Anyone ever see All-Clad on sale?

[Jenise]

I haven't. Rather, I see Macy's ads in the paper for 30% off anything in the store 'This Saturday Only' and the fine print always excludes All-Clad along with Waterford Crystal and a couple other hoity toity brands. Likewise, the 20% coupon that comes in the mail to Occupant every 60 days like clockwork from Bed Bath & Beyond also excludes All-Clad. And that's typical of everything I've ever seen about All-Clad, a brand I've had my antennae in the air over ever since I fell in lust over the MC-2 line. I have about five pieces, all were gifts, and all I've needed to complete my cookware collection is (I have a mixture of old favorites that I won't part with, but none of them are this size) a medium sized saucepan around 4 qts. And two, I've coveted the All-Clad 3.5 qt cassoulet pan.

Every couple of months I check eBay for either. And about a week ago, lo and behold there were both, separate listings, same seller. I won them and they came yesterday, and the contents of one of the boxes reveals that things are a little different in Maine re All Clad being on sale. Because the cassoulet pan had a Macy's receipt inside the box dated earlier this very month. In fact, the seller would have had to list the pan for sale before it was even delivered to her. That receipt names the All-Clad pan, the original price of $126 (which matches the sticker still on the box) less "All Clad sale 50% off" so a final price of $63, and a $12.95 delivery charge. One might feel sorry for the seller at this point as I paid her just $51 for the pan and only $10 shipping, but that's not the point: Macy's in my town never discounts All-Clad even a little bit. They have the specials where if you buy this set or this big pan and you get this little butter-melter free kind of thing, but I've never been able to buy All-Clad on sale.

Let alone at 50% off.

All of the All Clad I own I purchased as seconds, still guaranteed, from an online outlet. (For which I don't have the URL here at my office, of course.)

I believe in buying the best tools one can afford and taking care of them, and I love All Clad, but there are times it's simply out of reach. I have never seen it on sale locally.

I don't see them on sale, either. The same discount restriction applies for the Macy's and 3B in my area as well.

The closest I've seen are the "sale" items in the All-Clad section at Chef's Resource; although, I'm not sure if they truly represent a savings or not.

I haven't. Rather, I see Macy's ads in the paper for 30% off anything in the store 'This Saturday Only' and the fine print always excludes All-Clad along with Waterford Crystal and a couple other hoity toity brands. So does the 20% coupon that comes in the mail to Occupant every 60 days like clockwork from Bed Bath & Beyond.

But apparently things are a little different in Maine, for last week I won two separate All-Clad pan listings on eBay. Both are NIB in the MC2 line which I like the looks of best, and I bought both from the same seller in Maine. However, one of the two pans had a Macy's receipt inside the box dated earlier this very month,. That receipt names the All-Clad pan, the original price of $126 (which matches the sticker still on the box) less 50% so a final price of $63, and a $12.95 delivery charge. One might feel sorry for the seller at this point as I paid her just $51 for the pan and only $10 shipping, but that's not the point: Macy's in my town never discounts All-Clad. They have the specials where if you buy this set or this big pan and you get this little butter-melter free kind of thing, but I've never been able to buy All-Clad on sale. I know: I've been trying to get the pan I just bought for three years, but darn if I was going to pay $126.

Been buying and using All-Clad since 1978. I usually get it wholesale and have used their pans in several restaurants.

An aside: Most restaurants do their sautes in 10" frypans. Cast aluminum. Aluminum is a reactive metal. Reacts with most all acids (which are a component of about 50% of all sautes.) If you have an aluminum pan, look at it - you will notice the surface is pitted. That's missing aluminum. It went into the food. I have been using All-Clad stainless lined aluminum since I was night chef at the original Scott's Seafood Grill & Bar at Scott and Lombard in San Francisco. Have used them in every restaurant since that time. Why do these restaurants use aluminum? Well, in some it's just ignorance. In most it's the fact that they can probably buy the straight aluminum pans wholesale for around $13 as opposed to $50 -$60 for the All-Clad.

I see All-Clad on sale a couple of times per year at the large department stores around here - always point it out to my students. The discounts run as high as 50%.

Believe or not, there can be some terrific bargins at Williams-Sonoma on All-Clad but you have to hit it when they have something on the Sale rack. Most of the best stuff is scooped up by employees before it makes it to the table but I've picked up items at 50%+ off their usually pretty high prices. I did get three 8" sautes for $4 each though.

Try: http://www.cookwarenmore.com

They sell all-clad "seconds", but I can't for the life of me figure out what was "wrong" with the pieces I have purchased from them. They carry the full factory warranty on everything.

