Tutorial: How to make Sticky Rice like a true KON THAI (Thai person)

Sticky Rice....irreplaceable, incredible, unhealthy and delicious sticky rice. The perfect pair to Thai Laab (Thai Pork Salad) or Nam Tok (Thai Waterfall Salad) and a host of other unspeakable, ethnic wonders. And it's so easy! Read on for a sticky rice tutorial worthy of any Bangkok street vendor:

Sticky Rice and Laab (delish!)

FIRST of all, you need to buy your sticky rice. It LOOKS like regular rice, and (uncooked at least), it FEELS like regular rice, but once cooked....it takes on supernal properties unattainable by your average White or Brown Long Grain Enriched Rice.  It's also known as Glutinous Rice- so named for the "glue-like" quality sticky rice acquires when steamed. 

Clockwise, from left: Sticky Rice, White Rice, Brown Rice

Can you tell that Sticky Rice is just a bit "fatter" than ordianary rice?

 Which brings up another distinct difference; ordinary rice is cooked by boiling/simmering, whereas sticky rice is strictly steamed (you'll learn all about the authentic way to steam it in the next few paragraphs!). If your local grocery store is diverse enough, they MIGHT sell it on their shelves. Otherwise, get your year's supply all at once by picking up a 25 or 50-lb bag next time you're in an oriental food supply store. Go ahead and buy the pot and basket equipment mentioned in this post, oriental stores are pretty much the only place they are sold unless you order them online, AND THEY ARE WORTH IT!

Sorry for the blurry-ish pic, this was taken six months ago with my old not-as-amazing phone!

Preparing and cooking Sticky Rice consists of three pieces of equipment and three steps:

Equipment: Sticky Rice Steamer Pot, Sticky Rice Steamer Basket, and a lid to fit above the rice, as shown below.  The pot and basket combo are sold at oriental stores, with the pot generally being standard and the basket coming in a few different designs.  Use any old lid you have at home, just be sure that it fits snugly above the rice BUT without touching it.  An added bonus is to have the lid made of glass so you can keep an eye on the cooking process.

The POT holds the boiling water, the BASKET holds the sticky rice and the LID sits above the rice to trap the rising steam, resulting in more evenly cooked sticky rice (:

Now that you know what equipment you need, here's the steps for cooking it:

STEP 1: SOAKING RICE
STEP 2: BOILING WATER
STEP 3: STEAMING RICE

Easy much??

AAAAAAND here we go!

STEP 1: SOAKING RICE

Begin a few hours in advance by soaking the amount of sticky rice you want in warm water. It needs an hour, preferably 3-5 hours but no more than 24, to soak. The longer you soak 'em, the shorter you'll steam 'em.

Splish splash, I was takin' a bath, all about a sticky rice night

STEP 2: BOILING WATER

Once it's time to prepare dinner, fill the sticky rice steamer pot about halfway full of hot water and get it boiling on the stove. Cover with your lid to speed things up. The idea of the boiling water is that the resulting steam will be what cooks the rice, NOT the boiling water itself. SO when you put the steamer basket in, it should be at least an inch ABOVE the boiling water. Capische?  Meanwhile, your soaking step from before continues...

And we wait...

STEP 3: STEAMING RICE

Once the water is boiling, pour the soaked sticky rice into the woven steamer basket over your sink (so that the water drains out) and place the woven basket into the sticky rice pot. Cover the rice with that close-fitting lid but make sure the lid is small enough not to let too much steam escape the basket but big enough to not touch the rice it's resting above. Keep the water boiling, again, at a level such that the water doesn't touch the basket. If the water level gets too low, add some more!

Remember that the water CANNOT TOUCH the basket once the basket is lowered into the pot!  We want STEAMED rice, not BOILED rice!  But nor do we want a scorched pot, so don't let all the water steam out!  YOU CAN DO THIS!

Perfect sized lid.

Keep an eye on the sticky rice as you prepare other parts of the dinner. 15-20 minutes into steaming, inspect the rice. It should begin to look somewhat translucent. Grab a little snitch of the rice between your fingers and taste it, checking for softness and stickiness.  If it seems soft and sticky, it's time to toss the rice in the basket so that the rice on the BOTTOM of the basket gets on the TOP.  The tossing action allows the rice to be cooked through more uniformly.  It's hard to explain this in words, but here's how I do it:

#1- Using oven mitts (cause the steam is hot!), I take off the lid and pick up the BASKET ONLY.
#2- Carefully and quickly move the basket so it's over the sink (as you might have a bit of water drip down from the steam residue), and with a lift-roll-toss motion, shake the basket.  The rice will lift up from the basket and roll in the motion you give it.
#3- Return the basket to the pot and replace the lid.  

