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Made in Normandy since 1830 · Official South African store

The gas kitchen

In these kitchens

A flame you can see, and a metal that answers it. This is what a copper kitchen actually does between breakfast and the last light.

Mauviel copper saucepan over a gas flame

One day, hour by hour

  1. 07:10

    Milk, which forgives nothing

    The smallest saucepan, lowest flame. Milk catches because the base of the pan is hotter than the milk and stays that way after you turn the gas down. Copper does not stay that way. It is the least glamorous argument for it and the most convincing.

    M’150 B SaucepanThe panM’150 B SaucepanR3 950.00 – R8 150.00Price range: R3 950.00 through R8 150.00 Inc VAT

  2. 11:00

    Onions, forty minutes, no rush

    A sauteuse and a flame barely on. Gas and copper together are the only combination where very low means very low — the flame drops and the pan drops with it, so onions go brown instead of grey.

    M’150 B Sauté PanThe panM’150 B Sauté PanR5 430.00 – R11 410.00Price range: R5 430.00 through R11 410.00 Inc VAT

  3. 16:30

    The braise that runs until dinner

    Shin, wine, a lid, and three hours you can ignore. The cocotte is the piece people say they should have bought first. Heavy enough to hold, wide enough to brown in, and it goes to the table looking like something.

    The recipeOxtail, done in copper

    M’150 B Cocotte with LidThe panM’150 B Cocotte with LidR7 010.00 – R15 640.00Price range: R7 010.00 through R15 640.00 Inc VAT

  4. 19:45

    Steak, and the sound it should make

    A frying pan hot enough that it hisses rather than sizzles. Copper gets there fast and stays there when cold meat lands, which is the difference between a crust and a grey band.

    M’150 B Frying PanThe panM’150 B Frying PanR6 150.00 – R10 450.00Price range: R6 150.00 through R10 450.00 Inc VAT

  5. 20:30

    The sauce, in the pan the meat came out of

    Shallots, brandy, cream, three minutes. Everything worth eating on a gas hob happens in the fond, and a responsive pan is the only way to reduce without splitting.

    The recipeSteak au poivre, Cape brandy

    M’200 B SaucepanThe panM’200 B SaucepanR5 480.00 – R15 690.00Price range: R5 480.00 through R15 690.00 Inc VAT

Copper conducts about twenty times better than stainless steel. On induction you cannot use most of it. On gas you can use all of it, which is why the copper collections are still what professional kitchens ask for and why the house has never stopped making them.

Made by Mauviel1830 in Villedieu-les-Poêles, Normandy.