Cheap All-Clad Stainless Steamer Insert

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List Price: $105.00
Sale Price: $60.95
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This insert has been hanging in my kitchen for some years now, and I was recently given another. The new one is made in China despite the exorbitant All-Clad price, though it doesn't seem to make much difference. Both are equally unsatisfactory, except perhaps for draining vegetables, and there are more convenient ways to do that.

First, the steamer fits only one of my many pots --an LTD saucepan. And it doesn't fit it well. The little bead that rests on the pot rim is too shallow to make a good seal even with the pot the insert is made for, and hopeless with any other. Steam whooshes out over the pot rim without going through the veg, and the bad seal cools the steam and sogs the vegetables. The pot lid doesn't fit the insert very well, either, and drips cooling condensate into the vegetables --more sog.

The steaming surface is inches above the water (unless you boil an awful lot of water, when it bubbles up into the veg and sogs them). The steam doesn't circulate well and probably isn't hot enough to start with. An inch or so of water always steams better than 3 or 4 inches --don't ask me why.

The steaming surface is inadequate. All the holes are on the bottom, and kind of in the middle of that, and what steam reaches the top, or business half, of the steamer doesn't circulate well. More sog.

What with one thing and another, no quantity and no type of food cooks very well. Well, it's not too bad for Persian-style rice --the kind you pre-cook slightly, then finish by steaming.

Alternatives? Any folding steamer will do a better job. You can find a nice big one that will fit into your 13" LTD frying pan, if you're lucky. Take a pair of pliers and pull the lifter stem out of the middle (it's not much use anyway). You can get a lot of clams into this rig. Or use a smaller folding steamer in any pan --LTD pans with their tight lids are my favorite. The sauciers have domed lids which work even better.

If you have a steam canner, put a bamboo steamer and its bamboo lid on the plate (the big ones just fit). This makes the best steamed food ever, but it's a bit cumbersome for everyday.

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I bought this insert to use with my all clad LTD 9 piece set that I bought a few months ago. I use the steamer with the 3qt sauce pan a LOT. It cleans up very easily, looks beautiful, and fits nicely into my sauce pan. Some people are complaining about steam escaping from the pan. Don't let this deter you from buying this steamer. Steam is SUPPOSED to escape. If no steam escaped, you'd basically have a pressure cooker!

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I was excited to add this piece to my All-Clad collection, but I'm a little disappointed with it. It doesn't fit my pans very tightly; a good amount of steam escapes from between the insert and the pan, rather than going up into the chamber with the food. It doesn't have the heft of other All-Clad pieces, either. I think that one of those inexpensive, collapsible chrome steamer inserts that fits down inside any pan works just as well. On the up-side, this item cleans up easily, doubles as a fine colander, and is likely to out-last a collapsible chrome steamer. I'd buy it again, but I wouldn't have as high expectations of it.

Honest reviews on All-Clad Stainless Steamer Insert

I purchased this steamer several years ago and use it frequently to steam fresh vegetables. It fits perfectly into my 2-quart All-Clad saucier, which is wider at top than the 3and 4-quart saucepans into which it's said to fit. I put an inch or two of water in the saucier, insert the steamer, and cover with the saucier top. I was surprised to see the reviews mentioning steam escaping. I have never had steam escape and the vegetables have always been perfectly and uniformly steamed -even when I fill the steamer to its rim with kale. I gave the steamer four stars instead of five only because of the length and weight of the handle (which probably helps to keep it cool, I suppose). I agree it cleans up nicely, even if I put it in the dishwasher instead of hand washing it, and it still gleams like new!

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This All-Clad Stainless Steamer Insert with long handle fits All-Clad pots with an 8-inch diameter, which are 3 and 4-quart saucepans. It will fit pots with loop handle or without. The rivets from the loop handle don't interfere with the steamer. I'm not sure why All-Clad chose to make this steamer as well as their All-Purpose Steamer Insert that will fit 2, 3, and 4-quart pots. The only advantage this may have over the All-Purpose Steamer is that you can hang it on a pot rack, because it has a long handle. That's convenient, but the handle is the steamer's flaw. It weights the pot to one side, causing a small gap between the opposite side of the steamer and the pot in which it is sitting, so it doesn't fit well. That allows steam to escape. The steamer still works, but it does leak more steam than my old Calphalon Universal Steamer.

The steamer is not as heavy as an All-Clad pot, which is normal, but the description leads me to believe that the All-Purpose Steamer is heavier. And that one has 2 loop handles, which is more sensible. The handle of this steamer is shorter and at an odd angle that doesn't correspond to the angle of a pot handle. The Stainless Steamer Insert with long handle is the less expensive of the two steamer options for smaller All-Clad pots. It works fine, but the design is a bit careless. So you have to decide if having a long handle is worth sacrificing some quality. Some people may also prefer this one for its flat bottom. The All-Purpose Steamer Insert has a stair-step design to accommodate more pot sizes, so there is less space in the bottom of the steamer. The Stainless Steamer isn't horrible, but, upon reflection, I probably would have preferred the All-Purpose model.