I haven't. Rather, I see Macy's ads in the paper for 30% off anything in the store 'This Saturday Only' and the fine print always excludes All-Clad along with Waterford Crystal and a couple other hoity toity brands. Likewise, the 20% coupon that comes in the mail to Occupant every 60 days like clockwork from Bed Bath & Beyond also excludes All-Clad. And that's typical of everything I've ever seen about All-Clad, a brand I've had my antennae in the air over ever since I fell in lust over the MC-2 line. I have about five pieces, all were gifts, and all I've needed to complete my cookware collection is (I have a mixture of old favorites that I won't part with, but none of them are this size) a medium sized saucepan around 4 qts. And two, I've coveted the All-Clad 3.5 qt cassoulet pan.

Every couple of months I check eBay for either. And about a week ago, lo and behold there were both, separate listings, same seller. I won them and they came yesterday, and the contents of one of the boxes reveals that things are a little different in Maine re All Clad being on sale. Because the cassoulet pan had a Macy's receipt inside the box dated earlier this very month. In fact, the seller would have had to list the pan for sale before it was even delivered to her. That receipt names the All-Clad pan, the original price of $126 (which matches the sticker still on the box) less "All Clad sale 50% off" so a final price of $63, and a $12.95 delivery charge. One might feel sorry for the seller at this point as I paid her just $51 for the pan and only $10 shipping, but that's not the point: Macy's in my town never discounts All-Clad even a little bit. They have the specials where if you buy this set or this big pan and you get this little butter-melter free kind of thing, but I've never been able to buy All-Clad on sale.

Let alone at 50% off.

I have one more thing to say about All-Clad. Yeah, you know me - it ain't good.

They have apparently stopped making the pan that drew us professionals to them in the first place - the original MasterChef line. Which, if I'm not mistaken was just two-ply. A solid piece of aluminum with the stainless bonded to it.

Even if I am mistaken and there was a brushed aluminum laminate laid over the outside, I still wish I had the original. All the new stuff is lighter weight.

I still have three 10' fry pans I bought 25 years ago and they are great - my mainstays in the kitchen. I also have many, many pieces of the newer stuff, the pasta pentola, the largest stockpot they ever were able to make with the technique (don't make it anymore), 12' fry pans, Cop-r-Chef casseroles, just about every size of saucepan etc. Everything is lighter now.

First, the core of the cookware was much heavier - *every* piece made after the original line is lighter, literally, lighter to lift. These newer pieces with the thinner cores seem to develop hotspots more often (my strong suspicion about the seconds offered is a flaw in the bonding process which allows more hot spots.)

When we first tested the original line on the cooking line at Scott's - pretty good test kitchen, preparing up to 750 meals per day, all a la carte meals, the rivets came loose - they were aluminum. They fixed that and then we were perfectly happy with the pans ever after. Were they happy? Noooooooo! They had to "improve" the line, honestly, mainly for "housewives." The aluminum exterior was too hard to maintain and keep "pretty." (Our outsides get all carbonized and black and that's just dandy.)

All the stuff has always been shipped directly from Cannonsburg directly to us.

So, they changed markets and became very successful.

End of story. End of rant.

Try: http://www.cookwarenmore.com

Thanks, Jeff. That is the place I get my seconds too. I agree that I've never had a problem with them.

I think Chef may be correct in identifying the problem, but for how much cooking I do lately (working 60-80 hour weeks) they work just fine. If I were to use them all day every day, the issue might certainly appear!

I see All Clad pieces on sale periodically around here, but it's always very select pieces. Usually the smaller skillets.

Mike

I cruise TJ Maxx for all clad...I found a dutch oven there for $80, IIRC. It has a small flaw in the bottom interior, but that does not affect its performance. I just love it...and I continue to cruise TJM for more of the same...

I've seen Le Creuset there, too.

B

[Jenise]

Barb, you have no idea what a treasure hunting addict I am, and all someone has to do is mention finding AC on sale at a TJ Maxx, and I become a slave to hope. I had not been to TJMaxx when you first mentioned finding AC there, but I have been cruising it ever since because of what you said and because it's conveniently right next door to Costco. Mind you, I'm not a shopper per se--groceries and bargains I love, but all other forms of shopping, not at all. It's not like I'd go to TJMaxx for lack of anything better to do, or for entertainment. Anyway, I had just reached the point, so fruitless had this endeavor been where I had convinced myself that you really hadn't said it at all, I must have dreamed it yes yes that's the thing, and I could just write TJM off.

And then you had to go say this again. Back to Square One!

Personally, I'll take my stainless steel-lined, heavy gauge 100% copper pots and pans from Dehillerin in Paris over all-clad any day. But I can see the virtue of All-Clad if you want cookware that's easy to maintain in shiny condition on the outside (copperware almost instantly gets a mottled patina look to it on the outside), and only a fraction inferior to real copperware in the heat distribution department.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, lucky you--Dehillerin! I know those are very, very highly regarded. Legacy stuff--use it forever, pass them on to your kids and all that. And nothing's more beautiful than copper, whether you keep them brite or leave them to get that burnished patina of loving use.

