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It&#;s hard to avoid Made In Cookware&#;s pop-up ads. Similar to Caraway and Misen, Made In cuts out retailers and sells directly to consumers. Made In has set itself up as a direct competitor with the pricey All-Clad. So curiosity piqued, I bought and tested three Made In pans (nonstick, stainless steel and carbon steel), and they proved to be a worthy and much less expensive alternate to All-Clad.
While I was testing Made In&#;s competitor Misen, it was impossible to avoid online reviews by culinary experts and publications that were almost across-the-board positive. Ninety-five percent of Made In&#;s consumers rate the cookware five stars. Celebrity chefs &#; like Tom Colicchio and Grant Achatz &#; partnering with cookware is certainly not unusual, since all of the cookware I&#;ve tested had at least one star chef attached.
What intrigued me the most was the number of high-end restaurants and hotels that supply their kitchens with Made In cookware. I could attribute this to Kalick and Malt&#;s savvy business skills and industry connections. But Made In cookware must be very well made and durable to withstand the daily rigors of a restaurant kitchen.
Made In also has an excellent online presence. Its expansive &#; and maybe a bit exhaustive &#; website is, by far, superior to Made In&#;s competitors. For almost every item sold, there is an accompanying video that shows the unboxing and the piece of cookware itself from every angle.
The website also has the most complete FAQs section I have ever seen &#; in fact, it has its own URL: https://madeincookware.zendesk.com/hc/en-us. Along with answering any possible question you might have, there are videos showing the manufacturing process for Made In&#;s cookware and knives. Made In&#;s blog &#; https://madeincookware.com/blogs &#; is chock-full of recipes, how-to guides, and inspirational stories about how chefs and restaurants survived the pandemic.
Digging deep into Made In&#;s background, I learned that Made In&#;s owners consider their main competitor to be All Clad, the revered stainless clad cookware that&#;s been around since . I checked out Made In&#;s extensive product line, and yes, its cookware is very similar, but it&#;s also half as expensive.
All of this, combined with Made In&#;s price point, I was interested to see if Made In was indeed equal to All-Clad or just another ripoff. I bought the 10&#; nonstick frying pan ($109), 10&#; blue carbon steel frying pan ($79), and 3-quart stainless clad saucier ($129), and put them to the test.
Made In&#;s 10&#; nonstick frying pan is manufactured in Italy and made of the brand&#;s same five-ply stainless clad as its signature cookware plus a double coating of non-toxic PTFE. It has a 10.5&#; overall diameter and 8.5&#; cooking surface. Its stay-cool aluminum handle measures 8&#; long and is attached to the pan with stainless-clad rivets. The handle is especially well designed to fit ergonomically in your hand with an indentation on the top for resting your thumb.
The pan weighs 2.5 pounds, which I found to be just slightly too heavy for flipping an omelet or fried egg. But I was impressed by how quickly the pan heated and retained heat at a medium-low flame. I didn&#;t find anything extraordinary about its nonstick coating, which seemed no different from other nonstick pans I&#;ve tested, and actually, Misen&#;s nonstick proved to be more nonsticky.
Made In&#;s nonstick pan always needed oil and butter for the nonstick to work. For example, I fried two eggs in the pan, cracking one onto melted butter, and then tilting the pan, so the opposite side had no butter, cracked the egg onto the no-butter side. The first egg released easily, but the second egg clung to the sides of the pan.
As expected, clean up was easy, and when the pan cooled, I wiped it clean with a sponge or paper towel. After my first use, I noticed scorch marks on the bottom of the pan, which increased every time I cooked with it. These marks cannot be scrubbed off, and since I did not have this problem with the stainless clad saucier I also tested, it might be a flaw with the stainless-ferrite bottom of this particular pan.
The nonstick pan is one of Made In&#;s most popular pans, and it&#;s certainly a very good pan, but I prefer Misen&#;s nonstick for cooking performance.
The Made In 10&#; blue carbon steel frying pan is manufactured in France and made of 99% iron and 1% carbon, which, surprisingly, makes a carbon steel pan significantly lighter than a cast-iron skillet. Made In&#;s carbon steel pan weighs only 3 pounds, only a half-pound heavier than the 10&#; nonstick pan. It has a cooking surface of 7.5&#; and is 2.5&#; deep with sharply flared sides.
Its 9&#; aluminum curved handle is attached through the pan with three rivets, and it has the same ergonomic design as the nonstick pan. The handle curves up to 4.5&#; above the bottom of the pan, and it gives the pan good balance and maneuverability.
A carbon steel pan always needs to be seasoned before its first use, and Made In&#;s procedure was remarkably simple. I bought Made In&#;s seasoning wax, which is not included with the purchase of the pan, a blend of beeswax, canola oil and grapeseed oil, both high smoke-point oils.