The best analogy I have for this is like flipping a pancake on a frying pan....if anyone has a better description, feel free to leave it in the comments!! (:

Rice before tossing.  What you see on top has not been cooked as thoroughly as the rice on the bottom, but it NEEDS to be!  So give it your best toss! (:

Rice AFTER tossing!  GREAT JOB!!

After tossing, cover with the lid again and continue to cook on high till all the rice is soft and translucent (not mushy, that's just gross). Taste some to check. When done, transfer to your serving bowl and quickly wash out the steamer basket before the lingering rice can harden to the woven strands. Depending on how much sticky rice you're cooking, and how long it was soaked prior to cooking, the entire steaming process can take anywhere from 25 minutes to a full 45-60 minutes. But is it really that much more in comparison to regular rice? Not really. And no matter how long it takes, it will be SO DANG WORTH IT!!!

And there you have it.

Have you ever steamed your own sticky rice? Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions for this recipe, and THANK YOU FOR VISITING....

...The Zitchen!!! (:

Thai Laab (Thai Pork Salad)

Welcome to the second installment of the zlog taking the world by storm, THE ZITCHEN*!!!

*for an explanation as to the blog's name, see its first post ever (:

On the menu for today is another Thai dish called “Laab,” “Thai Pork Salad,” or, in certain horrendous romanizations, “Larb.”  *shudder*  Please never call it “Larb.”

Laab, in all its ethereal glory

 If you asked a hundred Thai food aficionados to pick their favorite Thai comfort food, you’d likely get a toss-up between complicated yet highly popular Pad Thai and exotic, incredibly flavorful Laab.  Let me tell you, after probably a dozen tried and failed attempts at Pad Thai and an equal number of tried and true successes with Laab, you are going to LOVE this recipe.  So. Dang. Easy.  And Zichael and I love it.  When we want to make something amazing to share with friends, this is our go-to Thai dish.  You remember Ratatouille?  Little fireworks going off in the brain when you taste amazing combinations of flavors? Well, this dish delivers a whole Fourth of July spectacular.  ♪♫Da da daaa, da da da dadadada♫♪

Limes, mint and green onion combine with magical results!

Now…..warning…..this recipe is going to look weird.  That is because I decided to write it like I make it- intuitively.  No exact measuring is ever involved….that makes it fun ;-)  Seriously!! One of the great pleasures of Thai cooking is achieving the perfect balance of salty, spicy, tangy and sweet.  It’s not hard!  Just add a little flavor at a time and taste-test like you mean it.  Oh and one quick note.....I LOVE MY NEW PHONE with its INCREDIBLE CAMERA that took all the mouthwatering pictures you see in this blog!!! Thank you soooo much to my husband ZICHAEL!  Now LET’S MAKE LAAB!

LAAB/ THAI PORK SALAD

Ingredients:

The Meat           
Ground Pork – 1 pound  

The Flavor          
Limes – 2-3

Fish Sauce – 1 Tablespoon-ish

Ground Thai Chili Pepper – a dash-ish

The Green Things (veggies)

Red Onion – Half of one medium onion, thinly sliced 

Green Onion – 3 sprigs or so, thinly sliced

Cilantro – one handful of rinsed, chopped leaves (stems okay-ish)

Mint – one handful of rinsed, chopped leaves (stems definitely not okay)

The Garnishes   
Cabbage – one quarter of a fresh cabbage, cut into hefty wedges

Toasted Ground Sticky Rice (optional) – sprinkle on individual servings as desired

Ground Thai Chili Pepper – sprinkle on individual servings as desired

The Side Dish  
Sticky Rice (or another variety if you don’t have equipment to steam your own!).

Recipe:

The Meat      Cook up the ground pork EXACTLY like ground beef and transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Didn’t I tell you this was easy??

