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" Sharon Franke, the Good Housekeeping Research Institute&amp;#039;s Food Appliances director, has some helpful tips for buying cookware wisely:  Q: What&amp;#039;s the difference between cookware made of copper, aluminum, anodized aluminum and stainless steel? A: Each material has some pros and cons. Copper is the best conductor of heat, but it&amp;#039;s expensive and difficult to clean. The next best choice for performance is aluminum, but since the metal can turn food gray, it&amp;#039;s almost always coated with a nonstick finish or made with anodized aluminum. (You need to hand-wash and dry most anodized aluminum.) Stainless steel is a poor conductor of heat but very durable and attractive. But keeping the finish shiny requires some elbow grease. Q: So many pots and pans have glass lids. Won&amp;#039;t they break? A: In our tests at the Good Housekeeping Research Institute labs, the glass lids never broke, even when we dropped them from a standard countertop. Q: Should I buy a complete cookware set? A: Sets are very economical -- but only if you need every piece in them. If you have plenty of saucepans and just need skillets (or vice versa), you can buy them individually for a decent price. Q: The most expensive cookware on the market is often too heavy for me. Do I need to purchase heavyweight cookware to get good results? A: In general, heavier cookware conducts heat better than thinner cookware. However, you don&amp;#039;t need to purchase very heavy cookware to get good cooking performance. Just avoid exceptionally thin and lightweight pieces. Q: Do you recommend nonstick finishes? A: Yes. They keep foods from sticking, so they reduce the amount of fat you need for cooking, and they make cleanup a breeze. I recommend buying moderately priced nonstick skillets and replacing them when the finish no longer seems effective. Q: For a beginning cook, which cookware pieces do you recommend? A: Every kitchen should have three skillets: an eight-inch one for omelets or a couple of hamburgers; a nine-inch one for several burgers or chicken breasts, or for a frittata; and a deep-sided 12-inch skillet for cooking a one-dish dinner. In addition, you might want two- and three-quart saucepans for heating soup or steaming rice and veggies; a four- to six-quart Dutch oven for stews and pot roasts; and an eight-inch stockpot for pasta and soups. Q: What should I consider when it comes to handles? A: More and more, cookware has silicone handles. Silicone is very comfortable to hold and gives a good grip. However, it cannot withstand high oven heats. So if you&amp;#039;re using high heat to, say, bake a frittata, use a skillet with a traditional metal handle. Also, handles that are riveted onto the pan are much more durable than those that are glued or screwed on. However, pans with riveted handles have little &amp;quot;bumps&amp;quot; inside that will require some extra cleaning. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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