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All-Clad Stainless Cookware


dennis77

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I was at a Williams Sonoma store in Toronto yesterday looking at All Clad stainless steel frying pans. For some reason these pans seemed lighter in weight from previous ones. Is All Clad compromising on quality these days or is just me. Any comments would be appreciated

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I believe Dennis was comparing within the same brand of steel encased aluminum pans. He feels the pans on sale now are not as heavy as the ones they used to offer.

The All-Clad web site seems to indicate that that they only make one quality of stainless steel cooking ware. There is stainless Emerilware, but that's clearly packaged as Emerilware and not as All-Clad.

All-Clad pans in general are not all that light compared with most stainless steel pots and pans. Although aluminum is light, the pots have a stainless steel lining (and stainless steel exterior on the stainless line) and use a heavy gauge of aluminum.

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The fully clad lines (All-Clad Stainless and All-Clad Cop-R-Chef) use around half as much alumimum as the lines that are only interior clad (All-Clad MasterChef and All-Clad LTD). As a result, they are significantly lighter. If Dennis had the weight of MasterChef or LTD in mind when he looked at the Stainless skillet, that might explain why the Stainless piece seemed light.

FWIW, the interior clad pieces only use 2 mm of aluminum. I hardly see how (or why) they would use less.

--

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I don't recall the details, but someone who was shopping for pans recently pointed out that he thought the all-clad pans seemed lighter, and when he checked the bottom, he found that they were stamped with a place of manufacture someplace other than "canonsburg, pa" (sp?). i wasn't clear whether this was a special discount line that was made for sale to department stores, or what.

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My husband and I were in a WS today & hefted the 3-qt. SS saute pan. We both thought it felt different than the 10-year old version we have at home, which we've each cooked with hundreds of times. Neither one of us could quite place what it was- I'm not sure that it was lighter-but something felt very different. It felt cheaper and MUCH less pleasant to hold, as if it is weighted differently somehow, or maybe they've changed the angle of the handle. Whatever they did, it is not at ALL the same pan as the All-Clad I own. What a shame...

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i'm somewhat new to this board so i hope i don't get in trouble for sort of taking this thread in a new direction, but can you guys tell me whether all-clad is a good idea to register for?

i'm getting married in may and my fiance and i registered yesterday at crate and barrel and marshall field's. she doesn't really cook beyond occasionally stir frying some veggies and heating soup and doesn't care what the kitchen is stocked with, so i sort of went crazy registering for all sorts of cool stuff.

i have to choose between a couple varieties of all-clad and calphalon. now we have what i think is a relatively cheap version of calphalon -- maybe the $400 8-piece set. it works fine. i want to make sure what we get will last 5-10 (or more) years and will be relatively easy to clean.

i have never cooked anything on a pan that isn't non-stick. i don't do a ton of really fancy cooking, but use pots and pans pretty much every day. i am afraid that anything endorsed by a food network celebrity is garbage, designed to appeal to the mass market applebee's crowd. (not that i don't watch food network; i do, but somehow buying pans because they're endorsed by emeril seems like a questionable practice).

any advice would be much appreciated. thanks.

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The very best place to start is here Understanding Stovetop Cookware, an excellent eCGI course.

Having said that, I own several pieces of stainless steel all clad and I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are wonderful

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Sets are not necessarily a great idea unless you're really going to use all the pieces. Better to ask for specific pieces that you're actually going to use.

One thing about All-Clad--it's pretty tough. I've never used Calphalon so I can't compare, but I don't expect my All-Clad to wear out in my lifetime. I don't use non-stick coatings.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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I was at a Williams Sonoma store in Toronto yesterday looking at All Clad stainless steel frying pans. For some reason these pans seemed lighter in weight from previous ones. Is All Clad compromising on quality these days or is just me. Any comments would be appreciated

Today I went into a houseware shop that sells All-Clad, and out of curiousity I hefted some of the sample pieces of the LTD All-Clad, the same kind that I use at home daily. Like Marie-Louise, I definitely noticed a difference. I don't think we're all imagining this. They're lighter. I also noticed that the interior was not polished smooth and shiny the way mine were when new. This may be fairly recent--I added a piece to my set a couple of years ago that was made the same as my old set.

The new KitchenAid mixers are also definitely lighter--I think they're using plastic gears.

