All Clad Alternatives

[dgaddis]

I'm about to upgrade a few pans. Two really, a 12" stainless skillet and a non-stick saute pan (it's our last piece of non-stick cookware and I want it gone). I'm currently looking at the Vollrath 'Tribute' series. They seem to me to be the industrial version of All Clad - they're a similar tri-ply construction, mostly made in the USA (the saute pans are made overseas), and they're sold thru restaurant supply stores. Probably not as pretty as All Clad, but about 1/3rd the price. So, a few questions:

1 - Anyone have any experience with them?

2 - Any other similar brands you'd recommend? Tri-ply and made in the USA are the goals.

3 - Vollrath offers both bare aluminum handles and silicone covered handles. I'm leaning towards the all-metal handle for longevity purposes, and also no temp limits if I wanted to put it in the oven. Thoughts?

[rwsaunders]

I'm about to upgrade a few pans. Two really, a 12" stainless skillet and a non-stick saute pan (it's our last piece of non-stick cookware and I want it gone). I'm currently looking at the Vollrath 'Tribute' series. They seem to me to be the industrial version of All Clad - they're a similar tri-ply construction, mostly made in the USA (the saute pans are made overseas), and they're sold thru restaurant supply stores. Probably not as pretty as All Clad, but about 1/3rd the price. So, a few questions:

1 - Anyone have any experience with them?

2 - Any other similar brands you'd recommend? Tri-ply and made in the USA are the goals.

3 - Vollrath offers both bare aluminum handles and silicone covered handles. I'm leaning towards the all-metal handle for longevity purposes, and also no temp limits if I wanted to put it in the oven. Thoughts?

I believe that All-Clad is having their annual customer sale right now...lots of stuff on sale that’s either slightly damaged or has a muffed up package.

Home - homeandcooksales.com

[dgaddis]

I believe that All-Clad is having their annual customer sale right now...lots of stuff on sale that’s either slightly damaged or has a muffed up package.

Home - homeandcooksales.com

Nice! Unfortunately the stuff I want is sold out.

[dgaddis]

Well, orders placed. Decided against the Vollarth stuff after taking a closer look at the handles, they're not cast pieces, they're folded over sheet metal and look pretty uncomfortable to use.

Ended up pre-ordering a Made In 12" skillet which gets great reviews (it was Serious Eat's top pick) - American Made Stainless Steel Frying Pans | 8", 1" and 12" Skillets – Made In Cookware

And a 6qt Tramontina saute pan, another brand that gets Serious Eats recommendations - Over on Amazon

Will report back once I use them some.

[guido]

That Made In stuff looks sweet. Looking forward to the report...

[dgaddis]

That Made In stuff looks sweet. Looking forward to the report...

I'm hopeful for sure. From SeriousEats (who have never let me down before!) ::

Made-In's skillet heated evenly and showed itself to be responsive to changes in heat. It seared chicken breasts beautifully and was easy and comfortable to hold and toss during sautéing tests. It's a solid, no-nonsense skillet at a reasonable price. Choose a 10-inch skillet if you're often cooking for two or three, and the 12-inch if you're serving upward of four or five (it's honestly useful to have both).

Also Recommended: Both All-Clad's D3 skillets and the ones from Le Creuset performed as well as Made-In's. They just barely got edged out from the top spot based on their higher price tags but not by much. Keep an eye on sales, and get one of these instead if their price drops to that of Made-In's skillets.

The Best Stainless-Steel Skillets | Serious Eats

Speaking of All-Clad, Williams and Sonoma has some of their stuff on sale. I almost bought their 12" skillet w/the lid but ultimately chose the Made-In instead because of the flatter handle. I don't think I'd like the upward slope of the All-Clad handle. All the skillets I've had in the past have pretty flat handles and it's never been a problem.

[dgaddis]

The Tramontina saute pan came in yesterday and looks great. It's cool being able to see the three layers. As this is my first piece of fully clad cookware I was surprised that the bottom doesn't have the exterior steel layer, it's just the aluminum. Makes sense I guess, faster heat up. Excited to use it sometime soon...

The aluminum bottom felt a smidge rough out of the box, so when I gave it an initial wash I scrubbed the bottom pretty good with a scotchbrite pad, hence the swirl makes. It feels smoother now. It wasn't 'rough rough', just...unfinished feeling a bit I guess.

[dgaddis]

The Made In skillet came in yesterday. It's great. It's a five ply pan, and unlike the Tramontina saute pan I bought you can't actually see the various plys. From what I've read the 5 ply vs 3 ply thing doesn't really make any difference...

Cooked up some chicken last night with it, and used my infrared thermometer gun to check the temp and it's SUPER even, no more than 20*F difference from the hottest to the coldest spot. My carbon steel pan I've seen over 80*F difference while it's warming up (with time it evens out of course).

Anyhow. It's good. It is big, and not super easy to toss stuff in due to the size and weight, but you can for sure. I'm gonna pick up the smaller 10" too and replace our old 10" cheapo skillet.