I was about to post my introduction, but was doing some reading first when I came across this thread.. I know this message is half a year old, but being from South Louisiana (my last name is Cajun French, “Hebert” pronounced “A-Bare” no pause in between) I just wanted to chime in on the comments of how popular they are here.
Magnalites aren’t just popular, they are staple. When I was younger, I didn’t know that there were any pots other than Magnalites (I’m 41 now), because they were the only ones we had. Every family had a set, even the poor familes - probably especially the poor families from being passed down. I grew up poor and everyone I knew had them. They are so ingrained here that I took them for granted. I had no idea that they were not made for a while, then started again in China.
When I bought my new house in 2018 I wanted a new set of Magnalites to go with it, even though I can barely cook, and I mostly eat vegetables except for special occasions. Like for the first cold front of the year, when you can practically smell the gumbo in the air from everyone cooking it. They all know it’s nowhere near the time of the year when it’s cold enough to cook, and it’s going to be 90 degrees the next day. But, it’s a really nice early treat. Anyway, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a 13 piece Magnalite Classic set. I was horrified when I learned from my Aunt (who has a huge collection with just about two of everything, btw) that they were from China and weren’t the real deal. I’ve only used the 2qt sauce pot to make rice. The rest are hanging on a decorative display rack and taking up space in my big drawers.
The 8qt 4265 Roaster is the most popular for making gumbo for the family. If it’s a small three person family, then the 5qt Dutch Oven would be the choice. You can never cook too much gumbo because you can freeze the leftovers. Rice is cooked in a sauce pot. I would say the 2qt or 3qt sizes are used most often for rice. I don’t know many people who still make the gumbo Roux from scratch because it’s a tedious process that is easy to burn, but it does taste so much better than anything store bought. A cast iron skillet is easier for that, but a lot of people still use a Magnalite.
David, I can give you the name of the most authentic Cajun cookbook you will find anywhere. The only thing better is Grandma’s recipes. I gave mine away and forgot the title, but I’ll get it from my mom later today. Well, I kind of got carried away on this post, my intro post will have some of the same info in it, in case you read it.
