If you are willing and able to invest in something that offers a truly exceptional cooking experience, the Fissler M5 Pro-Ply is an excellent choice.
What we loved: There was a noticeable difference in how the Fissler cooked compared with every other pan we recommend. With the burner cranked up to high, this pan maintained a gradual, dispersed heat that practically refused to burn food. It took intentional effort for us to try and get this pan to scorch something. Instead, it imparted a beautiful golden crust onto our chicken thighs and managed to sweat onions faster than other pans.
We attribute the differences here to the pan’s ability to effectively provide indirect heat from its sides in addition to the direct heat from the cooking surface. Indirect heat (heat transferred through the air) is less intense and won’t burn food so readily. When combined with the direct heat, food cooks faster so you can remove it more quickly. The impact of that indirect heat was particularly noticeable in our onion test.
To be clear, the Fissler isn’t the only pan to offer this feature—a greater amount of indirect heat is something you can expect from other thick 5-ply stainless-steel pans— but the Fissler M5 Pro-Ply manages to do it quickly and more efficiently without much added bulk. Five-ply cookware can be hefty to move around and sluggish when warming up, and while the Fissler sauté pan was slower compared to lighter high-end pans we tested, it was the pan that fared high-heat cooking the best. On a strong gas burner, this pan’s heat capacity allowed it to smoothly transition between temperatures, and the radiant heat from the sides of the pan reduced the onions nicely.
Beyond that, the pan has other nice flourishes, including a rivet-free design, volumetric measurements, and a comfortable ergonomically designed handle.
What we’d leave: All this praise aside, this pan heats up on the slower side. It was great on the powerful gas burners in our Test Kitchen, but if you have a weaker electric range (like I do at home), these pans might just be a bit too slow for you to really get the benefits. It’s also quite expensive compared to the already expensive All-Clad D3 line. But if you size up to the larger 5-quart size, the Fissler has a perfect ratio of height and diameter. If you like the idea of a multifunctional, multipurpose pan, and you have a stove that can blast high heat, this is as good as it gets.
How we tested
Thermal conductivity test
We put each pan through a series of controlled tests to observe how they conducted heat. We wanted to know how quickly a pan warms up and cools down and how evenly it heated. We did this by placing each pan over the same burner at the same heat level for two minutes, before removing it from the heat. We took simultaneous temperature readings from the center and edge of the cooking surface (using two Thermoworks surface thermometers). First, after two minutes on the heat, and then again at every minute off the heat for four minutes.
By measuring the change in surface temperature of the center and edge of each pan over time, we are able to observe how fast the pan distributes heat across the surface. The faster the difference between the two numbers went to zero, the better the pan distributed heat. An even-heating pan is easier to cook with and control.
You can see in the table below how quickly the surface temperature of the pans evened out after they were removed from the burner. While the All-Clad D5 had the smallest difference when we started measuring, our favorites—the Heritage Steel x Eater and the All-Clad D3—approached zero much more quickly.
Temperature readings are important, but we seared skin-on chicken thighs in oil so we could get a real-life sense measure how the pan distributed heat. We were able to observe this through how fast the thighs browned and whether they stuck to the pan.
We also sweated and browned sliced onions in the pan with some oil while gradually cranking up the heat. Onions scorch easily, so this also revealed how well a pan reacted to changes in heat.
We dusted the pan with a layer of flour and placed it over high heat. Then we left it undisturbed until the flour starts to brown (or burn). This told us how well heat was distributed across the cooking surface, where the pan would heat up fastest, and whether there were any obvious hot spots.
We boiled water in the pan with the lid on to get a sense of how well the lid retained moisture and whether it leaked. We then poured water from the pan to get a sense of how easy it is to tilt the pan with its handle, as well as whether liquid dribbled over the lip.
We cleaned each pan with soap and water and a lot of elbow grease. We weren’t so concerned with pans being dishwasher-safe, because even if they claim to be, stainless-steel pans shouldn’t go into the dishwasher—the detergent corrodes steel and will shorten their lifespan considerably.
