Once discovered, completely captivated.
I just had to try out All-Clad’s triply stainless steel roasting pan. I had to.
And luckily, I was gifted with the opportunity.

At first, my curiosity surrounding the sheet was rooted in the price. Why on earth would a cookie sheet retail for $130? The price tag blew my mind.

However, the quality of All-Clad triply products in general, have always blown my mind as well, so this piece deserved a fair chance. You see, I adore my copper core “triply” pots and pans from All-Clad, so I assumed this would be no different.

Designed for versatility, the roasting sheet performs beautifully when baking and is strong enough to withstand high temperature roasting and broiling without warping. This kitchen staple features a flat surface, accommodating a variety of portions, a raised rim, containing fat or liquid emitted while cooking, and an angled grip for safe removal from the oven. From sweet cookies and buns to savory shrimp, crostini and vegetables, the roasting sheet is a practical addition to any kitchen.

Based on the claims, my curiosity led me to test the roasting sheet in a variety of ways. The items that were most important to me in the description were:

• high temperature capabilities without warping
• heat conductivity comparable to aluminum with consistency and even cooking
• ease of clean without staining
• non reactive

So often while in the kitchen I’ll hear the snap and pop of my other roasting pans warping in the oven AND I can’t count the number of times I’ve pulled from the oven over cooked and browned bottom cookies from one side of the sheet and doughy balls on the other. Oh, and of course, cleanliness is everything to me – so this had to pass the test in order for my stamp of approval.

Guess what – it did just that, and aced all the components of my tests with flying colors.

Nervous about the warping issue, I wanted to try a few things at high heat. I began with my Easy Artisan Bread recipe for two specific reasons – I needed 450 degrees of even and consistent baking. I must admit, though, I was leery of the heat conductivity of stainless steel. I need everything to be super hot and ready for the bread to turn out just so…
…so I preheated the roasting sheet for my first bread use.
It performed beautifully. The bread was exquisite – utterly phenomenal – I felt as though I was lifting the loaf from a wood burning oven in France. It was exceptional. Even cooking all around and no warping.

The next test was, again, for high heat and warping issues, but also to test the consistency of conductivity once more. I choose to crisp up prosciutto into chips. This requires extreme temperature consistency throughout the sheet, as the paper thin slices of pork are extremely delicate and will burn in a flash. Again, the sheet worked brilliantly and I was quite pleased with the raised rim to maintain the drippings  and the “comfort grip” of the handle-edge.

Somewhat of a cookie recipe came next. Just as in the previous two examples, I was testing the evenness of cooking and conductivity. Granted, I know my oven has hot spots, but I am aware of the exact locations of those fire balls, and am careful to strategically place things around them. These were no ordinary cookies I baked – savory and flourless – Spinach Garbanzo Peanut Puffs. Without much bulk to stand on, these fall into the delicate category as well. This time I did not preheat the pan, as I wanted the “dough” to begin somewhat cold before popping in the oven, in order to maintain the cloud like consistency of the “puffs.”

Wham bam…perfection once again. I was particularly pleased with the fact that all the bottoms browned evenly…well just “under browned.” That’s what I wanted, exactly.

The final test involved more of a test of the flat cooking surface and raised rim. I tossed some veggies in oil to roast, along with chicken breast.  I was crossing my fingers and hoping the contents would not stick and that I would not be left with a drippy mess of spillage all over the bottom of my oven.

The pan held up quite well. Quite.
The consistency was good and the roasting surface conducted enough heat for the crispy glaze and caramelization for which I was aiming. Good. Good. Good.

After all four tests, my raving review of All-Clad products remains strong.
The roasting pan has me singing.
And, while I continue to revel in the beauty of this baking gift, my only “half regrets” or encouraging critiques are:

• size: 10×14″ is just a little shy of my baking needs at times – I’d like to be able to slap a few more pillows of cookie dough on the sheet before baking away
• cleanliness: while the mirror polished stainless steel is much easier to clean than other types of sheet pans (and is dishwasher safe), it’s still not magic – and I fear stains will bake on in the future without the inevitable scratches that will ensue for removal
• color: I love the look of stainless steel, but did notice a slight discoloration in the steel after just four uses in the hot oven – a sign of love and good use, right?

Overall, well done All-Clad. I’ll be roasting up a storm in the near future.