An Ode to my All-Clad Pans

Dear All-Clad Pots and Pans,

I would like to take a moment and thank you for your long and esteemed service. This by no means suggest I am retiring you, as you have not faltered in your assistance in any way over your over thirty years with me. No, this is just a mid-career recognition of all you do for me, and my family. Consider this a written version of a Lucite commendation plaque.

Yes, you were quite pricey but there were those who told me you would be worth it, and they were correct. The long duration of your time with me has turned the high initial cost (a $240 frying pan???) into literally pennies a day. You are reliable and beautiful, the work horses of my kitchen. You are solid and so well made I would call you well crafted. You have withstood over thirty years of use without thinning or getting dented. Amazingly, the non-stick surface is still non-stick. The stainless steel still shines.

Of course, I have done my part. I have hand washed you every time I have used you. No harsh and indiscriminate dishwasher for you. You get a sudsy soak in a lovely bath, no scratchy scrubbers just gentle sponging, followed by a soft toweling off before you are returned to your private drawer. I would never ask you to cohabitate with the cheap fly-by-night Teflon pans that get switched out every year or so when their Teflon inevitably wears away. You are royalty and should not rest next to the hoi polloi.

My lovely pans, you have withstood my fondness for new trends, outlasted the cast iron, the sous vide, the crockpot, the Dutch oven, the air fryer. Sure, I still use all those things, but not with the day in and day out regularity of you. My All-Clad, you are secure in yourself, never jealous of the other cookery. You know I depend on you, like foundation garments or toothpaste. Daily in your value. Not showy, just quietly reliable, my own private Jeeves.

You joined my family in Pennsylvania and have moved with me from PA to NC to Palo Alto to Thousand Oaks to Berkeley to Moraga and back to Palo Alto. In a way, you are my posse. Always with me, always got my back, never judgmental. Of course, I had to do some serious training with family members who joined me after you. Made sure they knew how to care for you properly. Assured them that you, like me, are worth the extra effort.

In your shiny containment I’ve made pot stickers and fettucine Alfredo and Béarnaise sauce and Veal Piccata and custard and too many other recipes to count. And you show up and do the job right every time. Any mistakes have been mine, a failure to set the timer, too little stirring, a poor choice of recipe. 

These days cooking is a challenge, living in a house with four different ‘diets’ (we have gluten and dairy free, Keto, anti-inflammatory, and muscle building among other requirements) and there are often nights that I am in despair of finding something everyone can eat. Sometimes I despair of finding something anyone can eat. But with you, my sturdy companions, at my side, the magic of cooking still has the chance to grab me again, the wonder at how a set of ingredients can come together into something so much more than the pieces. Within your faithful help, the alchemy of cooking turns hard dry rice, stinky onion, and chicken broth into a delicious risotto. It turns a tough cut of meat into a tender stew. You, frying pan, sauce pan, small and large pots, you have been my partners in providing sustenance. Even when the thing I cooked is not received well, when the noses turn up, the faces grimace in distaste, it is never your fault. You did your part. I imagine you will soldier on, doing your part, for many more years to come. This is just a mid-career thank you, an acknowledgement of a partnership that never causes me problems, never disagrees with me, never misunderstands me, never criticizes my sometimes poor choices. I turn on the gas, set you to your task, and you do it.

Thank you for helping me nourish my family, because in the end, cooking is that. A chance to give my time and effort to literally keeping my loved ones alive. A chance to tempt the palate, please a picky eater, fill an empty stomach, warm a tired heart.

With you, my lovely All-Clad at my side, I feel richly equipped for the task.

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