Tip 1. No matter what type of cookware you use you should always be watchful of the amount of heat that you use to cook with. With lesser cookware brands you can burn the metal it is made of especially if it is stainless steel that is 18/8 and not All Clad’s pure 18/10 rolled stainless steel. With All Clad cookware sets, you watch the heat you use because you do not have to use super high heat levels to cook as All Clad has a superior heat distribution system due to the patented bonding technology utilizing either copper or aluminum or both! You can use a lower flame setting unless you are planning on boiling something. With All Clad cookware, using a low flame is the same as using a medium to medium high heat setting on a lesser brand of lesser quality.

Tip 2. Everyone has had food stick to at least one pot or pan in their lifetime have we not? Of course we have! The one sure way to avoid this is to preheat your pan and use a lower flame setting as this is the optimal key to success in having stick free stainless steel cookware. With All Clad you do not need to use higher heat levels as the heat is distributed evenly at lower levels due to the patented bonding method used.

Tip 3. Oven proofing. All of All Clad’s cookware lines are oven safe, but be careful as the non-stick lines are not broiler safe although it is safe in ovens for heat up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit which is a lot better performance than lesser brands of non-stick cookware.

Tip 4. Care and cleaning of your All Clad cookware sets? Of course you should clean all of your cookware after every use, but the method of cleaning will change with each line of All Clad available. When it comes to the stainless line of course it is dishwasher safe as is the copper core line as well, but be careful with the copper core as the heat and phosphates of the dishwasher soap may cause the copper core line to discolor or tarnish and in that case you would need to polish the tarnish and discoloration off with a very mild copper polish. In order to help prevent the discoloration make sure to take the copper core line out of the dishwasher immediately after washing and dry them off completely! The other All Clad lines such as non-stick LTD and LTD2 need to be washed by hand but as always it is good to read all the paperwork that comes with your cookware before using it to make sure about washing instructions. To be sure if you don’t want to have to wash your cookware by hand then before you make a purchase make sure you have purchased an All Clad line that is dishwasher safe.

Tip 5. Cleaning off stuck on food and how to remove stains on your cookware? In this case there is an old school cleanser that has been around since 1882 and it is called Bar Keepers Friend. Bar Keepers Friend is called the “can do cleanser!” Believe me, it can do! It started out as a powder in the good old days and now can be bought in a liquid form as well. It is non-abrasive and is safe to use on brass, copper, stainless steel, fiberglass, porcelain, tile, plastics, glass cook tops, formica, and marble. So, in other words it is totally safe for your All Clad cookware sets, but I would not use it on non-stick surfaces like on the LTD or LTD2 lines. For non-stick surfaces I use the soft side of the sponge and mild liquid soap, as nothing should be sticking to it as it is non-stick! I would also recommend that you not use Bar Keepers Friend on the Cop-R-Chef line except for the inside of that line. Check your products documentation. All Clad produces products that are built to last a lifetime and with proper care and maintenance you will have your cookware at least that long!

Here’s a really funny story on the first “real high-quality cookware set” that one of our readers bought. Read it, enjoy it – and if you have thoughts on cookware or a story to tell for yourself, simple write down a comment below. Thanks!

Due to limited funds, my first set of cookware after I got married was an inexpensive set from a discount store for about $50.

Several years and a couple more sets of cheap cookware later, I decided it was time to upgrade and maybe splurge a bit on a good set.

I bought a $75 set this time. As you may have already gathered, that set didn’t last any longer than the $50 sets.

By that time however, our finances were a bit more secure and it was time to get a “really” good set. I did my research and of course, the prices about knocked the wind out of me. I decided to host a kitchen show to be able to purchase the company’s cookware sets (with a lifetime warranty) at half price.

I remember sweating bullets as I wrote my extremely large check, at least it seemed larger than life at the time. I couldn’t believe I was spending that much on cookware. A couple weeks went by and the cookware was finally delivered. I looked at it for a few days in the box. #

After having spent that much money on it, I was terrified to use it.

