going strong.

So if you have been a bit put off by the frightening looking non-stick pan lurking in the corner, chuck it in the bin and get yourself a Circulon one, I guarantee you will love it!

Nina

Win an electric drinks cooler in this month’s competition

After the large volume of entries that we had for last months prize draw, the prize was a Le Creuset Casserole Dish so I guess we should not have been surprised by the enormous response we received, we have decided to have two winners this month. This month two lucky people have the chance to win a Halifax Portable Drinks Cooler, this normally retails for £44.95.

The Halifax Cooler is capable of chilling two 75cl bottles or up to 6 cans or bottles at a time. It can chill a bottle from room temperature to 10C in just 5 minutes and only 3 minutes to do the same to cans or bottles. It is fully portable, there is no need to have it connected to the electricity supply, this means you can enjoy using it while out in the garden.

When we were discussing what we would offer as a prize this month the drinks cooler quickly established itself as the obvious choice. What better way is there to enjoy the current heat wave that with some chilled drinks? With Wimbledon fortnight starting could it be any more seasonal? While on the subject of Wimbledon in the office we were discussing if this could be the year that Andy Murray will wins the men’s title. He is a ‘local lad’ for us, coming originally from Dunblane which is not far from the Pots and Pans offices.

For more details or to enter this month prize draw you should visit the competition page on our website.

The St Andrews shop window displays nominated for award.

The colourful window displays of the Pots and Pans shop in St Andrews have been nominated for an award in this years Excellence in Housewares Awards. They have been nominated in the Excellence in Retail Display - Independent category.

Anybody who has seen the window displays in the St Andrews shop will realise that the staff there always put a great deal of time and effort into creating their window displays, always ensuring that they entertain the local shoppers.

Recent displays have included themes based on National Honey Week and National Vegetarian Week. You can see from the picture of the display for National Honey week just how much work goes into each of the window displays.

This display was a promotion for the for the Le Creuset cookware range.

It would appear that shoppers have as much fun with the window displays as the staff have creating them. The feedback that the staff receives concerning the window displays is always positive, some shoppers even suggest themes for future window displays. The displays definitely help brighten up Church Street.

Being nominated for The Excellence in Housewares Awards is excellent recognition for the work that goes into each display. These awards are the most prestigious awards in the housewares industry. This year the award ceremony is being held on October 7th at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Good luck to the St Andrews shop staff that night, we will all be keeping our fingers crossed for them.

Gaggia Coffee Machines – Back in Stock !

Gaggia have a long history of producing quality coffee machines for both home and commercial use. We have been retailing their machines for many years but unfortunately their parent company SAECO has recently become a casualty of the recession.

Gaggia UK has also been hit by a very weak pound and the combined effect has been to make Gaggia products unavailable in the UK.

The GOOD NEWS is that Phillips has announced that it will be acquiring the SAECO Group and as a result Gaggia has been saved!

Gaggia UK Supply

We have been unable to get Gaggia machines or coffee for several months due the difficulties faced by the UK distributor. Several popular models such as the Classic and Cubika are manufactured in Italy exclusively for the UK market and supplies had dried up as the companies future was in doubt.

Current Position

Gaggia have just restarting supplying the UK and as one of their long standing retailers we will be the first to receive the popular Gaggia Classic and Gaggia Cubika machines.

We will also be receiving stocks of their popular coffee over the next few weeks.

Thank you to all our Gaggia customers for your patience over the last few months.

If you have any further questions about Gaggia Coffee machines please contact admin@pots-and-pans.co.uk 

Red Dot Award For Product Design

These days cookware manufacturers have to constantly innovate to stay ahead of the competition. As more and more production moves to low cost countries such as China well designed products give UK suppliers the edge.

At Pots and Pans we make sure our buyers spot great new ideas and then we make them available to you as quickly as possible.

We are therefore proud to show you two British winners!

The Red Dot Awards

The international jury of design experts in the Red Dot scheme examines and tests products and assesses them according to criteria such as degree of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, longevity, ecological compatibility and clarity of function.

In total 3,231 products from 49 nations faced the experts judgement this year. The award-winning products are exhibited to an international public in the Red Dot design museum in Essen, Germany.

