Calphalon One not-Nonstick vs. All-clad Stainless?

Welcome to the forum!

I hope you get a response from someone who has both, and uses both at home. If I had to choose between the two alternatives you gave no doubt I'd go with the All-clad.

You may be right, but if it were my money I'd be afraid of trading that delicious golden brown crust that comes after the stick for slightly easier cleanup.

Good luck and happy cooking whatever you decide. Let us know how it turned out.

I wouldn't let the "dishwasher safe" issue affect my decision at all. I simply don't believe that you should put any pot or pan in the dishwasher.

I have, and use, both. I have not found the Calphelon One to be as 'non stick' as they claim. I really have not found it any better than the older Calphelon professional. I do like my AllClad, but I have other brands that work well also. I have never bought a set of cookware, but pick up one of these, or one of those, when a bargain presents itself.

ALL CLAD.

Plain and simple.

Mark

Most importantly, All Clad is heavier gauge. This provides better heat retention and distribution, and along with superior construction, means your grandchildren will be able to cook with them.

Mark

and you have the debate on none stick being toxic which is fuming up again. I read a review by CI which said they did not find the new Calphelon One none stick to be very good. I must say never found a none stick yet that stayed none stick very long even Excailber used on Ultrex scraches and food begins to stick. Stainless steel and CI recomends to put oil in the pan when heating it. The oil will begin to ripple or smoke which lets you know when it's at the right temp. They also said not to move the food around but wait until it starts to brown since this will free it from the pan. It's hard to just let it sit but i have learned to. :smoking:

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/ki...fullstory.html
Calphalon's most recent line, Calphalon One (*est. $580/10-piece set), claims to have "the best qualities of both traditional metal and nonstick cookware," so Cook's Illustrated put it to the test. The review pitted Calphalon One against the editors' favorite traditional and nonstick skillets from All-Clad. Cook’s Illustrated found that scraping was required to flip salmon filets and hash browns. Stir-fry chicken and scrambled eggs did not release from the pan as they would from a traditional nonstick. In conclusion, Cook's Illustrated's review found that Calphalon One is an expensive choice that can't replace a regular nonstick skillet. Note that Cook’s Illustrated found the Calphalon One's skillet to perform well with seared steak. It provided good color, crust development and adequate fond (the little crusty bits left behind in the pan that help create a rich sauce).

just wanted to throw this out if there is a Marshalls near you. I just bought everyone in the kitchen a present.
They had allclad alum. 10" skillets $25, 8qt stock pot$43. etc.
they also had many non stick all clad but a little higher in price.
I can't tell you how old my stainless/alum is but I did buy a non stick 8 qt with lid just to try. $71,99

I'm not sure what to think about questions like this. Sorry I'm so late to answer. Great pans don't always clean up well. Pans that clean up well only cook well with a small number of things. I have ALL-Clad and Mauviel with Calphalon One for non-stick. You only use non-stick pans for a very small number of things like stirfry and cooking eggs. Most everything you're going to use a "stick" pan for. Even though they told you it was not non-stick it sure looks like non-stick to me - "Infused anodized cookware provides a smooth metal surface that is stick-resistant. Interior and exterior surfaces are infused with an advanced release polymer.". Maybe they're avoiding the non-stick label because of the scare over the healthiness of the non-stick coating.

For browning hamburger you probably could have used just about anything. Make a pan sauce in it and you'll see the difference between cookware in the All-Clad/Mauviel range and Calphalon One. I guess what this comes down to is use the best tool for the job. Calphalon One will probably be great for browning hamburger and cooking eggs but I wouldn't try anything complex in it if I had another choice.

Grant

grantmasterflas is right. I typically only use non-stick if I'm cooking something frozen, which isn't often at all, or eggs or something. Everything else is much better in all-clad. I bought the stainless set and a couple of extra non-sticks for the special occasion.

Still PTFE

It believe it is still PTFE. Just different application method, but still good ole Teflon. The only non-PTFE non-stick material is Thermolon sold by HSN.

How do you know this? Did you measure the thickness of the pots? Over time, many All-Clad pots and pans have gotten thinner, according to measurements made by a fellow over on the Cook's Illustrated cookware forum, plus, different pans have different thicknesses. I'd be interested in the measured results you've obtained.

shel

If you're cleaning your expensive pots in that manner,you are slowly ruining them by abrading the SS surface. This will contribute to sticking. When I started using All-Clad SS, I encountered some problems, and felt the need to use similsrly harsh methods to clean a Ltd skillet.

If your food is sticking so badly that you have to resort to such means to clean the pans, then you are doing something wrong - either using too much heat, the wrong type of oil, or too little oil, not properly deglazing the pans, or the wrong cleaning techniques or cleaning material.

There are several threads in this section that touch on proper care of SS pots and pans. Perhaps taking some time to read them will be helpful.

shel