EIGHT SERVINGS OF GROUND PORK!!!!  We made a HUGE batch which fed eight people (:

The Flavor      Squeeze half of the limes over the ground beef, add the fish sauce and JES’ A SMIDGEN of the ground Thai chili pepper.  Mix everything together and taste-test.  If not tangy enough, add more lime.  If not salty enough, add more fish sauce.  If not spicy enough, guess what ya need??  Yep.  Ground Thai Chili Pepper.  Mix and re-taste, add, mix and re-taste until that glorious, coveted “Wow Factor” is at last achieved.

                                                       

The Green Things (veggies)       

                        Add all the veggies and herbs to the mixing bowl and combine thoroughly!  TASTE IT!  ISN’T IT HEAVENLY??  If it’s not heavenly, tweak the flavoring as described above until it IS heavenly and you see the mental fireworks.  They’re real. 

Mmmmmmmint (so good!)

The Garnishes/Side Dish

                        Place a heaping serving of Laab on each person’s plate, and add to it a generous side of sticky (or another variety) rice, a nice wedge of cabbage, and optional ground toasted sticky rice or additional ground chili powder as people like it.

Now eat it....  

Everyone…..

....you are welcome.

Enjoy all the crystal clear pictures and please PLEASE comment with questions, comments, or jokes.  Also check out the Zafterthoughts for additional tips and tricks in making this magnificent recipe.  And one day…I WILL type up a tutorial on making Sticky Rice.  And Ground Toasted Sticky Rice.  But for now…just Google them.  K’ BYE!

Heaven on a plate. 

ZAFTERTHOUGHTS

In this section after the actual recipe, you will find more detailed information about some of the ingredients and techniques on using them well.

The Meat (Ground Pork)

Nothing too crazy comes to mind when I think of what tips to include here.  Just make sure that you cook it REALLY REALLY well.  No pink.  All brown.  Medium rare has its place in this world of ours, but not when pork is involved.  Can you say “Trichinosis??”

KEEP THAT COOKIN!

The Flavor      Limes- Buy limes that feel like they have a thin, squishable skin.  As limes age, the rind thickens and hardens, absorbing the juice and resulting in tiny green golf balls.  To use fresh limes, rinse them well and cut them in half.

 

                        I HIGHLY recommend that you invest in a citrus squeezer as shown in this pic (if you don’t have one, get one!! WALMART!) and save your hands from developing premature arthritis (only slightly exaggerating).  Otherwise, roll the WHOLE rinsed limes on your countertop to break up some of the juice sacs inside.  THEN cut in half and squeeze them with your hands.  YUM. 

Fish Sauce!  X-)

        Fish Sauce- Sold at supermarkets in the "Ethnic" sections.  

        It's stinky but necessary for Thai cooking and is usually 

       where the salty aspect of the dish originates. 

      

                       

                         Ground Thai Chili Pepper- Buy this at an Asian Grocery Supply store.  It  will easily last you a year or longer. Just do not breathe it in, don't rub your  eyes if you get any on your fingers, etc etc etc.  

                            

The Green Things (Veggies)

                        Red Onion- The red onion in this dish is definitely a supporting player, but also kind of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy.  If you notice the onion flavor, you’ve likely added too much.  Just slice them thin and add to your liking (:  Freeze any sliced leftovers and toss them in your NEXT batch of Laab!  :D

Red onion, delish

       Green Onion – Turns out my pic I took while making the recipe was blurry. :(  So just imagine there's one here!  Use the greener parts of the green onion, saving the last three or so inches of root end to submerge in clean water and grow your own at home!  Change the water every 5 days or more often if the water appears dirty or smells onion-y.  Oh and the sliced leftovers don’t freeze that well….but you can prep and store your own DRIED green onions by following this simple method: #1- rinse and chop green onions.  #2-Preheat the oven to 200°.  Once preheated, TURN IT OFF.  #3- arrange chopped green onions in a shallow layer on a baking dish and place in the oven to rest overnight or until they are shriveled and BONE DRY.  #4- take an empty parsley flakes canister and fill with the homemade dried green onions to sit in your spice cabinet!  You now have a readily available garnish for soups, baked potatoes, etc.  But not Laab.  Heavens no.  Only fresh ingredients will do.

                               

       Cilantro –  To make your 50 cent bunch last as long as possible, when you bring it home simply take some kitchen shears and snip off the bottom 1/4" or 1/2" of stems and place in a clear jar of a few inches of clean water.  Snipping off the ends works the same as in cut flowers, opening up the "plant water transportation system" so the leaves can suck up water better from the stem. I know there are technical terms for what I'm describing, but I don't know them right off the top of my head...vascular something... Anyway.  Stick it in the fridge and change the water every several days.  Mine last up to 2.5 weeks in this way!

