Pan Love
November 2, 2004
I remember the first time I brought home a really good frying pan. It was an All Clad 10 inch skillet with stainless steel interior and brushed aluminum exterior. I put it on the stove, turned on the heat and pre-heated the pan. Then came the moment… I tossed in a tablespoon of butter and just watched. I watched the butter start to melt and slide, slide down across the pan away from me. There wasn’t a single scratch on the stainless steel inside, and the butter looked like it was floating over ice as it drifted so slowly across to the other side. In fact, I’ve described this moment by comparing it to a hockey puck gliding across a newly iced rink. Beautiful. It was a moment, and it only ever happens once in a pan. After that first use, the pan gets a little scratched up. They aren’t big scratches - indiscernible to the untrained eye, but even the slightest scratch will prevent the moment from recurring. That was my first incident of true pan love.
It’s ironic and unfortunate, but those who cook for a living aren’t usually the ones with the beautiful cookware at home. I worked as a line cook for a few years. As a line cook, I rarely cooked at home. Cooking at home wasn’t as easy as cooking in the restaurant. Not only was it more difficult, it also required more planning and took more effort. At work, we were able to wander into the walk-in and choose from our own personal grocery store to create whatever we were in the mood for creating. Sometimes, the food ingredients were already prepped by a prep cook and all we had to do was turn on the heat and cook. Then of course, when the cooking was all done, we didn’t even have to clean up! Restaurant cooking was very different from cooking at home. Cooking at home meant you had to plan a meal and then go do the dreaded shopping. I think that was where I was started to lose interest, but it was completely lost when it came to grabbing a pan to use. I never had decent pans at home in which to cook. As a line cook, used to commercial cookware, I couldn’t use my pans at home. When I stopped working in restaurants and started working in a retail cookware business, I was able to earn points towards fine cookware. I started cooking at home more often.
The All Clad brushed aluminum 10 inch skillet was my first. I still own that pan, and I’m sure I always will. I have developed my love of pans. Indeed, my career now involves selling cookware. I don’t consider it selling as much as sharing my love of fine cookware and providing everyone with good pans in which to cook. Perhaps that is just my own way of justifying the fact that I’m really a salesperson. Still, I do truly love fine cookware and believe that it directly contributes to successful cooking experiences. I’ve added to my collection extensively over the years, and will continue to do so, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for my 10 inch skillet.
So how does the All Clad compare with the Cooks Essentials range of cookware?
Well, with respect to the range of cookware, cook’s essentials actually has more product variety than All Clad since cook’s essentials also crosses into the category of electric cooking appliances. The pans themselves are different between the brands. All Clad is clad cookware, which means that it is made up of layers of metals (different depending on the particular line) which are bonded together. Cook’s essentials has different lines which are constructed differently from All Clad, and differently from each other. With respect to the range, however, both brands have comparable pieces and selection.