Burnout Travel Tumbler

There are a lot of people who want to send me coffee mugs, travel tumblers, and other drinking devices that are meant to take your beverage on the go. Mostly, I say "no" because I don't see a lot that are truly different.


Then I heard about the Burnout, and I had to give it a try.

Have you ever poured coffee from your pot into your to-go insulated tumbler, then opened it 10 minutes later to take a sip, and it's too darned hot for sipping?

The Burnout is designed to solve that problem.

When you pour hot coffee into the tumbler, it immediately starts getting cooler. The temperature drops, then levels out, and it stays warm for quite a while.

I was skeptical, so I tested it, measuring the temperature in short intervals until it stopped getting cooler, then I checked it every hour or so. Eventually, like any insulated drink container, it got a little cooler than most people would like for drinking, but if your coffee has been sitting around for three or four hours, maybe it's time for a fresh cup, anyway.

What voodoo is this?

I'm not really sure, but it seems that the tumbler first absorbs the heat, which cools the coffee to a reasonable drinking temperature, then that stored heat helps to keep the coffee at a reasonable drinking temperature.

This is a really cool thing! Seriously. I'm impressed, and I don't say that very often about tumblers.

I received this at no cost to me.

DiamoTech Skillet

So many skillets, not nearly enough eggs.

The nice folks at DiamoTech sent me one of their 9 1/2 inche skillets to test, and I've left it out on the stove since it arrived, so I remember to use it every time I cook something.

This is a nonstick skillet with an interesting finish. It's extremely smooth and it's very dark gray with tiny glitter-like spots that look blue and purple in the light of my kitchen. When I took it out of the package, I thought, oooh, that would be a cool look for fabric. Or jewelry. Or some kind of decorative vase.

Alas, it's just a skillet.

So, I lived with this glittery skillet for a while, cooking everything from eggs to meat to sauces. After a couple of nonstick pans that failed after a short time, I simply don't trust the first test. This one, however, is still nonstick, still not scratched, and still very glittery.

I've only washed it by hand, because that's the way I wash all my pots and pans, but this is supposed to be dishwasher safe. Good to know, if I ever actually have space in my dishwasher for cookware. It's also oven safe which is actually more important to me than dishwasher safe. If I'm cooking something on the stove and want to finish it in the oven, it's nice to be able to do it in the same pan.

On the other hand, nothing sticks to it, so hand washing it isn't all that much of a chore. These new nonstick cooking surfaces are kinda spooky, right?

It's fairly lightweight, so it's good for flipping vegetables, and it has good balance when holding it. It's also on the inexpensive end, when we're talking about cookware, so even if it only lasts a couple years because you backed over it with your car, it's still a good deal.

This stuff comes in single pieces, there are lids, and there are sets. Overall, it's a nice pan. I'm going to keep using it and see if it starts getting weird after many months. But for now it seems like it should last.

The one downside of this pan - and it's not a big one - is that you're supposed to season it before the first use. The instructions are on the label, and you just need to wipe a little oil on, and put it in the oven. To be honest. I'm not sure if that's actually necessary (skeptical that I am) since the oil didn't actually want to stick to the surface of the pan, so it kind of beaded up ... but I did it anyway. If it helped the pan, that's great. If not, I wasted a couple drops of oil. No big deal.

I got a sample pan from DiamoTech for testing, at no cost to me.

Field Company Lightweight Iron Skillet

I've been using cast iron skillets since I was a kid using my mom's cookware, and I'm a big fan. Properly seasoned and cared for, a cast iron skillet will be just as nonstick as your modern nonstick cookware, and it can last for generations.

Aside from extreme thermal shock, I can't imagine how you could seriously damage a cast iron pan. Even if you left it out in the snow all winter and it started to rust, you could sand off the rust and re-season the pan and it would be just fine.

Speaking of thermal shock, I'm not talking about the kind of shock that can break a glass casserole. More like heating it red hot, then pouring liquid nitrogen into it. And I'm not sure that would actually damage it. Not that I want to try. I like my cast iron.

So anyway, the folks at Field Company offered to send me one of their lighter weight cast iron skillets.

Let me be clear here. There's no voodoo involved. It's still real cast iron, just like your foremothers used. The metal is the same. But the skillet is just a little thinner, so it's lighter. It's also smoother, so you don't have a bumpy surface. I'm guessing that rather than just casting it and doing some rough finishing, these are machined to get that smooth surface and thinner metal. But, I'm just guessing. It could be voodoo.

Now, when I'm saying that this skillet is lighter, it's lighter than a standard cast iron skillet of the same size. It's not as light as aluminum. Because that would be actual voodoo.

I went through my usual seasoning process, using the skillet in between. Mostly searing steaks, because that's something that cast iron is excellent at.

As far as performance, there's a slight difference between this pan and my other cast iron pans. Cast iron is desirable for its ability to retain heat, and this did that very well. When I was first heating it, it heated a little unevenly, getting hotter faster right above the flame. However, once it was hot, it all evened out. Since I always preheat cast iron pans, I can't even say this was a drawback. Just something that I noticed. You know, with an infrared thermometer in my hands. Otherwise, I'm not even sure I would have noticed.

Overall, this is a nice pan and I can definitely feel the difference in weight, so I'll be keeping it handy for cooking. And baking. And roasting. And in the grill. And pretty much every way I use cast iron pans.

Like many of the things I review here, I got this pan at no cost to me.