Sabores sin Fronteras

On the 19th and 20th of November, I attended a planning session and Borderlands Foodways Symposium at the Rex Ranch in Amado. What a treat. Many of the people making up the food community in Tucson were there, and it was a great chance to met and talk with them.

Dr.'s Gary Nabhan and Maribel Alvarez of the Southwest Center at the U of A organized the event, and there was a turnout of about fifty for the planning session, and another fifty or so for the symposium.

Among the presenters were Meredith Abarca (Voices in the Kitchen), Linda Berzok (American Indian Food), Big Jim Griffith (unavoidable face here, founder of Tucson Meet Yourself), cookbook authors Cheryl and Bill Jamieson, poet Rita Magdaleno, who started the symposium with a reading of poems about Southwest food, Carolyn Neithammer, (American Indian Cooking, The Prickly Pear Cookbook), David Yetman, host of The Desert Speaks, and Janos Wilder, well known chef and author.

A good time by all, and some wonderful food and entertainment as well. More later.

More on COPAN

I assume the name is an abbreviation of the words copper and pan. It's also probably an allusion to the French word copain, which means "best friend".

As for the images for the pan, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office digitized their patents in a way which normal browsers can't view easily.

Here's a link to the software which needs to be installed (it's quick and easy) to see the images: http://patft.uspto.gov/help/images.htm

Here's a link to the utililty patent: http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4653468.PN.&OS=PN/4653468&RS=PN/4653468
which describes the invention.

Here's one to the design patent for the handle: http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=D298404.PN.&OS=PN/D298404&RS=PN/D298404.

COPAN

A few months ago, I was barbecuing a mixed grill, and realized I needed a small frying pan on the grill for one of the ingredients. I dug around in the cupboard, and found an old pan I hadn't used in years, figuring it wouldn't hurt if it was burnt or otherwise damaged.

It turned out to do a wonderful job, and nothing stuck to it. I started to use it regularly, as it was perfectly non-stick, but had no teflon like coating. As we have a parrot in the house, we don't use non-stick anything because of the polytetra-flouro-ethylene fumes. Our normal cookware is either Calphalon hard anodized or All-Clad stainless steel.

I had a vague recollection that I had acquired the frying pan at a chic shop in Hollywood's Los Feliz district in the mid 1980's, and that it had been made in TUCSON!

I recently examined the bottom of the pan, and it had "COPAN 1987" etched on the bottom. That led to do a little more searching, starting with a nearly futile google seach. I found a good clue in the ProQuest Newspapers database. The pan was made by a company in Tucson called Copernicus, and was different because it was a solid slab of copper with a nickel coating, which was the the secret of the non-stick success. It also had an advanced design with a handle which did not get hot.

At the time, these pans were a bit of a luxury good. They ran in 1986, from $75-150 each. Using the value of a dollar converter at http://www.minneapolisfed.org/index.cfm, in todays dollar the cost would be double.

Knowing the name of the inventor, Chuck Lemme, I also was able to find his patents on the pan and the handle.

Here's the front page: (we'll work on this)

Since then, I've found out Mr. Lemme is still living and working here in Tucson, although it appears the pans and their company only lasted for the 1986/7 season

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