Cookware Reviews

This steamer insert is too large to use in smaller pots, so be sure to measure and make sure your pot is at least 7" wide on the inside. The feet won't scratch your pot, and removing the cooked vegetables is much easier without the center post common to cheaper steamers. With this one, I can just use a large spoon to scoop out the items, or if I want I can hoist the entire steamer out of the pan by grabbing the rings on the sides, but that's pretty tricky when it's fully of steaming veggies.

This is a fantastic tool for your kitchen. I purchased one on the advice from a chef friend, and it has been great for steaming vegetables. In particular I loved the sweet potatoes that I've made using this steamer. Extremely easy to use.

I love this little gizzmo and I have had mine for years. I have tried other steamers but this one is simple to use and it adjust to any size pan (with in reason that is). All my friends now have one especially after they figured out what it was for. By the way it is real easy to clean and it stores away easily. And if your trying to save money, it costs very little. Get one. You will love it.

We have never been able to get good crepes with this pan. If you dip the pan in the batter like they intend, the crepe basically cooks the moment you put the pan in, and then because it's nonstick, the (cooked) pieces fall off into the batter bowl. If you try to use a spoon of some sort to pour batter on the pan, it runs off. I recommend a non-stick, flat frying pan instead.

This gives you a great, small, very thin crepe, perfect for some dessert crepes or blintzi. I haven't tried it with rice crepes yet, but I imagine it would work very well for them. I don't understand the trouble other consumers had with this pan--it works fine with a sufficient amount of batter. It doesn't even require the 1-3 throwaway crepes to temper the pan.

A few limitations--you need a large amount of batter to fill a flat dipping dish, so small recipes won't work. Also, it can't make large dinner-size crepes, and doesn't work as well with more porous batters that you would want for crepes sale or anything flambe.

If you're a pro, go for a real pan. If you want to be able to crank out a bunch of tasty, thin crepes with very little effort, this pan is wonderful.

My 96 year old mother said I made the best blintzes she ever tasted. This upside down crepe pan is fantastic. The crepes were paper thin and tender. The trick to making pefect crepes is to heat the pan on medium heat to the right temperature (water droplets will sizzle on the surface), spray pan with Pam and use just the right size dish for the batter to be picked up by the heated pan - I found a shallow aluminum pie pan worked best. Also, be sure to let the batter rest for one hour before cooking the crepes.

I found the following recipe on the web and it was much better than the recipe supplied with the pan. Just delicious!

Orange Yogurt Crepe

BATTER
4 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 Tbsps. oil
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp. Salt
2 Tbsps. sugar

FILLING
1 pound cottage cheese
1 egg
3 Tbsps. sugar
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs
or cookie crumbs
1 tsp. grated orange rind
2 Tbsps. margarine or butter

BATTER: In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add orange juice, milk, yogurt, oil, flour, salt, and sugar. Beat until smooth. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

FILLING: In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, egg, sugar, crumbs, and orange rind. Beat until smooth and place in refrigerator until needed.

TO ASSEMBLE:

Place 3 tablespoons of filling on browned side of crepe. Shape filling into 3 inch oblong. Roll once to cover filling. Fold the sides to the center and continue rolling until completely closed.

Lightly spray nonstick frying pan or griddle with Pam. Brown crepes lightly on both sides. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy.

YIELDS: 12 servings

I purchased this item based on the reviews. I received mine a few days ago and was instantly disappointed based on a number of things.

1. It's too short. Why do most manufacturers make microwave covers like these? What happens with other tallers container like soup bowls or plates with big items like chicken? The cover will touch the food.

2. Why is the cover tinted? The microwave door is already tinted so the extra tinting renders your view of the items inside the cover close to nill. Clear or frosted microwave covers are better.

3. The manufacturing quality is poor. I got the product full of scratches and cracks all over. There was even one long scratch on one side. The plastic sides was not smooth.

Overall, it is not a good product and I would advise looking for something else much taller in height and with better manufacturing quality.

