Cookware puzzlement
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I was asking about new (versus secondhand) because you can often pair a lid from one manufacturer with a pot from another. Pot sizes are pretty standard.
What are the numbers on the original mystery pan, and also the plain aluminum lid?
I'm actually seeing some people on eBay selling what looks like the mystery pot, calling it a "braiser lid", or a "Sauce pan lid", depending on the diameter of the "lid". And some discussion on Reddit about it being dual purpose, being used as a lid and as a cooking vessel. I would never have imagined it as a lid, for the reason that you mentioned in your original post, that any condensed steam would run down the outside of the pot that was being covered.
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@wtg said in Cookware puzzlement:
Any chance the number on the mystery pot is G 303 HC?
It reads G30340 or G3C34C. (The stamping is kind of light.) I’ll go back and look at it later, but pretty sure it’s a 4, not H. Interesting that you found this! Any info welcome.
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Here are two listings I found for similar lids. They're just different sizes, both smaller than yours.
Since those are G 301 HC and G 302 HC, and they are for 8" and 10" pots, I figured that the 12" might be G 303 HC.
One thing I'm seeing is that the two listings on eBay are for Commercial Aluminum Cookware, which appeared to be a professional line. Subsequently the company name changed to Calphalon.
I love puzzles like this!
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Wow, amazing you found these. Yes, mine is exactly like those two, just larger.
I would be surprised if the lid were used as a cooking surface, because the metal is thinner than on the pot. Still, what do I know? I’m not a high-level cook.
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I've never seen a lid anything like it.
Based on what's on eBay, your description of the metal being thinner, and the fact that it drips on the outside of the pan it covers, I guess I have to change my vote from "it's a sauteuse" to "it's a lid, but a poorly designed one".
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Tenacity - WTG haz it!
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Ha! I think I may know what this is!
I just finished watching a video where Josh Weissman makes a no- knead sourdough bread. He bakes it in a Lodge “combo cooker”, which looks just like your pan setup except yours is upside down!
Apparently you can do other things with it and most of them use the taller part on the bottom, but for bread this appears to be how you use it.
Cheers!
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That is the one piece of cast iron I still have, one of those Lodge combo cookers. I bought it to bake bread in, though I used the large pan on the bottom. I could see it working the way it's shown in the photo you posted. Of course there would be no problem with anything running down the outside, as bread baking doesn't produce any condensation to speak of.
I decided two things: 1) a round loaf is harder to slice than an oblong one and 2) the cast iron was too heavy, especially challenging when it's been in a 400+ degree oven. I switched to a clay baker. Like this one:
https://breadtopia.com/store/breadtopia-cloche-bread-baker-oblong/
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We have a clay cooker called a Römertopf. Don’t know how it would be for baking bread, but now I’m tempted to try it. I think most people use it to bake a whole chicken. I do a combo of root vegetables in there, one of John Cage’s recipes.
