What’s your favorite brand of BIFL cookware for induction?
I’m looking to upgrade my kitchen with industrial-quality pots and pans. After about a month of searching, I came to the conclusion that the most important requirements are:
- 3-ply (or 5-ply). Fully clad (not just the bottom disc).
- 18/8 or 18/10 stainless steel on the inside
- 18/0 (or 200- or 400-grade) magnetic stainless steel on the outside.
- Thick layers of metal (ideally >= 3mm of aluminum)
- Strong, serviceable rivets on handles (not welded)
- Handles on both sides of the pot (helper handle)
- Handles have a hole in them on the end (for hanging)
- Fits a 28 cm (or 11”) lid (easily replaceable standard size that’s interchangeable between metric and dumb units)
- Top rim should either have a pour spout or flared lip (for easier pouring)
- NSF certified
From what I’ve read, stainless steel isn’t a very good conductor (NIST says that aluminum transfers heat 16x better than stainless steel). But stainless steel is a better surface to cook-on, because it’s less reactive and won’t absorb flavours. So, 3-ply sandwiches a thick aluminum layer between two different types of stainless steel (nickle-free [eg 18/0 or 200- or 400-grade] on the outside, which – though less corrosion resistant – is important for it to work on an induction cooktop) and either 18/8 or 18/10 on the inside.
5-ply is also a thing, but my research suggests that it doesn’t really matter how many layers. What’s more important is the thickness of the material.
And that’s why I’m here. Because, confoundedly, the manufacturers of these pots don’t seem to even know how thick the layers of their 3-ply cookware is!
Ideally I’d just find the technical specifications of their cookware on their website, make a spreadsheet, and then buy the one with the thickest material (or close to the thickest, depending on my trade-off between quality vs weight & cost).
But I’ve called maybe a dozen manufacturers, and none seem to know the specifications of their own cookware :(
So, fediverse, I ask you: does anyone know what the thickness of the layers in these manufacturer’s 3-ply cookware is? Otherwise, what’s been your experience? How do you feel about these brands? Is there some other one (not listed) that you prefer?
- Browne Thermalloy
- All-Clad
- Made-in
- Tramontina
- Cuisinart
- Other?
Is BIFL now just a euphemism for “expensive”? Buy anything steel or iron without nonstick coatings and take care of it, and it won’t wear out. Most of my cooking stuff came from thrift stores or flea markets.
Aluminum won’t work on an induction cooker, I’m pretty sure. Anyway, on a normal electric or gas cooktop, you can melt it by accident. So I’d stay away.
I don’t have induction so can’t report from experience, but I’m not sure how much heat conductivity matters on an induction cooker. The heat is generated in the pot itself rather than conducted up from a hot cooktop.
I think it doesn’t matter much for regular cooking either, unless you’re doing some gourmet shenanigans that require precision. I use stainless steel for some things and it’s fine for my low tech purposes. Cast iron is similar, I think.
As long as there is a layer of magnetic steel, it will work fine on induction.
I don’t think your gonna accidentally melt aluminium either, getting it up to 660c on a stovetop is a feat requiring a serious effort.
Yes you can melt aluminum cookware by accident. Ask me how I know. Well you can probably guess.
Can I ask how you did it? I’ve used aluminium pans on gas and induction, never got it close to melting. The coating would have smelt awful long before it got close to melting.
Regular electric stove, the kind with the resistance coils. I left a pot on top and the contents boiled away and then a big chunk of the pot bottom melted.
I think I’m more impressed with your stove then :D
Second the thrift store stainless steel and cast iron and have an induction cooktop. Much more economical than a brand new top of the line cookware. They still last a good amount of time (haven’t had one fail yet) and IF they fail, replacing with another thrift store pan is also pretty inexpensive.
Just bring a magnet to the store with you. If it sticks to the bottom then it’ll work with induction
It it even possible for an uncoated pot or pan to fail, other than by melting? Ok I’ve had some handles come loose, but that’s tolerable or probably fixable.
Yes, actually! Uneven heat is the culprit. See my reply above about cast iron failure on induction. Very thin carbon steel pans can warp for similar reasons, and I would assume the same for large, empty aluminum pans on very high heat (though I haven’t seen that reported. The solution in both cases is to start on a lower setting and raise the temperature gradually.
The warping may be why thin, round-bottomed carbon steel woks are easy to find but the same doesn’t seem to be true of flat-bottomed frying pans.
Yeah, most likely the rivets holding the handle on to the pan are what fail
Just as a point for the OP: most stainless won’t work on induction. Test it with a magnet before you buy. If a magnet won’t stick to it, induction won’t work.
Gosh, you’ve posted this misinformation twice under the same OP. It’s just not true.