Epicurious Cookware Set is a non stick cookware targeted at the budget orientated. Their test kitchen suposedly tested all of the cookware to ensure that home cook get the best performance available. For those who do not know, Epicurious is a website devoted to food, recipe, etc.. They were started by the parent combina Conde Nast. Who also happens to own Bon Appetite. Having said that, is what they say really true? How does their cookware fare? What about performance? This review will take a closer look at the design and features of the cookware set.

Epicurious Cookware Set Quick Summary

Categories	Epicurious Copper Cookware Set
Performance	Acceptable
Compatibility	Gas, Electric, Halogen, Glass Top, Induction
Oven Temp Safe	350 Degree Fahrenheit
Colors	Copper and Other Color including Hard Anodized
Warranty	Lifetime
Brand Awareness	America
Country of Manufacturer	Unclear, maybe China
Thoughts	A budget oriented cookware. There are various cost cutting measure like the handle and the belly design. But overall, it does not impact cooking. You should be able to cook whatever you need to. Not a bad value for a hundred dollar.
Reviewed Cookware	Epicurious 11 Piece Copper Cookware Set

Non Stick Health and Safety Information

Epicurious Cookware Set uses a Teflon non stick coating. There is a lot of misconception about the dangers of Teflon. Most people are worried about the pan when it starts flaking off. However, since Teflon is chemically inert, it will past through your body without any issues.

What is bad is heating it up fast 500 degree Fahrenheit. At that temperature, two things happen.

1) The Teflon coating will start to deteriorate quickly.

2) Noxious gas will start to get released. This will cause a phenomenon called as Teflon Flu. User will basically symptoms similar to the flu. Ironically, overheating the pan is more common than actually ingesting the non stick coating.

Here is a quick way to prevent it from overheating. Simply just add oil to a cold pan. You can heat it up after. If you see smoke coming from the oil, you are past the optimal cooking temperature.

Epicurious Cookware Set Review

This section will go through the various aspect of the cookware. We will discuss the handle design, performance, shape and construction.

Handle

The handle is cheaply made with silicone to keep it cool. If you look at the actual metal portion of the handle, the metal there is extremely thin. The silicone is what makes the bulk of the handle. However, this does not necessarily mean that its uncomfortable. Its quite the opposite, the soft silicone contours to the shape of your hand. It also does not conduct heat well, meaning that it will stay cool. It will also give you superior grip even if your hand is greasy.

The major issue with these type of handle is the oven safe temperature. For this cookware, the oven safe temperature is only 350 degree Fahrenheit. If you go higher than that, the handle will probably melt.

Shape

You can see more of the cost cutting measure in their cookware shape. The skillets is a traditional french skillet design. It looks the same as almost all non stick skillet. No rolled lip and geared more cheap manufacturing. This type of design can be made quickly and easily with a hydraulic press. All they need to do is stamp it out.

The pots shape shows more of the manufacturing cost saving measure. If you look at the center, almost all the pot has a belly. This lets you increase the capacity of the liquid, without using additional metal. On a traditional pot, the diameter will the same from the base to the rim. While the belly shape works, it can still get a little annoying. When you scrape the pot, you have to contour the spatula to its shape.

Epicurious Cookware Set Pieces

Marketers love to count lid as a piece. So in reality, you are not really get 11 cookware. But rather 7 cookware, with 4 additional accessories. What is included in the set is two frying pan, one saute pan, two pots and one dutch oven. Enough to accommodate any cooking task.

Lid

The lid is made of glass with a metal rim. While glass lets you peer into the food while cooking, it will steam up rendering it pointless. An all metal design would last longer. They tried to circumvent shattering by adding a metal rim, but it will never be as durable as an all metal design.

Epicurious Copper Cookware Set and Color

It’s just paint not actual copper. You will not get any sort of heat transfer properties of copper. All the colors from their cookware set looks to be finished with some sort of lacquer. This gives it a shiny appearance. Pitting can and will occur if you mishandle it. This is evident by some user reviews on Amazon.

Construction

Epicurious Cookware Set is made mostly of aluminum. Aluminum has excellent heat transfer properties and its cheap to boot. For that reason, almost all non stick cookware is made with aluminum. The interior is made with Teflon coating. According to one seller, the non stick coating is made by Eclipse from the Whitford company. While the exterior is most covered in paint. The bottom is still bare steel. This does two thing, it makes it induction compatible and it also extend the life of the pan. If the bottom was painted, the coating will simply not last.

Durability

Durability is a major issue with all non stick cookware. Once the Teflon goes, so does the pan. Because of this, I never recommend buying high end nonstick cookware. They will typically last one or two year before a replacement is needed. These pan do have a lifetime warranty but in my experience, most manufacturer deny you base on mishandling. It will also cost you just as much as a new to to ship it in. You might as well just buy a new one.

Epicurious Cookware Set Thoughts

Epicurious Cookware Set is designed to be affordable and the construction shows it. There are quite a bit of cost cutting measure, but that does not really impact cooking performance. For 11 piece set, you can expect to pay around 100 dollar. This is in the price range of most consumer and it should let you cook whatever you want.

I hope you like this Epicurious Cookware Set Review, If you would like to see more, please visit our Pots and Pans Review page.