Kitchen Reviews

This is my favorite stockpot.

The copper makes it the most even heating stock pot I have ever used. It holds heat well, so it doesn't loose heat as fast as an aluminum or aluminum core pot does -- which can have trouble when frying because the aluminum cools quickly.

It works great for deep frying, oven roasting, making all types of soups, stews, stocks, etc.

It is pricey, but really does work better for me than the less expensive aluminum core models.

Some years ago I was a professional chef, and I approach cooking in an analytical way, (cooking is science, plating is art). I learned the real value of slow cooking of some foods, especially in classical cuisine and much of ethnic cooking. The trick is a specialized slow-cook oven (expensive restaurant equipment) or a well-made Dutch oven. Assuming you are not reading this from the kitchen of a three star, the obvious choice is the Dutch oven.

My first really usable Dutch oven was a 50-year-old one, 18 pounds of solid aluminum! Eventually it pitted as to become unsafe. I've tried many of the current crop, and was very disappointed at the uneven heat distribution, with the propensity of food to caramelize and eventually burn at the transition point between the flat bottom and the sides (the metal thickness at this point is critical). In my testing, this pot is far and away the best designed, finished, and certainly the best cooking Dutch oven now being produced.

I purchased this item, and am thoroughly satisfied. The price for this superior "slow cooker" is steep, but if you really know how, and when to use this pot, you will marvel at the results, and it really beats the price tag of the restaurant "slow oven!"

Worth the price, and is in my opinion the best by far of all the offerings, spring for one, then really enjoy classical cuisine as it was once prepared!

Eric Scott PhD

Using anything as finely made as this is an education. Food cooks differently in this than it does in anything I've used previously. The level of control this allows is amazing, and the key to this is just how forgiving the cooking surface is. There are absolutely NO hot spots. You burn the stew in this pot, you may as well hang it up and condemn yourself to fast food. This 5-ply pot is the best thing that's ever happened to my kitchen.

This is the highest expression in cookware.

This All-Clad Gold Standard Pie Plate deserves five shiny gold stars for performance. Due to it's patented reinforced system for nonstick cooking crusts are a beautiful, even golden brown.

The plate's appearance is contemporary and classic so that it can be served from the table if one chooses. And, of course, it is dishwasher safe. I might add that it comes from our dishwasher sparkling and bright, as if it were new.

It's my understanding that All-Clad was designed in the beginning for use by professional chefs. Well, I'm far from a topnotch chef but I certainly use All-Clad and love it!

We bought the seven piece set, then got the two quart saucepan on ebay. This cookware performs very well, but two of the three lids don't sit evenly on their pans. I'm not sure if they're slightly warped or what, but they rock slightly and don't make a good seal. This may be a minor flaw, but for what they cost it's unacceptable. We're trying to decide if it's worth the hassle of returning the lids under the warranty. If you're shopping for this cookware in a store, be sure to check the lids for flatness.

This set rocks. I had a thirty-year old set of Farberware (hand-me-downs) with warped bottoms - it used to take nearly half an hour for water to simmer even at my electric range on full-blast. So frustrating that I thought that my range was broken. When the repair guy said that all my pots and pans were warped (duh!), I ditched my old set and got this set. A world of difference! The copper core heats evenly and beautifully, water comes back to a rolling boil seconds after pasta is added, etc., etc. I couldn't be happier. I decided to get the copper-core line instead of the all-stainless because the rolled lip allows for easier pouring but in hindsight, I'm not sure it was worth the few hundred dollars difference. Whatever, I'm a happy cook!

A professional chef who is a neighbor recommended these to me when we had our kitchen remodeled and I wanted to splurge on some new cookware. "Buy these, and you'll never need anything else,' he said. Lord, he was SO right. Lids that fit, handles that magically stay cool, surfaces that are easy to clean, even and quick heating...who could ask for more?
Don't bother with any other brands.

This pan is handy, heats evenly, and is a good value for the money. However, I have one significant issue with it. It doesn't have a pouring lip. That means if you try to pour a liquid out of it, it will likely dribble down the outside of the pan. Many other sauce pans and even some other All-Clad pans do have a pouring lip. This is a significant and unfortunate omission.

I get a lot of use out of this pan. Specifically, I often use it to melt butter and sometimes to do a quick sauté of a small quanity of ingredients, like chopped onions. I think this is good value for the money.

However, I find a couple of significant flaws. The first is common to all All-Clad pans. The V-shape handle is not as comfortable as it could be. Compare the handle to that on higher-end lines like Demeyere and Bourgeat and you'll see that All-Clad falls behind. Calphalon, ..., did a nice job with the shape of the handles on their Professional series but the handles can get hot. When they designed the Commercial series, they went with a copy of the flawed All-Clad handles which is unfortunate.

More importantly, considering that this is a sauce pan, it should have a proper pouring lip. Without such a lip, pouring liquids is problematic. All too often, liquid will run down the side of this pan requiring more care than should be necessary. Some of the larger All-Clad pieces, such as the 8-Quart Stockpot and the frying pans do have a good pouring lip. Such a lip is probably most important on a sauce pan so I find this quite a shortcoming.

I would definitely recommend the LTD and Master Chef lines over the Stainless unless you absolutely need to be able to use the dishwasher. The Master Chef and LTD lines both have 0.44mm stainless steel on the interior and 3.94mm of aluminum on the exterior while the Stainless series has an interior of 0.44mm, an aluminum core of 2.03mm, and an exterior of 0.46mm. Thicker aluminum will provide more even heating.

I ordered this pan a few months ago, and I would like to say I couldn't be happier with it. This little pan is the perfect size for one or two servings of oatmeal in the morning. It heats like a dream, with no hot spots, and even heating up the sides. To top it all off, cleaning this pan is incredibly easy, with hardly anything sticking to the smooth steel interior. The one downside to this pan is the anodized exterior can scratch, and did on mine, but I don't really care what this pan looks like as long as it cooks well. If you're looking for a small pan, and don't need a lid for it, I strongly recomend this one.