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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I just got off the phone with an All-Clad customer service person who told me that All-Clad uses a more slender handle on the new pans, and now all the lines use the same handle (not the case before). But as far as she knew, the material in the body of the pan itself was the same as the old pans, and there should be no performance difference. She claimed the new handles stay cooler. I didn't ask her about the pans made in China. It was clearly not the first time she'd heard a question about the lighter pans.

She also told me that the pans are not polished to the same mirror finish because they actually got a lot of complaints from people afraid to scratch the shiny new pans (like me).

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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A couple of mine were made in China. They're the Amazon "try me" specials, the little fry and sauce pans. They're still nice pans, but there are subtle differences from the ones marked as made in Pennsylvania. The boxes are all clearly marked as to their origin.

It's a shame they're moving some of their manufacturing overseas though. It doesn't bode well for their reputation if you ask me.

Soup is good food.

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i'm somewhat new to this board so i hope i don't get in trouble for sort of taking this thread in a new direction, but can you guys tell me whether all-clad is a good idea to register for?

i'm getting married in may and my fiance and i registered yesterday at crate and barrel and marshall field's. she doesn't really cook beyond occasionally stir frying some veggies and heating soup and doesn't care what the kitchen is stocked with, so i sort of went crazy registering for all sorts of cool stuff.

i have to choose between a couple varieties of all-clad and calphalon. now we have what i think is a relatively cheap version of calphalon -- maybe the $400 8-piece set. it works fine. i want to make sure what we get will last 5-10 (or more) years and will be relatively easy to clean.

i have never cooked anything on a pan that isn't non-stick. i don't do a ton of really fancy cooking, but use pots and pans pretty much every day. i am afraid that anything endorsed by a food network celebrity is garbage, designed to appeal to the mass market applebee's crowd. (not that i don't watch food network; i do, but somehow buying pans because they're endorsed by emeril seems like a questionable practice).

any advice would be much appreciated. thanks.

I'm with Marlene...All-Clad rocks! I use the copper core version, and love it to death. if you use the right heat levels, things don't stick, and if they do, there's steel wool. and I love being able to pick the thing up by the handle without a mitt (handles are made of another metal, and never get warm to the touch). just have to remember that not everything I own is All-Clad (yet) and that I still need mitts in the kitchen...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello,

Thank you for your interest in All-Clad products. I apologize for the delay. This is (and continues to be) an exceptionally busy time for us here in Consumer Service.

While the greatest percentage of our cookware products is manufactured in Canonsburg PA, some pieces are manufactured offshore to All-Clad specifications. These pieces include tools (utensils), and inserts (such as the steamer and double boiler).

The Roti Pan and the Petite Roti are now manufactured offshore as well.

We appreciate your loyalty to American-made products. Increased demand for several (introductory-priced) items has caused us to expand manufacturing to other parts of the world.

We have thoroughly researched the capabilities of our off-shore partners, and allow the products produced for All-Clad to bear our name and lifetime warranty only because we are certain of the level of quality therein.

Sincerely,

Kim Nemitz

Consumer Service Representative

All-Clad Metalcrafters, LLC

1.800.255.2523

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Kim must have just gotten back from vacation. I just got this in my email, a response to a query I sent on Jan. 3. Note that this is far less informative than the response I got on the phone.

Hello,

Thank you for choosing All-Clad. I apologize for the delay. This is (and

continues to be) an exceptionally busy time for us here in Consumer Service.

The formulation for All-Clad has not changed. I'm not sure why your pots

may seem heavier. Are you compairing pots from the same product line?

Sincerely,

Kim Nemitz

Consumer Service Representative

All-Clad Metalcrafters, LLC

"I think it's a matter of principle that one should always try to avoid eating one's friends."--Doctor Dolittle

blog: The Institute for Impure Science

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Kim must have just gotten back from vacation. I just got this in my email, a response to a query I sent on Jan. 3. Note that this is far less informative than the response I got on the phone.

Hello,

Thank you for choosing All-Clad. I apologize for the delay. This is (and

continues to be) an exceptionally busy time for us here in Consumer Service.

The formulation for All-Clad has not changed. I'm not sure why your pots

may seem heavier. Are you compairing pots from the same product line?

Sincerely,

Kim Nemitz

Consumer Service Representative

All-Clad Metalcrafters, LLC

Okay, we need volunteers. Anyone with All Clad, take a piece or two down to Williams Sonoma and heft it side by side with what they've got on display. Mention eGullet while you're there-maybe we'll get a story in the newspaper, like the burger club.

Do it for science.

PS You go first. :wink:

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