                              

       Mint –       I used to keep some in a little pot in my kitchen, but it just wasn't enough to sustain our mint needs.  SO a good friend of mine donated several mint cuttings to me when she moved.  I potted them in a bigger container and left them in the front yard where the sprinklers can get them.  It is lovely.......  Ok.  Use fresh mint but if you plant it keep it in a container! Mint is very hardy and will overtake any ground it can.

Only the leaves growing from the pot are mint.  The rest are weeds.

The Garnishes

 Cabbage –      Choose a solid, dense cabbage without cuts or nicks at the grocery store.  Take it home and rinse it well, removing the outer few leaves.  Carefully cut off the amount you need for this recipe.   To store the rest of the cabbage, first decide if you want it whole or chopped for its next destined recipe.  If whole (like for cabbage roll-ups or something), it will stay in the fridge for several days, but when you pull it out again it may have developed black splotchies along the cut edges.  If this happens, the unaffected cabbage is still okay to eat; you’ll just want to make sure you cut well away the damaged parts.   If chopped (like for cabbage salad, Mexican Posole, or tacos), go ahead and chop it up and store it in the fridge in a covered bowl full of water.  The water will keep it crisp and fresh for a day or two. 

                                

Toasted Ground Sticky Rice – pretty easy but I don't usually add it as Zichael isn't a fan. I HOWEVER LOVE IT.  If you like nuts in your brownies, cookies and bread, you'll also probably love this.  A tutorial will come soon.  (:

Sticky rice that has been toasted and ground my YOURS TRULY, Zarolyn

                               

The Side Dish    Sticky Rice – tutorial coming soon! (:

Beautiful, tender sticky rice....how do I love thee?

THANK YOU FOR VISITING THE ZITCHEN! (:

Thai Waterfall Salad (Nam Tok)

This is the flagship post of my new cooking blog, "The Zitchen!"  Here's a quick background before we jump into the recipe.  If you've heard of Brian Regan, he does a comedy spot on how the TV show for Flipper the dolphin would have been better if Flipper had an evil enemy to contend against, namely a mischievous dolphin named "Zipper."  Since then, my husband (...Zichael....) and I superimpose a "Z" at the beginning of any word to bestow upon it a twisty and rascally connotation.  One night he made dinner for me and set out everything very fancily, to the point where we pretended that we were actually at a restaurant instead of our own kitchen.  I asked him what he would name his in-home restaurant if he had one, and he replied.... "The Zitchen!"  Hence the title of this blog.  Also, I am not an expert at anything at all, but I have a lot of fun cooking and Zichael and I love sharing food with our friends, so why not share the recipes too?  Well... you have been warned.  Proceed at your own caution.  ;-)

Since ZICHAEL served his mission in Thailand, we like to make our own Thai food quite often.  This is one of our favorites! It's fresh, flavorful, and the only processed ingredient is the fish sauce.  I've read a few different explanations as to why it's called "Waterfall Salad," and they all seem kind of hokey to me.  So I just enjoy it without asking the reason behind the name ;)

This dish is served with sticky rice, we have our own steamer set and really enjoy it.  If you don't have access to an Oriental Market from which to buy the rice or the equipment, you can substitute ordinary rice, but you might miss out on the "WOW" factor that sticky rice lends to Thai dishes.  I'll do a separate write-up soon on how to prepare sticky rice in the traditional Thai way.  Or you can google it.

The ingredients are very simple- lots of fresh produce, some meat, fish sauce and spice.  The recommended meat with this dish is pork or beef, but because Zichael and I are saving our pennies, you'll see that I used much less expensive chicken in the photos.  This dish could even be made into a vegetarian/vegan option if you substituted tofu for the meat and Kosher salt for the fish sauce. Last little piece of advice, you'll see that I used ground red pepper for the spice in this recipe, but that's just because we used up every speck of the usual crushed Thai red chili pepper spice we used to have.  If you want authenticity, buy the real stuff and use it!

This is what it looks like.  Thanks Wikipedia!!

Let's begin.