The carbon steel pan is shipped with a protective wax coating that needs to be washed off before seasoning. Then you apply a very thin layer of the seasoning wax and pop the pan upside down in a 450F oven for one hour and cool, and you&#;re ready to cook.
If you&#;ve never owned a carbon steel pan, you&#;ll need to get accustomed to its mottling after seasoning, which turns your once-pretty pan into a pretty-ugly pan. But the seasoning is necessary to keep the pan nonstick, and after prolonged use, the mottling and discoloration evens out. That said, my pan emerged from the oven with two large amoeba-shaped markings with white spots, and over a week&#;s testing, these weird marks remained intact.
The first thing I noticed was how quickly the carbon steel heated up over a medium flame &#; in about 30 seconds, maximum &#; much faster than my cast-iron skillet. With cast iron, I always find that the bottom heats up first and then the sides, but with the Made In carbon steel, the entire pan got hot; in fact, so hot that I had to lower the flame to medium-low. The pan&#;s retained heat made searing anything &#; from chicken thighs to salmon &#; super-fast.
I cooked a slab of salmon with just a dash of oil, and the skin-side browned and crisped perfectly and cooked the salmon mostly through. All I had to do was flip the flesh-side and cook it for a minute, and the filet was done. The salmon was my first test post-seasoning, and the flesh-side stuck a little bit, but the skin-side released instantly.
Over the week, I cooked dinner many times in the carbon steel pan, since it&#;s important to build up the seasoning, so I always added a small amount of oil or butter and kept the flame at medium to avoid burning what I cooked. I sauteed chicken, vegetables, and shrimp, and everything cooked evenly and quickly with little sticking.
By the end of the week, I thought the pan had been well-seasoned to attempt a skillet spanakopita. After sauteeing the spinach and other ingredients and wiping out the pan, I lightly brushed it with butter and began layering the phyllo and spinach mixture. I baked the spanakopita for about 20 minutes, and then the moment of anticipation of seeing how it released from the pan. The spanakopita slid right out onto the cutting board completely intact.
Before cleaning, you do need to let the pan cool, and then it can be washed. Since you don&#;t want to strip off the seasoning, the carbon steel should be washed with a sponge and never put into the dishwasher.
I enjoyed cooking with the carbon steel pan, which, for me, lived up to Made In&#;s marketing. Misen&#;s carbon steel pan also performed well, but it wasn&#;t great for a stir-fry because of its low sides and food spilled out. I had no such problem with the Made In carbon steel, and overall, I found its seasoning process and maintenance much easier. At only $79, the Made In carbon steel is, well, a steal for such a high-quality, high-performance pan.
The 5-ply stainless clad collection is Made In&#;s &#;bread and butter&#; and why the brand is so popular. It&#;s composed of a top layer of stainless steel, followed by two aluminum layers, then an aluminum alloy &#; magnesium and manganese are added for additional strength &#; and a magnetic ferritic-stainless steel bottom so the cookware can also be used on induction cooktops.
The 3-quart stainless saucier measures 10&#; in diameter with a 7&#; diameter cooking surface. It&#;s 4&#; deep with slightly sloping sides, and its 8&#; handle, attached through the pan with stainless rivets, has the same design as the nonstick pan. It weighs 3.7 pounds, which gives it some heft for what is essentially an oversized saucepan (a stainless lid is included).
It took me a few tries before I figured out how to use the saucier and what can and cannot be done with it. My first attempt was sauteing vegetables as the base for a marinara. As with the other Made In pans I tested, the saucier heated up fast and evenly, and I needed to lower the flame from medium to medium-low to avoid burning the vegetables.
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In fact, the saucier got too hot, and even with a couple of tablespoons of oil, the vegetables stuck to the bottom. Once deglazed, though, and the other ingredients added, by lowering the heat, everything simmered nicely with no more sticking.
So, lesson learned, I next sauteed mushrooms, onions, and garlic for a Thai red curry, using a little more oil than I normally would, and kept the flame low. I had better results with minimal sticking. Deglazed with coconut milk, the curry simmered, and because of the saucier&#;s width and height, it reduced beautifully.
I found other uses for the saucier &#; boiling water for a two-person portion of pasta, rapidly cooking grains &#; and I came to the conclusion that I could easily ditch my several other saucepans and just use the Made In saucier instead. I&#;ve never been a big fan of stainless cookware because it can be a pain to clean and maintain its gleam. Cleaning the saucier was stress-free by simply soaking it in soapy water and washing with a sponge.
One thing I noticed after washing the saucier for the first time is that small white spots had appeared and couldn&#;t be scrubbed off. Made In&#;s website says this common issue is from calcium in water and recommends boiling vinegar and water together to remove them.
Obviously, that&#;s a minor quibble, because once I got the hang of cooking with it, the saucier became my favorite Made In pan I tested.
