Posted by Mikki Netterfield on January 02, 1999 at 23:51:23:
In Reply to: Re: Lustre Craft or Lifetime Cookware posted by lyle hibbs on November 25, 1998 at 00:04:36:
I purchased my set of Lustre Craft cookware 22 years ago. I have always been very prideful of my set of cookware, i.e. the way it cooked and the easy clean-up. It still looks close-to-new after many years of cooking. I would "kill" if anyone mistreated my cookware (which I NOW know is almost impossible).
Today I put my Lustre Craft cookware to the "ultimate" test. I put some turkey innards into my medium sized pot, put in enough water to just cover the parts, placed the lid on and turned the burner on "high" to bring it to a fast simmer. I was going to turn it on "low" for about a half hour until done. (All this for my cats!) Meanwhile, I must have obviously become distracted and then my husband and I left the house to meet some friends for breakfast.
Upon returning home some two hours later, I got out of the car and heard a faint alarm sound coming from inside the house. My husband rushed to open the door only to be greeted by a billowing cloud of smoke literally pouring out of the house. After the smoke cleared somewhat, we made our way into the kitchen and turned off the burner and placed the now totally blackened pot outside to cool. I then began the "clean-up".
I thought my beautiful Lustre Craft pot was ruined; finished!!! Even though I have five more pieces to my set, this was one of the pots I used the most. After a couple of hours of soaking, scrubbing, boiling on top of the burner with dishwasher detergent inside (this time staying right with it!) and finally putting it through (CRINGE) a dishwasher cycle the pot actually came clean! It only has a little oxidation stain on the bottom of the inside and outside and the handle is now "dull".
Imagine, two hours of cooking on high with no water left in the pot. The heart and liver of the turkey was not in the pot, it must have disintegrated and the neck was now a stick of charcoal. When I purchased this set 22 years ago, I was told by the salesman that this was basically a "waterless" cookware. I guess I finally put it to the test!
I did take some "after" pictures with my digital camera (didn't think to take any "before" because I was convinced the pot was "history"), but I can't send them yet because we have to have our computer fixed. But if anyone would like to see my rehab pot, just e-mail me and hopefully I will be able to send you the picture.