boilsover

Nope, about as far off, food-wise, as you can get.

OK, smart guys, what's this? Hint: It's not a Viking doll boat...

Swiss Diamond does the same thing. Either you didn't keep the surface clean enough, or you kept it too clean. Surprise, no warranty.

Where I am, propane is cheap--about $1.69/gallon. A good pellet stove will heat a whole home. You just need to move the heated air where it's needed. Or, have it connected to a hot water system.

By this standard, none of the major cookware companies is doing it right. Tune up your resume!

IMO, the stainless triply was very good in the 1980s. It's still good, and I think better than any of their other clad lines. The original MC and now the MC2 are even better, IMO. The Copper Core, d5, d7 underperforms--at higher prices. Such are the dictates of "exclusives" and the "aspirational" market in general. Color me one of the handle haters. It's just senseless at this point--there are plenty of handle designs that stay cool and work well both with a side towel and barehanded. IMO, the "iconic" A-C handle is one of the few ways A-C has left to distinguish its brand. The majority of home cooks are unhappy with the handle, and IME it really isn't getting a lot of love on the pro side, either. A-C has altered it a bit on lines like TK, which I take to be an admission of sorts. But if you like it, great.

Yeah, well, 6 years isn't out of the ordinary in bringing cookware to market. Consumers somehow think new products just magically appear.

A reference? Yes, two: the lips of A-C's head of product development.

That's fatal in this industry. I happen to know it took 6 YEARS for All-Clad to develop d3 Armor. That kind of investment isn't done purely for marketing reasons. They view these things as innovations. The $6 million question is whether it sells. The problem is that major innovations come along about every 50 years. In the case of conductivity, it's been at least 3 millennia.

The point is that: (a) All-Clad does other apparently crazy things (one other being d3 Armor); and (b) Maybe we should reconsider pronouncing things as ridiculous if Fissler and others are also doing it.

Cleaning ease sells more nonstick than food release, yes, odd as that sounds. What it's "for" is beside the point, which is selling pans.

This wasn't Marketing. Those guys knew this two-tone deal was a bad idea. To me, the overarching depressing thing about All-Clad is that there's so much substantive improvement they could do (handles, truly thick clad and disk pieces, actually putting meaningful thickness of copper in CopperCore, etc.) but don't. The gimmick-y names they give pans, now THAT's on Marketing.

Somehow, I always knew I was prescient...

Well then, you might not be a good fit in All-Clad's product development department. All I can tell you is fewer people buy nonstick for its food release than buy it for ease of cleaning. Ask around in WalMart and Target... Since you think this idea is ridiculous, what do you think of All-Clad's d3 Armor? https://www.all-clad.com/Cookware/Fry-Pans/d3-ARMOR®-12"-Fry-Pan-/p/8701005404 FYI, they're not alone: https://fisslerusa.com/products/fry-pans/crispy-steelux-premium-fry-pan

Hi, btbyrd: There's sort of a new kid in town, a hybrid from All-Clad. The head of A-C's product development showed it to me at IHHS last year, was really proud of it. Basically, the idea is that the floor of the pan is uncoated SS, and the sidewalls are done in PTFE. This tracks with the market research that most people buy nonstick for ease of cleaning (the polymerized fats from spatter being a Royal PITA). However, an added benefit is longevity--you can use metal utensils AND the lining doesn't toast as easily. It's not selling very well because people think it's weird. I sort of agree, but then the idea sort of makes sense. At least it's a better grade of pan with the prospect of lasting longer... Cheers!

On these Airliners (and a modern $$$$ Lacanche I cooked on last year in Paris), the wells are actually another hob, but designed to be lowered into the body of the range to accomodate the pot. By the time I inherited the Airliner, the pot and cover pictured in Andie's photo were long gone, and the coil was moved up. The only sign that hob is different is a wider SS trim ring. I scrounged another pot and cover. It's really a nice feature, along with the warming drawer. The Lacanche's moveable hob was an induction coil.

Bingo. That is my model at the farmhouse. The clock needs help, and I need new colored indicator plates behind the control knobs Notice how many "turns" there are of the coils compared with modern coils!

I agree--the narrow slots are the only defect.

Here's a tip: If you're into the good old stuff, I recommend the Sunbeam T-21 toaster. It had an electric eye that measured the degree of browning.

Well, I have a 1950 GE Airliner with a thermowell. I've seen them on Lacanche ranges, too.

Very nice stove! Does it have a thermowell?

Thanks, you're right. I was just hoping there might be some sincere curiosity about whether there is something to it. It must be too obscure to matter to anyone. Thanks again.

Here's the thing: I'm not saying that. I'm saying I did it two ways, and tried hard to keep only one variable. The result was better one way than the other. Full stop.

All I can say is Chef Patrick has too much time on his hands if he weighs every piece. I can see dialing in thickness and size for different form sizes (Our 4x4" were too small for the rings), but if you're a gram off? Waste it? Trim it? Scab some more on? This dough can be very weepy anyway--another step can't be helpful. Nevermind the authenticity aspect of it--waiting for your bascule to come to perfect balance? Non. This way lies madness.

Gosh, I'll remember that if I ever open a commercial bakery or patisserie school. My 650g of flour, 450g butter and 600g of sugar were completely wasted, I guess. And the yeast! Irreplaceable! Some may have remained in the bowl. And the sugary moisture that escaped on the clingform! How futile this whole exercise was. We actually bought more kouign aman from 4 San Francisco patisseries that our chef friend recommended as knowing what they're about. Ours were better (and more consistent) than 3 of them. If these bakeries are weighing every single pastry before baking, I'm a monkey's uncle. Sorry.