Stainless steel is a decent heat conductor and fairly responsive, not to mention they are super versatile, since you can place stainless steel in the oven. This makes them great for searing then roasting (as you would do in this recipe for pan-roasted chicken breasts). Let’s say you’ve got your pan up to around 400°F—in the prime range for delivering maximum browning, which doesn’t really begin to take place in earnest until food reaches around 300°F (149°C) or so. Now when you add cold food to this hot pan, the food saps energy from the pan.
For example, recycled iron is cheaper to use in stainless steel production, but can also be more prone to rusting. How do you choose a top cookware brand of stainless steel cookware? How do you buy with confidence that you’re getting a good brand for a good price? The market is huge, and the differences between brands can be impossible to see without an expert knowledge of metal, cladding, heating performance, and more.
Contact customer service, and they should happily send you a replacement for free. Remember, this brand of cookware has a lifetime warranty, and it definitely covers warping. In fact, we think the handles on All-Clad tri-ply are excellent. They provide a terrific amount of grip and traction, with the U-shape making it almost impossible for the handle to slip out of your grip no matter how you grab it. So if a set has larger pieces–which, incidentally, are going to be more expensive when purchased separately–it gets bonus points. Whether or not to buy your pots and pans in sets or individually is really a personal preference, and there are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.
However, if you don’t care about the weight and want the best cookware on the market, Atlantis should be at the top of your list. So as great as Atlantis is, a lot of people are just going to prefer All-Clad because that’s what they know and are familiar with. This entire bottom capsule is hermetically welded to the pan to provide extra protection from water, fat and contaminants. For more information, see our Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad review with a comprehensive list of buying options. See also our review of Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad Cookware for detailed information and more buying options.
We prefer the Multiclad Pro for its equivalent performance and lower price point. As for handles, most clad stainless steel cookware has steel handles, but a few otherwise good brands have silicone tramontina cookware set handles (Vollrath, for example). Silicone will wear out way sooner than stainless, leaving you with a pot without a handle. The array of clad stainless steel cookware brands is overwhelming.
Cast iron cookware is inexpensive and extremely durable, but it’s heavy, slow to heat evenly, and can react with food, imparting off flavors. Seasoning is not difficult, but it does somewhat limit the versatility of the cookware. And, though a cast iron skillet is a must-have for many kitchens, you may not want cast iron sauce pans or stock pots because of both the weight and the fact that liquids eat away at seasoning. Thus, bare cast iron is best suited to skillets, but not a good choice for entire sets.
This leaves clad stainless steel, which is cookware with a stainless steel exterior fused with internal layers of aluminum and/or copper (but usually aluminum). Clad stainless steel cookware is durable, safe and nonreactive, and provides excellent heating properties. Since it first went to market around 1970 (All-Clad was the first company to produce and sell clad cookware), clad stainless steel has become the cookware of choice for most serious chefs. If you’re on a budget and want clad stainless steel cookware, Cuisinart Multiclad Pro is the brand to get.
Same for every other piece of cookware, which is why you should avoid sets of nonstick–that, and nonstick simply isn’t necessary on stock pots, Dutch ovens, or even sauce pans. This quality difference is most evident in low priced Chinese-made cookware. Not all Chinese clad stainless cookware is poor quality, but it can be. If you’re buying a Chinese brand of clad stainless, be sure to buy a reputable brand (we like both Cuisinart MC Pro and Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad).
Glass and ceramic bakeware can be great (again, because of their insulating properties), but for cookware, they’re a poor choice. Another shopper who said the pan made cooking fun raved over its nonstick capabilities too. “I always thought ‘nonstick’ was just tramontina pans a marketing gimmick for pans that were only slightly easier to clean, but this thing is legit. The stickiest foods slide off with ease.” Tramontinas Pro, Prima, Tri-Ply Clad, and Knife, collections are made in Brazil and may not be assembled in the USA.
It features a safe and reinforced PFOA-free nonstick coating. This pan works with gas, electric and ceramic stoves, and is oven safe up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. We also have a full review of stainless steel skillets here. You can read more about why the Made In edged out the All-Clad as our top tramontina cookware set pick (price!) and our budget-friendly recommendation, which is, of course, from Tramontina. Even with the more expensive brands, we chose sets that were not only stellar quality but had decent pieces as well. This isn’t always possible, or you may have different preferences, but we did our best.