For some, a saucepan is a cooking pot, for others, the cooking pot is at the center of life. For over 30 years, Cristel has been manufacturing 90% of the Cristel range for every type of cooker (induction, glass ceramic, gas, halogen, electric and oven) in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way at its factory in Fesches-le-Châtel in the Doubs département. TICK-TALK in conversation with CRISTEL Managing Director and founding family member Damien Dodane.
Karl Heinz Nuber: France, the Grande Nation, is immediately associated with haute cuisine. Do you cook yourself and what is your favourite dish?
Damien Dodane: Cooking is my favorite hobby. I cook every day. Every evening to be exact. And a large time during WE. It’s a moment that I love and that allows me to “unplug” from the day that has just passed. A moment of creativity too. I like to open my fridge and ask myself what I’m going to be able to cook, what I feel like at the moment. I don’t have favorite dishes. I like to cook everything. Vegetables, fish and meat… in the summer, I like to make quick ratatouilles that I also transform into salads, like caponata… with grilled hanger steaks that I marinate before cooking… in the winter I particularly like soups… slow-cooked dishes.
KHN: If you want to cook well, you also need good equipment. That means sensible pans and high-quality pots. How can you recognise a good saucepan?
DD: A good saucepan is an essential part of any kitchen. Its versatility makes it ideal for a range of cooking tasks, from simmering sauces to cooking grains. The right pot can greatly enhance the cooking experience, affect the flavour and quality of your food and last for many years. Understanding its importance will help you appreciate this humble kitchen utensil and realise its full potential. Stainless steel cooking pans are a popular choice in many kitchens due to their durability and stain resistance. These pans often have an aluminium to improve heat conductivity. They can withstand high heat and are safe to use in the oven and under the grill. They are also dishwasher safe, making cleaning a breeze.
KHN: What are the main advantages of Cristel cookware compared to other competitors?
DD: Our cookware offers some remarkable advantages:
CRISTEL’s pots and pans have removable handles. This innovative design makes cooking easy and risk-free: you can remove the pot or pan from the hob without burning yourself or spilling the food. You also save space in the cupboards as the handles do not protrude and can be easily cleaned in the dishwasher.
Cristel cookware is made of durable recycled 18/10 stainless steel, which is suitable for induction, gas, electric and glass ceramic hobs. They are completely harmless to health.
Gentle preparation without adding fat preserves the flavour, colour and nutrients of the food.
All in all, Cristel cookware is reliable, versatile and durable – an excellent choice for any kitchen!
KHN: You sell your range via upmarket specialist retailers. You also offer your kitchen range online. What experiences have you had with your online sales platform?
DD: Our online store is a wonderful open window about all our catalog and products that we can propose in the market. You will find all the information that you need about our quality, our sustainable strategy and our Made in France policy. You will find a lot of videos to see the best ways to use our products and large recipes selection. People are happy to find all these information and need to get it and it’s wonderful tool to build strong brand loyality.
KHN: By offering head pot sets, you open the door to the Cristel brand and make repeat offenders (brand loyalty) out of your consumers. What price do you start at for head pot sets?
DD: Regarding price of sets, I’d rather to let people come to our website to discover all the different solution we are able to propose to start with CRISTEL.
KHN: How many pots and pans should you have in a professional household?
DD: For cooking without family, 1.5, 2 and 3-litre pots are usually sufficient. As soon as guests arrive or four or more family members join you for dinner, you will definitely need a large 5-litre or, even better, 6-litre pan.
We recommend two pans: a stainless steel pan for cooking meat and a non-stick pan for cooking delicate foods such as fish or eggs. Depending on the number of people in your household, you can choose between different pan sizes. For a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 children), for example, we recommend a pan of at least 24 cm. The same applies to the saucepans: 2 are sufficient to start with, a large one for boiling a large amount of water and a small one for sauces, for example.
A crêpe pan can be used for preparing all kinds of dishes, but it is mainly used for making crêpes. You can also use a normal frying pan or saucepan to prepare crêpes, but the result will not be as satisfying as with the crêpe pan.
You can cook large quantities of rice, pasta or vegetables in a saucepan or casserole and prepare good family meals. A must-have for the family kitchen!
High-quality stainless steel pots are known for their poor heat conductivity, are relatively heavy in weight, have no non-stick coating and can be expensive to buy.
