stlcooking
Assistant Cook
Aburas, that makes perfect sense to me, thanks for that explanation. Food wont react in my SS will it? I read somewhere where it wont...but you might know something different. Thanks again!
Allclad stainless or All Clad LTD?
- Thread starter stlcooking
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Aburas is right...your dishwasher will turn your All-Clad LTD into regular commercial All-Clad. But, if you only cook inside the pan, you needn't worry about food reacting with the aluminum. Just don't invert the pan over the burner to make crepes and you'll be fine.
CookwareFreak
Cook
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2004
- Messages
- 70
The stainless won't react to your food. Basically, aluminimum is one of the best conductors of heat next to copper. Raw aluminum will react with food and look pitted and nasty in a short period of time. You have to do something to it to keep it from reacting to food. The two main solutions is to bond it with another material that doesn't react (such as stainless) so it doesn't touch the food or anodize it.
The stainless line is technically what you would call "fully clad." It is a sheet of stainless bonded to both sides of the aluminum...Stainless is a terrible conductor of heat but with the aluminum in the middle it helps to even out the heat.
The LTD is clad on one side with stainless and anodized on the other. This probably gives you the best of both worlds in terms of nonreacting with food on the stainless side but getting maximum even heat because the aluminum is directly on the heat source.
The downside is that even after you anodize one side (the outside) it maybe great on the heat but poor in the dishwasher. I don't think the DW will damage it (at least I don't think it will). I've heard that it will just dull the grey finish over time...If that gray finish scratches off...it will be down to raw aluminum I suppose and will pit and discolor...but it will still function well.
I feel that the small amount that you lose with a layer of stainless on the outside does not outwiegh the advantages of clean up. People have commented that my stainless looks brand new...and I know that it is several years old and gets lots of use. I think the LTD will hold up very well in terms of functionality...but it will look its age in terms of graying of the anodized metal...and I've found that if I don't use BKF on the anodized outside it gets a greasy look to it.
The stainless line is technically what you would call "fully clad." It is a sheet of stainless bonded to both sides of the aluminum...Stainless is a terrible conductor of heat but with the aluminum in the middle it helps to even out the heat.
The LTD is clad on one side with stainless and anodized on the other. This probably gives you the best of both worlds in terms of nonreacting with food on the stainless side but getting maximum even heat because the aluminum is directly on the heat source.
The downside is that even after you anodize one side (the outside) it maybe great on the heat but poor in the dishwasher. I don't think the DW will damage it (at least I don't think it will). I've heard that it will just dull the grey finish over time...If that gray finish scratches off...it will be down to raw aluminum I suppose and will pit and discolor...but it will still function well.
I feel that the small amount that you lose with a layer of stainless on the outside does not outwiegh the advantages of clean up. People have commented that my stainless looks brand new...and I know that it is several years old and gets lots of use. I think the LTD will hold up very well in terms of functionality...but it will look its age in terms of graying of the anodized metal...and I've found that if I don't use BKF on the anodized outside it gets a greasy look to it.
