The red and green of pots and pans

A few years ago, French-made Teflon introduced a set of pans with a red circle in the middle. This lights up brightly after a few minutes of putting the pan on fire, meaning it is ready for frying. An Italian manufacturer which has been in the business of producing kitchenware for over 100 years has gone further – they have red and green signals on each of their pans.  

Ballarini was founded by an Italian named Paolo Ballarini in 1889 and has gained a good reputation not only in Europe but throughout the world, including Asia where 70 percent of their products are exported. The Ballarini line includes 600 top-end products that range from frying pans to casseroles.

Ballarini was not one to rest on its laurels. Through the years they have developed more innovations and become a pioneer in environment protection.

The red and green in the frying pan compose a device that is one step ahead of the others. It is a small dot called the Thermopoint, located on a metal piece between the pan and the handle. This indicator goes red when the right cooking temperature is reached and turns green after the chore is done. Clinton Nuyda, the chef at Grappa’s in Greenbelt 3 who did the demo dishes at the launch of the Ballarini line in Gourdo’s at the Bonifacio Global City, said this innovation conserves energy and makes it possible for even cooking, meaning no portion of the food would be overdone on one side, as what sometimes happens.

Now the pots – there are casseroles, grillers, woks – each come with non-stick coating and with ceramic support. They have gained approval from international agencies in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Green line is their environment label, using 100 percent recycled aluminium, packaged in recycled paper and biodegradable plastic.

A very new item is the Salento Keravis WhiteStone, quite novel with its white surface, totally non-stick and requires very little to no oil. It has the first and only non-stick coating reinforced with ceramic mineral particles, making it more heat-resistant and easy to clean. 

Quite interesting is the fact that raw materials used in their coatings are also used by the medical industry to produce surgical instruments. That makes Ballarini products truly safe.

Gourdo’s is the exclusive distributor of Ballarini pots and pans. If you are a cook (home-based or professional), you’d get your fill of what you need and what you want here. It is high-end, but one pays for quality and endurance.

Chef Clinton Nuyda honed his culinary talent mostly in America where he was born and raised by Filipinos. His credentials show that he has worked at chef Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills.

It is refreshing to know that this chef is one Filipino who came back to his roots with a desire to share the innovations, techniques and multi-racial cuisine that he has learned abroad.

He is a pasta expert. That he proved when he excellently whipped up two recipes, angel hair with smoked salmon and mushroom ravioli.

Cook healthy, eat well.

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