Stoned Again! (The Pampered Chef Stoneware)

Name: wendybull

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Product:	The Pampered Chef Stoneware
Date:	06/11/06 (7476 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Retains heat, does not need extra fat/oil.

Disadvantages: Retains heat! 9can burn easily) and the weight is very heavy.

Having been to a couple of Pampered Chef parties lately I have managed to increase my collection of Stoneware quite well.

--What is Stoneware?—

Stoneware is a range of kitchen products like baking trays and pizza stones, only sold through The Pampered Chef, that are made using a natural lead-free clay. The result is a range of baking products that will cook your food exceptionally well by allowing the heat to distribute evenly over the piece of Stoneware and allowing you to use less or no added fat/oil as the surface becomes non-stick the more you use it. This is called ”seasoning” and I will cover how to do that later.

You can get a wide variety of Stoneware products now including Muffin Pans, Loaf Pans, Deep Dish Bakers, Pizza Stones & Fluted Pans. This is just a small selection of the product range and I personally own the large Rectangular Baker, The Pizza Stone and the Small Bar pan. I will explain their uses later as well.

The Pampered Chef claim that no piece of Stoneware will be exactly alike, due to them being made from the clay I think but they do promise that you will have success with your cooking in these and therefore offer a three year guarantee on every piece, allowing you the peace of mind to try it and see what you think. The Pampered Chef will also replace like for like if your item breaks whilst in the guarantee period.

--What do you do then?—

Well, when you first get your product, (I will refer to the Baker for the purposes of this review as this is the item I have had the longest and therefore the most experience with), it comes as a kind of sand coloured item. It is exceptionally rough to the touch, almost like pumice stone, and I held it as little as possible as it really did not feel nice, similar to nails on blackboard kind of feeling! You are advised to cook something with a high fat content for the first two or three times you use the baker. For instance a pastry dish, sausage rolls are a good one, or maybe croissants. This is so that the natural oils in the dish will begin the “seasoning” process.

The more you use your piece the more “seasoned” it becomes. It changes colour from the sandy pale colour I mentioned earlier to a dark brown. Mine is currently dark brown all round the sides and edges and a cross between dark brown and sandy on the base. It becomes smoother and nowhere near as rough as it is when it is new. Mine is now becoming a lot smoother although I would be happier if it hurried up and became like the one the representative had. For an idea of how long this process takes, I have had my baker since mid July and used it on average 3 times a week – therefore around 36 meals to get a pretty well seasoned state.

When cooking for the first few times, you can add a small spray of additional oil, Fry Light for example, but once the pan has become seasoned you will not need to add any extra oil/fat as it gets more and more non-stick. This does sound hard to believe but I have cooked roast potatoes in mine, straight from the saucepan to the baker, then just adding a small spray of oil to the tops for crunchiness. They have never stuck to the bottom of the pan, as roasties are prone to do!

--How do you look after it?—

This is the strange bit. You do not wash the Stoneware up in the sink using washing up liquid as you would with everything else. It is not dishwasher safe either. To clean it you use the nylon scraper that comes with the product. Basically once it has cooled down (takes a while as it really retains the heat) you scrape any food left over on the base, straight into the bin. Then you simply wash it with hot water and a sponge. I have occasionally used a very small squirt of washing up liquid on the sponge if the food I have been cooking is particularly greasy but other than that I just use hot water as stated.

I initially thought this would not clean the baker very well at all considering the kinds of food I was cooking in it but I was amazingly surprised at the way it works. This is all part of the seasoning process and if you constantly clean it in washing up liquid it will pull out the natural oils the baker retains and lose it’s non-stickiness. I thought it would leave the baker greasy and stained but not at all. The colour changes anyway so this is not a problem and you can feel it is not greasy just by running your fingers over a dry piece. Smooth but not greasy. I was concerned at first that the colour change was just food staining and sinking into the clay surface but the representative assured me this is normal and is what happens when the product becomes seasoned and ready for everyday cooking. It doesn’t retain any smells from foods cooked in them either.

You mustn’t pre-heat the stoneware items, as they can be prone to crack or break due to the extreme temperature changes. For instance if you are cooking a roast, do not heat up the pan first, just heat the oven and put the pan in cold. This even goes for Yorkshire Puddings, if you can believe it. I know someone who cooks her Yorkshire’s from scratch in her Muffin Pan and she does NOT heat the oil first. She simply spoons in the batter and pops into the oven COLD. They do not stick or flop and she makes lovely Yorkshires this way.

--Other Stuff—

The Stoneware range is very heavy due to the substance it is made from and this has been one of the things I have had to adjust to. I was used to using metal pans, which are pretty light when lifting from the oven but the Stoneware is much heavier and therefore you will need a good grip when taking it out of the oven. This in turn means you will need to invest in some strong oven gloves as the Stoneware gets exceptionally hot and as you will need a firmer grip of the product you may well be burnt if you don’t have thick ovenproof gloves. The fact that it retains the heat so well is an advantage though as it keeps food warm if you are going back for seconds!

You can put these into the fridge or freezer although personally I would find them too big for mine. You must however make sure that they are at room temperature before you put them into the fridge or freezer due to maintaining the temperature level.

If you wanted to order anything the website page to contact a representative is located here http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/info/requ est.jsp but if you just want to look at the website itself the link is here http://www.pamperedchef.com/

--My Experience—

I love my stoneware items now. I was a little unconvinced when I first got them, but this was mainly due to the seemingly unfinished way they arrive. You expect your bake ware to be smooth and polished, if you are not using metal but these are simply glazed clay products and not in the same league as the stoneware. Once you begin to get a really seasoned edge to your baking dish or other items it will become a really classic and much used item in your cooking selection. I now use my baker for pretty much everything, from roast meats, which come out succulent and delicious, right down to chips and sausage rolls.

I also have the pizza stone, which is a new addition, but I have experienced a pizza cooked on this and the base is soft on the inside and just a right amount of crusty edge. I thought it would take a lot longer to cook things in these bakers but I have been told and found it to be true, that it will take no longer on an item of food such as a roast dinner (meat & potatoes) but if it would normally take just a couple more minutes in the stoneware for something that would normally take just 10-15 minutes to cook. I didn’t want to keep using the large baker for small things like chicken breasts so I also purchased the small bar pan, which makes things much easier if you are only cooking small amounts.

The only off-putting thing about the Stoneware range is the price. I paid £39 for my large baker and £17 for my pizza stone. This does seem a lot for what you are getting but they should last for years if you look after them properly and also if you host a Pampered Chef show you can end up with some fabulous discounts and free products which is a great way to get some of the more expensive items you want.

Overall I heartily recommend this Stoneware range and have found it has improved my cooking no end, allowing me to leave it alone to cook. You don’t need to turn food during cooking as it cooks really evenly and this frees me up to do other things while dinner is seeing to itself.

Anyone want a sausage roll?

Summary: RECOMMENDED. x