Not too long before she died (which, shockingly, has now been more than a decade) my mom bought me a comically enormous All-Clad stainless steel cooking set. It’s got it all--the standard pots and pans one needs to cook and then things like a lobster pot and not one but two sauciers. I’ve always loved to cook and my mom certainly knew that, just as she certainly knew she was dying sooner rather than later, and I’ve always thought the lavish but practical gift of those pots and pans was her way of giving me something of permanence. And when I use them I’m always reminded that my mom loved me. I revere those pots and pans. When you play the parlor game of asking someone what non-human thing they’d remove from their burning house if they could only remove one thing, my answer is always and immediately those pots and pans. Always. So while I’ve bought plenty of culinary accessories over the years, I’ve never bought another pot or pan. Why would I? And then my dad gave me a generous cash gift for Christmas, and I thought to myself, what can I get with this that will be more than just something I bought--what will have meaning and purpose and will remind me of my dad every time I use it? And so I bought a 12 inch Staub frying pan and a 7 quart cocotte. They will immediately enter the rotation and I will cook glorious otherworldly delicious things in them that will make other people genuinely happy and every time I’m making a big meal and a pot my mom gave me is on one burner and something my dad got for me is on another or in the oven I’ll be happy and for those fleeting moments the world will be perfect, even if it’s only transitory.
