Cuisinart12 Piece Cookware Set, MultiClad Pro Triple Ply, Silver, MCP-12N

My wife and I both love to cook and we needed a new set of stainless cookware. I read the other reviews on this set and even asked questions using the comment fields. One of the best reviews was provided by "Some Average Guy" and really helped a lot. Yet, I went out and bought the Martha Stewart tri-ply professional set on sale at Macy's thinking it might be as good as the All Clad set it looked like. I was never sure it was an 18/10 quality stainless. After using the saute pan, as directed,on only medium or low heat only a few times, the saute pan warped and was no longer flat on our glass cooktop. That Martha Stewart set went back to Macy's right away! We then ordered this Cuisinart MCP-12N set and have been using it a lot (including several dinner parties) for over 2 months now. This set is great! We love it! It is18/10 stainless, heats quickly, cleans easily (read the directions!), is a good weight - heavy enough to be of good quality and durability and yet light enough to use every day - and it looks great. If you're worried about foods sticking with stainless - I remember the old PBS 'Frugal Gourmet' shows where Chef Jeff Smith would say "Hot pan, cold oil, foods won't stick." So always heat your pans for a few minutes on medium and let them come up to temperature, then add your oil or butter, let it get hot and then your food. The food won't stick. I agree with some of the other reviewers - if your worried about frying eggs, buy one non-stick pan and use that for your eggs. (We have a 10" Circulon we use for that.) We've now added the MCP 6 quart sauce pan to our set when it was on sale, to use for cooking pasta. We are now waiting for the 5.5 quart casserole to go on sale. This is the kind of cookware that can last a lifetime. Great investment! You won't be sorry if you either get this set for yourself or give it as a gift to someone you love!

I am so impressed. High quality, tri-ply, and the perfect amount and size of pans. If you need a step-up from your starter set or you are looking for a starter set that will last you 20 years, this is it. This set also has the rivets in the handles where they meet the pan (not welds but rivets) and that is important to know for endurance. If you are thinking that the price is too good to be true know that these are authentic Cuisinart pans and the craftsmanship and heaviness of the pans left me no doubt that they are exactly as described.For those of you who have not cooked with stainless pans before, use low heat, put oil in pan AFTER it is a bit heated up and then add your food. Research and review videos online about using stainless steel to cook in. These are not not-stick pans so you have to use them differently but you can get the exact same results and minimal cleanup, if you research how to use stainless steel pans for cooking. Using anything above medium heat in these pans, will cause scorching and food sticking. Also, don't move your food or flip it right away once you put it in the pan, give it some time to gel and congeal and that will also prevent sticking and the food falling apart when you flip it. For example, to cook an egg, heat the pan on low to medium heat for 2 minutes, then add a bit of butter or oil, give that a bit of time to heat up but do not let it smoke (if it smokes, it is too hot!). Then add your egg, let the egg sit for a while before flipping it or moving it or scrambling it. You need to let the egg congeal a bit on the bottom so it will not stick to the pan when you move or flip it. This will be trial and error but eventually, you will know when to flip it or scramble it. If you move or scramble it to soon, it will stick to the bottom of the pan and it will fall apart and the pan will be more difficult to clean.When you are done using the pan, do not put it into the sink in cold or hot water. You will ruin your pan. Instead, let the pan sit on the stove with the heat off for a while. Then pour some warm or hot water into the pan and let it soak. This will make it very easy to clean, Also, if you have residue in the pan after a normal cleaning, use Bar Keepers friend to scrub away the residue. This has worked for me 100% of the time with all stainless cookware I have ever used, including these pans.If you ever have a really really bad scalding stain in the pan, use Bar Keepers friend and a crushed up bit of regular aluminum foil. Then use the foil like a scrub pad and it will remove anything left in the pan (aluminum is softer than steel so it won't ruin your pan but test it first on the bottom on your pan just in case you are skeptical it will work on your set...I take no responsibility for this technique working on all stainless steel pans but I have never had it fail on any of mine and I have never scratched or ruined a pan using this technique on the pans I own or have owned). I once bought an old stainless pan at a thrift store that was charred and black inside and out. Using this technique, I restored it to almost new. It does work but it can be a bit so be patient with it and rest if you get tired or conscript a family member to help. LOL.Three are videos online as to how to season stainless steel pans for cooking as well but I have never found this necessary. This is NOT the same as seasoning cast iron so do not use THAT technique on these pans. You can look those videos up as to how to season a stainless pan to make it more non-stick yourself and decide if you want to do that.Yes, you can sear steaks and meat and anything else in this pan just don't turn that burner up to High like you do with other cookware. What is very important to know about stainless is that using high heat is never going to be necessary and is almost always counterproductive to both the cooking of the food and the cleanup and the preservation of the pan. You may or may not know your stove very well and how the different controls impact the burner/flame but that is very important in cooking overall and very important to using stainless for cooking. My point is, that if you are not used to cooking with stainless pans that are not non-stick, you will have a bit of a learning curve so do not assume that what temp you used on your stove in the past to cook on your previous cookware, will work as well on these pans. Experiment and plan to spend a bit more time initially in using these pans to see what works and what doesn't when you are cooking your favorite foods. I found that it took me a bit more time on lower heat to cook things initially until I was able to determine the right setting on my burner as well as how long it took for the pan to heat up before I added the oil and then how long it took before the oil was perfect temp before I added the food. Once I got used to all those variable, my time spent cooking was always consistent and I never had to think about it again when I went to use my stainless pans.These pans are going to last decades and will be heavily used by my family and me. I will be buying more of these pans in the future to round out this very well thought out set of 12.

So if your going back and forth on which pot set you should get, let me help you, THIS ONE!I had debated over getting this pot set or the Legend pot set, like you are doing now if your reading this, and serious about cooking and your cookware.After consulting with 2 ai's ans reading reviews, I pulled the trigger and bought it, and it is one of thee best purchases I have made this year. First off they look beautiful. I used to put my pots away after cleaning, but now they sit on my stove like antrophy achievement unlocked for cooking and leveling up my cookware altogether. I really don't have any cons. They do show discoloration, but that's just par for the course of using stainless steel. These pots inspire me to cook. And the stove to oven ability takes my cooking to another level. Sear salmon then put I under the broiler from the stove check ✔ easy to clean check ✔ weighed and not to heavy and the handles feel good as well check again!So basically stop going back and forth, for this quality at this price point, it can't be be beat. I never post photos on here, but I wanted to show you how your new pot setup looks.These are also perfect if your shooting cooking videos.Have fun chef!!!P.S DO NOT USE STAINLESS STEEL COOKING UTENSILS THEY WILL SCRATCH THE POT SURFACE. STICK TO WOOD OR NONSTICK UTENSILS.