All-clad French skillet

[john-k]

All-clad recently started making 'French Skillets':

The relevant All-clad product webpage

Apparently, the main difference between it and the regular skillet is that the rim is higher and steeper, so food can be tossed more easily. Also, its lighter. And cheaper. But actual reviews of it are nonexistent.

One downside is that they seem to have designed it so you couldn't use their normal lids, because they only come in odd numbers of inches, versus their regular pans, which are even.

Anyone tried one out? Does it distribute heat as effectively as their normal skillet?

[Marlene]

I have one of these and use it quite often. I think it may be a bit thinner than their regular skillets, but I've had no trouble with heat distribution and evenness. I don't use it for high heat searing, but sauteing green beans, or carrots or carmelizing onions etc, it works quite nicely. I haven't found a need for using a lid on it yet though.

[JAZ]

They are sort of a cross between an American style skillet and saute pan -- as you said, straighter and deeper sides. The introductory price, if you can get it, makes them a great deal. If you have any other pans made my European manufacturers, the lids might fit -- European lids tend to come in 9" and 11" inch sizes, as opposed to American, which are usually 10" and 12".

[Dave the Cook]

Just for the record, skillets don't usually come with lids.

[slkinsey]

The sides of All-Clad's "French Skillet" are approximately 20% as tall as the diameter of the pan (e.g., the 11-inch pan has 2.2-inch sides, the 9.5 inch pan has 2-inch sides, etc.). This means that the sides are lower than those of a traditional sauté pan, which would be 25% as tall as the diameter of the pan. At 20%, these pans have more or less the same arrangement between diameter and sides as a traditional cast iron skillet, which usually measure out to between 20% and 14%. I haven't found this configuration particularly useful (the sides are a touch too low for truly easy tossing of food, and too high for easy spatula access) and therefore tend to use my cast iron skillets only for tasks where iron's special thermal properties are useful. Otherwise, I'd rather use a frypan or a real sauté pan. This All-Clad pan is kind of a "tweener" -- neither frypan nor quite sauté pan. Some people might like it.

Edited September 13, 2008 by slkinsey (log)