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Kristen is the Senior Editor of Food52
added 8 months agoGood quality stainless steel pans can handle high heat and are generally lighter than black cast iron skillets. Restaurant kitchens use a lot of stainless steel (probably for these reasons).
You can't go wrong with All-Clad, but I'm curious if others have favorite stainless steel brands too.
First off, do you have your decimal one place to the left of where it should be -- in other words, does your burner produce 18,000 BTU's?
By "heavy black pans", do you mean cast iron? If so, then I certainly understand the weight issue. But if you mean black anodized aluminum, it's a completely different discussion.
And is budget an issue? If not, buy the All-Clad d5. Mauviel's stainless is equally good.
Sarah is a trusted source on General Cooking.
added 8 months agoIf All Clad is out of your price range, head to a restaurant supply store - there are tons of pots and pans there designed to take serious heat at a significantly cheaper price than AC.
I love the restaurant sauté pans.
Even if All Clad is in your price range, the restaurant quality pans are designed to take that kind of heat. they will perform better for you.
Yes it is 18,000 BTU's and yes the pans are black cast iron. Thank you! For your tip. Just one question where can I find this brand?
William-Sonoma stocks the d5 All-Clad. Besides that it's the latest version with a number of improvements over the old standard, the reason I'm suggesting the d5 specifically is that it was designed to have superior warping tolerance which could be an issue if you hit a larger pan with all 18,000 BTU's.
Here is a web site for AC which has good prices and untill some time in Nov another % off.
http://www.cookwarenmore...
Here is a web site for AC which has good prices and untill some time in Nov another % off.
http://www.cookwarenmore...
Be aware that the site above sells "irregulars".
Also, apparently All-Clad is using the "d5" moniker on at least three model lines, not all of them have stainless exteriors. I should have written "d5 Stainless" in my posts above.
From what I understand from people that have ordered from them the irregulars are in excellent condition. If they had what I wanted I would defintinly go that route. If you need to know about the stainless steel interiors or the d5 I'm sure you could contact them.
The restaurants that I am familiar with mostly use or look up to using black steel pans, not stainless. They are fantastic, the best combination of cast iron's even heating and heat retention, and steel's durability. They are also less than half the weight of a comparably sized cast iron pan. Treat them like cast iron for the purposes of cleaning.
Restaurants that use carbon steel cookware do so for economic reasons, not performance. Cast iron's even heating and heat retention is due to its mass. Lose the weight and you lose those properties. That can be a good thing though, as the opposite of heat retention is responsiveness. Everything is a compromise.
Clad stainless represents the state of the art in cookware evolution. The compromise is that's it's not inexpensive.
I had AC and they warped. AC refused to honor the warranty. Williams Sonoma kindly took them back. Since then I have not used AC. Switched to Mauviel, and I like them a lot. And sorry guys, but in my mind nothing beats cast iron.