If the millions of hits on YouTube cooking tutorials and numerous TV channels available for foodies are anything to go by, more people are interested in cooking today than ever before. Cooking has evolved from being a domestic chore to a respectable profession and haven for hobbyists all over the world. The sheer number of recipes and cooking tips available online now is mind-blowing.
The Copper Chef is one of the fastest emerging assets in a modern kitchen. It is a revolutionary pan made of copper which is one of the best conductors of heat. This means it distributes heat evenly and quickly throughout its surface. Developed by Fusion Brands and sold by Tri-Star Products, the Copper Chef Pan is desired by a wide range of cooks from novices to master chefs. The versatility it offers you is unmatched by other cookware.
We combed through several Copper Chef reviews to compile this article for you covering all you need to know about the Copper Chef Cookware. Our review will save you time and help you focus on making the decision of when to buy your pan. Here, we will go through the basics of what Copper Chef cookware is, how to use it, its pros and cons, as well as reasonable alternatives for it.
Contents
Why Should You Get The Copper Chef Cookware?
As a child, I steered clear of the kitchen because although I loved cooking, I hated washing the dishes. With time, I learned to suck it up and help my mother in the kitchen as a faithful apprentice. The worst part was scrubbing the leftovers stuck at the bottom of the cooking pots after dinner. My mother had a wide range of cookware; there were cast iron pots for stew, stainless steel for rice, and aluminum pans for frying. There was so much clutter in the kitchen but she was such a seasoned chef that she could navigate her sea of cookware blindfolded.
Versatility
The Copper Chef cookware is perfect if you live a busy life yet enjoy preparing your own meals. The pan’s high conductivity enables you to cook faster and use a fraction of the energy. This product is so versatile that it can replace 6 traditional cooking utensils by serving the purpose of a rice cooker, stockpot, baking dish, wok, steamer and roasting pan easily. Moreover, it is a nonstick, no cleanup pan which means it is easy to clean and switch uses as you prepare your meals.
I am sure that life would have been easier with the Copper Chef Cookware. If we had the Copper Chef Cookware when I was a kid, who knows? Maybe I’d have my own cooking show today.
High Heat Conductivity
Many of the conventional nonstick pans are shallow and round with a small diameter to encourage even cooking speeds. The Copper Chef Pan, on the other hand, is deep and wide. Although they are called copper pans, the Copper Chef Pans are not completely made of copper. The pan is rather made of an aluminum core infused with real copper in order to harness the metal’s high heat conductive properties. This construction makes it is easy for the pan to gain and lose heat quickly as well as to spread heat evenly to all the corners of the square Copper Chef pan. The quick and equal distribution of heat in the pan allows your meal to cook evenly and avoids the occurrence of hot spots in thick gravy and sauces. Furthermore, the increased size of the pan makes it possible to cook up to 25% more volume of food, effectively cutting down your cooking time.
Moreover, it is hard to beat the flexibility offered by copper’s high heat conductivity and resistance. It works well as a Copper Chef wok as it can gain up to 800 °F of heat and lose it rapidly making it perfect for cooking sauté and delicate stir fry meals. Its ability to distribute heat throughout the pan evenly in a short time also makes it popular for baking and cooking meals that need heat consistency.
Pros and Cons of the Copper Chef Cookware
Pros
- Excellent heat conductivity and distribution
- High heat resistance
- A wide range of cooking options
- Durable high-quality nonstick coating
- High aesthetic value
Cons
- Incompatible with metallic cookware
- Not really made of copper – just infused
- More expensive than other cookware of its class
Unique Copper Chef Cookware Features
There are several features that make the Copper Chef Cookware stand out in today’s market. Despite being a new product, this copper pan has managed to make its way to the frontline of the cookware market because of some of the unique features we will highlight here.
Stainless Steel Induction plate
In order to increase the versatility of the Copper Chef, the creators included a stainless steel induction plate at the bottom of the pan. This makes it possible to use the copper pan on any cooking surface including induction cooktops. Unlike ferrous metals, conventional copper and aluminum pots don’t work well in induction cooktops because of limitations in their magnetic and electrical properties. The Copper Chef Pan review shows that the addition of the stainless steel induction plate has significantly increased the pan’s strength and durability.
Infused with Real Copper
The Copper Chef Pan is highly efficient because it can sustain high temperatures of up to 850 °F unlike the Red Copper Pan and Gotham Steel Pan which can only go up to 500 °F.
The infused copper makes the pan capable of gaining and losing heat rapidly. This means that it is suitable to be used for cooking and baking as well as serving food on kitchen counters and the dining table without burning the surface.
The outer copper coating also gives the Copper Chef an iconic, aesthetically-pleasing finish. The Copper Chef’s color and luster make it stand out in your shelf or on the dinner table like a functional work of art.
Are Copper Chef Pans Safe?
The Copper Chef is designed with a double layer of ceramic on the inside of the pan. This cerami-tech layer is the real secret behind Copper Chef’s revolutionary nonstick properties. The Ceramic layer also contributes to the pans ability to sustain temperatures of up to 850 °F.
