Opinions on MADE-IN copper cookware

[jjlotti]

I've got the French and Italian but just something about the Franklin county stuff....

 

[ptolemy]

rare, vintage? I could have sworn its a De Buyer prima matera but with cast iron handle (3.3mm copper)

I had 1 prima matera, I believe it was 1.2mm. yes afaik anything over 2.5mm with nickel or SS lining = at least 20 years old. only thing mauviel makes now over 2.5mm is tin lined

 

[MarcelNL]

dunno, I read 3.3 in the Prima matera description and 10% stainless (whatever that percentage is coming from)

 

[Cmfuen]

Bottega del Rame might be another interesting choice for induction. I might get one to try out.
https://lnx.rameria.com/en/Frying-pan-26cm-for-INDUCTION-COOKERS

 

[mengwong]

Say, would anyone be interested in an FLIR passaround? I just happen to have a spare one of these sitting in my trouser pocket.

https://www.flir.com/products/flir-one-gen-3
Requirements: iPhone with Lightning port

We can work out some sort of “citizen science” protocol to deliver this kind of finding

 

[MarcelNL]

Say, would anyone be interested in an FLIR passaround? I just happen to have a spare one of these sitting in my trouser pocket.

https://www.flir.com/products/flir-one-gen-3
Requirements: iPhone with Lightning port

We can work out some sort of “citizen science” protocol to deliver this kind of finding

I'd almost buy an Iphone for it...almost ;-)

 

[mengwong]

They do have an Android version. I’ve found it useful for identifying leaks in the walls during renovation.

Next I will shoot some pics of my Cu-Mai v mono-steel v san-mai pans on induction. Boiling water suggested a steep thermal gradient but maybe frying will look different.

 

[Cmfuen]

I’m down for that FLIR pass around!

 

[MarcelNL]

They do have an Android version. I’ve found it useful for identifying leaks in the walls during renovation.

Next I will shoot some pics of my Cu-Mai v mono-steel v san-mai pans on induction. Boiling water suggested a steep thermal gradient but maybe frying will look different.

I know, I have toyed with the idea of geting one...but I wanted the high def version....$$$

 

[blokey]

Say, would anyone be interested in an FLIR passaround? I just happen to have a spare one of these sitting in my trouser pocket.

https://www.flir.com/products/flir-one-gen-3
Requirements: iPhone with Lightning port

We can work out some sort of “citizen science” protocol to deliver this kind of finding

Century life did some testing too, their thermal image is interesting, but no pure copper pan so far, the best is actually thick disc bottom like Fissler and Demeyere.
https://www.centurylife.org/cookware-even-heating-rankings-butane-propane-natural-gas-etc/

 

[mengwong]

Century life did some testing too

That’s good stuff, thanks for sharing.

 

[Justinv]

Bottega del Rame might be another interesting choice for induction. I might get one to try out.
https://lnx.rameria.com/en/Frying-pan-26cm-for-INDUCTION-COOKERS

They appear to be tin lined. Some may be fine with that but I like worry free stainless. Tin may be fine for a sauce pot but skillets and saute pans get some heat. I can’t say there is a good reason for a copper sauce pot but I do have one. Larger skillet/sauté makes a lot of sense in copper.

 

[Pertti]

Bottega del Rame might be another interesting choice for induction. I might get one to try out.
https://lnx.rameria.com/en/Frying-pan-26cm-for-INDUCTION-COOKERS

There is a review of the Mazzetti induction frypan here:

https://www.centurylife.org/in-dept...ter-tin-lined-3-mm-copper-skillet-frying-pan/
I wanted to order a 3 mm 22 cm induction saucepan for myself and chatted with them via e-mail. Sharing the relevant answers from Enrico now:

"Please notice that saucepan is made FROM a 3 mm thick copper foil. Due
to the hand hammering over all the surface final thickness may vary from
1.85 upto 2.4 mm also depending by the point of measure. This is the
thickest copper foil we use."

"Also we
deliberately choose a copper supplier that make the copper foils right
hammering copper ores to the final thickness, not using modern
machinery, so tolerance on thickness is higher. "3 mm" is just an our
internal name for a pan lines to differentiate from the standard
thickness pan line (that by the way is perfectly adeguate for home use)."

Then after I paid for the "3 mm" saucepan:

"We are really sorry, but we just discovered that can't make the saucepan
you ordered.

We sent the high thickness pan to the company that applies for us the
induction bottom (even before you have payed) and this afternoon they
told us it is no more possible process high thickness pieces.

Of course this mean that we can't make any other high thickness pieces
with induction bottom.

The company that apply induction bottom requires about 5000 euro for
each new setup of machinery.
We hoped the setup for the standard 22cm saucepan works even for the
high thickness version, but itd doesn't and we can't afford it for one
or even few pieces (as you can imagine we already spent a lot of money
for the setups of the other standard pans and it will take many years to
amortize it).
"

I wanted to become a thick copper aficionado, but it wasn't meant to be. We went for the refund in this case and they were a pleasure to deal with. Sure enough the saucepan with normal "2,5 mm" thickness would have been enough, though.

 

[MarcelNL]

that's Italy for you ;-)

I think, looking at the thickness, that De Buyer is actually 3.3 mm after making a pan..

 

[Jovidah]

Only men can worry that much about those last few mms...

