Tefal Cook Smart by Jamie Oliver Frying Pan 28cm

After having a number of Jamie Oliver pans, this is the first stainless steel pan we have purchased. The design and quality of the pan are great. It does take some getting used to without a non-stick coating. The big advantage is that you can simply scrub it clean with cleaning agents. The heat distribution and cooking results are very good. I can definitely recommend the pan.

Coated pans (Teflon) work very well, which explains their popularity, but reports about the harmfulness of the coating (PFAS) make me a bit cautious and so I also look at pans with a different base. There are cast iron pans, which apart from being quite expensive are also very heavy. The disadvantage is that they no longer look good after a while. And then there are stainless steel pans, which with a bit of practice produce a very good result. The right temperature of the pan before you start baking is very important. By the way, you can easily determine the right temperature by putting a few drops of water in the clean pan, which should clearly dance like pearls of water over a smooth surface. Then the temperature is right. Then add the oil (butter or liquid baking butter burns very quickly!). A nice exercise to become skilled in baking with a stainless steel pan is baking eggs! If you succeed, you can bake anything with it. This pan distributes the heat well and reaches the right temperature fairly quickly. The strength of this pan for me really lies in frying or searing meat. I have fried the perfect steak from this pan. You can also put the pan in the oven to keep the contents warm. The maximum temperature is 250 degrees Celsius.

It is an attractively shaped pan. The sturdy, round handle feels good. I think it is a bit of a shame that the inner edge is not completely smooth. The handle is attached with two rivets drilled through the edge of the pan. It does feel nice and sturdy. There are nicer solutions where the handle is welded to the outside, which I prefer.

What exactly the 'Jamie Oliver' on the pan is supposed to be is not entirely clear to me. It says Jamie Oliver on the bottom and on the handle of the pan, so that must be it. Probably a good advertising term to achieve sales figures.

I also noticed that my other stainless steel frying pan, which has the same diameter, has more baking surface because the side is a bit steeper. The edge of the Jamie Oliver Tefal pan is a bit rounder. This probably makes it easier to turn the contents like a professional, but a steeper edge offers more space to fry larger pieces of meat. The pan is suitable for all heat sources.

Cleaning is quite easy. After frying, I rinse it immediately with hot water without soapy water, possibly with a green pan sponge and that's it. It can also go in the dishwasher, but I'm not a fan of that. After a while, the pan gets a kind of patina appearance on the baking surface with lots of small spots. This does not affect the frying process but does not look very nice. You can solve this by adding a little lemon juice or vinegar to the rinsing water, then the pan looks like new again.

Overall, I am pleased with this Jamie Oliver by Tefal Cook Smart stainless steel frying pan.

I wanted a pan without a coating and all that hassle, so it seems good to me.