Customer Reviews

All-Clad Stainless French Skillet

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My All Clad LTD 13" French skillet pan will now get more use now that I converted from an electric range to a (natural) gas range. I tried using the 13" French skillet on my 8" electric element and was disappointed with the uneven heating: the outer portion of the bottom did not get hot enough to cook the food (in my case, omelets). That was not a problem with my All Clad 12" fry pans (Copper Core and LTD). Now that I have a natural gas range, the French skillet's entire bottom heats evenly and my omelets turn out great. The handle length works for this largest of All Clad's French skillets. I decided to buy this pan over the All Clad 14" fry pan while both pan bottoms are the same diameter, the French skillet's pan top has a smaller diameter than the 14" fry pan due to the steeper slope. If I need to cover the French skillet when cooking, I can use the lid from my All Clad 6 quart sauté pan (which fits)! There is no All Clad lid I know that I can cover the 14" fry pan, not even if you buy it separately. And the 13" French skillet feels lighter than the 14" fry pan (LTD or stainless). If All Clad made the French skillet in Copper Core, I may get it depending on the weight. Copper is heavy.

PROS:
Weights less than the All Clad 14" stainless or LTD fry pan but with the same bottom cooking area.
Can be covered if you have the lid for the stainless or LTD 6 quart sauté pans

CONS: Does not heat evenly when used on an electric (coil) range.

One last note. If you have a gas range (mine is a Wolf) I really noticed just how quickly the Copper Core pans heats up when compared with the stainless and LTD lines. When I was using an electric range, I appreciated how quickly the Copper Cores heat up. My suggestion is to hold each pan and determine whether you can comfortably handle the weight of each pan and whether the pan's handles are comfortable to you. I like the longer length handles on the All Clad Copper Core pans. All Clad uses a different length and style handle for their LTD and stainless series than the Copper Core series. That standard length handle does not work for the larger sauté (6 Qt), sauce (4 quart), and fry (14") pans: it's just too short. It's all right for their other pans.

I've been using this pan a lot since I bought it a few months back. I bought this pan as an alternative to my old All-clad 12-inch pan which is just too wide for my small stove top. Dimensionally, this 11-inch pan is just right.

While I thought the older 12-inch pan was an overall excellent product, this new pan falls a little short of 5 stars. Here's why: the thickness of the pan is thinner than the older pan (though some people will find this a plus if they thought the older pan was too heavy.) The thinness however may have contributed to All-Clad's decision to use a non-flared edge which makes the pan more difficult to clean. The edge is just too sharp. And for a saute pan with short side walls, you will need to clean the edge often. Also, since the edge is not flared out, pouring is more messy.

On the good side, the handle angle is more acute than older pan. This makes sauteing a little easier than the almost horizontal handle of the older pan. I also like the steeper walls which gives the bottom a large surface area. It also heats up evenly. And best of all it's cheaper than older pan!

Overall, I like this pan but they could made it better. However, knowing All-Clad, if they did, they would have priced it comparable to the older pans. Clearly and unfortunately, marketing entered in the design decisions.

The All-Clad stainless line is made of fairly thin stock, and the performance is acceptable, but not outstanding. My desire for All-Clad started when I used the old Master Chef products, but those were manufactured of thicker material, and they conducted better, than the current stainless series of products.

January 2010 update -- see the "d5" line of All-Clad stainless offered by Williams Sonoma. Much heavier, and they have also added a pouring lip to the pots -- the 90-degree lip on the regular stainless pots does not pour cleanly, makes a mess down the side of the pot. Ridiculous for a product in this market segment. A rep told me that the changes were made as a result of comments from consumers.

My All-Clad stainless pots and pans are serviceable, and I use them daily, but if you want a luxurious heft, and very even heating, you may want to consider spending a bit more.

Lastly -- specifically regarding the French skillet -- heads-up -- this style of pan doesn't have a rounded transition from the bottom to the sides. Instead, there is a corner at the junction of the bottom and sides. Additionally, the sides are a bit steep. I'm baffled why anyone would want a small fry pan that doesn't have rounded sides, as the corner and steep sides prevent the easy and rapid tossing of the contents, so I offer this review to warn others who also might not know of this distinction, particularly in light of the fact that Amazon's description specifically addresses use of this pan to toss ingredients. If you want to be able to easily flick-toss the contents of your pan, to turn and stir them, then look at the All-Clad fry pans, with a more rounded edge transition, not French skillets.

Another reviewer of this excellent skillet suggested the use of a non-stick pan for those 'sticky' foods. Can't fault that because who wants to do battle in the sink afterwards? However, I found a different approach can work wonders with this pan. For instance - those love-to-stick morning eggs. My solution: Heat pan on low for a few minutes with a little olive oil or whatever you use. Turn off heat, toss in eggs, cover pan and sip on that coffee you just brewed.
Oops, what cover you say? Hmm....that's a problem since it is not offered with this skillet. Thus the four-star rating. So improvise or find something you can purchase (and let me know what you find!).
Well, back to the eggs. They're done in a few minutes (how many minutes? Who knows - get a see through cover if you must). And guess what? Since this pan heats so evenly and you've compassionately chosen free-range eggs, they slide out of the pan as if they couldn't wait for breakfast - yours.
One other note. The handle, cool to the touch and rakish in appearance is what you would have to characterize as non-ergonomic. But that's the French for you - beauty and form overshadow a minor annoyance.