 

[Cmfuen]

They appear to be tin lined. Some may be fine with that but I like worry free stainless. Tin may be fine for a sauce pot but skillets and saute pans get some heat. I can’t say there is a good reason for a copper sauce pot but I do have one. Larger skillet/sauté makes a lot of sense in copper.

I ended up deciding against getting it for that same reason! I’m not sure I’ll drop coin on the De Buyer Prima Matera skillet either.
(The above didn’t post. Since then, I pulled the trigger on a Falk copper coeur fry pan.)

 

[MarcelNL]

Only men can worry that much about those last few mms...

only when talking length, never heard men discuss girth ;-)

 

[Pertti]

I ended up deciding against getting it for that same reason! I’m not sure I’ll drop coin on the De Buyer Prima Matera skillet either.
(The above didn’t post. Since then, I pulled the trigger on a Falk copper coeur fry pan.)

Congrats, they are very well crafted pans. Which size did you end up getting? How large are your induction hobs/elements?

The Falk frying pans are large bottomed, larger than most anything on the market for their size. I own 8 pans from Falk and the 28 cm frying pan is the one that is frankly oversized for my induction hob. The pan has an internal cooking surface of 24,5 cm and my AEGs largest circular hob is 21 cm according to the manual and 22 cm if I measure the ring on the hob. Then when we know induction doesn't actually heat the whole area either, but rather in a donut shape smaller than what is advertised, the pan has a tendency to have cooler areas around the edges because of this, despite having the thickest copper core out of any fully cladded copper core pans. This happens especially when challenged with a bigger/heavier bunch of food. I can and do still use it, sometimes for exactly the reason it has a larger bottom, like yesterday making burgers and toasting the buns afterwards. They came out fine and all the rest of my Falk work pretty well, though thicker disc and hybrid pans sure have the edge in evennes and heat retention, which is often nice in frying pans and saute pans especially. Excluding the new small Falk 20cm saute and frying pans I just ordered, I have the rest of them functionally/volume wise duplicated also in thick disc with either Fissler, Lagostina, Silga, Zwilling Prime or Paderno GG.

Evenness performance wise the Falk pans are in the very same ballpark as the discussed de Buyer Prima Matera cm for cm. But the fact is, that PM frypans are vastly, vastly smaller bottomed pans in the same sizes, so they are not basically directly comparable, and that can alter the appearance of evenness on the bottom of the pan depending largely on the hob being used.

The de Buyer frying pans, including the almost similarly shaped and sized Affinity and carbon pans, are actually well sized for cooktops like mine, which many own.

A few examples. See here my Falk 28 cm next to a mineral b pro 28 cm with an about 20,5 cm flat bottom.

Then Falk 24 cm next to the same dB 28 cm pan. Here the dB carbon now has only like 2-3 mm larger flat. Both PM and Afffinity 28 cm have 20cm bottom according to db catalog, while this carbon is advertised as 21 cm. So in reality the dB stainless options could be a bit smaller than this Falk 24 cm. These are the more directly comparable sizes anyway as they have approx the same flat.:

It's funny how a de Buyer 32 cm would still have a smaller bottom to a Falk 28 cm, according to dB catalog both affinity and PM are 23 cm bottom in 32. Falk 28 cm has the mentioned 24,5 cm.

An ideal circular hob for the Falk 28 cm would probably be a 26 cm/10 inch as the pan has an effective exterior bottom of about 25 cm. It might work even better on a 28 cm hob though, in case it would activate the outer coil on it, since large hobs often accommodate to cookware size. I have no experience using hobs like that.


24s side by side:

 

[Pertti]

that's Italy for you ;-)

I think, looking at the thickness, that De Buyer is actually 3.3 mm after making a pan..

Haha yeah.

I guess they don't advertise this anymore, but the de Buyer PM pans are 1,8 mm copper with a 0,2 mm stainless lining on the cooking surface. In addition in the bottom they have more steel for induction compatibility.

A few more centurylife links . This guy has reviewed a lot of pans.

https://www.centurylife.org/in-dept...on-compatible-copper-nominally-28-cm-skillet/
For any induction users, I heartily recommend checking out this Lagostina also.:

https://www.centurylife.org/in-dept...llet-5-ply-hybrid-stainless-steel-frying-pan/
It's a rare hybrid pan with a disc bottom nicely attached to a thin fully clad vessel. Since the review the line has been upgraded to have pouring lips too and the bottom is a bit more decorative also it seems. I dont agree with the reviewer on the pan needing a helper handle at all. This pan is lighter than Demeyere Proline and certainly heats more evenly with a good heat retention, quite probably heats up faster too in the same sizes and still has some sidewall heat. Makes a very good pairing with more responsive cladded pans or the likes of Prima Matera.

 

[Pertti]

A small gallery of the renewed Lagostina Accademia frypan, showing the construction details and as a bonus some flour schorch and swedish pancakes vs the Falk. One of the Lagostina pancakes turned out a burnt cajun pancake lmao, please disregard it. Just to show a bit the differences and to point out also what one might need to expect if getting a bit oversized Falk, or any of the premium fully cladded pans for a rather standard regular circular hobbed induction cookop like mine.. The properly sized 24 cm Falk frypan does quite a lot better on my hob and so would a Prima Matera 28 cm, but neither of them would be a match to a thick disc pan in evennes and heat retention/searing power on induction. These Lagostinas are fantastic pans on induction.