I Tried the Always Pan and Perfect Pot
Selena Gomez loves them, but will I?
For years, I have been seeing internet ads pop up for the Always Pan — that ultra-expensive kitchen cookware that would make Marie Kondo proud with its promise to replace all your cookery clutter with one simple pan.
That Marie Kondo reference is perfect because my two cast-iron skillets were no longer bringing me joy. No matter how I seasoned the pan, everything seemed to stick and they were massively heavy for my undertoned upper arms to hold up.
For a while now, I have longingly admired the Always Pan — its sleek design and fashionable colors made it look like it should be displayed at the MoMA. The company, always at the forefront of social media, has just introduced a collaboration with Selena Gomez, making it an ultimate millennial culinary tool.
Not easily influenced by endorsements, I was nevertheless intrugued. I watched as influencers slid cooked eggs off the pan into the plate. I wanted to make eggs that perfectly.
I finally ordered the pan, along with its sibling, the Always Pot, hoping to bring all my old, mismatched cookery to my local community box.
In this day and age of Amazon’s same-day delivery services, the Always Pan and Pot took a frustratingly long time to arrive — almost two weeks. They arrived in packaging that looked almost like hat boxes that were so pretty the company suggests resuing them as storage or for crafts.
Out of an array of colors that range from a salmon hue called “spice” to the two new Selena Gomez-approved colors (rosa and azul), I chose the neon green “acid”. The color is so bright it almost hurt my eyes at first. The pan came with a cleaning loofah, a removable steamer pan, a wooden spatula that fits onto a notch on the handle, and a matching lid. The Perfect Pot also arrived with a roasting pan, beechwood spoon, and a cleaning loofah.
The set is so stylish, I would bet that people just buy them as display pieces. If I were staging a house, I would get rid of everything in the kitchen and leave only these two pieces of cookware around. But would these beauties actually do the job?
I decided to try them out with five messy meals: scrambled eggs and cheese, pasta marinara, braised beef, an omelet, and chili.
The cookware comes with a few instructions: Always use some sort of cooking oil (avocado, EVOO, and clarified butter are suggested), don’t cook on high heat (low and medium are suggested), and clean with a light touch (no scrubbing). It should be noted that, while the pot is oven safe, the pan is not.
I started out by making scrambled eggs with cheese. At first use, the pan gave off a faint chemical scent, which went away after a few minutes. That was odd since the company touts that the pans have a nontoxic, nonstick ceramic coating made without potentially toxic materials like PFOAs, PTFEs, other PFAs, lead, cadmium, toxic metals, and nanoparticles.
The eggs came out perfectly, and cleanup consisted of a rinse of soapy water and a slight pat dry. To up the ante, I attempted an omelet. The last time I made an omelet, it was charred on one side, raw in the middle, and stuck to the pan. My first attempt with the Always Pan yielded the omelet of my dreams. All kidding aside, after the initial joy of seeing how this omelet turned out, my second knee-jerk reaction was to update my Tinder account so I could find someone to make breakfast for.
Next, was chili in the pot. I started by browning the meat in the pot, adding tomatoes, peppers, and beans, and letting it simmer for about 40 minutes. The pot looked brand new after spooning out the chili and rinsing it. Braising meat and making marinara proved to also be an easy task for both pot and pan.
I purchased the pot and pan on sale for $225 as a bundle. Normally, the Always Pan retails for $145 and the Perfect Pot sells for $165. In hindsight, if you have a good Le Cruset, you might be able to forego the Perfect Pot — but the pan is worth every penny. (For the record, this is not sponsored content.) So far, I’ve made eggs every morning for breakfast, steamed frozen pierogies, and even cooked for my 16-year-old Chihuahua.
The two pieces of cookware are cheery in color and modern in form. The ceramic coating is as slick as a greased piglet. Most of all, the Always Pan has allowed me to rekindle my love affair with the omelet. And, yes, I will be driving all my old cookware to the community box with the exception of my small cast iron skillet. That one is replacing my Louisville Slugger under my bed for protection.
Does it work on an induction stove?