In the past, pans that contained copper or ceramics would release hazardous PTFE and PFOA compounds into the food or air when heated up to 350 °F. The Copper Chef Pans have been taken through rigorous tests and they were qualified to be free of these harmful compounds at all temperatures.
If you are battling cholesterol or simply want to reduce your intake of fats and oils, then this Copper Chef pan is for you. The nonstick qualities of the cerami-tech solution make it possible to fry or sauté your meals without using a drop of oil and without a single ounce sticking to the pan.
Copper Chef Pan Customer Reviews: The good and the bad
The Copper Chef cookware has been in the market for a few years now and has accumulated a bunch of good and bad reviews. We scoured the internet and picked a few of them to highlight for you here.
Most of the negative reviews are related to the Copper Chef customer service practices and previous versions of the Copper Chef Cookware. The 9.5” Copper Chef Pan, for example, had challenges with its nonstick feature and users would have to regulate the heat levels to prevent food from sticking to the pan. Fortunately, most of these issues have been largely overcome with the latest 11” Copper Chef Pan that was designed from mid-2017 onwards. The most recent Copper Chef Pan reviews generally have a lot of positive feedback from happy customers.
There are several options available through which you can buy the Copper Chef Pans and the range of choices can be quite confusing. The main product we recommend if you are looking to enjoy the full Copper Chef experience is the 11” Square Copper Chef Pan. This pan is available in a wide range of packages. For example, if you are only interested in the 11” Copper Chef Pan with its glass lid, you can get it on Amazon for $29.99. You can also acquire it as part of a four and five-piece set for $39.99 and $51.60 respectively. The larger pan packages come with a comprehensive Copper Chef recipe book by Chef Eric Theiss with Copper Chef instructions and a wide range of meal options that you will enjoy preparing.
A Review Of Viable Copper Chef Alternatives
The Copper Chef cookware is in a class of its own and few products can match up to it. Many of the Copper Chef cookware reviews list different versions of the Copper Chef pan as alternatives. However, we have found and highlighted a few products that are comparable to the 11” Copper Chef pan and could work as viable alternatives.
- Red Copper Pan
- Concord Ceramic Coated Copper Pan
- Gotham Steel Pan
Red Copper Pan
Endorsed by the iconic TV personality, Cathy Mitchell, the Red Copper Pan first came on the scene a little while before the Copper Chef Pan. It is easy to confuse the Red Copper and Copper Chef Pan because they have a similar design, are both made with the same copper infusion technology and have a ceramic nonstick coating. However, the clearest difference between the two is that the Red Copper Pan has a distinct red outer coating while the Copper Chef Pan has a copper-colored exterior.
The Red Copper Pan now offers a 12-inch square pan with a steel induction plate much like the Copper Chef version for$58.88. While the Red Copper Pan offers the same versatility and durability as the Copper Chef, its red outer coating and construction have been said to be the main factors limiting it from sustaining temperatures above 500 °F while its counterpart can handle the heat well above 800 °F. Click here for a comprehensive review of the Red Copper Pan.
Concord Ceramic Coated Copper Pans
The Concord Ceramic Coated Copper Pans are very popular among hobbyist chefs. These pans have a traditional classy feel and have a strong aesthetic appeal. They are available in a wide range of sizes and are typically round in shape. The company has produced a number of deep pan models to increase the volume you can cook at a time. Applauded for affordability, the 3 piece Concord Ceramic Coated Copper frying pans made the Amazon 2017 bestseller list, at$49.98. However, the Concord pans are quite delicate and need special care to avoid scratching the nonstick surface. Though they have a robust outer finish, the durability of its ceramic nonstick coating is limited.
Gotham Steel Pans
The Gotham Steel Pans come highly recommended and are endorsed by master chef Daniel Green. Unlike the other pans on our list, Gotham Steel pans are not made of copper. However, they have a unique nonstick coating made of titanium and ceramic combination. This pan is oven safe up to 500 °F and works much like the copper pans. The main advantage it has over its copper counterparts is its robustness. The Gotham Steel pan is scratch proof and can be used with metal utensils. It is even said that you can whisk eggs in the pan using a metallic hand mixer without a scratch.
Check out our in-depth review of the Gotham Steel Pan.
Conclusion
While there are several brands of cookware in the market, your choice of cookware will come down to the one that best suits your needs. The main benefit of using copper cookware is the products’ versatility and ability to sustain high temperatures without burning your food. This benefit is best achieved by the combination of copper’s high-temperature resistance and the use of a high grade ceramic nonstick coating. The Tristar Copper Chef Pans are some of the highest-rated copper pans in the industry because they have mastered the two main advantages of copper pans. They can sustain temperatures of up to 850 °F and their Cerami-tech nonstick coating is second to none. The absence of PTFE and PFOA compounds in the ceramic nonstick layer even above 800 °F answers the ‘Are Copper Chef Pans Safe?’ question for all sensitive users.
If you are interested in a safe versatile and truly nonstick copper pan, you do not need to spend your airtime on an overseas Copper Chef phone number, simply click here now and enter the world of Copper Chef cookware today.
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