Is stainless steel cookware any good?"

Browning converts surface proteins and sugars into more complex compounds and contributes heavily to the flavor of a cooked food (the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction" target="_blank">Maillard reaction</a>). In other words, you're not just COOKING the food, you're actually changing (adding to) its flavors as you do it. In addition, the residue left in the pan (called "fond" by the French) is a foundational part of the process in many cooking processes, where you remove the cooked food and then "deglaze" the pan to dissolve those browned bits. This then becomes the "pan" sauce that has so much flavor in French cooking. You don't get fond on a Teflon pan. They're good for cooking things where you don't want browning, but not if you do. Also, Teflon is very sensitive to heat (it has a maximum recommended use temperature) and scratching (no metal utensils allowed, and careful storage is a must). Also, it's often a waste - if you're cooking food that ...  more