Copper pans

This is uncanny that you made a thread about sainsbury's copper pans. I just came back from sainsburys and was about to post about their Cook Collection copper bottom pans, with a layer of copper stuck to the bottom. They feel weighty, really nice and solid in the hand! I love the silver exterior and black non stick finish inside. It looks like this ,http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/sol/sho...per-bottom-14cm-milk-pan.html?hnav=4294960692

Sorry to hijack your thread Raymond :p Thing is, I want a 20cm and they didn't have one that size nor can I find one online. I see they do a Tri-ply but it's in copper coloured finish all over, and I prefer the silver with just the copper coloured bit stuck to the bottom. Any other saucepans like that I can buy?

Also, does anyone know if these Prestige Inspire pans are worthwhile? Those airholes on two sides of the lid are meant for better straining but I wonder if they also act as airholes to stop liquid overflowing when the lid is on? They also have a quilted shaped non stick finish called cushion smart.http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/web-prestige-insp-teal-20cm-sp
 
Me too. Worth a pun compare to the £200 variant. The only difference I can see are those have a cast iron handle (opposed to stainless steel), and those are just steel inner and copper outer. But aluminium is a good conductor anyway, so having that as the centre layer can't be that bad.

Merlin, I saw those too, I think the milk pan was like £9?! Good value tbh.
 
Well, I got a 18cm saucepan and a 10cm mini pan.

The 10cm is quite useless except making gravy for 1 or melting a little bit of butter but it looks so cute ! Pics tomorrow.
 
Tempted by these myself but not sure if I can justify it. I already have a set of Stellar 7000 pans and a set of Circulon Elite pans. Seeing as I live alone, I'm not sure I can justify buying a 3rd set :o
 
It seems the real McCoys have a 10% stainless steel and 90% copper in a 2 ply layer combo, which explains the higher price and no doubt better conductivity.

http://www.mauvielusa.com/M-150s-Co...-steel-handles-wooden-crate-plu6100.01wc.html

That chart shows the conductivity of all the metals.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-metals-d_858.html

Copper has around 204-233 (depending on temperature)
Aluminium has around 50% less 118 - 144
Stainless steel 7-26 which basically in a different league compare to copper.
Cast iron 27-46

Sainsbury's range uses a 3 ply layer combo.

I guess the theory is that if the entire outer side of the pan is copper, heat distributes to all sides very easily which should give a better even spread, and to the next best metal (discounting Gold and Silver) - aluminium before stainless steel inner coating.

The Sainsbury's range looks to be 15% copper/70% aluminium/15% stainless steel.

No doubt the Mauviel pans are better as it is 90% copper but it is also £200 a pan instead of £25 !
 
Last edited:
I'm going to have ring sainsburys up to find out if they have a 20cm stainless steel non stick in the cook collection copper series. I'm not a serious cook so can't justify spending money on circulons and le cruesets. I just want a reasonable priced pan that looks and feels good. And besides, I love the all silver handle on the sainsburys ones, it's perfect! And you're right Raymond, that milkpan is only £9.
 
If the 2 internal layers aren't properly welded together then you'll have inconsistent temperature across the pan and you might as well have not bothered. So let's hope the Sainsbury's ones are built well...
 
cheechm said:
If the 2 internal layers aren't properly welded together then you'll have inconsistent temperature across the pan and you might as well have not bothered. So let's hope the Sainsbury's ones are built well...
Click to expand...

I agree, but worth a pun :)

bWY5gXP.jpg
 
With the tri ply copper exterior ones the copper is a cosmetic benefit only. The copper needs to be around 2.5mm for it to be of practical use. The aluminium core is what determines the pan's heat conductivity as it's almost as good as copper but a lot cheaper.
 
spoffle said:
Cast iron > all. Aldi do a range of cast iron pans that are good and cheap.
Click to expand...
Cast iron is ok for some stuff, low thermal conductivity hence the thickness, but it has great heat retention properties but the conductivity is about 0.80 Wcmk whereas copper is copper is more like 4. Cast iron also has slow heat responsiveness being that diffusivity on iron is about 0.25 and for copper it's more like 1.15. The reactivity of copper though makes it impractical for anything acidic though which is why it's clad in stainless steel or tin (hence you get your expensive tri ply pans).

I use a combination of pans, I've got some simple stainless, a full copper butter warmer (best control), a cast iron griddle/ baking stone/ skillet/ casserole dish, and then a number of tri ply (ss/copper/ss) saucepans, saute pans, a rondeau, stock pot and such.

Cast iron is certainly a useful material, but to say cast iron > all is just nonsense.

In answer to your question OP, it's not the best combination no, aluminium isn't terrible but it isn't fantastic for heat conductivity, compare about 2.4wcmk to coppers 4wcmk. And aluminum is less dense, so to get near the properties of copper it would need to be much thicker and then lose out all heat reactivity - more than likely it'll be a standard thickness and the exterior copper will have no bearing. Almost all mid range pans in the kitchen are ally core so these pans will pretty much bring no advantage over a standard stainless pan.
 
Last edited:
I can vouch for the 28in frying pan, bought one back at the beginning of 2010 and its pretty much the best pan I've ever owned. I use it for everything, although it is starting to look a bit long in the tooth now I do use it pretty much everyday. The quality is excellent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom