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If you ever doubted that a pan could go viral, Our Place has been here to prove you wrong time and time again. And now, with the second release of the Cast Iron Always Pan, it's here to do it once more. So highly anticipated its first launch sold out in just twenty minutes online, the Cast Iron Always Pan is one of the hottest cookware drops this year.
While most of its features are consistent with the original Always Pan that gave Our Place its name (the pastel colours, the 8-in-1 functionality), the cast iron material adds a whole new element to the mix. Best suited to meats (especially chicken or steak) thanks to its ability to brown whatever you’re cooking without having to worry about the impact it’ll have on your non-stick ceramic coating, it’s ideal for trying to replicate summer barbeque style food without the faff of having to clean an entire grill afterwards. Unlike the original Always Pan, it can also go in the oven at up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning you can cook everything from frittatas to shakshuka without having to wash up two pans afterwards, or risk spoiling the dish as you transfer it from one to the other.
The real selling point for us? Thanks to the six different shades available, this is a cast iron pan that actually looks good on your table in true Our Place style. If there was ever a moment to drop everything and invest in a kitchen utensil, this is it. But before you do, we’ve summarised a few bits of key information that might help your decision.
Cast iron pans tend to have a reputation for being used by the more serious chefs among us, which does make sense as they're usually a bit more of an investment. If you’re committed to your home cooking however, you’ll start to notice a difference in the kind of food you can cook almost immediately. The most obvious advantage is how non-stick they are, meaning that not only do you not need to use as much oil (a healthy move) but you'll also spend far less time scrubbing or soaking your pan afterwards to try and clean it up.
Cast iron’s main talent is sautéing, something which it is particularly effective at, but because it can go in the oven, the scope of what you can cook with them is also much wider than with just a normal non-stick pan. And while we'd normally say a big downside is the seasoning process you sometimes have to go through to make sure your pan doesn't rust, Our Place’s ‘no seasoning needed’ design means you need not even worry about that hassle.
While we haven’t managed to get our hands on the cast-iron Always Pan just yet (although rest assured our order has just been placed) we’ve been using the original Always Pan for the better part of the past year. If you've not yet delved into the Our Place hype, then it's the perfect place to start.
Aesthetics aside, it's the ‘8-in-1’ feature of the pans which Our Place is best known for, and we'd have to say this is where its strengths really lie. The idea is simple, it's been designed not just to replace your frying pan, but to also substitute for seven other kitchen utensils; the skillet, saute pan, braiser, griddle, roaster, baking dish, spatula and spoon rest. When something spreads itself so thin, we'd normally be a bit sceptical about how well it can actually perform each task, but we'd go as far as to say the Always Pan has done them all better than the single-purpose items we were relying on before.
Our conclusion? The Our Place Always Pan is well worth the money. Not only does it make your kitchen instantly look more aesthetic (Millenials this is for you), but it’s given us scope to take our cooking in new directions. Unlike the pan we used to use, it distributes heat far more evenly, responds well to our gas hob, and is incredibly easy to clean thanks to just how good the non-stick functionality is.
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