Waterless Cookware?

Q: I guess for some things that is ok, but what bothers me the most, is the sales tatics, my husband is spanish speaking and they are targetting a group of people (we have belonged to this group for years and have been very intimate with it so this isn't meant as a put down, if I offend sorry) who have very limited resources are easily forced to buy them at a very large price - these people need to buy homes, food, etc..not be sold by a professional salesman when they can go to SAM's Club or the PRICE club and buy 15 sets of pots and pans that will last them thier lifetime instead of buying a overpriced set of pans that will not last them life... oh well, that is our opinion...we are sorry we ever got involved and wish that we could undo it all...it isn't fair to alot of people...

A: When I was in college, I took a summer job trying to sell a set of waterless cookware. The job lasted a month, and I got nothing out of it except the knowledge they fed me and the knowledge I researched myself because I didn't want to just take their word. Their health claims were substantiated by what articles I could find, but I never acutally got to use any of their cookware outside of an initial demonstration (which turned out quite well). What I want to know is... If you own or have used waterless cookware, what do you think of it? Does/did it live up to it's claims? Does it clean easily like they claim? How does food taste when cooked in it? Etc? For those who don't know what waterless cookware is, here's a brief explanation, to the best of my knowledge: It's a set of cookware that cooks in an enclosed system. All pots and pans have lids that must be closed at all times, and the materials are usually multi-layered metals designed to get the desired properties of each metal without the downsides (ie the conductivity of cast iron without the poreousness of it). The claims are that food cooks in it's own juices, cooking out fat (health claims!) while keeping nutrients and taste, taking less time and energy. The cookware set I became familiar with had pans small enough to make a little vegetables, and pots large enough to fit a turkey. A vegetarian friend who's mother got a pot said it made the only cooked carrots she would eat. I bought a set of waterless cookware when I was first married and living in Idaho 25 years ago. It was from a "cookware party" -- like a Tupperware party. I wouldn't be caught dead in one of those things now but this was Idaho, at the edge of the desert, and there was nothing else to do anyway except shoot deer (which I never learned to cook properly). Anyway, I still have the cookware. It has held up all these years and is excellent for all kinds of cooking. I soon got bored with the waterless principle. Basically it's just good, wellmade cookware that would sell for oodles more today than I paid for it then. My only complaint is that it was supposed to have a "lifetime guarantee" which included replacing handles free. (They do tend to eventually deteriorate under the heat, and the little protector rings under the lid handles also break, but you can do without those.) I got a handle or two replaced free, but about ten years ago when I needed a new handle for a saucepan I was not able to locate the manufacturer. A side note to this: I was completely surprised when I discovered the cookware I'd bought was exactly the same as that my mother had had for 20 or 30 years before me and was still using. I just didn't recognize it because my mother never cleaned hers properly and it was covered with black grime. So another testament to its durability!

Discuss It!

cookingwithdoug.com said:

Biggest thing is with waterless cookware is that it retains the nutrients by the cooking method and does not add anything to food from leaching of chemicals or metals back to the foods. In other words cook carrots get carrots no Teflon, iron, aluminum, etc

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