However, I see things differently: stainless steel pots have a more or less thick sandwich base. This contains a ferromagnetic material for induction, often in combination with other materials that store heat and absorb and distribute it particularly quickly.
KHN: After preparing delicious dishes with high-quality Cristel cookware, cleaning is of course necessary to ensure that everything looks like new for years to come. What about the care of stainless steel cookware, what do you recommend based on your many years of experience?
DD: When it comes to cleaning, stainless steel pots made of high-quality CRISTEL material are very easy to clean. What is a no-go for coated pans is standard for pots and pans: you can even use a steel sponge. For professional cleaning, we recommend our high-quality RENOX cleaners with a pleasant citrus or mint fragrance. All stainless steel pot sets are also dishwasher-safe.
KHN: You have revolutionised professional kitchens and households with the removable handle and side handles that can be easily clipped onto the entire CRISTEL stainless steel kitchen range. Today, this is part of your DNA. What was the decisive factor for this invention?
KHN: The ‘Cook & Serve’ concept (cooking and serving developed by Paul Dodane), which has revolutionised tableware, now places high expectations on CRISTEL. The brand must maintain its creative edge. How will you manage this?
DD: It is true that after so disruptive innovation, it is not easy to keep the line !
Our stratgy stay quiet based on 3 things:
Made in France policy which mean quality production, Innovation and sustainability. As you know CRISTEL is OFG (Origine France Garantie), EPV (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant) and Entreprise à Mission, which means that our objective goes beyond the simple search for profit but is part of a sustainable development strategy and in the development of the well-being of our employees and partners. Here too, there is today a significant production of innovation. But to return to the product, our luck is that we are manufacturers and therefore every day confronted with the challenges of our manufacturing. Which obliges us every day to find innovative solutions. Innovation is not always a visible, disruptive innovation. But it is often in the manufacturing processes. Commercially, the market is always in demand for new products and we want to bring meaning to each of ours. Thus, 3 years ago, we introduced BIOME, a new concept of healthy cooking which allows, thanks to the control of the cooking temperature, to preserve the nutrients so important for health. We could have disguised our product in such a way as to make it distinct, attractive… but we considered that our role was just to provide the best and not a gadget-based product. It is in the performance of each of the elements of BIOME that we innovate.
KHN : Various chefs and professional cooks are showcasing CRISTEL products by advising your company and using the products on their cookers. What experiences have you had with Cristel brand ambassadors so far?
DD: CRISTEL’s Identity being very strongly attached to our removable handle concept, it is clear that we have turned more towards domestic cooking enthusiasts than towards professional chefs. Only a few years ago, we took the step towards professionals by imagining with them the ideal product with which they would like to work. Thus was born Castel Pro, a collection incredible in terms of its cooking performance as well as its comfort of use. Castel Pro has since enjoyed growing success in both Europe and the USA. These are the products used, for example, by candidates on Top Chef in France and which they praise as soon as they move into a new establishment. We really enjoy working with great chefs like Michel and Sébastien Bras, Raymond Blanc, Matthias Marc, the Loiseau Group and so many others who help us develop our products and understand their needs.
KHN: My father-in-law was a chef in large renowned restaurants such as Maxim’s in Paris, etc.. As a former food critic for Gault Millau, I was at home in the starred kitchens. How important is professional cookery equipment in the preparation of food?
DD: Being a chef means knowing how to master fire. This is the first quality of a chef: finding the right cooking for each p”, product. It is this cooking accuracy that will bring the flavor of a dish, a vegetable, meat or fish. The essential tool is therefore this saucepan or sauté pan that will best distribute the heat and produce the right cooking desired by the chef. For a long time, cooking utensils have only focused on this heat transmission. They have forgotten to also work for the person at the end of the product… the chef who uses these saucepans all day and all his life. Castel Pro is as efficient in terms of uniform distribution of the temperature of the fire (gas or induction) as it is in terms of its ergonomics of use. The handle does not hurt the hand or the handle after hours of use, it remains cold despite hours on the fire, the particular shape of the tanks makes its use pleasant and easy, right down to its maintenance. Leave a Castel Pro sautoir with a chef and come back a week later…you are guaranteed an order! This is our best reward!
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