Five layers, two discounts, less ‘me’, more ‘we’

If you appreciate high-quality cookware at very reasonable prices, then I may have a treat for you this week, along with an apology.

But before I get to that, my attention was caught this week by a simple question posed by Julia Samuel in one of her weekly short videos. The title was this: “Does Fear Make Us Selfish?”

Before I’d had a chance to even think this through, my fear was that the answer would come back 'yes!'

I generally think of myself as a positive person who is inclined to see the good in a situation, and the good in people, so my gut reaction was interesting.

Was it that fear can make me retreat into myself?

Become preoccupied with my own safety, my own money, my own family, my own little patch of certainty?

In other words, the pressure that encourages a primitive instinct of 'me first'?

She, however, had another take on it, and that was our capacity to co-operate, possibly being one of the reasons we’ve survived as a species. We don’t have claws, we’re not particularly fast, and our babies are spectacularly helpless, for years, even decades (which made me chuckle). We survive because we look after each other.

She went on to observe that in a crisis we become extraordinarily cooperative.

And this made me think back to the pandemic. Faced with a threat that none of us could control, people also became more conscious of one another. We clapped for the NHS, checked on elderly neighbours, queued patiently, accepted restrictions for the sake of other people, and suddenly the wellbeing of complete strangers mattered.

It was an interesting reminder that perhaps fear doesn’t always make us selfish. Sometimes it reminds us that we’re all in the same boat.

So, to product.

And, reassuringly, unlike the pandemic, there is no need to queue for these.

Gefu Muovo Food Storage Bowl from £15.95

Coming first to Gefu, I owe you an apology. If you tried to buy one a few weeks ago, only to find we’d run out of stock very early Saturday morning (September 19th). Please accept my apologies. I didn’t anticipate the response, and clearly misjudged demand.

We have now had stock in and should be ok for this weekend. Naturally we’ll be repeating the offer if you want to take advantage of it.

This week we have 10% off on the product page, and you can take off a further 12% with code GEFU20 when buying two or more - which makes a total discount of 20.8% off the RRP!

Just tell us who you are if you're in the shops.

Kuhn Rikon Culinary FivePly

The treat I referred to earlier is because we currently have 20% off this excellent range of stainless-steel cookware, and this week we’re offering you even more.

Here’s what I said on its introduction, back in April 2025:

"As the name suggests, Culinary FivePly is five layers thick. Why five layers rather than the more usual three, like Le Creuset’s 3Ply?

 

​Well, they have chosen to use two different aluminium alloys in the sandwich, so it looks like this:

The overall thickness of the material is 3.2 mm​.

 

1. Outer Layer: Stainless steel (0.6 mm) which, I suspect, is also the magnetic layer, which is necessary for induction hobs to work. And I note, it’s a bit thicker than the inside layer (0.4mm), maybe to give enough mass for the magnetism to work and for the handle to be welded to.
2. Aluminium 1050 (0.7 mm): I think that this is as close as you get to just plain aluminium but probably recycled.
3. Aluminium 3003 (0.8 mm): This is unusual, because it contains 0.05-2.0% Copper and 0.7% Iron
4. Aluminium 1050 (0.7 mm): as in layer 2
5. Inner Layer: Stainless steel (0.4 mm)

​So, there you have it, a 5Ply sandwich with the centre aluminium core containing a small amount of copper and iron.

 

The copper is there to help heat spread (very important), although I’m surprised that such a small amount does anything, and the iron to give stability (not sure why that should be necessary though, given its stainless steel outer layers).

 

However odd the makeup is, it evidently works, because I’ve been using the 24cm uncoated frying pan* for about 5 or 6 weeks now and really can’t fault it. By that, I mean it spreads the heat well, which is important for even cooking results. And is particularly important for frying pans where the speed of heat spread becomes more important the bigger the pan gets.

 

To my surprise, I found frying eggs was a doddle. Using our induction hob, I’d get oil in the pan, hot, but NOT SMOKING** and fry them on a highish heat. I like them brown on the underside (much more flavour), and they hardly stuck at all. Even in my favourite Netherton they don’t come off the pan that easily.  So, very high marks to Kuhn Rikon for that result.

 

*There is a coated version for you if you want the easy life and don’t want to be trendy.
**Oil brought to a smoking pointing is unhealthy, potentially carcinogenic and is likely to burn your food.

 

According to Kuhn Rikon, the other features of these pans are as follows, with my comments beneath.

 

• "Very good and even heat distribution up to the rim."
  Excellent heat distribution, so important for cooking sauces and when using almost any size of frying pan.
• "Closed rim - suitable for dishwashers."
  Closed rim means that there’s no aluminium exposed so it can’t corrode.
• "High-quality, clean-lined, timeless design."
  I like the design and think it’s one of the best-looking ranges of cookware that we do.
• "Stay Cool handles for comfortable handling."
  Yes, they genuinely stay cool.
• "Ideal for aromatic searing at high temperatures." 
  Yes, but this does NOT apply to pieces with a non-stick coating.
• "Quick and easy to clean (no rivets, no attached base)"
  This is a real plus point. It does make cleaning the inside of the pan significantly easier.
• "Suitable for all hob types, including induction and solid fuel." 
  And Aga.
• "Oven-safe up to 240°C (caution: handle can get hot)"
  This is if used over a gas flame. Or put in the oven, sorry to state the obvious.
• "Available in various sizes."
  It’s already a wide range comprising Frying Pans (coated and uncoated), Saucepans, Casseroles (deep and shallow), Chef Pans and Woks (again, coated and uncoated).

​So, where does this sit in the hierarchy of the stainless-steel cookware ranges that we sell? My feel is that it’s at least equivalent to Le Creuset’s 3Ply in performance & quality and you might agree with me that aesthetically it’s better.

 

It also has a real heft to it, which I rather like. Quality you can feel as well as see.

 

And all of this, at a significant price advantage."

Which brings me back to where I started. “If you appreciate good cookware at a very reasonable price”.

So, the deal today is that we already have 20% off (which you will also see on many other sites).

However, use code FIVEPLY10 and get a further 10% off.

That's it for this week.

I hope you have a pleasant and peaceful weekend.

Andrew