Tefal - The French know how to cook

Tefal - The French Revolution of cooking

I think non-stick Tefal Pans are perfection on earth. What I want to talk about in this article today is the French saucepan manufacturers Tefal. You see, not only do the French know how to cook, they know how to create high quality cookware that enhances your cooking skills at home and even makes your food taste exquisite. Tefal have been around forever and are a very popular brand in the United Kingdom. They have a number of tefal pan sets that are very popular. One popular set is the Jamie Oliver stainless steel range. It still makes me smile to think of a very British chef teaming up with a very French company. Funnily enough, I think they complement each other well.

You have got to hand it to the French. They know their food. They know how to cook it and eat it without becoming obese! 10 years ago, I went on a day trip to France with a group of Friends. I don’t remember a lot about it apart from the food. We had crepes for lunch which tasted amazing. Then in the evening we had a spectacular three course meal and a bottle of wine for 20 Euros.

 If we were to have the same meal in the United Kingdom it would probably have cost us three times the price and still been cooked by a Frenchman. Having said that, with the cost and time involved in nipping across to France, maybe £60 for nice French meal in England is pretty reasonable.

One of the cookware sets they created is the TefalIngenio cookware range. It has been available in France for the past five years or more but only just become available in Britain in the last two. It has the usual features you would expect from Tefal like a non-stick coating, heat spot indicator to let you know the perfect time to start cooking and wonderful design. What makes there design unique is the fact the handles are detachable. Not only are they fabulous to cook with and clean up afterwards, but they are wonderful to store as well because they take up much less space.

So if you are in the market for a new set of pots and pans, check out the Tefal range, because, as I said before, the French know how to cook.

All Clad D5 Review

I was speaking to a buddy of mine the other day about cooking. I wanted to know what he thought was the best cookware range out there for home cooking and he said All Clad's D5. I asked him to write a review about it which he will be doing for me shortly.

Circulon Contempo Review

When it comes to finding a good Circulon pan set then take a look at this new design. To mark the 25^th anniversary of Circulon, the company created a new range called the Circulon Contempo. The Contempo range comes in two colours, black and red. A five piece set is available in the black range and four pieces in the red. Although there are very few reviews available on Amazon UK there are just under 50 reviews available on the amazon.com site giving it an average of 4 out of 5 stars. There are also other reviews on sites like epinions which also give it high ratings. If that wasn’t enough Good Housekeeping gave the Contempo their thumbs up with an A- rating.

 

The Circulon Contempo set consists of:

1 x 16cm Saucepan 1 x 18cm Saucepan 1 x 20cm Saucepan 1 x 24cm French Skillet 1 x 14cm Milk Pan [Not included in the red set]   

Features:

• Highly durable, heavy gauge construction promotes fast and even heating while eliminating hot spots
• Magnetic stainless steel base allows for cooking on all types of ranges, including energy-efficient induction hobs
• Dishwasher safe and oven safe to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4
• Comfortable silicone and stainless steel handles, riveted for extra strength Shatter-resistant tempered glass lid

Inside the circulon contempo range you find the concentric grooves at the bottom of each pot and pan which are otherwise known as Circulon’s “Total Food Release System”.  

Criticisms against Circulon Contempo

No matter how many positive comments a product gets the first thing we tend to look at are the negative ones. There have been a few criticisms against the Circulon Contempo range that we will look at now to help you with your purchasing decision.

The handles are hollow and between the exterior surface where the handle is riveted there is a gap. This means that when you wash them they fill up with water and some consumers did not realise this until water poured onto the floor. If you do clean them in a dishwasher then you need to empty the handles into a sink and hand dry them or leave them to dry. 

The large handles have also been an issue in terms of storing the cooking set in a cupboard. On the tip of each Circulon Contempo handle is a pull-out metal ring and the lid slides over the pan handle which makes it easy to hang them up on a pot rack. 

However, consumers who keep their cookware in cupboards have complained that the extended handles make them difficult to store because you cannot stack them. One customer found them easier to fit in a cupboard if he turned the lids upside down and placed them onto the pan.    

What people like about Circulon Contempo

People who own this cookware really like the design and finish of the pieces. Owners of the red set especially loved the colour and design. The bright red colour really adds to any kitchen, even if you don’t have any other red items. The handles are longer than conventional cookware and curved. They have a comfortable silicone grip making them easy to hold on to. The glass lids look good and make it easy to see what’s going on when you are cooking. The lids are nice and heavy with high grips making it easy to remove.

People who bought the Circulon Contempo range absolutely love cooking with them. The non-stick element is fantastic because it works; nothing sticks to them, not even scrambled eggs! One owner said that when cooking a salmon patty on a medium setting, she noticed that it cooked evenly and did not stick making cooking the salmon not only faster but the quality of her cooking much better.

Boiling rice is a good test for cookware. If the lids do not seal well then steam or water will seep from the side but the Circulon Contempo lids fit well so this did not happen. Also the silicon grips kept cool so that you could pick up a pan even if it had been on the boil for a long time. This is great if you are not a fan of using oven mitts.

One of the most popular pieces in the set is the straight sided pan, which is very versatile due to its increased depth. If you stir vigorously in a regular sauté pan then food can slop over the sides but with the straight up and down sides of the circulon contempo sauté pan this rarely happens.

 

My Rating: 7 out of 10

For everyday cooking, the Circulon Contempo set is ideal. You will either love or hate the handles but we like them. Sadly the minor storage issue and hollow handle flaw does mean that this product loses out on a 10 star rating.

If you found this review helpful then you should check out the following site which has reviews and news on different types of cookware: Saucepan Sets Headquarters.