Tucci Pan Review

Stanley Tucci has a set of cookware named after him that GreenPan sells. I’ve got these two pans:

I forget where they came from exactly, some silent auction or something, but I unboxed and started using them about 8 months ago.

I was so hyped the first few months!

• Ultra extremely non-stick
• Washing them with a soft sponge is nearly effortless because of how non-stick they are. Feels good, like I’m taking care of it correctly.
• The edges of the pan, with the steep angles, are perfect for that cool chef move where you toss/flip stuff in the pan with a wrist movement.
• Look nice

It’s my daily-driver pan. I’d say it’s used once a day, on average.

Then it looses it’s luster after a while.

I could scrub the bottom, but I just don’t care about that. The inside was more concerning. I hit up their customer support, as it’s not just the aesthetics that were dimming here, the pan really seems maybe half as nicely non-stick as it was 8 months ago, and cleaning it with non-abrasive techniques takes much longer.

They said:

Fill the pan halfway with water and bring it to a simmer for about 2 minutes. Pour out the water and place the pan on a safe sturdy surface. Carefully use a Melamine sponge (Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, our Restoring Sponge or any melamine sponge) and a little plain water on the warm surface to wipe away the food or stuck on oil.  This should do the trick.

Fair enough: that technique worked well to remove what they called “a layer of carbonized oil”.

I got it entirely clean with a bit of elbow grease. I’d say the pan performs 10% better after that. But it ain’t back to its former glory.

I highly suspect at the one-year mark the pan is basically gonna be toast.

So my review is: it’s an incredible pan for 6 months and a so-so pan for 6 months, then you’re done.

There is some kind of coating, and it’s way better than average, but it’s just not a forever thing. If you can stomach a few hundred bucks a year to replace it, go for it. Me, I’ve got some research to do on what to replace it with because I think I want a little longer longevity.

And yes, I’ve got a well-seasoned cast-iron I’ve used most of my life. That’s fine, but I wanna try other things. Specifically, less-honkin’ pans that are easier to handle.