The stainless clad collection is sold in a 6-piece set, 10-piece set, and 13-piece set. Individual pieces are also sold separately:
The carbon steel collection is made of 99% iron and 1% carbon. It&#;s sold in a three-piece set, which includes a 12&#; frying pan, wok, and roasting pan. Individual pieces are:
The non stick collection is made of five-layer stainless clad with two layers of non-toxic, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) coating. This collection is sold in a seven-piece set or each piece is sold individually.
The copper collection is made of 90% copper and 10% stainless steel. It&#;s available in a three-piece set or each piece is sold individually.
All Made In knives are forged in Thiers, France by a fifth generation bladesmith. The collection includes:
Also available are four-piece knife sets &#; chef&#;s knife, nakiri knife, paring knife, bread knife &#; with red, black, or olive wood handles.
Made In&#;s extensive product line also includes:
Made In&#;s co-founders Chip Malt and Jake Kalick have been best friends since childhood. In , Malt was the vice president of marketing and analytics for Rhone apparel, and e-commerce marketing was his forte. Seeing the rise of direct-to-consumer home goods, at the time, he recognized that there were no direct-to-consumer kitchen tools.
Malt put in a call to Kalick &#; whose family had been in the kitchen supply business for almost 100 years &#; about creating a cookware brand sold to consumers via the internet. Kalick jumped onboard, and Made In was launched in . Malt and Kalick secured funding from investors and began manufacturing stainless clad pots and pans.
Since that initial funding, Made In has raised $8.3 million for continued expansion. By eliminating resellers, distributors, and retailers, Made In uses its financial resources to source raw materials and closely vet manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe.
The quality of Made In&#;s products impressed the executive chef of Encore Boston Harbor, and he chose Made In to supply the Encore&#;s 16 kitchens and casino. Other top restaurants and hotels followed suit, and Made In can be found in the kitchens at Four Seasons Hotels, Equinox Hotels, and 16 Michelin-starred restaurants, including Alinea and Le Bernardin.
Unlike Made In&#;s competition, Misen, which manufactures in China, Made In&#;s ever-growing product line is made in the U.S., Italy, England, and France.
In fact, the most notable difference between the two companies is that Made In is completely transparent about where and how products are manufactured. Misen, on the other hand, obfuscates its Chinese connection, and although I really liked the pans I tested and reviewed, Misen&#;&#;s secrecy bothered me.
Here is where Made In products are made:
Made In positions itself as a direct competitor to All Clad, one of the most famous and long-established manufacturers of bonded stainless steel cookware in the world. The product lines of the two companies overlap, but since All Clad&#;s been in business far longer, it has more variety to the types of metals used in its cookware. All Clad, however, does not have a carbon steel collection, and with its seven carbon steel pieces, Made In has an edge over All Clad.
Both Made In and All Clad&#;s stainless cookware is made from the same high-grade and durable 18/10 stainless steel and, other than a few design differences, basically share the same quality construction. The majority of All Clad&#;s product line is made in the US; but its nonstick collection and stainless lids are made in China.
Made In markets itself as a less-expensive (&#;honest&#; as it says on their website) alternative to All Clad, and it&#;s true. For example, Made In&#;s 10&#; nonstick frying pan is $109, All Clad&#;s is $190. The huge difference in pricing is between the two stainless sets. Made In&#;s 13-piece set is $899, while All Clad&#;s 14-piece set is a whopping $1,499.
As I mentioned earlier, Misen &#; another direct-to-consumer competitor &#; offers quality stainless steel, carbon steel, and nonstick cookware at even cheaper prices. The 12-piece stainless set is only $475, and the 10-inch nonstick is $65. Misen is frequently compared to Made In and All Clad, and it usually wins out because it&#;s so affordable.
The three Made In pans I tested for a week-plus were clearly very well made and designed for both the home cook and the restaurant chef. They were easy to work with, easy to clean, and pretty much across-the-board, gave me restaurant-quality results. The pans seemed durable and will probably last longer than the cheapo pans you usually have to replace after a couple of years.
To be clear, Made In cookware isn&#;t inexpensive, but it&#;s definitely at least half the price than its main competitor All Clad. All Clad has more variety &#; after all, it has been around since &#; but in comparing Made In&#;s quality to All Clad&#;s, there&#;s not much difference, except for All Clad&#;s &#; particularly the 5-ply clad stainless &#; exorbitant price.
If you&#;re looking to replace your cookware, Made In has several sets of each collection, ranging in price from $309 (3-piece carbon steel set) to $1,199 (3-piece copper set). For a complete overall, Made In&#;s 121-piece Curated Kitchen Set &#; which includes stainless, carbon steel, nonstick, bakeware, knives, and dinnerware &#; has a price tag of $2,499, but it really is everything but the kitchen sink.
If you&#;re not ready for an investment, then I do recommend trying one or more of the pans I tested to see if they&#;re right for you.
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