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wff_ng_7
 
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Default Cuisinart Copper

"D.Currie" > wrote:
> Tuesday Morning has a sale on the Cuisinart pots with the copper
> exteriors. Anybody got any experience with them? They have some good
> reviews, but my hesitation is the copper exterior coating. I use my pots,
> I don't hang them up as decorations, and I don't want to spend more time
> cleaning the copper than I do cooking with the pots.


Funny, but if you go to the Cuisinart web site (http://www.cuisinart.com/),
they currently don't list any such product. Perhaps they have discontinued
it.

My guess without seeing it first hand is the copper contributes very little
to the responsiveness of the pan, and is only there for looks. The aluminum
core is what provides the conductivity. I suspect if you look closely at the
edge of the pan, you will see a very thin copper layer over a thick aluminum
core, with another thin (good in this case) stainless layer on the inside.

This cookware seems similar to All Clad's "Cop-R-Chef" line, where the outer
copper layer is essentially for decoration. All Clad did eventually come out
with a line with a true thick copper core, called "Copper Core", which is
the most expensive line they sell.

It would seem you would get very little performance benefit from the copper
layer this cookware, and you're making a tradeoff in higher maintenance for
the look, especially if you chose to keep it polished. I have a fair amount
of solid copper cookware, but I like the multicolored look copper gets from
age and heat. I don't clean (as in polish) it that often. I also have even
more fully clad aluminum core cookware.

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