Visiting a kitchen store when you are looking to buy new cookware can be a confusing experience. You’ll see all sorts of referenced terminology that is only familiar to cookware enthusiasts, and must be in a foreign language for a beginner as well. One of those terms you will come across is “lining”. So what is coating and what is its benefit in kitchen utensil construction?
Coating refers to the cookware construction practice of using a metal that is an excellent conductor of heat, such as aluminum or copper, and coating it with stainless steel. You may be wondering, “If aluminum is an excellent conductor of heat, why would you want to coat it with stainless steel?” In fact, there are several reasons for this. Although aluminum is lightweight and provides uniform heat if it is thick enough and is an exceptionally good heat conductor, it has major drawbacks when used for cookware. Aluminum reacts chemically with acidic or alkaline foods and causes foods to have a dull metallic taste. Also, this same chemical reaction can cause food to change color, often creating an unappetizing gray appearance.
On the other hand, stainless steel is a non-reactive metal, which means that acidic or alkaline foods have no effect on it and it is easy to keep clean. Unfortunately, stainless steel is a poor conductor of heat. By joining it to aluminum as a cladding, the best properties of stainless steel and aluminum are preserved.
Therefore, “coated” cookware is cookware composed of an excellent heat conducting metal, such as aluminum and stainless steel. Sometimes you will also see the term “fully lined”. Fully coated cookware is composed of an excellent conductor of heat, such as aluminum or copper, sandwiched between an inner and outer layer of stainless steel. You might think that these fully coated cookware would be far superior in performance to coated cookware, but this is not necessarily the case. If the inner layer of aluminum becomes thinner in fully coated cookware than in normal coated cookware due to the double layers of stainless steel, the uniformity of the cookware heating and the ability to retain heat may be affected. Always ask what the thickness of the inner aluminum layer is before purchasing coated or fully coated cookware.
Both coated and fully coated cookware offer benefits over cookware made up of only aluminum or stainless steel. There are many prices for various coated and fully coated cookware available, but plan to invest much more than you would in cookware made up of only aluminum or stainless steel. Although coated or fully coated cookware is definitely more expensive than alternatives, they are very durable and can last for 25 years of additional use, making them a great long-term investment.