Any expert chefs? I want pots and pans!

[Shalmanese]

@Athena

I’ve heard this bandied about a lot on these boards. However, after recently attending a sale where a restaurant that was closing was selling off their equipment, I can tell you that there were plenty of $100 and up pots and pans. Maybe the average Applebee’s doesn’t have high quality equipment, but the stuff I saw was restaurant grade and was in the same price range (or higher) as the corresponding consumer-oriented All-Clad pieces.

And for what it’s worth, a $100 pan isn’t needed to cook, but there are reasons why you’d spend good money on a pan if you can spare it. An evenly heating heavy bottomed pan that holds the heat is a joy to use, and I haven’t seen a cheap pan that really can compete.

Huh, you don’t think maybe that was why the restaurant was closing down? If you are willing to be patient, you can actually score some really great deals at restaurant closing down sales by clearly overenthuisastic first time owners. That is, if you can avoid the horde of hungry restaurant chefs who are after the same loot.

[Shalmanese]

@Carnac the Magnificent!

Ditto on cite or any objective evaulation you can provide.

BTW: Here is an objective evaulation that All Clad is overpriced.

[Athena]

@Shalmanese

But I was mainly talking about buying a set of All-Clad. Your $220 All Clad stock pot is going to be barely better than an ordinary, thin SS or Aluminium stock pot with a disc bottom which you can pick up for $30 or less. You don’t need fancy metal to essentially boil water.

I completely agree with you there. You’re right - spending the big bucks on things like stock pots doesn’t make sense at all. But frying pans? Sauce pans? I want something heavy and evenly-heating.

Case in point: I have a $30 Farberware nonstick frying pan that I use for eggs and such. $30 is hardly a “cheap” pan, but it’s not expensive, either. If you fill it with water, you can see the hot spots right where the gas hits the pan - there’s a clear ring of water that boils higher and faster than water in the middle or near the sides of the pan.

There’s also a hot ring halfway up the sides of the pan, where the heavy bottom is attached to the more flimsy sides.

In comparison, the same test using an All-Clad (or any higher end pan) reveals even heat, no hot spots, and certainly no ring around the edge.

I have a couple Sitram pans, too. They might be a little thicker than the All-Clads. However, they were more expensive new as well, even at a restaurant supply store.

Calphalon is not the same quality as All-Clad. I’ll dig up something to back me up on that, but I’m running to work now so it will have to wait.

Metal pans just cost money.

Oh, and Shalmanese, I know quite well why the restaurant was closing, and it had nothing to do with the pans they used.

[Athena]

@Ukulele Ike

Like Athena, I’m an All-Clad user, and I think very highly of their stuff (except for my 12-inch non-stick skillet, which is beginning to stick horribly after ten-plus years of steady use).

FYI, if you send it back to All-Clad, they’ll happily send you a new one. Or even swap it for a standard pan, instead of non-stick. That’s what I ended up doing. As much as I like All-Clad, I don’t think their nonstick (or anyone’s for that matter) holds up for long-term use.

[Mr.Moto]

I have three pieces of cast iron - a small skillet, a large skillet, and a double griddle and grill. All are Lodge pieces, and were dirt cheap. I have seasoned them to perfection, and they look like they should be hanging in an antique store.

Nobody should be without cast iron, IMHO. It heats very evenly, works well in the oven as well, and is just wonderful for browning and frying foods.

[Zsofia]

Cook’s Illustrated likes All-Clad stainless for frying pans, saucepans, and saute pans. They like Le Creuset for a Dutch oven, a Lodge cast iron frying pan (cheap at twice the price) and they used to like an All-Clad roasting pan but have since changed their mind to Calphalon stainless. They always offer a “reccommended” and a “best buy” option; I’ve been picking their reccomended ones except I got their “best buy” pick for a nonstick frying pan, which was Wolfgang Puck. As I’ve been setting up my new house I’ve followed their suggestions and been extremely, extremely happy with my cookware. (Le Creuset, how do I love you? Let me count the ways.) I got their “best buy” pick for a nonstick frying pan, which was Wolfgang Puck. I’m still using cheap crappy saucepans but hope to upgrade soon. For a stockpot they say just go to your local hardware store and pick one up for twenty bucks.

[Carnac_the_Magnificent]

@Shalmanese

BTW: Here is an objective evaulation that All Clad is overpriced.

Actually, it neither objective nor a systematic evaluation whatsoever. Just a handful of chefs offering their anecdotes. I could probably find 20 who would swear a Wal-MartLike frying pan is just swell. (Or maybe not. )

Like Zsofia, I will point to Cook’s Illustrated. Their lab-(kitchen) testing procedures are impressive and seem impartial.

Let me back up and say this: There’s no doubt that All-Clad has major snob appeal. Cosmetically, it’s gorgeous. And if you pay full retail, you’re paying too damn much and it’s not a good value. But steeply discounted, it’s worth it, IMHO.

[slaphead]

@A.R. Cane

of Circulon ™ cookware there about 10 years ago for about half what they sell for at a mall store.

I have a small set of the Analon Professional stuff - only had it a year, but it still looks like it did when it came out of the box. I lent my big stock pot to my neighbour to make some carrot soup in and when she brought it back she was :eek: “that’s a great pot”.
I think cookware is like a lot of other stuff in life - if it’s made by a reputable brand, solidly constructed, and well-designed for it’s intended use, it will be great to use. Many manufacturers can fulfill these criteria, but none of them are likely to be particularly cheap. OTOTH, it is not really necessary to pay silly money for a lump of metal to heat food up in.

[Weirddave]

I like Caphalon, but I don’t think you’ll be able to match the deal I got on this set.

$7.50 for all of them at a yard sale.
Yes, I was quite happy, why?

[Shalmanese]

@Carnac the Magnificent!

Actually, it neither objective nor a systematic evaluation whatsoever. Just a handful of chefs offering their anecdotes. I could probably find 20 who would swear a Wal-MartLike frying pan is just swell. (Or maybe not. )

Like Zsofia, I will point to Cook’s Illustrated. Their lab-(kitchen) testing procedures are impressive and seem impartial.

Let me back up and say this: There’s no doubt that All-Clad has major snob appeal. Cosmetically, it’s gorgeous. And if you pay full retail, you’re paying too damn much and it’s not a good value. But steeply discounted, it’s worth it, IMHO.

The poster is the author of the aforementioned Understanding Stovetop Cookware piece and more than just a “random internet chef”. Anyway, that’s beside the point. Metal is metal is metal. All Clad don’t have any secret process to make 5mm aluminium conduct heat better than GeneriBrandX’s 5mm aluminium pan. All else being equal, thicker pans are always going to heat more evenly. The only other things you can judge them on is quality of construction, shape, handle design and service/warranties. I’ve not seem All Clad being singled out as exceptional in any of these regards compared to similar brands.