Here are the ingredients and set up.  You'll see that I have two cutting boards and that the top one is already messy.  That's because I'd already started choppin' before deciding to take pictures and share this recipe with zeveryone.  ;-)  ANYWAYS, the top board is my produce board and the bottom cutting board is for the meat.  I'm slightly paranoid about salmonella or food-borne bacteria in general, so I'm pretty careful about handling raw meat.

Not pictured: Green onions or shallots (I forgot the green onions and I didn't have shallots, haha)

INGREDIENTS:
(Fresh Produce)
A few sprigs of Mint leaves, rinsed, stems discarded and leaves finely chopped
Handful of Cilantro, rinsed, stems discarded and leaves finely chopped
A few green onions (just the green part), rinsed and finely diced
Half a red onion, sliced into thin 1" strips
A shallot or two, sliced into thin 1" strips
A few huge handfuls of lettuce (I like red), rinsed and roughly chopped into 1" pieces

(Flavoring)
Fish Sauce (to taste)
Thai crushed red chili pepper (to taste)
Juice of 4 or so Limes

(Meat)
Small amount of vegetable oil for sauteing
1-2 pounds beef, pork, or chicken, sliced into thin 1" pieces or so

(Optional Garnish)
Toasted ground sticky rice sprinkled on top

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Serves 2-4

 DIRECTIONS:
Chop all produce as instructed.  Put everything but the lettuce into a large bowl.  Saute your meat in the oil over medium heat until DONE. Transfer the meat to the bowl with the chopped produce and add flavorings. You want to have a good balance of salty, spicy and tangy (from the limes, which I LOVE, so I usually make mine stronger towards the tangy end of the tasty spectrum).  Once you have achieved a blend you like, add the chopped up lettuce and toss until everything is evenly coated.  Dish up some freshly-made sticky rice onto a plate and add a few huge spoonfuls of the Waterfall Salad next to it.  Sprinkle the optional garnish of toasted ground sticky rice over the salad if you like variety in your food's texture.  Enjoy your own homemade Nam Tok...THAI WATERFALL SALAD!!

Produce chopped and ready for the chicken to be sliced and cooked!

Sticky rice and tossed Waterfall salad all done!

oh man..... deliciousness!  I used too much lettuce in this, and was a little lazy on getting the toasted ground sticky rice to a nice dusty grain, but it was still waaaay good (:

ZAFTERTHOUGHTS

SO in this section after the actual recipe, you can see more detailed information about some of the ingredients.  I'm doing it like this because when *I* look up a recipe online, I just want to know how to make it.  I don't want to have to scroll through seven or eight pictures of the dish taken from as many appealing angles with the blog's title superimposed on each photo. BUT.  I also appreciate added information and tips that I wouldn't know otherwise.  THUS here you go: the Zafterthoughts.

Jack the Mint Plant

MINT- I bought a couple of the "Living Herbs" Mint plants from our local grocery store and stuck them in some dirt, keep them slightly moist and in a sunny window.  They've been very good to me!  I have named this mint plant "Jack," because naming things is nice and I heard that if you are nicer to your plants they will grow better and be happier ;-)  See a fun article on this here. Anyways, when they start getting too tall or too thick and woody, just snip off from a few inches above the soil and use the leaves.  Fresh, tender leaves will grow again. I LOVE MINT.

Cilantro plant in cold water

CILANTRO- So I don't name cilantro I buy from the store..... cause it doesn't grow and I do feel bad for that.  BUT.  To make your 50 cent bunch last as long as possible, when you bring it home simply take some kitchen shears and snip off the bottom 1/4" or 1/2" of stems and place in a clear jar of a few inches of clean water.  Snipping off the ends works the same as in cut flowers, opening up the "plant water transportation system" so the leaves can suck up water better from the stem. I know there are technical terms for what I'm describing, but I don't know them right off the top of my head...vascular something... Anyway.  Stick it in the fridge and change the water every several days.  Mine last up to 2.5 weeks in this way!

The Kensington Brothers
(Green onion plants)

GREEN ONION- When you buy green onions from the store, don't use the last few inches.  Instead, take that bulb end and "plant" it in water.  Crazy roots will grow in a matter of days and the onions will shoot upwards shortly after. Just change the water every week or so.  After a while they start to lose their vibrant green hue, at which point I'd probably discard them and start with some new green onions from the store and plant their bulbs in the water.  I have also named these, they stay on the sill above the kitchen sink next to Jack.  I've had this bunch growing and REGROWING from where I cut them for probably a month and a half.