Eventually I did work up the nerve to actually cook a meal with my new pots and pans. Now that I tackled my fear of my new expensive cookware, I got it all cleaned up and made a nice spot for it in the cupboards. Of course that presented a new set of problems, scratches! I stacked all the pots and pans in the cupboard and separated each of them with kitchen towels.

Some might say I was a bit overprotective of my cookware those first couple of years and admittedly, I probably was.

Since then, I’ve even gotten rid of the towels separating each piece. Even though the price tag scared me half to death, it was one of the best purchases I have ever made and the investment was definitely worth it.

They have good infos, including a factory tour of ScanPan. If you don’t know about ScanPan cookware, they’re a cookware manufacturer from Denmark, and today Europes biggest manufacturer of pressure cast aluminum cookware. but you can get (new) original ScanPan cookware cheaper on ebay. Let me just show a few examples:

Stainless steel
Stainless steel is generally the most versatile and durable material for cookware. It’s the most popular kind of cookware among chefs because you can get really good quality for a reasonable price.
Downside of stainless steel is that it conducts heat not very good – thus stainless steel cookware should have a copper core.

Copper
Specially gourmet cooks go for copper when they have to cook foods at exact temperatures. Copper is the best choice in this case because there is no better conductor of heat. You can cook at exactly the temperature you want, e.g. you can cook at 78 degrees celsius if you wanted to. Great for frying and sauteing.
Downsides of copper are high price and the fact that copper reacts with food when heated and thus needs special coating (most of the time stainless steel).

Aluminium
Great heat conducter (almost as good as copper) and it’s cheap and strong and durable.
But it reacts with acidic foods and thus should generally have a coating to prevent leakage or taste alterations (this is specially true for spinach).

Non-Stick
Non-Stick cookware is great because it allows for low fat cooking and is easy to clean.
Downsides is that non-stick cookware doesn’t last very long and has to be maintained carefully.

Cast Iron
Cast iron cookware is kind of a special case. It needs to be conditioned before using it because it will otherwise react with certain kinds of acidic foods and absorb the flavors of the food. (There’s a special kind of cast iron that doesn’t need conditioning – enameled cast iron cookware. A hard procelain enamel coating protects the cast iron from the food and vice versa.) The advantages of cast iron are that it provides even heating at high cooking temperatures and retains the heat excellently. One downside of this material though is that it heats up slowly.
Cast iron cookware is excellent for baking, browning and frying foods.

Anodized Aluminum
Anodized aluminum cookware has all the advantages of normal aluminum (except for the low price) but makes up for some of regular aluminums disadvantages. A chemical process makes aluminum much more durable and gives it a kind of non-stick surface and also prevents leakage of toxic substances into the food. It really is kind of the cheap version of stainless steel. Can be great for roasters, Dutch ovens, stockpots and saute pans.
However, you’ll have to handwash it because dishwashers might damage the surface. You also should not use steel wool or other aggressive scrubbing tools or corrosive detergents.
Another problem can be that because of it’s dark color it can be hard to observe the food – sometimes you’ll have to judge your food by it’s color and that might be difficult with anodized aluminum if you don’t have optimal lighting.

Glass
Glass cookware is a good choice if you use your microwave a lot. While most of the times it’s used for baking, there is also stovetop glass cookware available (it usually needs special handling though). Foods sticking to glass cookware is pretty unusual because glass is in itself already a non-stick material.
Disadvantages are that it’s heavy weight, and it’s heat distribution (not evenly) and that it’s not easy to handle. Glass is a very save cooking material, I have never heard of negative health effects from glass cookware.

Ceramic
Ceramic cookware has very similar characteristics to glass cookware (and can also be used for microwave cooking and is pretty non-sticky) but retains the heat better than usual glass cookware, distributes heat very evenly and is oftentimes also non-sticky. Oftentimes it’s used to make creme brulee, flan and custard.
Unglazed ceramics like terra cotta have are kind of spongy (that means they have lots of tiny little wholes inside) and thus can make the food a little juice, because the surface of the cookware add moisture in the form of steam to the food.
One thing that you have to be very cautious of when purchasing unglazed ceramic cookware is that the clay doesn’t contain lead.
Ceramic cookware might brake if you don’t handle it careful – but it’s also pretty cheap generally.