Our latest cookbook is another gem published by Revere Copper & Brass Inc. My favorite recipes? While I realize not everyone may be a fan of sardines, I am and the Deviled Sardines recipe sounds very interesting. Another interesting recipe is the Risotto A La Milanese.
As for oddest recipe in the book, I am going to have to go with Peanut Butter Celery Soup.
In the last few days we updated our news/blog page to use the WordPress software, which, in addition to being much nicer looking, provides organization by date, category, and a search function. But the most useful feature is the ability to subscribe via RSS. Now all of our posts (including availability of new parts, announcement of special offers, tips, history, and more) are available right to your email inbox or RSS reader.
It is also much easier for us to post new articles, so look for even more new and interesting content.
I recently came across a Revere Ware use and care guide from 1987.
Some notable points from this guide:
1. The guide claims that Revere Ware cookware is oven safe up to a temperature of 425 degrees F. We don’t recommend putting your Revere Ware into the oven for a couple of reasons. First, ovens often heat very unevenly, so even with a temperature setting less than 425, the broiler can heat the Bakelite parts to a higher temperature and melt them. Second, with replacement parts getting harder and harder to find, it just isn’t worth risking them with oven use.
2. The guide talks about phenolic handles. It isn’t clear to use whether Revere started using a material other than Bakelite at some point or whether phenolic is simply a more general term for the category of materials to which Bakelite belongs. If anyone has any information on this, please contact us.
3. The guide also claims that the cookware is dishwasher safe but the handles may eventually become dulled from dishwasher cleaning. See point #1. Don’t risk your non-metal parts with excessive wear. Wash your Revere Ware by hand.
Here is an interesting piece we came across recently, the Revere Ware micro-fryer from 1987. What is unique about this piece is that despite being metal, it is apparently made for both the stove-top and the microwave oven. We haven’t tried it yet!
The manual can be found here.
From the Shine Shops Revere Info Center:
“The Micro-Fryer was introduced in 1987 – designed to allow “combination cooking” – food could be browned on the range top, and then transferred to the microwave oven to complete cooking – all in the same pan. The pans were available in 8″ and 10″ sizes, with both copper clad and aluminum disc bottoms. A tempered glass cover (required instead of metal to prevent arcing) was provided with each piece. This line was an early casualty of the merger with Corning that was to come only a year after it’s introduction – It was in direct competition with existing Corning’s microwavable cookware; and internal politics forced Revere to cancel it in 1989.”
Given the absolute lack of any metal cookware today that is promoted as microwave safe, I suspect this product would have died anyway. Virtually any microwave sold today includes in its instructions to avoid using ANYTHING metal in the microwave and even the USDA claims that metal is not safe to use in a microwave.
I recently added a pdf of the book Copper Heritage, The Story of Revere Copper and Brass Incorporated by Isaac Marcosson from 1955. While it misses all the post 1955 history of the company, including the bankruptcies and such, it is a great read on the early days of the Revere Company through the introduction of the copper bottom cookware. If you are a true Revere Ware fan, it is a great read.
Check out this recent auction for a 20qt Revere Ware pot:
$255, WOW! Part of the appeal of vintage Revere Ware is its value proposition – good cooking performance at a fraction of the price of newer cookware like Calphalon or All-Clad. But at that price, you could almost get a brand new pot of either of those brands. I love my Revere Ware, but at prices like that, I’d go with something newer.
We try to test our parts as well as we can to make sure they work well and are durable. For instance, we recently tested our handles along with original Revere Ware ones with exposure to direct and indirect flame, so see how they compared. The bad news is that with either of the handles, when the flame from a gas stove is in direct contact with it or comes close to it, the Bakelite will start to bubble and give off an acrid odor. The good news is that our handles performed the same as the originals. We recommend that you insure the gas flame doesn’t get too close to the handles. Incidentally, we don’t recommend putting Bakelite in the oven, because above a critical temperature, it will melt. We haven’t tried determining that temperature just yet and there is no reference to it in the vintage Revere Ware materials we have.
The latest testing we have been doing is testing our Bakelite handles for dishwasher endurance. After 5 months of continuous daily washing, they don’t look horrible, but they are noticeably less shiny than they originally were. We have also noticed that with older handles, ones that show slight dulling on the Bakelite already, washing in a dishwasher tends to make them look dull and dry after only a hand full of washings. We suspect it is the detergent that is causing the dulling on the Bakelite but it could also be the heat of the wash water or the drying cycle.
The best idea is to keep anything with Bakelite out of your dishwasher, especially items you can’t get replacement Bakelite for. Wash them by hand with a mild detergent.
We’ve been collecting vintage Revere Ware ads and catalogs for some time now and recently scanned them all and added them to our site. Our collection includes pieces from the earliest days of Revere Ware (1940) through the 1980’s. You can find them all here. Many of them are high quality and perfect for printing on your color printer and framing; perfect for your Revere Ware kitchen.
A few weeks ago I came across an interesting piece of Revere Ware memorabilia, a record from 1942/1943 that was apparently intended to be played at Revere Ware sales meetings and contains a song titled “Your Kitchen’s Bright,” which boldly praises Revere Ware’s advantages. I won’t bore you with the details of converting the 78 RPM record (when did record players stop supporting 78’s) and adding video of the record spinning to make it suitable for YouTube. You can find a short version below, and a long version here.
As we continue to search for instructions for vintage Revere Ware pieces, I am often surprised at the helpful information we find in them. For instance, who knew that the small handle on the Revere Ware poacher egg trays were specifically made to be picked up with a fork?