Leftover red onions and shallots can be sliced and frozen!

RED ONIONS and SHALLOTS - So only about half a red onion is sufficient for this recipe.  More than that and the dish is overpowered!  You can see in this picture how I slice them for Nam Tok- Halve the onion, halve the halves, and slice.  The two sections on the left were sliced, placed in a ziploc bag and stuck in the freezer.  Next time I make something with red onion, I will just pull them out and throw them in.  You don't want a lot of water to be frozen with them, or when you pull it out the onion might be a little soggy.  Shallots are the same! Have fun. ;-)

Thank you to Clay's Kitchen for the picture!

FISH SAUCE - Sold at supermarkets in the "Ethnic" sections.  It's stinky but necessary for Thai cooking and is usually where the salty aspect of the dish originates.

Limes, mmmmmm

LIMES - Buy limes that feel like they have a thin, squishable skin.  As limes age, the rind thickens and the juice lessens.  If you have a handy citrus squeezer as pictured, rinse your limes and USE IT.  The flat part of the cut lime (where the juice comes out) goes against the holes in your citrus squeezer.  If you don't have one (you should get one! walmart!!), rinse them and roll them around hard between your palm and the countertop to loosen up the juice sacs inside, then cut in half and squeeze by hand.  Also shown in this picture is a plastic bag with the squished limes and onion skin- something I have found helpful is keeping those plastic bags that you buy fresh produce in and using them to collect garbage/potential compost when cooking.

Sliced, diced chicken cooking in my lovely pans

MEAT - Whether you use beef, pork or chicken, just slice into small bite-sized pieces and saute a thin layer in oil.  I wanted to cook all of mine at the same time so I used two pans haha ;)  Don't let the oil get too hot! Just a touch over medium heat is fine.  Disregard this advice and you may catch your oil on fire if it gets too hot and you wait too long to add the chicken!!  I did that once while heating oil to pan-fry some eggs... the oil caught on fire, we had nothing with which to put it out, so I grabbed the pan and ran it outside to throw on the ground.  Just as I neared the front door, the flames began burning my hand, so I involuntarily twitched, which flung flaming oil onto the carpet and effectively melted areas of it. I was on my mission and, yes, I felt terrible.

Thanks to shesimmers.com for the picture and instructions!

TOASTED GROUND STICKY RICE - pretty easy but I don't usually add it as Zichael isn't a fan. I HOWEVER LOVE IT.  If you like nuts in your brownies, cookies and bread, you'll also probably love this.  A link to a great blog with awesome instructions can be found under the picture.

LAST OF ALL....


PANS/POTS- Please just take a moment and appreciate the beauty of these pans....

A 10" saute pan and a small saucepan! Both are stainless steel, but one cost $3 and the other cost $129!  The secret behind this is soon to follow....

Say no to non-stick! No aluminum fragments breaking off in your food = smart!!  All stainless steel construction also means that heat is more evenly transferred to your food which results in shorter cook times!

See the metal rivets used to attach the handles? Nothing but metal means these pans could stand up to restaurant-quality open flame cooking style for as long as needed! See my socks?  Nothing but cotton means less stinky feet! haha ;)

OK.  Here is the secret you've been dying for.  How is it that I paid $3 for one of these and $129 for the other?  So the 10", 7-ply surgical stainless steel saute pan was sold to me by Bella Gourmet at a bridal fair and the little Magic Mill stainless steel saucepan I found at a local secondhand store....someone did NOT KNOW what they were throwing out!! I bought a little metal and glass lid for the saucepan for $2 at the same secondhand store, and ever since I am always on the lookout for another steal of a deal!  A few months later I found a second saucepan for $4 and gave it to my mom-in-law since she was the one who came with me to the Bella Gourmet presentation in the first place ;)  So.  When you are at garage sales or thrift stores, look for something like these to know you have a VERY valuable item in your hands.  They will be made of ALL METAL CONSTRUCTION.  They should say "Stainless Steel" somewhere on there.  Handles, rivets, cook surface should all be metal.  I cannot say enough how much I love these pans.  You are very welcome for revealing this incredible secret.  ;-)

Dishwasher safe, but they clean up really well with a Brillo pad too! 

Thank you for visiting!  Please leave any comments or questions below, and good luck (:

- ZAROLYN