Excellent clad cookware set without outrageous price
Given the recent reports on the potential health risk from non-stick cookware, my family decided to go stainless. I liked the performance of clad cookware but reckoned that it might not be a wise choice financially to go all out with All-Clad before I have my own cooking show. The candidates came down to 3 product lines, Anolon Advanced Clad, J.A. Henckels International Classic Clad and Cuisinart Multiclad Pro. The best price I could find for them were all under $200 for 7 pieces, with Anolon having 10 pieces. Being all constructed in full clad, they seem to differ mostly in the handle design before I can do a performance comparison.
Henckels has a huge and unconventional handle. My first impression was it might not fit in my kitchen well. However, it was not until recently that I tried one at a local store. The pan balances well and has one of the most comfortable handles that I ever put my hands on. However, my family needs a larger stock pot and the included 6-quart one...
Dubious
The pan sizes are great for the everyday meals that I usually cook, although most folks will need to add a 10-12 inch saute pan. The rims are great for pouring and the handles actually stay cool stove top. Sticking and clean up have not been a problem. I would say that the pans create too little fond. The skillet is also a little slow to regain temperature after adding thicker cuts of meat. The main concern is an issue with the stainless steel interiors. There are specs of dull metal (exposed aluminum?) developing on the interior of the pots except the skillet. One sauce pan actually has a finger sized spot of exposed aluminum near the lip that I didn't see when I first examined them. The interiors of the pots except the skillet, easily discolor from heat but recuperate a little after consecutive uses. I called Cuisinart about the exposed aluminum. The rep had a scripted answer for my concern so it seems this may be a common problem. The expense of sending the pots to them for repair...
Works great
I've been using this stuff almost daily since I got married two and a half years ago. We couldn't bear to ask our friends and family to buy us overpriced cookware, but we wanted high performance, so we registered for this instead. No regrets. Though you'll need more pans than this eventually, I have zero complaints for this as a starter set.
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