Some other reviews have stated a dissatisfaction with this skillet due to it's "convex" bottom. Actually all of the All Clad pans have a Concave bottom. They are determined concave by looking at the pans upside down. The reason for the uneven surface is that when the aluminum core heats up to a certain level it actually warps straight. If the allowance of this concave was not there, the pan would wobble around on your stovetop as then it would be truly convex. Most high quality pans have this feature, and it is built in by design. Also, some people dislike the sticking quality that some food presents on this brand of cookware, but this is also a desired effect. I'm not a chef, but have learned that this caliber of cookware takes a certain level of cooking skill and experience to utilize it properly. Sometimes things can be interpreted as negative if you are using the wrong tools for your skillset. There is a reason that all of the worlds top chefs use this brand exclusively, and it is not endorsements. Lots of great brands out there, and All Clad never dissapoints.

I received this pan as a Christmas gift, purchased from Williams Sonoma. It was wonderful to cook with, but I noticed that the center of the pan seemed higher than the edges, causing any liquid to pool along the sides. When I took it back to the Mall of America Williams Sonoma where it was purchased, they discovered the pans they had in stock all had the same cupping! They told me it would be reported to All-Clad, and that I should get a new pan, but haven't heard anything yet, and that was four months ago. Just wondered if anyone else had the same problem. The pan cleans up beautifully with just a bit of soaking, and I use the new professional Pam which doesn't darken and stick as regular Pam does.

I've been absolutely thrilled with the french skillet since it came in a couple weeks ago. I love to cook, but I'm limited on both space in my small apartment with even smaller kitchen, and limited budget. This pan serves double duty for a skillet (aka fry pan), which is designed with very low sides to allow easy access and a wide surface area, and a saute pan which alternatively has vertical sides to hold liquid inside. The french skillet sides are half-way between -- tall, but with a bit of flare to allow access -- and I now use it regularly for both purposes. In fact, I'd say its preferable to a skillet in all cases that I use it for; the taller sides (and 45 degree handle, which I really like) make pan-flipping a snap.

Finally, it goes without saying that the construction of the pan itself is top-notch, as one would expect from All-Clad. It looks beautiful (hey, that's important too!) and I've found that the 3-ply stainless conducts heat wonderfully -- its worth noting, however, that the gauge of the steel is not as thick as other products in this line, such as their saucepans, and nowhere near as thick as some of their other lines (such as LTD).

I have this pan in 11" and I absolutely love it - it makes perfect fond (flavorful brown crust on meat and fish and so on). I also love the steeper sides - much more practical than their regular fry pan with rounded sides. Steeper sides allow me to make pan sauces after deglazing and they also make for a larger frying area.

Note that this is my first stainless steel pan after 7 years of frying exclusively in cast iron, and I am very happy I have something non-reactive. Note also that I only use it for searing burgers, steaks, and skin-on fish. I don't use it for eggs, for instance, so I can't offer feedback on how it would work for that. I also found it to be less than ideal for caramelizing onions, but then again, nothing can compare to cast iron in that department, in my experience. Since I only needed it for steaks and such, I am happy with this, and I cook everything else in cast iron anyway.

I wondered a little when I first got it if it was a little too light (since I am used the weight of cast iron), but since the performance is outstanding for searing meat, that ended up not being important. It's not THAT light.
All-Clad Stainless 13-Inch French Skillet

I debated over this for a few days. I decided to get this one and it's 7.5" little brother after reading a lot of poor reviews on the longevity of non-stick. This pan will pretty much last forever, baring any serious operator errors.

It's expensive, but you should go for it. This is how I thought of it. If I buy a cheap non-stick pan every 5 years for the next 50 years, costing $15 each, I'll have dropped $150 in skillets. (assuming $0 inflation...yeah right) So from this perspective it was easy to pay for. ;)

I put this pan through the ringer the first time I used it. It washed up well, and after using the Magic Eraser on it, it came out perfectly shined and looking brand new. No problems with it, and no worries about special cooking treatment. You can use metal, and pretty much beat the heck out of it, and it's fine. I haven't run it through the dishwasher yet...

because of the handle. Which is the one wierd thing about this pan. If you look at the picture, you can see that the handle is at a much steeper angle than a normal pan. I don't find that it hard to cook with at all. But that angle makes for fitting it into the dishwasher a bit interesting.

I'm glad I bought this pan, I'm excited that I won't have to be mad about non-stick not sticking to the pan anymore! :)

Having owned a restaurant and now retired, All Clad are the pans we use and trust to provide even heat. Now having added an INDUCTION cook top this SS magnetic pan works great so we save on electric use, don't have a hot stove top after cooking so don't overheat the kitchen. Highly recommended.