I'm struggling to remember a conversation here about Dehillerin pans from a loooong time ago--do you have to have them relined from time to time?

I am also one of those huge fans of Dehillerin - especially the heavy duty copper stainless steel lined pans. Just wanted to say that they have updated their website and have much more on-line than previously. Postage is probably phenomenally expensive, but it is possible to order from them on-line (via fax). The selection includes the Cuivre Inox Extra Fort, which is what I have and really really like - it has to be the most wonderful stuff (and with stainless steel instead of tin, you never have to think about renewing the interior but you have the benefit of the copper). Here's the website:
http://www.e-dehillerin.fr/cuivre-inox-extra-fort.php
cheers, Bonnie

Paul, lucky you--Dehillerin! I know those are very, very highly regarded. Legacy stuff--use it forever, pass them on to your kids and all that. And nothing's more beautiful than copper, whether you keep them brite or leave them to get that burnished patina of loving use.

I'm struggling to remember a conversation here about Dehillerin pans from a loooong time ago--do you have to have them relined from time to time?

All my copper pots and pans require to get that burnished patina is letting them just sit there. I don't have to love 'em up at all.

[Jenise]

All my copper pots and pans require to get that burnished patina is letting them just sit there. I don't have to love 'em up at all.

Well, you're not supposed to hump them. Just cook in them!

I'm struggling to remember a conversation here about Dehillerin pans from a loooong time ago--do you have to have them relined from time to time?

Dehillerin sells two types of lining for their copperware. The older lining, and the one you're thinking of, is tin. It scratches easily, reacts with acidic foods, and needs to be replaced every several years. But all except their most obscure pieces are now also available with hard, stainless steel lining ("Inox" is the French term). This gives you the advantage of the even heating of heavy-gauge copper and the non-reactive, easily maintained, and durability of stainless steel. All the pieces that I have are the Inox variety, with the exception of a special Pommes Anna pan.

I love the pans and would never go back to anything else. But they're not for everybody. They're very heavy, and so if you have artritic hands like my mother's, you can't use them. I'm also not sure if they're dishwasher-safe. I've never dared to experiment. And of course if you want the outside of your pots and pans to be shiny, you'll spend many hours with a polishing cloth and copper cleaner. Me--I like the patina of well-used copperware.

-Paul W.

litle ot i know,

but this is waht i use since 1987

http://www.alessi.it/catalogo/officina+ ... entole/148

the sauteuse
http://www.alessi.it/catalogo/oggetto/L ... /506/1097/
is not correct! this version (quality downgraded) is relatively new.
mine is this one:
http://www.panik-design.com/acatalog/Al ... teuse.html

not all pots and pans i own from this serie did sofisticate me over the almost 20 years i have them now. but most are just the best i have ever used (privat - work - at friends)

in future i like to convert to induction, and i will have to chage all my beloved pots into others

[Jenise]

Prett stuff, Albino. But why will you have to replace them if you go with and induction cooker? I guess I don't understand induction well enough, but are there some metals you can't use?

mine are 93% copper + 2% silver + 5% inox in the center.

all non magnetic materials, and they do not work with the induction, witch is a magnetic system.

at least the pot has to have a iron core.

or like my pans be made or forged out of iron.

If you're passing by anyway, I say you can cruise the cookware aisle quickly...I did just the other day after this post...there was on nice sauce pan but the lid was missing...But that was all.

There were two v. nice Creuset dutch ovens, and one small one...

Why do I like cookware so much!?! I don't need another dutch oven...but I WANT it....

It's a sickness..
b

[Jenise]

Oh, I know about cruising the aisles. A friend just moved in near me and I've been taking her to TJ's, ostensibly to help her furnish her new home, but of course I selfishly cruise the cookware aisles every time. Recently found some gorgeous pumpkin orange mixing bowls...but still don't get lucky in the pans aisle. You know what, I would have bought the All-Clad pan without the lid. Even if I already had two of them I'd have bought it because I'VE NEVER SEEN ONE THERE BEFORE. I'm counting on you to be the one person who would understand this.

Oh, I SO understand...around here, it's just another form of porn.

I have cooking porn (subcategories are cookbook porn, equipment porn...)
Art porn (I love to do watercolors and drool over Cheap Joe' s Art supplies)
Knitting porn (yarn, yarn..more yarn...)
Tool porn. (I'm a gearhead, too.)

Gary has motorcycle porn. Car porn. These days airplane porn (he's building a full-size, two-seater plane in our garage. Don't ask. I just keep upping his life insurance)...

B