There are few celebrity-endorsed products I've looked forward to as much as the GreenPan x Stanley Tucci range. The range finally dropped in the UK at Fortnum and Mason's this week and I was lucky enough to take the new 33cm Stanley Pan, the crown jewel at the heart of the new collection, for a test drive.
I need to kick this off by saying that my partner and I are serious Stanley Tucci fans (honestly who isn't). Like most fans, his show Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy made us fall hard for the actor, turned foodie aficionado. Since then I have stalked his kitchen on Instagram so I was overjoyed to get the chance to use a piece of cookware he had helped create.
However, I completely understand that if you're not a fan, you will rightly wonder why you would spend £199.95 on a celebrity-endorsed pan? Even for me, a super fan, shelling out £199.95 at the luxury department store, Fortnum & Mason, is a lot to buy into the Stanley Tucci lifestyle.
As a serious foodie, I have a passion for investing in good-quality cookware, and the best pans that will last. So I put the Stanley Pan through its paces, from cooking up a birthday dinner party feast to making an omelette, to see if it lived up to the hype
GreenPan x Stanley Tucci 33cm Stanley Pan
Product Specs
- Size: 33cm
- Capacity: 6 litres
- Weight: 3.89Kg
- Cooking source: Gas, electric and induction
- Oven and grill safe: Pan up to 315C lid up to 218C
First impressions
This is a drop-dead gorgeous pan, it even made my partner gasp when he saw it. I was testing the Stanley Pan in Venetian green a gorgeously rich shade that looks incredible with the gold handles. The pan is also available in Carra white, Milano black and Stainless Steel.
From the get-go, the Stanley Tucci collaboration was hammered home. You will find 'Tucci' stamped on everything from the wrapping paper to the panhandle. However, it is all done in an elegant way that reads as attention to detail rather than over-the-top branding.
It is a heavy pan compared to others I've used, but it feels incredibly well-made. On seeing the pan it looks expensive, but it does also look like a pan made for cooking fans as the looks don't come at the expense of its useability. It uses a clear lid that is perfect for keeping an eye on your food. The handles are also strong and sturdy with no fussy extras that might show more wear over time.
A bonus was that it came with a pan protector to keep your pan safe when stacking it. It feels like careful thought has been put into making this a pan that will last.
Cooking
The Stanley Pan makes some bold claims on the cooking ability front. It claims that the PFAS-free ceramic nonstick coating has been infused with layers of diamonds for incredible heat transfer and durability. This basically means it should heat up very quickly, and cook your food evenly.
It does heat up fast for a very large pan that dwarfed my cooker. It came up to temperature at about the same time as my small tefal pancake pan, which is pretty impressive. It passed the cooking the omelette test easily, it cooked quickly, and evenly and slid out of the pan will no effort.
When testing it out on a batch of burgers it helped me nail that crispy pan-fried finish. The completely flat bottom means the pan doesn't wobble and maintains perfect contact with the pan at all times.
As a large pan, I had to put it through a dinner party test. As it was made in Italy and inspired by Stanley's love of Italian food it had to be used for a pasta dish. My partner and I cooked up a one-pot meatball and orzo dish for six people. It sailed through every step from searing the meatballs to beautifully and evenly cooking the orzo. There was still plenty of space left in the pan if we wanted to cater for a couple more guests or batch-cook something for the week.
The final touch is the ability of the pan to easily go from hob to table as the handles have been designed so that they don't get hot. And wow, this pan looks good at the centre of a dinner party.
Cleaning
Again the non-stick of the pan makes cleaning a breeze. After cooking the meatballs and orzo you could see the leftover drops of sauce hovering on the surface, even after leaving it a day it took little more than a quick wipe to have it looking like new.
The only downside with cleaning is the size, it takes up a lot of space. However, it is dishwasher safe, just be ready to sacrifice a whole tier of your dishwasher for it.
Comparisons
Most well-made pans of a similar size to the Stanley Pan will easily go for over £100. If you were to opt for one of the best cast iron pans of a similar size from a brand like Le Creuset you would easily be shelling out over £200.
While on the surface this pan might seem like an eye-watering price, it comes in at a similar price to competitors. I think the best comparison for this pan would be to the hyped-up Always Pan. This pan has similar beautiful looks, a good quality non-stick, and is priced at £155 for its 31.8cm pan. However, after using both pans I can say that the Stanley Pan easily justifies the higher price tag from a design and performance point of view.
However, the cheapest pan in the Stanley Tucci x GreenPan range is the saucepan which comes in at £149.95. This does seem a little excessive considering that you can pick up saucepans in the GreenPan range for around £65 offering many similar cooking performance perks.
Verdict
If you were to invest in one piece from the Stanley Tucci collection with GreenPan I would go all in on the Stanley Pan. There is a reason that it is the jewel in the crown of the collection with its impressive size and looks.
After testing it out I feel like it does justify its price tag. It is versatile enough to be used for searing meat, cooking pasta and whipping up an omelette, so it ticks off the jobs of many other pans in one if you're looking for value for money.
You are in part buying it for the good looks, but there's no shame in that. It's a well-made pan and you will want to show it off if you invest.
