Meet the Transformers of the Cookware World. Just Go with It

Every new “disruptor” in the cookware space wants to make the end all be all of cookware. Whether it’s Our Place’s the Always Pan, which wants to be the only pan you have, to any number of pretty-looking cookware brands, there’s no lack of pots, pans and what-have-you available at any given moment.

Proclamation Goods is a recently launched brand that makes two products — a pot and pan — that, with their powers combined, fit together to create a pseudo-Dutch oven. The combination of those products is sold as the Proclamation Duo, which includes either a stainless steel pot and pan with a single lid or a stainless steel pot and a carbon steel pan with a single lid. “You get a dozen cooking methods and zero clutter,” the Duo’s product description reads. That’s applicable to a lot of cookware, so we tested out the Duo to see if it’s worth the money.

Proclamation Goods

The Proclamation Duo

• $379.00 at proclamationgoods.com

What’s Good

Well-made, high-quality cookware: Independent of the brand’s claims about wanting to replace all of your cookware, Proclamation Goods’ pot and pan are, in and of themselves, great. I tested the stainless steel options, and they’re comparable to my All-Clad and Made In stainless steel pans. I experienced few to no hot spots, with excellent heating abilities and retention. Boiling a pot of water was quick in the pot, and throwing in cool-ish vegetables into boiling water barely affected the rolling boil.

Each took a beating against my old-school stove, scratched up by my worn-out stove grates, though their performance has yet to waver. Proclamation Goods makes its cookware in Wisconsin by an undisclosed family business.

Lifetime Warranty: Beat the shit out of your duo. Not only they withstand the high-heat atmosphere of the kitchen, but they’ll also last you basically forever if the warranty is to be believed. Besides the lifetime warranty, you have 30 days to give the Duo a test run, and if you don’t like it, you can return it for a full refund.

The pot is huge: Unlike a regular pot, Proclamation’s has sloped sides, giving it more of a wok vibe. So while you can easily get some soup going, you can pull off some gnarly stir fries — and a lot of it. The pot has a seven quart capacity and is basically a deeper version of the 12-inch skillet.

Proclamation Goods

What’s Not as Good

It’s huge: The Duo is ridiculously big. If you want to make yourself just a couple fried eggs, have fun lugging out the insanely heavy three-and-a-half pound skillet, which at 12 inches, is overkill for tiny tasks. Plus, storage is a pain, but again, if this is the only cookware you own, maybe that won’t be an issue. The cookware is insanely heavy, and is some of the heaviest I’ve ever tested. I could only give the pan a couple tosses before my forearm cramped, and carrying a pot filled with water from the sink to the stove made me contemplate joining a gym.

Most home cooks needs more than one pot and one pan: The Duo is not made for someone who already owns a lot of cookware. And you also can’t just get by with one pot and one pan, unless your favorite thing to Google is “one-pot meals” or “simple dinners.” Clutter is practically impossible to eliminate when cooking, and the only thing you can do about clutter is to manage it. To claim your pot-pan duo will result in “zero clutter” probably means you’re a dump-and-cook kind of chef.

The Dutch oven is gimmicky: Listen, if you really want a Dutch oven, go Staub, Le Creuset or something affordable like Lodge. Proclamation Goods’ pseudo-Dutch oven replicates the size of a Dutch oven without offering the cast-iron core or enameled surface. Plus, the handles of the pot and pan don’t really attach to each other — which images and marketing seemed to imply — as much as they rest against one another. Having the pan as a lid gives the pot a little more volume, but it’s not particularly useful.

Alternatives

All stainless steel cookware has to measure up to All-Clad, the progenitor of high-end bonded cookware. An All-Clad 12-inch frying pan with a lid ($130) and comparable six-quart sauté pan with lid ($190) come out cheaper than the Duo, and offer decades worth of experience in the stainless steel cookware game. It’s hard to justify taking a risk on a fairly new brand when All-Clad remains an excellent value. Proclamation Goods’ direct-to-consumer model should have brought the price down, especially when similar brands like Misen and Made In are able to offer high-performing stainless steel cookware that comes out cheaper than All-Clad and Proclamation.

Verdict

Proclamation Goods is a worthwhile brand of stainless steel cookware, but its price tag makes it hard to recommend. There are too many good stainless steel pots and pans for a more reasonable price to wholeheartedly say “go get this.” It doesn’t have the name recognition of All-Clad, and it’s not as affordable as competing direct-to-consumer cookware brands. If you manage to get your hands on Proclamation Goods’ Duo, you won’t be disappointed, but your wallet will be.

Price: $379+

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