Off to university? Start with these three pans for £99

A brief email this week, which you may be disappointed or relieved to hear.

We are currently up to our necks in the warehouse, courtesy of illness, holidays and being one person down, so I’m going to get rather more directly to the point than usual.

My chums at Kuhn Rikon have come to our rescue with a very suitable set of cookware for our Back to University offer.

John Margetts, of Kuhn Rikon, and I go back many years, to either the late 80s or early 90s, I don't recall exactly, when I first met him as Managing Director of their UK operation. We always got on extremely well, so I was delighted when, many years later, his son Edward joined the business. John has since retired, leaving Edward in charge, which, as it turns out, was a wise decision.

Kuhn Rikon’s great success with us of late has been their Culinary 5-Ply range, and quite rightly so. It is a high-quality range, comparable in many respects with Le Creuset 3-Ply, but at a rather more approachable price!

Today, however, I’m going a peg down from that to their Classic range. Although ‘Classic’ might sound like code for ‘basic’, it really isn’t. The pans have a reasonably substantial 5mm-thick aluminium base, enclosed in a 0.7mm stainless steel body. That is a good deal more aluminium than you would normally expect at this sort of price, where a 3mm base is more the norm.

And why does that matter?

Well, the base of a pan is where the heat comes in. If it spreads unevenly, (as thin bases tend to do) the food in the centre gets blasted whilst that on the outside is wondering when its turn is coming. In other words, you can end up with food burning in the middle while remaining undercooked around the edges. Which, unless you are particularly fond of culinary roulette, isn’t ideal. A good, thick aluminium base spreads the heat much more evenly, making the cooking easier to control and, importantly, giving you much more consistent and tastier results.

The three-piece set comprises a 16cm saucepan, a 20cm casserole and a 24cm frying pan, (the last non-stick coated). The other reason for the low prices are the phenolic handles. Cheaper to make than stainless steel they are nonetheless heat proof to 220 degrees C and are particularly comfortable. Bought separately, even with our current discount of 22%, these would come to £115, but for this weekend we’re offering the set at £99 using code KUHN16, or simply tell us who you are if you’re coming into the shops.

Whilst we’re on the subject of cookware, there are also two other rather good-value options.

One in the Classic range, a three-piece saucepan set, 16, 18 and 20cm, for £79, and an aluminium-bodied non-stick set from their Easy Induction range, again comprising 16, 18 and 20cm saucepans, also at £79.​

​Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better get back to the picking face before somebody notices that I’m sitting here writing emails while everyone else is actually doing some work.

Andrew

P.S. you will be sad to hear of the demise of last week’s fruit cake. ​ A friend turned up for tea, and would you believe she didn’t bring cake. ​ As a good host I, of course but with a heavy heart, felt bound to offer her a slice, (the penultimate one as it turned out!) of my Fortnum’s Fruit cake. ​ So, it is with deep regret that I must report, as Michael so aptly put it, my tin has given up its last crumb, the cupboard is laid bare, the well has run dry, and I am now falling back on the “old faithful”, Sainsburys rich iced fruit cake....