Signature knives and knife block set by Robert Welch Designs

Robert Welch Designs “set out to design the best knife in the world”



The Signature knife block and knives were designed by Paul de Bretton Gordon and Rupert Welch. They have been found to be in the world's top 3% of all knives tested for initial sharpness and edge retention and are elegant well balanced knives.

We sell a lot of knives but the quality, design and attention to detail on this range makes them our top recommendation for a quality, reasonably priced kitchen knife.

Joseph Joseph has won a prestigious Red Dot design for its space-saving Nest8 set.

Nest8 won for its innovation, functionality and quality.

This years award follows on from their 2008 Red Dot award for their folding colander.

Nest8 was designed with urban living space restrictions in mind, and creates what Joseph Joseph describe as the ultimate food preparation and storage solution in one.

The set includes colourful non-slip mixing bowls, colander, sieve and measuring cups, all of which nest together to take up minimal space.

Another great win by a young British company!

The Perfect Poached Egg

I recently had a fabulous day at one of the UK’s best cook schools – one that isn’t a million miles away from my home in Callander, Scotland!

The day covered some of the basics. What equipment you will need, how to use it and most importantly some great tips and ideas to impress in the kitchen – cooking the Perfect Poached Egg.

The Egg

You need very fresh eggs that have the maximum albumen to support the yolk. Apparently as eggs age the albumen breaks down ,so the professional advice is to use Barn Eggs (humanely but intensively reared).Free range eggs won’t cut the mustard as their age will vary a little depending on the frequency of collection.

The Technique

Assemble your equipment – you will need a deep pan, espresso cup, slotted spoon and a pair of kitchen scissors!

Bring a pan of unsalted water – we used fabulous All-Clad – to the boil

Add plenty of vinegar (clear not malt) – this acts as a setting agent on the albumen

Break your egg into a small espresso cup ready to pour into the water.

Stir the water to a vortex and add the egg from the cup – remove the pan from the heat to ensure that the water doesn’t boil too vigorously and break up the albumen as it cooks.

As soon as the albumen is cooked enough to support the yolk (about 3 minutes) remove the egg with your slotted spoon and place in a jug of cold water

You can then trim the loose, wispy albumen from your egg to show off the perfect tear drop shape of YOUR perfectly poached egg.

Finally simply reheat your egg (roughly 2-3 minutes) in slightly salted boiling water when needed for your dish. Professional chefs will prepared their eggs several hours before, store in cold water and then reheat and serve when needed.

Practice

If at first you don’t succeed ….

On our day at the Cook School we were given three eggs. My result was one decent attempt and two eggs in the bin. I suggest a couple of dozen eggs and an hours dedicated practice. Its how the professional chefs learn their trade and you can not after all make an omelette without cracking a few eggs!

Good luck !

Guy

Welcome to the Pots and Pans Blog

Pots and Pans are both the largest and the best value discount online cookshop in the UK. We currently sell over 4000 products on our online shop. Our extensive range of products includes a wide selection of cookware, kitchen knives, knife sets, coffee machines, espresso makers, toasters, kettles, tableware, cutlery, dining accessories, utensils, barware, electrical kitchen appliances as well as many other household accessories.

We stock a wide selection of brands, to many to mention individually but some of the brands that we stock include Jamie Oliver, Aga Cookware, Alessi, Tefal, Le Creuset, Denby, Gaggia, Global, Dualit, Magimix, James Martin, Nigella Lawson, Peugeot, Circulon, Jura, Stellar, Dunoon, Maxwell & Williams, Guzzini, Typhoon, Bialetti and Salter.

As well as providing fast delivery and friendly service we also offer massive savings on high street savings. The products that you find our website are offered directly to you with significant savings on the recommended price. If you do happen to find any of the products available for cheaper elsewhere then let us know and we will try to match that price.

This blog will give us a chance to let you know all about our latest special offers as well as letting you know about new ranges before they are added to our online shop. We may even add the odd recipe, if we have the chance and if we remember. Some of our customers have passed on handy tips and tricks to us, the best of these we will pass on using this blog. So if you check back on a regular basis there should be something of interest to you. If there is anything that you would like to see included on the blog let us know and we will try our best to include it if at all possible.