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I'm considering a set of stainless steel cookware from either AllClad or Inoxia

Both cookwares are made of 18/10 stainless steel but Inoxia states you can cook fat free in their cookware:

During the use of the cooking unit the heat accumulates in the high-thickness structure of the capsular base, which spreads it back gradually and uniformly inside the pot, so that foods can be cooked without water or fats addition.

Is this true for AllClad? (or any cookware made of 18/10 stainless steel with 5-ply construction?) Otherwise what is the technical feature allowing for the water/fat free cooking in Inoxia?

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    Fun anecdote. I once bought a stainless-steel frying pan that a serious review in a decent newspaper said was so good you could fry eggs in it without fat. I first tried to season it by heating it up for some time with just oil. When I was going to use it to fry something for the first time, I added some fat anyway, to be sure, before I put in the egg. Long story short, the brown crust that remained after scrubbing out the egg was hard as stone; I couldn't even scrape it off with a metal spoon. I had to throw the pan away.
    – Cerberus
    Aug 24, 2018 at 22:38

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I wouldn't believe this - it sounds like marketing hype to me. Stainless steel consistently sticks unless you add at least some small amount of fat. That's true of All-Clad or any number of other brands and pans using 18/10 or 18/8 stainless steel. This copy says nothing about any special non-stick surfacing that would explain the claim; it's nothing more than an aluminum pan with a topcoat of stainless.

Additionally, that page features a ton of other hyperbolic nonsense, like this gem:

With our Cooking System, described below, also thanks to the perfect fit of the lid to the pot that creates a natural hermetic seal, it is possible to cook at a lower temperature saving time and energy, without condiments addition and preserving both nutritional and organoleptic features of the foods. In short, foods are cooked more delicately in their own natural fluids, for more vitamins, less fats and less calories.

They're talking here about... braising. That's it. You can do this in just about any cookware with a lid. Someone went overboard with the marketing jargon here, and it's not even particularly well-written. Don't believe a word of it.

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    I would upvote more than once if I could. The hype is probably why it's not a mainstream brand but rather a direct sales/MLM. It wouldn't hold up in the retail market.
    – Cindy
    Aug 22, 2018 at 20:05
  • Their retailer actually posted these videos to show how the cookware performs waterless & oil free Is the technique used there called braising? There's nothing special about these pots then? (other than having thermometer lids)
    – Dan B
    Aug 25, 2018 at 10:59
  • @Dan all they're really doing in these videos is searing; yes, that can technically be done in any pan without adding water or oil, but the food is going to stick at least somewhat on bare stainless steel. The video doesn't show how they addressed that and there appears to be some residue left behind on the pan after cooking. I would continue to assert that there's nothing unique about these other than promotional hype.
    – logophobe
    Aug 30, 2018 at 14:50
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Any good-quality pan can do this, and All-Clads certainly qualify. So would a $30 All-Clad knock-off, as long as it has a thick aluminum or copper base and reasonably tight-fitting lid. Cookware salesmen often use this as a trick to make their pots seem special.

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  • Sorry, but this should be a comment.certainly not an answer.
    – Cindy
    Aug 22, 2018 at 21:40
  • The exact question, word-for-word, is "Is this true of All-Clad"? The answer is yes, and it is true of any other reasonably good quality pot. This directly answers the question, and adds useful information directly relevant to her situation. I am leaving this answer exactly as it is unless you can convince me otherwise with a more compelling argument.
    – Lee Daniel Crocker
    Aug 27, 2018 at 22:56

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