aemeijers wrote:
Robert Allison wrote:
snip...
Clean them up and hang them on the wall as display pieces, and use the
money you would spend at metal plating shop to go buy modern pans for
actual cooking. Seriously, I doubt any plating shop would want to expose
themselves to the liability of doing anything other than a display
piece. 'Food safe' is a term probably totally outside their experience,
and while a little lead leaching probably won't kill adults, it can
screw up kids bigtime. Any kids every eat the food you cook? It just
ain't worth the risk, IMHO.

aem sends...

The tinning of copper pots is not done by a "plating shop", it is done
by specialists and the material they use is pure tin -- not some toxic
lead alloy -- and the results are truly food grade. Copper pots are
excellent for cooking, not just for looking, as long as one is willing
to go through the trouble and expense of re-tinning as needed. With
suitable care I've seen good quality French pots last for 20+ years
before needing attention.

I'll be the first to say that I personally don't have any copper pots
but that is just because the good ones are expensive and require more
care than I care to give them. Give me a nice copper-cored All-Clad pan
any time for day-to-day cooking. Or a traditional Le Creuset cast iron
Dutch oven or omelet pan.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com