There’s more going on beneath the surface of All-Clad’s latest line
The new d3 Armor cookware has a triple-ply stainless steel cooking surface with small bumps that are bonded with the middle layer to allow for stick-resistant cooking and easier cooking of more delicate foods.
Bill Groll, All-Clad vice president of development, displays several pieces from the new d3 Armor cookware line. The d3 Armor provides a patented core technology for a stick-resistant cooking surface.
CANONSBURG – On its surface, All-Clad Metalcrafters’ latest cookware creation is different.
But the man who created it quickly notes there’s a lot more going on underneath the unique bubbled surface that creates a better cooking experience for delicate foods such as vegetables and fish.
It’s also a first-of-its-kind product that Bill Groll, All-Clad’s vice president of product development, said will help the company with the creation of other innovative products in the years to come.
All-Clad’s patented process for the new d3 Armor line uses the company’s classic two layers of stainless steel and another of aluminum. While that’s been a winning characteristic of most All-Clad cookware, the stainless steel cooking surface of the d3 Armor line receives a bonded matrix of uniformly raised dots that enable the food to rest just above the heated surface, where it cooks at a slightly cooler temperature.
That positioning creates two advantages over other conventional types of cookware, Groll said.
“It transfers energy up to the food, but the intensity (of the heat) is more evenly distributed,” he said.
“There’s less chance of overheating. It’s a different thermal behavior than you’ll find with any other product in the market.”
That’s a plus for foods such as onions or mushrooms that are being sautéed, or a piece of fish that needs to be cooked through without becoming mushy.
The other advantage, as the packaging for the d3 Armor line notes, is that the raised, dotted surface provides “better release” of the cooked food from the pan, making for easier clean-up.
Groll noted that the new line – which includes 8-, 10- and 12-inch fry pans; a 3-quart sauté pan with lid; and a 12-inch oval fish pan – was in development for about five years.
The initial product release went exclusively to cookware retailer Williams-Sonoma, which is All-Clad’s biggest customer. Groll said the line eventually will be sold by other retailers.
In addition to working through the scientific details of the design, the company did significant field testing of the product in the home kitchens of many All-Clad employees, as well as with a cadre of celebrity chefs around the country who act as the company’s “brand ambassadors.”
“They use it, evaluate it” in their kitchens in actual working conditions, “and we really value the experiential feedback,” he said.
“All of the science is good, useful information, but at the end of the day, when pros have it in their hands, they come back with very valuable feedback.”
Needless to say, the home and commercial test markets gave the line a big thumbs-up, and Groll said the early reports from Williams-Sonoma indicate a winning entry.
While the d3 Armor line represents a new approach in terms of its cooking surface, Groll noted that the product builds upon All-Clad’s legacy tri-ply metal construction that dates to its founder John Ulam, who created the first commercial pots and pans with his bonded metals process in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
“That’s part of the brand DNA,” Groll said, adding that the latest line’s new take on the process promises to deliver “a full pipeline of products.”
Groll, who has worked for All-Clad since 1980 in a variety of positions, said All-Clad’s latest offering arrives as a result of the company’s marketing department staying current with the latest things happening in the kitchen.
“We have to follow where the food trends are going. We have to evolve and change.”