By Paul Cerra
This Cuisinart Chef’s Classic saute pan has quickly become my favored pan. It’s huge – a full 12″ throughout – which makes it very versatile. The pan conducts heat exceedingly well and is oven safe to 500 degrees. The handle is very sturdy, somewhat comfortable, and stays cool (outside of the oven, of course). The lid fits tightly. Both the interior and the exterior are very shiny and attractive. All this and it’s easy to clean. Yet this pan sells for just a fraction of the sexier brands like All-Clad or Calphalon.
The chief reason for the great price is due to the construction. This is known as a “disk bottom” pan because it has a highly conductive aluminum disk embedded in it is base. The actually pricey brands feature “cladding”, where a layer of conductive metal (usually aluminum) is embedded all around the entire pan. Although the cookware industry loves to say that disk-bottom pans are inferior, test after test proves this assert is untrue. After all, we don’t cook on the sides of a pan; we only cook on the bottom. See Cook’s Illustrated magazine, May/June 2003, for a great discussion of this.
There are a few reasons why this pan might not be right for you. This pan’s size makes it reasonably heavy, so if you have arthritis or weak hands, you might want to opt for a littler pan. Similarly, this pan might not fit on those tiny stovetops or ranges that you on occasion see in “galley” kitchens in apartments. But if you want a large, durable, high-quality saute pan at a fraction of the cost of the big-name brands, this is the pan for you.
73 of 75 people found the following review helpful.
Beautiful pan!
By Tzy Kao
I’m tired of those non-stick pans that ultimately lose their coating and thought that I’ll undertake stainless steel pan for almost everything but frying an egg. Boy did I pick the right pan to start out with! This pan, besides being beautifully made, is the perfective size for closely everything I cook. It’s very heavy, but the helper handle helps. It conducts heat very well, so I no longer use the high setting on my gas stove or the feed would burn. Despite being made in China, the quality is excellent. I’m sure it will last decades. My only complaint is that on occasion I wish the stainless steel cover is made of glass so I may see through. But, I’ll still give it 5 stars because I’m very very happy with the design and quality.
53 of 54 humans found the following review helpful.
5-Stars for the Pan…0-Stars for Amazon Packaging
By Jolly Gourmand
All my Chef’s Classic cookware looks and cooks terrifically well and is commonly a breeze to clean up. This Monster pan is no exception. Weighing in at close to 10 lbs., it is the senior edition of the highly ranked Cuisinart 3 1/2-Qt. Saute Pan. If you have a little range, the size of this (a full 12″ accross) may crowd out a lot of other burners, so beware.
I encountered thet the dome cover for the shoal Cuisinart 12″ ‘everything’ pan also fits this pan and therefore makes it a good prospect for a dutch oven.
Now for the bad news: Amazon did not see fit to ship this within a padded box. As a result, the pan arrived with a dent in the ‘dripless’ rim. I will likely not return it, but will give Amazon a great deal of ‘direct’ feedback.
(9/15 Update): Amazon made a very positive and ‘generous’ response to my complaint. Thank you Amazon! Also, both the 3 1/2 Qt. and 5 1/2 Qt. saute pans are on ‘super’ sale. Do yourselves a favor and buy both.
(9/23 Update): Because of the lower ‘super’ price (currently $27.99), I ordered two more as gifts. One shipped with the Cuisinart merchandising box packed in a nicely padded Amazon box and the other was shipped only in a Cuisinart retail box that had split open. Fortunately there were no dings or dents since this is a very sturdy, hefty item. I wonder if Amazon owns the warehouses it is goods ship from? If it does, Amazon needs to undertake for consistency in it is packing.
02/09/06: Here’s an oddity: After assorted ‘hefty’ price hikes, Amazon is now hawking this ‘monster’ pan for $5 less than the 3 1/2 quart pan. Go figure!
