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Swiss Diamond 6428 11-Inch Nonstick Cast-Aluminum Fry Pan Reviews
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Swiss Diamond 6428 11-Inch Nonstick Cast-Aluminum Fry Pan
Featured Review
February 23, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Reviewed by Pete
Donated by: www.everythingkitchens.com
As a freelance writer I am blessed by the fact that I can pick and choose the assignments I take on, and as a freelance writer, whose sole income does not derive from writing I can even be pickier about the assignments I accept. Even though that is the case, there are still assignments that more fun than others to write. For me, product reviews lie somewhere in the middle. They aren’t, necessarily, a chore to write, but often are not very thrilling to write either. They certainly can’t compare with writing an article about hunting down the best bacon made in Wisconsin, or spending hours doing rigorous “research” and tastings on the variety of rums to be found in the Caribbean. On the other hand, they often allow me to investigate cooking processes I don’t often employee at home, or help keep me abreast of the newest trends and technology. But every once in awhile, along comes an assignment that is just fun.
I recently received an 11 inch (28cm) Fry Pan from Swiss Diamond® to review. Swiss Diamond® claims to reinforce their non-stick surface with diamonds. Yet another company, out there, claiming to have created a virtually indestructible non-stick surface. “Yes,” I thought to myself as visions of blowtorches, grinding wheels, and welding equipment popped into my head. “Yes, this will be a fun assignment!”
In all seriousness though, as a chef, I have seen this claim many, many times and have been disappoint almost every time. The biggest failure is that these coatings are not indestructible and eventually start to chip and flake off. In other instances, the process used, by the manufacturer, only produced a non-stick surface that worked under certain circumstances or wouldn’t work with certain foods. In my experience, of those non-stick pans that even worked as claimed, all would fail within a year to 18 months of hardcore use, even when we did our best to treat them as gently as possible.
So, as you can see, I came at this review with a very skeptical viewpoint, and was determined to disprove any claim of a surface that can withstand metal utensils, and the dishwasher. Granted, I didn’t have the luxury of having a year with which to make this pan fail, I had merely a few weeks before my deadline. So I would have to do what I could in that time frame to discount any claims made by Swiss Diamond®.
Before we get into how the pan’s non-stick surface stood up to my rigorous “testing”, let’s talk about the pan itself. The first thing I noticed about the pan was its weight. Unlike so many other non-stick pans, available to consumers, this pan had some decent heft to it. Its thick bottom meant even heat distribution a much less of chance of warping. It also means less of chance of scorching the food you are cooking. The sides were of generous height, meaning the pan can hold quite a bit of food, with a good, if somewhat steep slope. Still enough slope to get a good flip though, if you know what you are doing.
The non-metal handle is oven resistant to 500°, which is nice but I would, and always, prefer an all metal handle that is riveted to the pan. This handle is attached via a screw and, in my experience, these eventually fatigue and can’t be tightened. This to me is the weakest part of the entire design.
Now, on to what you all have been waiting for; how did its non-stick surface hold up under my abuse? In testing I used eggs as my test subject. As any chef will tell you, egg cookery presents the most issues for non-stick surfaces. They have a way of finding any little chink in the armor and holding fast. I don’t care what late night infomercials show, if you want to test the non-stick surface of your pan try to cook and flip an egg in it.
So how did the pan do? Well, I have to admit it held up well to the abuses I put it through. I took a blowtorch to the interior surface and the coating did not bubble. I used nothing but metal utensils in it while cooking and only created superficial scratches in it that didn’t affect its non-stick abilities. I took a green nylon scrubby to its surface without effect and even briefly, and somewhat gently, took an SOS pad to it. The pan’s non-stick surface passed all these tests with flying colors.
Could I have destroyed this pan? I have no doubt in my mind that I could have, but that would have been gratuitous. While my testing may have taken things a bit far, I attempted to simulate a year’s worth of abuse in just a few weeks. Having done that, I am very impressed by Swiss Diamond® and their pans. I have to admit, I figured by the time I was done with this review the pan would be ready for the garbage, but it has stood up well, and I expect to get many more years worth of cooking out of it.
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