Good cookware and utensils make cooking more enjoyable and improve the final dish. If presentation is 80% of the battle, the pans and plates you use will boost your results and leave a strong impression on family and guests.
For gratins (chopped vegetables, topped with cheese, whole cream, or sour cream) or clafoutis (savory – like a frittata, with chopped vegetables mixed and baked with eggs; or sweet, with chopped fruit or berries mixed and baked with eggs), try rectangular, square, or round casserole dishes made of porcelain by Made In, stoneware by Le Creuset, ceramic by Emile Henry, ceramic by Staub, or Burgundy clay (fired clay) by Emile Henry.
Or try using a Lodge (American brand) cast-iron pan or Dutch oven (basically the same thing but with a cover), available at Crate & Barrel. (Be aware that in French, une casserole is a pot, and un plat de cuisson is a baking dish or casserole dish!)
Try Emile Henry pies and deep tart dishes for your apple and pumpkin pies. Much of Emile Henry’s brand’s beautiful bakeware is made with Burgundy clay and is also available at Sur La Table. Ruffled pie dishes from Emile Henry are also available at Crate & Barrel.
The most famous French cast-iron “Dutch Ovens” (in alphabetical order, so as not to reveal any preference) are, of course, by Le Creuset and Staub. Round, oval, extra deep, and colors to your heart’s content. Also available at Crate & Barrel and Williams Sonoma. Emile Henry offers beautiful ceramic Dutch ovens. Lodge also makes lovely enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens.
My absolute favorite stainless steel pan (though from Belgium, not France) is the Demeyere Atlantis professional frying pan, 7 layers of metal forged together with an elegant handle and no screw attachments inside the pan itself, for easier cleaning, available through Williams Sonoma. Heavy as it is, I travel everywhere with my pan.
Revol carries lion-headed bowls for your French onion soup. For the Basque Country feel (located in Spain and France, but is of neither language – Basque is its own culture), try terra cotta bowls from La Tienda. Or try Italian-style stoneware bowls from Vietri, also with a lovely handle, available at Perrigold.com.
Choosing quality over cheap convenience imparts a visual gravity to your cookware as well as a more successful and less-toxic end product (like avoiding plastics and Teflon in pans and storage containers that touch your food). If you’re going to take the time to cook real food, you might as well use what is both pleasing to the eye and satisfying to use. It’ll keep you (and your guests) coming back to the kitchen again and again!
Acclaimed author and photographer Tania Teschke delves into the ancestral origins and health advantages of traditional French cuisine, expressing her enthusiasm through her writing, photography, distinctive culinary tours across Europe, and her tallow-based skincare line.
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