All-Clad D7 Cookware (7 layers)

[Shel_B]

While poking around this morning, I discovered that All-Clad now has a seven layer line of cookware.  It's available at Williams-Sonoma.

 

I'm a big fan of All-Clad - everything I've purchased over the past 40 or so years has worked well and lasted through the years.  I cannot say the same for some other cookware I've owned.  However, this seven layer design seems a bit of overkill, yet I am nonetheless intrigued.  The 3 1/2 quart Dutch oven has piqued my interest

 

Has anyone tried this cookware yet?  Any comments or thoughts about it from anyone?

Edited July 16, 2015 by Shel_B (log)

[MSRadell]

We have the 3 quart roaster in that line and it's great!  We use it several times a week and it's very versatile.  It transfers heat very well and temperatures are very even across the entire bottom of the pan.  Obviously not nonstick but it's stainless steel surface releases most items very easily especially when searing proteins.

[Shel_B]

We have the 3 quart roaster in that line and it's great!  We use it several times a week and it's very versatile.  It transfers heat very well and temperatures are very even across the entire bottom of the pan.  Obviously not nonstick but it's stainless steel surface releases most items very easily especially when searing proteins.

 

It's nice to know that you like the pan.  Have you compared it to any of the D5 pans?  I'm wondering how the two versions might compare WRT evenness of heating, heat retention, clean up, etc.  I have two D5 pans and like them a lot.  The ones I have seem to clean up easier than the regular tri ply, but they are different pans put to different uses.

 

The lack of a nonstick surface is not an issue.  I've pretty much stopped using my nonstick skillets.

[paulraphael]

The number of layers is pure marketing. The only things that count are the materials, and the relative thicknesses of the conducting layer and outer layers. It's possible that this new line has thicker conducting layers ... this would make it better for some applications, worse for others.

 

Unfortunately Allclad has never been open about the thickness of their conducting layers. Someone would have to saw a pan in half and measure. Barring that you'd have to compare subjectively, which is harder than you might think. These differences are often more subtle than most cooks acknowledge. Lots of other variables in the kitchen are likely to make a bigger difference and throw off a casual comparison.

[boilsover]

This line exemplifies All-Clad's silliness.  It is expressly designed to compete with cast iron, only (slightly) lighter.

 

If A-C is reduced to picking on cast iron, oh, how the mighty have fallen.

[btbyrd]

I don't think it's that silly. Cast iron is great for some things precisely because it is heavy. The sheer mass of cast iron is what makes it so good at what it does. But it doesn't heat evenly at all. The D7 stuff looks to give you the advantages of cast iron but with superior evenness and at a lighter (though still heavy) weight. Sounds more expensive than silly to me. And when you compare it to pricier, French enameled cast iron, it doesn't really seem *that* expensive.

[paulraphael]

Even the thickest AC stuff is going to perform very differently from cast iron. Think of thin AC as a sports car, thick AC as a truck, and cast iron as an ocean liner. 

 

Thick AC is still probably much thinner than typical disk-bottom aluminum pans. It's just going to be a bit more even than the thinner version, will store a bit more energy for searing, and will be a bit less responsive. 

 

Whether or not these changes are an improvement depends entirely on how you're using it.