I purchased this product exactly two years ago. It performed as I had hoped. It fit my microwave carousel perfectly. It has not been abused nor mishandled or subjected to heat other than that in the microwave. However, within the last month or two, cracks began to appear in the plastic, vertically up to the crown. I don't know if this is the normal life span, but I am disappointed in the two year useage I experienced. I will order a replacement since I was really satisfied with the original. Maybe the second one will last longer!!!

We lived in Europe for many years and had a dish cover similar to this. After many years of use, we needed a replacement.

When I received this, I was pleasantly surprised. One can see clearly through this and it fits standard dinner plates beautifully.

If you are still using plastic wrap, wax paper, or paper towels to cover your cooking / reheating items, then you are truly doing things the hard way!

If you are not covering your microwave cooking / reheating at all, then you just LOVE CLEANING NASTY MESSES!

I was so impressed, I bought one for each of my sisters-in-law, my parents, and my single brother. They are still talking about the greatest, and most useful Christmas present 6 months later!

I highly recommend this. It saves the cleaning time... It saves you from finger burns when pulling your other covers off the cooking...

I too have a spot missing on the non-stick coating. I only used
it twice and then never used abrasives on it, was just fish cooked with olive oil. Too expensive to have this happen.
I bought the kiddies cook set as well and it is great.

Mine arrived with some scratches in the nonstick layer on the shallow pan. I haven't used it too heavily, and have only had it for a few months, and already the nonstick coating is coming off the grill rack too. It would also be nice if it had a lip so it could be easily pulled out, because it's difficult to reach under the edge of the shallow pan with a pot-holder to get a grip on it to pull it out. I haven't used the deep pan for anything, just the wire rack over the shallow pan to drain grease (mostly chicken) while baking.

Mine arrived in excellent condition and I JUST LOVE IT, it is so easy to clean, I use it all the time. I wish I would have bought it years ago. I'm buying sets for my friends.

If you want easy cleaning, don't buy this one! If you like to scrub, scrub, scrub, then look no further.

Difficult to clean after first use. Cleaning between "groves" requires lots of work. Not worth the price.

I have a new stove with a glass cooking top. After searching for a grill/griddle pan to use on the two bridged burners, I decided on this product because of the size, the weight (some are so heavy they,re impossible to lift off the stove) and the moderate price. Before using it, I went to the web to see the ratings and I'm glad I still had the wrapping as, after reading the reviews, I decided this product was not for me. The descriptions of how difficult it was to clean was part of the reason - the other being that the pan warped. I will now search the web for a more suitable product for my use .

I bought this as I liked that it had two different type sides and big, also suppose to be nonstick!!!..
Will only some of that part is true, but the first time I made Pancakes in it, It worked real well , the second time, no matter how much oil I put on the grill they stuck and it won't come off..
Then I fried Bacon! Now you would think that Bacon cannot not stick!! Wrong, they did, two lbs. of bacon....

The only thing I can say that is good about this is, it seems to cook pretty even, and its big, thought that deserved 2 stars...But big deal if everything sticks to it, and you can't even get it clean!!

I am so dissapointed with this piece. If you cook meat, it is very easily get stick. I think the stick layer is too thin so that it does not work very well.
DO NOT BUY IT.

I can offer a real rating when the supplier decides to ship my merchandise. I ordered it for someone's birthday and then had to go out to the store to buy a different present because mine failed to ship in time. If someone else has had this problem, please speak out now

It's a very cheap piece of cookware, and it is kind of non-stick. I used it one time with a bamboo steamer, meaning that I had to place water in the bottom to boil, and afterwards I noticed that the bottom of the pan was a bit rusted. The metal screw on the lid also rusted.

I figured it would be fine if I just used it to steam things then, and the second time I steamed something the entire bottom of the pan rusted, and my food and bamboo steamer came out smelling very funny.

If you are very careful with it, or don't cook much at all, it might be worth it, but otherwise I would invest in something a little less flimsy.