Food52, originally and best-known for hosting weekly (i.e., 52 per year) food contests, designed these frying pans and sourced a third party, GreenPan, to manufacture it. Thus, the name, five two by GreenPan, which is also a pretty reputable and well-established brand in this industry. I purchased the 4QT sauté pan in three ply stainless steel. This sauté pan does not include GreenPan’s Thermolon (ceramic) coating. I also have some of their pans with the coating, and I do like having a non-coated stainless-steel pan. This is pretty much an all-purpose pan, it can be exposed to high heat without fear of damaging the coating. It’s also safe for use in the oven. Even the lid can go in the oven on a lower heat setting. Although this pan does not come with a non-stick coating, I’ve found this pan is very easy to clean after use, and is pretty resistant to food sticking compared to other sauté pans in my kitchen. Lid compatibility: I have other pans from the GreenPan Food52 lineup, and one thing to mention is cross-compatibility. This sauté pan is 10.5 inches in diameter, which is a non-standard size. That means the included lid will most likely not fit any of your other 10-inch frying pans. However, if you purchase the matching 10-inch GreenPan Food52 frying pan, this lid will fit perfectly with that frying pan, because that one also runs half a size large. You won’t have to purchase a lid separately for it. The lid included with this pan does not include the built-in strainer. Some of their lids include a strainer, but this one does not. In addition, the lid is designed with a ridge that circles the interior of the lid. Unfortunately, this area is hard to reach and makes the lid difficult to clean. A second aspect that I don’t like about this pan is the handle. The handle is like the opposite of ergonomic. The V-shape design is awkward and uncomfortable to hold, especially when there’s food in the frying pan. The larger the pan, the heaver it is, and this even more noticeable on this 4QT (10”) pan when you have food in it and the lid on top of it. I’ll probably buy a silicone grip for these pans. On the other hand, one thing that is nice about the handle is that there’s a Y split right before the weld joint to the pan, which is good for preventing heat transfer from the pan to the handle. Something else that I really like about the pan is that there are no rivets or attachment points inside the cooking area opposite the handle. This makes it easy to clean as there’s no hard-to-reach areas where food or oil can accumulate. This pan is really quite heavy. You really do need the second handle to hold this pan. It also has a very solid feel to it. Its three-ply stainless-steel base is thick and heavy. Due to the thickness of the material, this pan takes a little longer to heat up; however, the pan heats up nice and fairly evenly. In summary, this is an excellent all-purpose, oven-safe sauté pan. Keep in mind that it is really quite heavy, especially when filled with food and covered with the lid. The only other downside is that the design of the handle makes it uncomfortable to hold, which combined with the weight is not ideal. The second handle helps to compensate for the uneven weight distribution (as opposed to just holding the pan’s V-handle).
